Thank you for taking the time to understand my candidacy for re-election to the Orange County Board of Education. I appreciate your efforts to be familiar with your elected representatives.
To begin, as a university professor and physician, I honor the sacred trust you have placed in me as your elected member of the Orange County Board of Education for the past twenty years. It is an honor and pleasure to serve you the people of Orange County.
I strongly oppose Common Core. I support parental choice, like charter schools, and support Proposition 13. I led our board with sound fiscal decisions while opposing new taxes and expensive bonds. As a sworn law enforcement officer for Orange County, student and campus safety is my top concern. As a result, our department's relationship with law enforcement, county probation, and the court system, Orange County's juvenile criminal activity is reduced, and gang membership is down 200%.
Our country and state are in a state of fiscal crisis. We need more jobs and less regulation in California by government. To this end, under my leadership, the Orange County Department of Education has been at the forefront of job training programs through our county ROP programs. We have created opportunities for students in high school, college, and even adults to obtain additional training and certification in specialty fields.
Leadership begins with being a servant and doing what is best for the community you represent. As a family physician and law enforcement officer, I give high priority to the safety and well-being of our children and families. Our children need twenty-first century skills in science, computer science, and technology, and I will always vote to support these programs.
Under my education leadership, the Orange County Board of Education:
• Championed parental rights and opposed special interest groups
• Created more job training programs
• Built a county deaf school at University High School in Irvine
• Strengthened county field science and environmental study programs
• Established a county character education program promoting civic virtue, respect, and ethics
• Implemented STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) "back-to-basics" education programs
• Established with the Los Alamitos Military Base a military school for "high risk youth" who would otherwise be incarcerated in our jail system
• Formed a countywide campus and student safety consortium of schools in the event of catastrophic events
I am running for re-election to represent the district's priorities and values and I would appreciate your vote.