Tracy Goulette has always been involved in her children’s school careers. She knows their teachers and their principal, and she attends PTA meetings. She is focused on those things in her children’s school that give them the best overall experience. In February, however, like a lens being opened wide, her focus was expanded. She attended a PTA meeting and heard a report from the PTA representative on plans being discussed by the District Curriculum Council (DCC). The 12-person council was revising the Los Altos School District homework policy and had proposed an increase in the amount of time children spent on homework each night.

Tracy was already experiencing a familiar phenomenon-taking place in many Los Altos households: juggling her three children’s school, homework, sport, leisure and family time. Like most families, she found a disproportionate amount of time was being spent on homework, creating a stress-filled after school experience for her children and herself. "Children cannot be expected to work a nine-hour day without a break; adults do not even do this. I needed to become an advocate for my children and let the District know that they expect too much from our young children," she recalls.

To her credit, she decided to act on her hunch that she was not the only parent who thought that more homework would tip the scales into a dangerous overload. In drafting her letter she made an important choice: to resist the temptation to unload her criticism and instead, be proactive and provide data and research to support her claim regarding homework, that more is not better.

To produce the data she needed, she had to learn to use the Internet, which she hadn’t done before. With determination, she quickly learned how to surf the net and to use email. Before long, pages of information were flying from her keyboard; all supporting her recommendation to actually decrease the number of minutes spent each night by each child on homework.

She sent her letter to the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for the Los Altos School District and attached a petition with the names of 78 parents who agreed with her.

At the next DCC meeting, Tracy was invited to attend. She remembers, "I was a nervous wreck. I was the lone parent voice being heard by a panel of teachers, principals and one school board member." Yet, her voice was heard loud and clear that afternoon and she left with the knowledge that the school officials did listen and her input could cause change. In fact, everyone on the DCC had read her school's input and was willing to incorporate most of their comments into the new district-wide homework guidelines.

She shared her documents and worked hard to collect feedback before recommendations were made to the next level above the DCC, the Administrative Council. The Administrative Council is comprised of the eight principals from each school and the District administrators. There were plenty of areas for discussion and negotiation but overall her concepts and recommendations were sound and supported. The last stop for Tracy was the School Board vote that would adopt or reject the new homework guidelines. In a final vote on June 17^th the Board voted unanimously to make the changes that Tracy Goulette helped set.

Learning that one voice can make a difference is a powerful lesson, but a voice without thoughtful, positive action to give it volume is meaningless. Every K-8 family will benefit in the coming school years from Tracy Goulette’s efforts. The community has gained an advocate who has only begun to shine.

Kate Disney, LANN Contributor

Now My Mom Lets me Walk to School…..

The following is the view of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the board or the membership of LANN

As the LANN School Chair, I'd like to offer my take on several of the points made in the June newsletter in an editorial written by Leslie Lodestro.

Unlike Leslie, I voted "yes" on Measure A. I did so for a very simple reason. The district was and is facing a deficit. It has to spend more than it takes in, in order to offer its 4000+ students the topnotch education they receive.

Leslie, you aren't alone in your skepticism. For whatever reason, you and many other voters believed the district, the board and the KLASS volunteers were somehow pulling a fast one on the community. Yet you, more than many voters, had the opportunity to seek some answers to your questions.

In all three instances, I don't recall you posing one question. Nor did you choose to pose any questions to your fellow LANN board members, Debbie Torok and me, who were actively involved in the Measure A campaign. I only wish you had expressed your concerns before April 9. We might have turned one more vote or at the very least, you would have had more information on which to base your vote. Imagine if more voters, like you, had also been proactive and posed their questions!

There is a silver lining to all of this! Leslie, you've come up with a great means of addressing the community's questions about the upcoming parcel tax which will be on the ballot on November 5 as you've offered LANN as the sponsor of a question and answer forum, creating a healthy dialog between voters and the Measure A campaign. I hope the forum answers your questions and those of countless other voters. If you don't feel your questions or concerns are addressed, keep asking, keep probing! It's your right and responsibility as an informed voter.