Incumbent Steve Taglio and newcomer Jessica Speiser were the only two candidates to run for the two open four-year seats on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees. Because they are running unopposed, their names will not appear on the November ballot and they will begin their terms in December.
Jessica Speiser
Age: 41
Occupation: Attorney
Experience with the school district: Former PTA president, Facilities Master Plan Committee member, Measure N co-chairwoman, Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Finance member, Citizens Oversight Committee vice chairwoman, Los Altos Educational Foundation board member, Measure GG campaign leadership
Q: Why did you choose to serve (or continue to serve) on the board?
A: I choose to serve because I am a strong proponent of public schools. I attribute my professional and personal successes to the strong public school education I received and will forever remain grateful to my school’s teachers, staff and community. With that in mind, I started to give back the moment my oldest was school-aged and joined the Los Altos School District as a first-grader at Covington in 2011.
Q: What leadership qualities do you bring to the board?
A: I am passionate about public education, am hardworking and detail oriented, and exhibit strong communication skills. To be a strong trustee, one must be passionate about public schools and care about the Los Altos School District continually improving. To keep the district in the top 1 percent of the state, a trustee must be willing to put in every effort to ensure this happens. To ensure a trustee is making the correct decisions for the district, one must not leave out any detail. To ensure all persons living in district boundaries are represented, one must communicate and gain input from every constituency.
Q: If the district cannot purchase new land for a 10th school site, how should bond money be spent?
A: The money should be spent finding a permanent home for Bullis Charter School, solving enrollment growth issues and bringing the schools reached last in the prior bond up to parity. If land is not purchased, that means the district will have to work within the land it already owns and determine what is the best solution.
Q: Beyond the facilities issue, what are the biggest issues the district faces and how do you hope to solve them?
A: The biggest issue the district otherwise faces is hiring and retention of teachers. I hope to solve this issue by working with the administration and the Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Finance to determine what exactly can be done to ensure compensation packages are competitive. Furthermore, I would continue research into outside-the-box solutions to help teachers live in or closer to where they work in Los Altos.
Q: What are your goals for your next four years on the board?
A: I plan to continue to move the Los Altos School District forward in pursuit of academic excellence. I hope to find a long-term solution to enrollment growth that is in the best interests of all students in our community. Lastly, I will open up stronger communication lines between the school district and the community as a whole.
Steve Taglio
Age: Declined to state
Occupation: Marketing operations/planning/strategy
Experience with the school district: Trustee since 2011, parent of two children who attended district elementary and middle schools, PTA president at Covington School for two years, three years on Site Council, three years on Technology Committee
Q: Why did you choose to serve (or continue to serve) on the board?
A: With two children attending schools in the district over 13 years, my family has benefited from the quality education provided by our local public schools. As education models evolve, I want to make certain that changes continue to be grounded in what is best for all our children.
As a board member who originated the facilities bond, I want to make certain that those funds were targeted toward projects that we advocated for during the campaign. And finally, as state education funding models change, I want to make certain that the district continues to champion public education access and excellence for all students in the district.
Q: What leadership qualities do you bring to the board?
A: As a business professional, I have extensive experience building collaboration across disparate groups, listening well and balancing different viewpoints and getting to the core of issues to develop strategies and tactics.
Q: If the district cannot purchase new land for a 10th school site, how should bond money be spent?
A: The bond expenditure needs to remain focused on a solution to address the most critical growth challenge facing the district – housing 10 schools on nine campuses. To move beyond the underlying tension in the community created by the existing model, we need to implement a strategy that addresses not only the current issues, but looks forward and provides a framework to accommodate future growth being planned by our partner communities while providing a facilities model that allows the district to adopt changes in education delivery across the district. To be successful, we must achieve a one-to-one school-to-campus model.
Q: Beyond the facilities issue, what are the biggest issues the district faces and how do you hope to solve them?
A: K-8 education is as much about learning how to learn as it is about learning facts. The Los Altos School District has embarked on a journey to individualize learning for each student. To be successful, that transition requires a customized level of support for both teachers and students.
A critical piece of that journey is a partnership with teachers and staff. Current salary scales for staff are in the mid- to mid-low range for the county. Given current funding projections, that is unlikely to move as quickly as cost of living for our personnel. To counteract escalated housing costs and commute times, we need to look for solutions to build mid-market, affordable housing into community planning to continue to attract and retain the best teachers.
Q: What are your goals for your next four years on the board?
A: Fully implemented bond expenditure with a 10th school site.
Successful implementation of the new assessment standards and models that supports and delivers on the vision of individualized learning.
A fiscal model that attains a 10 percent contingency to cushion against financial downturns.
