Bonnie Castrey: Ready to face the challenge

RACE FOR THE HUNTINGTON BEACH UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

Name: Bonnie Castrey

Age: 60

Occupation: Dispute Resolver/ Mediator/Arbitrator

Family: Husband Robert; mother; two stepdaughters, six

grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

Community activities: Governing Board member, Huntington Beach

Union High School board; serves on numerous district committees,

including strategic planning and employee involvement committees;

president of the Center for Excellence in Education;actively

supported the United Way of Orange County, St. Anselms Cross Cultural

Center, the Orange County Commission on the Status of Women, the

Huntington Youth Shelter and the Huntington Beach Community Clinic.

Education: RN from Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital School of

Nursing; bachelor’s from Cal State, Long Beach; doctorate from

Western State University College of Law, many professional

conferences, including completion of the California School Boards

Assn.’s master’s of boardsmanship.

Favorite leader: Susan B. Anthony.

Contact information: (714) 963-7114, fax: 714-963-2395;

e-mail is [email protected].

CASTREY ON:

* STUDENT SAFETY:

Continue to teach our students dispute resolution skills,

anti-gang and anti-

drug information and continue the “WE TIP” program. Maintain drug

free and weapon free campuses. Maintain security officers on our

campuses. Provide modernized facilities that are secure and well

lighted. Continue to strictly enforce the district’s anti-harassment

policies and provide appropriate staff and student training to ensure

that student’s know how and from whom to seek assistance if they are

being harassed. Continue the dress code policies and codes of conduct

at each campus. Continue campus club activities where students can

meet and talk together and provide support systems for each other.

Continue to hire and retain psychologists, nurses, teachers, staff

and administrators who care about each student and to whom students

can go for assistance.

* RAISING STUDENT TEST SCORES:

Provide exemplary teachers with the latest teaching strategies.

Continue to review and evaluate the data we have available to us to

improve teaching methodologies and create multiple options for

teaching the curriculum as students learn in a variety of ways.

Literacy is our biggest challenge. Many students come to high

school with only minimal reading skills. Besides addressing the

challenge at the high schools, we are also working closely with the

four elementary districts so that they can effectively address the

literacy challenges in the elementary grades.

Continue to provide tutorial support to our young people through

support programs such as the Native American Program and El Viento.

Provide strong, positive administrative and staff support for

teachers so that curriculum is aligned to the state standards.

Continue to free up certificated administrators from

non-curricular activities to assure them time in every classroom to

assist in coaching and supporting of teachers. Continue the class

size reduction in English and Math at three of our schools. And,

continue to evaluate the impact on student learning and

comprehension.

Maintain strong community and business support of our young people

through programs such as the Academy for the Performing Arts, the

MERITS program, Health Academy, the Business Academy and all our

sports. Continue to work with parents to help them to increase their

understanding of the importance of their involvement in their

student’s education and learning. Increase educational support for

teachers for the use of instructional technology in every classroom.

* FISCAL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DISTRICT:

We must continue to manage our fiscal and human resources very

wisely and strategically in order to continuously improve the

learning and working environment for students and staff. For too

many years, we have been a “donor district.” I will continue to work

to bring home your tax dollars by encouraging full funding of all

mandated state and federal programs as well as equalization dollars.

I will continue to look at asset management options that balance

the needs of our students and employees with the ability to provide

an ongoing stream of income. I will continue to work with business

leaders and the community through the many foundations which support

various activities of the district such as the Center for Educational

Excellence and the Educational Enrichment Foundation.

* BIGGEST ISSUE FACING THE DISTRICT:

Balancing the multiplicity of learning and curricular needs of our

diverse student population with the very limited financial resources.

Our challenge is to meet all those interests so that public

education, a fundamental cornerstone of our great democracy, is

strengthened and we remain a great democratic nation.