School board candidate Q&A: active parent and project manager Misty Davies

A portrait of school board candidate Misty Davies.

In a six question interview, Davies shared her views about staff retention, mental health, the board’s role, the parcel tax and more.

Three seats on the district board are up for grabs in the Nov. 8 election. Five candidates are vying for the seats: former Los Gatos High teacher Steve Chen, Saratoga High parent Misty Davies, incumbent David Guidry, former Los Gatos Union School District (LGUSD) board member Chris Miller and former LGHS teacher Alex Shultz.

The Falcon reached out to all five candidates with a standardized set of six questions to understand their qualifications, priorities and stances on pressing issues.

Davies emphasized her background as a working mom of currently enrolled students. She said her role as a board member will be to ensure all stakeholders are consulted in decisions and funds are spent wisely. She said she supports creating benefits packages to increase staff retention, improving school culture to prevent mental health issues, passing a continued parcel tax, campaigning to reduce substance abuse and constructing solar panels to improve environmental impact. She is one of three candidates endorsed by the District Teachers Association, along with Steve Chen and Alex Shultz.

What are your background and qualifications?

If elected, I will be the only member of the board who is a working parent and who currently has children in the district. My doctoral degree is from Stanford University in engineering and I manage engineering projects, so I understand how to interpret data and evaluate budgets. I’ve held many leadership roles across our local educational organizations, and have chaired math teams, musicals, robotics clubs and community events. I also received the 2018 Saratoga Union School District (SUSD) Volunteer of the Year Award and am endorsed by the LGSUHSD Teachers Association. See more at www.mistydavies.com.

What are your thoughts on employee hiring and retention?

Unfortunately, there is no way to monetarily compensate public school employees for what they are actually worth, and there is probably only so much that the district can continue to do to make sure that salaries here are monetarily competitive. I do believe that an important strategy the district can employ for recruiting and retaining employees is to look at rounded benefits packages, not only in terms of the quality of health care benefits, but also including looking at how the district’s culture can support the emotional well-being of employees in the district.

How can the schools better address student mental health?

I applaud our district for its recent investments in wellness. However, much of this investment is focused on trying to repair damage that has already been done. The next step is to change our school community cultures so that this damage is less likely to occur in the first place. To improve school culture and to help our community with resiliency, the highest priority needs to be on providing opportunities for every student for their individual success path, whatever that path is. Students need to be given the space and grace to attempt new things, make mistakes and improve.

What is the role of board members?

The school board has a responsibility to ensure that all interested parties have been consulted in major decisions, and to ensure that public funds are spent wisely and responsibly. If the board has done its job correctly in the hiring of the superintendent and approving top-level processes and budgets, most day-to-day administration should be the responsibility of the superintendent. The superintendent should then further delegate those responsibilities to the experts in his or her administration and staff.

Do you support renewing the parcel tax?

I do support a parcel tax. Our community enjoys high property values largely because of the quality of our schools, and it is in our community’s interest to maintain or even improve school quality. Our community is willing to support measures that are communicated clearly with solid evidence as good investments. I think we can easily provide that clear communication and evidence.

What are your other priorities?

Substance abuse: This is a growing problem and a symptom of the mental health damage referenced in the question above.

Solar panels: Switching to renewable energy is not only the right thing to do, it is likely to have a financial benefit starting in the five- to 10-year time frame after implementation. With a plan in our back pocket, we can look for grant opportunities or public-private partnerships.

School safety: I’ve been approved as a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate. See more at https://momsdemandaction.org/.