October 22, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, October 22, 2004

Michael Kelly

Michael "Mike" Kelly thinks the Mountain View-Whisman School District has a big problem meeting state standards. If elected to the board of trustees, Kelly said he'd push for classrooms to be supplied with proper textbooks and teachers to undergo adequate training in an effort to close the significant achievement gap.

"Achievement is what's going to get your enrollment up," Kelly said. If all students aren't making the grade, then "we are never going to be a district of choice."

Kelly, who was a Whisman trustee prior to its merger with the larger Mountain View district in 2001, said he's like to see more sharing of ideas between the nine campuses.

High-achieving schools, such as Huff and Bubb, could be used as models. "People should be running to [Huff Principal] Craig Goldman and asking 'how are you doing this?'" Kelly said. "You need to look at what's successful."

On the other hand, programs that aren't making the grade should be revamped by the school board, Kelly said. For instance, he thinks Castro School's English-Spanish dual immersion program would work better if more of the day were taught in English, starting in kindergarten. Right now, kindergarteners enrolled in the program spend the majority of the day learning in Spanish. Critics say this is why Latino students aren't scoring well on state-mandated tests written in English.

But, said Kelly, a 15-year U.S. Army veteran, "if you force something, there needs to be buy-in. I personally think all children should learn Spanish."

Kelly said he'd also like to change the way the school board generally conducts its business.

"They are an OK board. I don't think they are a highly effective board. Some personal agendas are there," he said, adding that "communication could be better."

Kelly said he would like to see the school board be more open to the public about important issues such as the parcel tax lawsuit, which has already cost the district thousands of dollars.

"This is scary. We are spending money we don't have," said Kelly, an administrator for Stanford University. "This has such large ramifications to the district that [discussions involving the lawsuit] should be conducted in public."

Compounding the district's financial situation is a tightening budget. While Kelly said he doesn't know where he'd make cuts, he said he'd like the see the district push for more local control on the money it receives from the state.

"What we need is more unrestricted money," he said. "To me, we are not a special-interest group. We shouldn't have to go up to lobby for more money."

That said, Kelly thinks the district can afford to spend money on a statewide search for its next superintendent.

"Every decision you make, you have to think five years down the road.

"We don't need another two-year superintendent. We need someone who's going to commit to four years. We need stability at the top," Kelly said. However, he has been impressed with the job current superintendent Eleanor Yick is doing, he said.

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