Jessica Speiser, a current Santa Clara County Board of Education board member and a former Los Altos School District trustee, said she is always looking out for children’s welfare in their schools, providing schools with adequate resources and closing the achievement gap.
Speiser took on this new role in Dec. 18 after the last election and District 1, which includes Palo Alto Unified, Los Altos Union, Mountain View Whisman, and Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School Districts. She also shares a majority portion of areas in Sunnyvale School District and corresponding portions of Fremont Union High School District.
Speiser spent eight years with the Los Altos School District and told the Town Crier that her role is like “a walk ahead of a different pond.” She said she is still adjusting to her new colleague’s personalities, but she is looking forward to bonding with them soon. Speiser said as the BOE is still undergoing a transition with replacing Interim Superintendent Charles Hinman with a permanent one, the board members do not have a lot of time to bond outside of work.
“As a new board member, I like to get the bonding done as soon as possible,” Speiser said. “I have had some experiences with some of them outside, but not in this context. It’s kind of like you’re going through, for lack of a better term, the traumas together, because it’s stressful.”
She said there have only been three board meetings since she started and said she is still getting a footing on how to work with the other board members. She believes many of the other board members share more similarities than differences with her and it is important for all of them to discuss and learn each other areas of interest.
She said she is working with the Head Start Policy Council as a liaison, an area that is new to her. She chose this area to learn the best methods to support preschool students and to lower the achievement gap at an early age. She also is working with her own area, looking at the needs of each school district, the risks that administrators have found and looking at partner organizations that work well with the various populations. She hopes to incorporate Challenge Team a community partnership already with the MVLA district that meets once a month to solve youth issues, with many other districts.
“I want to try to do work with the local districts to find out what their needs are from the county,” She said. “I know what LASD’s needs are, but what about Palo Alto, Mountain View and North Sunnyvale? What I’ve been doing is meeting with the different trustees from the areas for coffee. I also go to the Challenge Team meetings in MVLA and Sunnyvale’s meetings once a month. I’m now going to try to help Palo Alto see if they can start their own because they’re very interested. I also hope to attend more events at each school.”
Speiser said she has been following the same method of asking questions during the board meeting as she did with LASD by reading, taking notes and asking questions right away to the board member. She said she is not afraid to ask dumb questions and initialize conversations to start. She said it is important to clarify every piece of information so nothing is missed. She likes to have information accessible for community members and to not have people think they are withholding anything. She even has a newsletter, since her last position, that breaks down information for concerned community members.
“I want us all to work towards being transparent,” she said. “I used to write a blog post for LASD and I have been doing that now for my new job. So, that has been my way of being transparent.”
She said the current activities that the board members have been working on together are looking for a new superintendent and charter renewals. At her first board meeting, she voted in favor of Bullis Charter School’s latest memorandum of understanding and has been overlooking other schools’ MOUs.
With the superintendent search, she said the search has been “going great” and that in her second board meeting, they have been getting several applications in. The board members, however, have been discussing the applicants in closed session and will begin the interview process on March 8. She hopes to pick someone who cares about supporting children and can see the big picture of the county.
“I want somebody who cares about equity in education, making sure that all kids, no matter their background, are getting the best education possible,” she said. “They also must provide students and teachers the best of resources that they need to that end.”
She said the BOE is a service provider for over 31 districts and that they provide funding for various special education programs, reviewing the working conditions of their employees and working alongside unions. She views this role as setting an example for the districts’ policies and standards and creating messages that address national issues such as providing resources for vulnerable immigrant community members. She also said the board president has ensured that at each meeting, they recognize the diverse community members and commemorations that have an impact on people.
“We very much want to make sure our students that our schools are safe from ICE and that ensure they cannot enter their campus unless they have a warrant,” she said. “And that’s the law. It’s making sure that everyone knows that that’s the law and how to deal with Trump’s executive orders. We have seen an uptick in people not coming to school because they’re afraid their parents may not be home. We want want everyone to know their rights.”
