Eight of the candidates wrangling for four seats on Fresno Unified's school board debated how to run district finances and academics during a forum Thursday night.
Hosted by local members of the Association of California School Administrators, the forum gave candidates a chance to introduce themselves and answer three questions.
The first question asked how candidates would keep Fresno Unified solvent.
Edison High-area candidate Luisa Medina said board members need to continually ask what teachers and students need. At the same time, they must refrain from engaging in deficit spending.
"A board member must always keep an eye on the bottom line," she said.
Both Bullard High-area candidate John Lester and Sunnyside High-area candidate Stafford Parker said Fresno Unified should attend to its unfunded liability.
Parker suggested involving teachers and other employees in working to fix problems, which would decrease the chance they'd complain about the solutions. Lester said teachers should be paid better, but the district can't burden future generations with huge unpaid bills.
Bullard High-area candidate Michelle Arax Asadoorian said the district needs to find out why students are dropping out of school because that results in a loss of state attendance money.
"The lifeblood of our system is ADA," she said, referring to average daily attendance funds.
The second question asked what candidates would do to improve academic achievement at schools placed on an improvement list because of poor test scores.
Edison High-area candidate Cal Johnson said he believes in standardized testing and that every child can learn. But, he said Fresno Unified doesn't always consider the difficult backgrounds of students who "have gone through a lot of trauma."
McLane High-area candidate Julie Hornback praised the reforms already in place in Fresno Unified, and she stressed a need for more community involvement.
"I believe that the district's plan of having community meetings is critical," she said.
The third question asked what Fresno Unified should be doing that it's not doing now.
Sunnyside High-area candidate Valerie Davis said she's written about 3,000 letters to encourage students and that the district must focus on supporting students and being relevant to the community.
"We have to be very, very creative," she said.
Bullard High-area candidate Pat Barr said the district should build a robust substitute teacher pool, create a home liaison program from school to neighborhood, launch a media campaign and consider opening district magnet and charter schools.
About 30 people attended the forum. The hosting group, which represents Fresno Unified administrators, doesn't issue endorsements.
McLane High-area candidate Tony Vang and Bullard High-area candidate Jim Barr didn't attend the forum. Jim Barr is not related to Pat Barr.
Ten people are competing in the Nov. 7 election for four seats on the seven-member board. Voters living anywhere in the district can vote in all four races, but candidates must live in the area where they run.
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