Catherine Vonnegut seeks second time period on MVLA faculty board | Information
Catherine Vonnegut is the only real incumbent on the Mountain View Los Altos Union Excessive Faculty District Board of Trustees who’s working for reelection this November.
Vonnegut, who was first elected in 2018, is searching for to win one in all three seats developing for a vote this 12 months. She is working in opposition to challengers Thida Cornes, Jacquie Tanner, Carrol Ann Titus-Zambre, Esmeralda Ortiz and Eric Wayne Mark.
Fellow incumbents Fiona Walter and Debbie Torok have each introduced that they’ll step down on the finish of their present phrases.
In an interview, Vonnegut stated that she believes within the faculty district and feels progress has been made throughout her first time period, and that she desires the possibility to proceed to serve. With not less than two new trustees becoming a member of the 5 member board, Vonnegut stated she believes there’s worth within the consistency that reelecting an incumbent brings.
“(Having) some stability and a few those that know what is going on on within the district, and have already got a imaginative and prescient for the issues that we’re already attempting to roll out, … is necessary,” Vonnegut stated. “I wish to keep round to shepherd issues by means of.”
When she ran in 2018, Vonnegut stated she was targeted on making certain educational excellence, addressing pupil wellness and ensuring the district was steward of the $295 million Measure E bond.
Vonnegut stated she has been happy with the district’s work in these and different areas over the previous 4 years, whereas additionally weathering the pandemic. She pointed to her service on the board’s services committee, which oversees bond spending, as one instance of the work she’s accomplished.
In relation to pupil psychological well being, the district created a wellness coordinator place in 2019 and has targeted consideration on its psychological well being assets. If reelected, Vonnegut stated she desires to make sure that there’s good coordination among the many district’s varied wellness providers and a transparent map of how all of the items work together.
Her different targets embrace strengthening the district’s communications and engagement with the neighborhood, in addition to specializing in fairness all through the district.
Vonnegut can also be a supporter of the district’s varied various applications, together with Foothill’s Center School, Foothill School Now, Freestyle Academy and Alta Vista Excessive Faculty. The board voted in 2020 to double the scale of Center School, a program the place juniors and seniors take courses at Foothill School, and Vonnegut stated it is doable an additional improve might be wanted. She additionally helps retaining the district’s absolutely on-line program, which was created throughout the pandemic.
“I wish to see a pupil positioned in the perfect place for them. Typically it is the excellent highschool – Mountain View or Los Altos – and typically it isn’t,” Vonnegut stated. “I do not suppose we must always power all people into the identical mildew.”
Whereas persevering with to emphasise teachers and the trail to school, Vonnegut stated that it is usually necessary to arrange college students for careers and he or she is supportive of efforts to increase the district’s profession technical training (CTE) choices.
Vonnegut stated she desires to remain on the board to maintain a detailed eye on just lately launched initiatives, together with the ethnic research program and the event of recent statewide math requirements, which have brought on substantial debate.
“My dad’s favourite phrase was ‘iterative refinement,'” Vonnegut stated. “Even the issues that we have accomplished properly at, we have to refine, and (do it) frequently.”
To be taught extra about every of the candidates working for the highschool district’s board, go to mv-voice.com within the coming days.
