PUSD Superintendent Reflects on Her First Year

Just hours after a school board meeting a couple Fridays ago, Parvin Ahmadi boarded a plane headed to San Diego to see her son and daughter-in-law.

It was the first chance that day the superintendent, who celebrates her one-year anniversary this month, had to relax a bit and think about what had just happened. Finally there had been some good financial news.

After cutting $3.5 million from an already tight budget this year and dealing with a failed parcel tax, the school board had called a special meeting June 3 to restore around $2.45 million, breathing new life into ailing programs and rehiring staffers who'd been laid off.

"It was a great night," she said in her office Monday morning.

It turned out the state budget isn't as horrible as officials had predicted, which gave the Pleasanton district and districts across the state a bit of a reprieve.

But that doesn't mean the district is out of the woods. While the $2.45 million went toward things like keeping class sizes smaller at the elementary school level, students at the 9th grade level and up are still in larger classes.

The district still needs money for library hours, adult school programs and vice principals at the elementary and middle school levels.

"I don't want people to get used to those things being gone and just think it's OK," Ahmadi said.

Fundraising efforts through the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education (PPIE) and the CORE campaign (Community OutReach for Education) are ongoing. The goal this year is $600,000 — the money targeting library hours and technology needs.

"People see that we restored some things, and they say, 'See, you didn't need that parcel tax after all,'" she said, referring to Measure E, which failed in May. "The problem is that we brought things back for one year. However, regardless of our opinions about Measure E, people on both sides cared about students and our school district."

"We have to work together and focus all our energy on keeping our schools as great as they have been."

Ahmadi came to Pleasanton from Fremont, where she worked for 13 years, most recently as assistant superintendent of instruction. She took the place of John Casey, an eight-year veteran who had overseen about $13 million in cuts in the three years prior to his leaving.

Ahmadi said that even with those challenges, the district was in good hands and she hoped to continue that legacy. As a hands-on superintendent who likes to visit the classroom often, Ahmadi has made an effort to get to know the students in the district as well as their parents.

She said that as student proficiency requirements continue to rise as budgets fall, the challenge in the coming years will be to stay within budget while not impacting the students.

"This is a choice district — people move here because of the schools and we want that to continue," Ahmadi said.

In the next one to five years, she wants PUSD to continue to be one of the highest-performing districts in the state.

"It would be nice if, for once, the state budget deficit isn't the biggest focus and we can start adding programs instead of taking them away," she said.

One thing she'd love to see is a language immersion program, where students learn languages like Japanese or Mandarin not just by taking language classes but by speaking the languages in math and science classes or while performing everyday tasks like eating lunch.

Ahmadi wants to continue to focus on the mental and social well-being of students by inviting experts to speak on these issues with students and parents as well as by doing things like approving a new homework policy (that should happen at the June 21 meeting).

She said the key with policies like that is to make sure they make sense but also to make sure people understand them and school officials are constantly monitoring to make sure they're working.

"The students in this district are amazing," Ahmadi said. "They're winning international and national competitions. They're artistically and socially involved, and active in causes that reach beyond the U.S. and into other countries."

She said she has enjoyed the collaboration between the city, parents, school officials and school staffers in Pleasanton.

"It's been such a gift here," she said. "There's a level of achievement here and I really think it's because people work together and all have the same goal in mind — it's all about the students.

"No matter where you live in Pleasanton, whichever school you go to, you are guaranteed a solid, consistent education and that is something we should be proud of."

The superintendent has tried to maintain an open-door policy and invites people to talk about the district with her. She said the district can't be effective without constant communication and a focus on solving problems.

Next year, she wants to hold guided tours of the schools for the people in the community who don't have kids in school but are curious.

"Sixty percent of this community doesn't have kids in school, but that doesn't mean they don't want to know what we're up to," she said. "I would love them to see what we're offering."

That goodwill may come in handy in future years as fundraising continues. Though the district restored programs, Ahmadi is careful to point out this is only for one year. That means next year at budget time, those staffers who escaped layoffs this year could be in danger of losing their jobs once again.

"This is why we have to look for sustainable, ongoing funds," Ahmadi said. "We don't get to enjoy this too long before we have to start worrying about next year. What will we be cutting again? Where will the state budget be?"

She hopes the bulk of fundraising will be done in January next year, so the district will know what money is available come spring, when the budgets come out.

The one thing she wants people in the community to know is that the students are in great hands.

"I'd love to thank parents and community members for being supporters of education, and also the board members who do what they do knowing they have to do this in such a tough climate.

"The staff is also amazing — people move to Pleasanton because of the caliber of our teachers and staff. Because of them, it's become a district of choice."