Hayden Gore, 50, a teacher, is running for San Diego Unified School District trustee representing Area C.<\/p>\n
Why are you running for school board, and what makes you the best candidate? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
I am a sixth-grade teacher at High Tech Middle School Chula Vista and the founding president of the High Tech Education Collective, the union representing over 700 workers across High Tech High\u2019s 16 schools. I care deeply about public education. As an 18-year veteran teacher, I\u2019ve dedicated my professional life to it. I believe in what it contributes to the vibrancy of our society, our democracy and our economy. Yet like so many institutions that have shaped our way of life in Southern California and across the nation, public education is under attack.<\/p>\n
In this current environment, we need school board leadership that will continue to stand united and protect our students and school community. That is why I am running for San Diego Unified School District\u2019s Board of Education in District C.<\/p>\n
What are the three most important issues currently facing your district? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
1) The affordability crisis in San Diego has led to declining enrollment as families move out of the district in search of more affordable places to live. Over the past decade, the district has lost 10,000 students, which represents a massive loss in funding for our schools.<\/p>\n
2) The increasing cost of special education puts pressure on the district\u2019s budget, particularly since the federal government only provides 7% of special education funding, instead of the 40% guaranteed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This gap in funding is particularly egregious because it affects our most vulnerable students.<\/p>\n
3) With the prevalence of cell phones, social media and now AI, students have developed a dependency on technology, which has negatively impacted their well-being. Students seem more anxious, distracted and isolated than I have ever seen them over the course of my near 20-year teaching career.<\/p>\n
What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the board? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
1) I will continue the effort to develop underutilized district land for workforce and family housing. In addition, I will advocate for the expansion of community schools in underserved communities in order to mitigate the conditions that drive families out of the district.<\/p>\n
2) I will work with our labor and community partners to advocate for ballot initiatives that increase funding for our schools, like Prop. 3 and Measure M on November\u2019s ballot. I will also work to pressure Sacramento to stop playing with Prop. 98 funding so that we have reliable revenue to invest in our students and schools.<\/p>\n
3) Public education should provide students with the opportunity to step away from technology and develop meaningful connections with their teachers and peers. Yes, we can use technology strategically when it speeds up the pace of learning, but I want to prioritize students thinking critically, engaging, discussing and collaborating with each other.<\/p>\n
How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a board member to accomplish that? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
I support the expansion of the district\u2019s community schools program so that more students from underserved communities benefit from the additional academic, health and social services that those schools provide. Additionally, I support Measure M on the November ballot so that we invest in modernized schools that students want to be in and we make sure that our instruction inspires our students, as well. Ultimately, we know that when our students are engaged in relevant and stimulating learning environments, their motivation increases and their academic achievement follows suit.<\/p>\n
Student absenteeism has generally worsened in recent years across California. What do you think is driving absenteeism in your district, and what would you do to reduce it? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
When our schools went to distance learning during the pandemic, student and parent engagement dropped, and we have struggled to recover it ever since. In order to overcome the absenteeism that COVID produced, we have to turn our schools into places where kids want to be. That means passing Measure M so that we have modernized school sites and extracurricular facilities, opportunities to engage in project-based learning, internships and apprenticeships, as well as curricula that are meaningful and relevant to our students.<\/p>\n
As a teacher, I challenge myself to create a classroom that is stimulating and inspires wonder, curiosity and joy. When my students feel a sense of belonging and are fascinated by the learning, they want to be at school. To increase daily attendance, we need to improve the student experience and make learning something that our students look forward to every day.<\/p>\n
Relatedly, many California school districts are seeing enrollment decline, which exacerbates funding problems. What should your district do to drive new enrollment? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
The district has approved the development of underutilized district land for workforce and family housing to address the affordability crisis that drives families away from the district and makes it impossible for teachers and staff to live within their school communities. Through private-public partnerships, the district is creating more than 2,500 affordable housing units whose rent will be pegged at 30 percent of the occupants\u2019 income. That is life-changing for families in our district, and we should continue to expand the project so that more people can benefit from those opportunities.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the district\u2019s community schools address the needs of students and parents from traditionally underserved communities. Through community schools, students gain access to health and social services, afterschool tutoring and off-campus internships. In the process, they help to mitigate some of the economic factors that drive declining enrollment while creating incentives for families to remain within the district.<\/p>\n
How would you approach your district\u2019s budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
We have to be cautious about adopting an austerity mindset when it comes to budgeting, particularly in times of economic growth, because we miss out on opportunities to invest in our students. Each year in mid-December, school districts submit their first interim budget report. But because we don\u2019t have a clear idea of what state revenues will be until the following May, those first budget reports almost always predict massive budget deficits. Yet by the beginning of the next school year, those deficits do not materialize, because the economy grows, state revenue increases and school funding expands accordingly.<\/p>\n
In a growing economy, we should plan for increases in school funding and engage our community about the opportunities we have to invest in our schools. Of course, if the economy contracts, we must make hard choices. In those circumstances, I will prioritize protecting funding that goes directly to our classrooms.<\/p>\n
The federal government has never fully funded special education, and as California districts face tougher budgets, the impact can be especially hard on this area. Given the constraints, what should your district do to best serve its special education students? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
Under IDEA, the federal government is required to provide 40% of special education funding. In reality, it provides 7%. That shortfall creates an enormous burden on local school districts and harms our most vulnerable students in the process. Still, there are steps the district can take to improve support for its students in special education by better supporting those teachers that serve them. First, it can provide annual stipends and additional staff support to education specialists who are over caseload and to those who serve students with extensive needs. Second, it can provide additional case management days to education specialists so that they can provide services to their students and have time to attend to the documentation that the job requires. Finally, the district can reimburse teachers that get a special education credential in order to fill vacant positions that are difficult to hire.<\/p>\n
California recently updated policies governing how schools respond to immigration enforcement activity, requiring more signage and staff training on granting access, among other things. How should your district respond and implement this and other directives from the state Department of Education? How else should the district protect immigrant students? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
Recently, ICE agents have abducted parents of San Diego Unified students just blocks from their neighborhood schools. Those masked agents have separated children from their parents and sent a wave of terror through our school community. No child should have to bear that burden or carry that fear when they go to school. In response, the district must continue to strictly enforce its policy barring immigration enforcement agents from entering school facilities without a judicial warrant. It should also provide know-your-rights training for parents, students and community members so that they can protect themselves and each other as they go between school, work and home each day.<\/p>\n
Our schools must be safe, inclusive and nurturing spaces for all students, families and staff. This means that immigration enforcement agencies have no place intimidating families, disrupting our students\u2019 access to education or using our public schools as a mechanism for separating families.<\/p>\n
From cell phones to laptops, and from tablets to AI, what is the most appropriate and beneficial role of technology in the classroom? How should your district balance benefits, risks, distractions and accessibility needs? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
I think the school day represents a wonderful opportunity to carve out time in our students\u2019 lives so that they can break their dependency on technology, explore their own humanity and make deep connections with their teachers and peers.<\/p>\n
As educators, we can decide where we want to use technology to uplift the learning in our classrooms or make it more accessible. But we want to avoid using technology as a cheap substitute for the really important stuff of public education, which is learning through critical thinking, cooperation, discussion and collaboration with others.<\/p>\n
Did you use AI to assist in responding to these questions? If so, please explain how and why.<\/p>\n
No<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hayden Gore, 50, a teacher, is running for San Diego Unified School District trustee representing Area C. Why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1400,15,204,989,100,13,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-495136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-2026-elections","tag-education","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}