I would like to thank my colleagues who have elected me this year’s President of the Alameda County Board of Education. I am grateful and honored to take on this responsibility.

First of all, I want to congratulate Charles Herbst, a teacher at ACOE’s Thunder Road Community School. He’s known to his friends at “Chucky” and we are sure lucky to have him in our classrooms. Mr. Herbst is the Alameda County Office of Education’s 2006-2007 Teacher of the Year. Mr. Herbst was chosen by his colleagues for his enthusiasm and dedication to educating some of the toughest students around.

To our out-going president, Yvonne Cerrato: Thank you Yvonne for leading this board and maintaining the necessary air of professionalism. I appreciate your leadership.

Over the past two years, I have had the honor of working with Superintendent Sheila Jordan and other board members to seek out better ways to meet the educational needs of our students. I pledge to continue doing that – and more.

I have worked to bring resources to the students in our court and community schools. Suits, ties and dress shoes to the students at Camp Sweeney and BART tickets for CalSafe students are just some of the donations I have been able to bring to our students.

I will continue with that work as well as explore ways we can improve health education in our schools. Issues such as smoking, drug use, HIV and AIDS, healthy eating habits, and exercise need to be part of the lessons we teach our students.

I also want to reach out to encourage more community participation in schools. In particular, the cable stations at Chabot College and other local universities can be great vehicles for advertising our own board meetings and other ACOE events.

It is also important to me that we continue working with the unions in order to ensure employee safety, healthy working conditions and competitive wages.

I want to encourage all of the board members to be active ambassadors for our court and community school students and the Alameda County Office of Education. Every day, we can find ways to help our schools.

It can be as simple as asking for a donation from that café where you get your morning cup of coffee; or from the supermarket in your neighborhood.

Or take some time to visit our school sites, talk with our students and see our teachers in action. I know you’ll be impressed. I know I certainly am every time I go.

There are some exciting programs happening this year at ACOE. With the Numeracy Project underway, we can look forward to another successful semester of the Cornerstone Project at Camp Sweeney and continuing our work with Character-Based Literacy.

And to me, one of the most important lessons we can teach our students is respect. A firm handshake, saying please and saying thank you go a long way.

With that, I would like to ask everyone to please join me in re-dedicating yourself to our students, and securing a better future for them. And thank you for your support.