Ross Valley School District Election: Anne Capron

UPDATE: Elizabeth Peacock has reportedly withdrawn from the race.

Patch will be introducing each of the five Board of Trustee candidates over the next five days.

The only public forum scheduled among the five candidates -- Annelise Bauer, Anne Capron, Hadley Dettmer, Trevor Hughes and Elizabeth Peacock -- will be hosted by Manor PTA at 's multi-purpose room on Oct. 19 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Each candidate has, in the mean time, volunteered to answer a number of questions for Patch.

Their answers will be published on Patch, one candidate each day this week -- in alphabetical order. Check back throughout the week.

Name:  Anne Capron

Age:  48

Town of Residence:  Fairfax

Occupation: Community Volunteer/RVSD Parent

Other Boards/Commissions You Serve or Have Served On:

• President, Manor PTA, 2009-2011

• RVSD Round Table Committee, 2008-Present

• YES Board, 2009-Present

• West Marin Little League Board – 2009-Present

• Measure A Campaign Committee  – Fall 2010

Do you have kids in the schools? Which schools?

Case, 11, at White Hill in the 6th grade

Why are you running for RVSD School Board? What are the key issues you think are facing the school district?

I am running because I believe in public service, volunteerism, and community.  I have been deeply involved in district and community issues and organizations for many years as a full time volunteer and advocate for our schools. My number one priority is to keep meaningful and engaged learning our collective objective, and to continuously find better ways of delivering that to our children. I believe that my active engagement in the real issues facing our schools, students, teachers, and families in recent years has given me a solid foundation upon which to serve effectively and efficiently on the RVSD Board. 

(Some of the) issues facing the District in the coming years are:

• Maintaining and continuously improving the quality of education we deliver to our children in RVSD, despite budget cuts, state and federal constraints regarding standardized testing, and pressures associated with increasing enrollment numbers.

• Attracting, retaining, fully utilizing, and valuing top-notch teachers and staff

• Exploring innovative models of curriculum and assessments

• Managing the district facilities enlargement projects in order to accommodate the increasing number of children who will be attending the RVSD schools in the coming years to ensure these projects are carried out efficiently and within budget to the maximum extent possible

• Improving RVSD's interface with the community. This means good communications, useful information gathering, and effective facilitation of  the community conversation regarding education

How would you address budget concerns and decreasing federal and state revenue?

It is already known that we will have to further reduce the RVSD budget this year, and likely in coming years as well unless there are some significant changes at the local, state, or federal levels. While we are making budget cuts, I will work to help find creative, interesting ways to “do more with less” – to offset budget cuts by putting the incredible wealth of talent, goodwill, and skills available here in the Ross Valley community to work for us. I also believe our community should have a conversation about exploring new means of generating additional revenue for the district, to preserve the quality of education that we all value so greatly.

Do you agree with how the district is currently dealing with the increased enrollment and overcrowding issues? What would you do differently?

I believe that all involved would say there are some good lessons to be learned from the enrollment and overcrowding challenges and how they have been handled over the past few years. Moving forward, I would like to see RVSD stay well ahead of the curve in terms of future growth projections and determining changes that will be required well in advance of the arrival of any increased numbers in our district. I believe we need to prioritize maintenance of our facilities to eliminate the increased costs and difficulties that can result from deferred maintenance. I think there are still some (minor) refinements to be made to the enrollment boundaries and the plans for each school’s enlargement.

What are the biggest issues that need to be resolved regarding Measure A construction?

Getting it done well, on time (or sooner), and within the budget, for a start. We were incredibly fortunate to have the . We should all be really proud of that. We have some great teams working on the design and build-out of the new facilities, and I am very excited about the new learning environment they will create for our children, particularly at .

As a board member, I will work to ensure that the multiple, concurrent expansion projects stay on task, on time, and on budget. I am, however, much more interested in talking about WHAT and HOW the kids are learning when they go to school than I am in discussing where they will sit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an important part of the job, but it shouldn’t be so important as to lose sight of our primary job, which is delivering a meaningful educational experience to our children, and continually challenging ourselves to look for opportunities to improve.

In the long-term, how can the district ensure its financial sustainability and sustainable growth?

Frankly, the district has little or nothing to say about either its state-provided income or its enrollment numbers. 

But …

By concentrating on how we can best maximize what we DO have (awesome teachers, awesome parents, awesome community, awesome kids, and soon-to-be-awesome facilities), not getting too worked up about what we don’t have (or might stand to lose), and exploring viable alternative funding sources, I think we can all have a voice in creating the educational experience we want for our kids.