Four years ago, seeking to provide fresh ideas and a new perspective to my school district, I decided to run for a seat on the Board of Education with a comprehensive five point platform. I was fortunate to win that election, and am grateful for being given the chance to serve.
Now as the President of the Board of Education I am excited to report back on my progress in meeting those goals.
Academic Achievement – After rising each year of my term, the Academic Performance Index of our district broke the coveted 800 mark this summer, and the number of schools scoring over 900 doubled during my term. Advanced Placement pass rates have increased every year, and I have initiated free SAT preparation classes at all of our high schools.
Extracurricular Activities – Well-rounded students are successful students. I am proud that we now have a phenomenal speech and debate program at La Puente High School. I have also advocated for strong Academic Decathlon programs at all high schools and increased foreign language classes and study abroad options.
Alumni Giving and Mentoring – Each year I produce a free college application workshop alternating between Hacienda Heights and La Puente. More than 1000 students and parents have participated thus far. With the help of an alumni family I created an annual $1000 scholarship to honor the most well-rounded graduate of each high school.
Healthy Schools – While districts across California have been devastated with budget cuts, I am proud that sound fiscal management has allowed our district to be among the few in California to avoid layoffs and furloughs. We not only protected schools, we improved them with critical upgrades such as state-of-the-art science labs and brand new swimming pools.
Healthy Students – Under my direction we now have edible school gardens at six schools providing first-hand lessons in sustainable, healthy eating. We will add six more gardens next year and open a culinary arts program in our adult school.
While I am proud of what has been accomplished in my first term, much remains to be done. That is why I am running for re-election to the school board this November 8th.
I intend to build off of my successes and will continue to make college access a top priority. I also hope to bring more computer science and programming classes to students at a younger age. As technology and digitization make our world smaller and more competitive, we must respond by treating the programming languages that define our new world as seriously as we treat any other critical foreign language, and incorporate them into our curriculum the same way.
I want to thank you again for giving me a chance to serve. Please explore my site to learn more about what I have been doing as your board member, and what I can continue to do with your support.
- Jay Chen
