Education in Our Community

By Ken Yeager

I promise to work together with school boards, superintendents, administrators, teachers, and parents to ensure that all of our children are receiving the resources they need to learn, grow, and succeed.

For much of my career in public service, I have worked diligently to focus resources and attention on educating our children. I strongly believe that every child, regardless of circumstance or special needs, deserves access to a quality education. As chair of the City Council's All Children Achieve committee, I have experience with creating policies and implementing programs designed to support our schools.

Education is vital to our long term success and is essential to create a healthy community where everyone thrives. The State of California has entrusted the County Office of Education with the important charge of ensuring that the regulations, funding levels, and policies established for our public schools statewide are being carried out on the local level.

By continuing to focus on instructional, administrative, human resources, business and technical support services, the County is crucial to helping the 32 school districts and 251,000 students achieve the academic success that they are so diligently pursuing day in, day out. Students at-risk, and students with special interests and needs deserve quality programs and attention, which I am committed to continuing.

Already, the County Office of Education provides support for special education, Head Start, environmental education, regional occupational programs, alternative schools, and migrant education in order to address the needs in our community. These are all important programs.

I intend to do more, however, to supplement and support these services. Through expanding after school programs and designing services to go beyond the strict state mandates, Santa Clara County must take a leadership role in preparing our youth for the future.

We have a responsibility to keep our children safe, and this includes helping our schools prepare for emergencies. Whether the threat comes from an intruder on campus or from influenza, coordination with County agencies and on-site faculty and staff is essential to protecting and nurturing students. Training, equipment, and personnel must be available to assist our school.

Protecting our students from outside threats is not enough; we have an obligation to teach our children how to look after their own physical well-being. Instructing students on the fundamentals of fitness, nutrition, and the components of a healthy lifestyle is essential to having our children thrive. Health education is key to combating long-term health issues that will impact everyone, including juvenile diabetes.

I promise to work together with school boards, superintendents, administrators, teachers, and parents to ensure that all of our children are receiving the resources they need to learn, grow, and succeed.