Call for 'positive change'

TERRY REUBEN TAUBMAN

I was driving home recently, and passed the sign of my opponent, an incumbent for the past eight years. After reading his slogan, "Proven Results" I was reminded how important it is that I am running for a seat on the Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) Governing Board.

Our district, which educates more than 23,000 students in the heart of our city, is in trouble. The Arizona Department of Education announced that seven of the 10 schools in the PUHSD were labeled "underperforming." These schools now have one year to correct this status or risk being taken over by the state.

The reason for this is easy to see:

The board, including my opponent, needs to wholeheartedly support our new superintendent, who has just recently started work. Clearly, the results we have seen to date have been ineffective, and we all need to work together to turn things around.
Our district spends only 52 cents out of every dollar in the classroom, well below the statewide average of 57 cents. Undoubtedly, we need to eliminate wasteful spending at the administrative level and increase spending in the classroom.
Teachers are consistently leaving our district for higher-paying jobs with fewer administrative tasks required. We must remove as many roadblocks as possible and allow our teachers to focus on instruction.

Are these the "proven results" we need?

My reason for campaigning is "for positive change," and we need that change now more than ever. We need to involve parents in this process, give teachers the freedom and ability to teach, establish clear standards for teachers, administrators, parents, and most importantly, students, and challenge them to achieve these goals. We need to strengthen the district's attendance policy and enforce performance standards for both students and teachers.

I have lived in the greater Phoenix area for 30 years. As a former teacher and a parent of four recent Central High School graduates, I have worked with excellent teachers and dedicated administrators. There are so many in the district that care only about the children and want to help them succeed. We need to encourage that atmosphere and remove the burdens that keep teachers from teaching and students from learning.

This is not to say that my opponent, and others on the board, did not do their best. Indeed, anyone willing to volunteer their time and money to serve students and teachers should be commended. But with the dire situation facing our schools in the PUHSD, we must make a "positive change." The choice is yours. On Nov. 5, please vote for me, Terry Reuben Taubman.

Taubman, administrator at Temple Beth Israel in Scottsdale, is a candidate for the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board, Ward 3. For more information, visit her Web site taubman4puhsd.tripod.com.

The other candidate is Doug Thomas.

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