Dear Parents and Voters,
My wife, Amy, and I have lived in Livermore for
the past nine years. Our children, Emily and Jason,
attended Almond School last year and are now
5th and 2nd graders at Sunset. I serve as
Vice President of Marketing for Satcom Systems,
Inc. and I own an auto repair business in Pleasanton.
I have a B.S. degree in Communications as well as a MBA
in Management. I have worked for a number of small
and medium sized companies in the Bay area as well
as some large companies like SONY and Fox.
My campaign is focused on three main issues:
Financial Responsibility, Leadership and Communication.
Many of our families have personally felt the result
of the district's financial problems. I believe our
district will continue to experience cycle after
cycle of financial problems unless budget issues
are more aggressively managed by the board.
While I'm not suggesting that the board has been
responsible for the loss of $12 million in
revenue in the last 4 years, I am suggesting
that careful management of the budget could
produce incremental improvements that translate
into substantial financial amounts. With a
budget of almost $90 million, a 1% efficiency
in the overall budget would result in nearly
$900,000 in savings. I have experience dealing
with budgets exceeding $1 billion as well as the
perspective of a small businessperson where
budgetary prudence is the difference between
success and failure. The board needs members
capable of directing the staff toward actions
that ensure every budgetary option is considered,
that there is a transparency to the budget to ensure
every dollar is spent efficiently and that best
financial practices from the private sector are
utilized within the district. In addition, the
board members need to be much stronger advocates
for equalization.
My focus on Leadership is a result of my
continuing observation of the board at their
meetings. The fact that our board members
are referred to as "trustees" is a very important
point. The board is elected by the community
to represent the people of the community. The
board must position its' actions to be consistent
with the desires of the community. That means
the board should be directing the district
staff in a direction that is consistent with
the community. However, I believe the current
board has things backward. There is an
appearance, in my observations, that the
board is taking its direction from the staff
with the expectation that the community should
accept that direction. Leadership, at the
board level, needs to remember that the
actual "product" of the district is the
learning achieved by our children through
the skills of our classroom teachers. The
board needs to, at the heart of every action
they take, be supporting the day to day
experience of our children with their teachers.
My third focus is Communications. Many of us
have experienced the frustration of attending
and speaking at school closure meetings,
charter school hearings and board meetings.
I've always felt frustration at the fact
that when members of the public present
interesting solutions, important facts and
well considered opinions they simply seem
to disappear as soon as the words are spoken.
It creates a sense of futility that the
board rarely seems to act on any of the
public comment. I believe that every
reasonable and carefully thought out
comment, question and/or solution deserves
a careful review by the staff and some reasonable
feedback from the staff. My pledge is that I
will insist that the well reasoned input of
the public, whether or not I personally agree
or disagree with that input, be given careful
consideration and feedback prior to my
agreeing to vote on a deciding action. I
also find the 3 minute limit, common at these
meetings, prevents dialogue from occurring
between the board and the public. This creates
a situation where the public can not discuss
key issues with a member of the board in a
manner that promotes mutual understanding. If
elected, I pledge to hold quarterly "town hall"
meetings meant to generate a detailed information
exchange between one or two board members and
the public.
Hopefully, you agree it is time to change
the membership of the board by electing
new trustees. These new trustees will bring
a fresh look at the district's budget issues
and its overall practices. I believe I will
be a trustee that will lead this new wave of
fiscal responsibility, leading in the public's
interest and desires and creating an environment
where the comments, suggestions and ideas of
the most important factors in the success of
our children's education, our teachers and the
parents, are the key factors in the direction
of our school district.
Sincerely,
Richard (Rick) Swiers
Email: rswiers@rswiers.com
Phone: 925-371-1517
Cell: 925-819-0709
2497 Bess Ave.
Livermore, CA 94550
