The only thing better than winning an election is not having to campaign in the first place.  Kudos to Davina Drabkin for stepping up to the Bgame Elementary School District Board of Trustees as Marc Friedman departs.  Here's some of the SM Daily Journal article on her position:

Taking on challenges is not only natural for Davina Drabkin, she tends to seek them out.

Drabkin is the newest edition to the Burlingame Elementary School District Board of Trustees. She filed for the seat left vacant by Trustee Marc Freidman opting not to run for re-election. Without any challengers, Drabkin, a 35-year-old mother of three, will take her seat on the board later this year. And when she does, she’s all ears.

Drabkin acknowledged she has much to learn in her new role. She plans to take on that challenge while listening to constituents.

Learning more when her interest is piqued is Drabkin’s modus operandi; her M.O.

Drabkin is a Bay Area local who was raised in Berkeley. She attended a school her parents helped found – alerting Drabkin to the possibilities of change when involved in education.

Drabkin attended the University of California at Berkeley where she earned a degree in psychology with a minor in Russian. The plan from there was graduate school then later become a psychologist.

Her children offer a window into multiple schools. Adin attends Lincoln, the neighborhood school for the Drabkins. The twins attend McKinley Elementary to take part in the immersion program. Aid will be attending McKinley in the fall for fourth grade.

She began thinking about running for the board last summer. Drabkin previously served on the district’s strategic planning committee, opening up her understanding of everyone and thing that needs to be considered when planning for the district’s future.

On a school level, Drabkin’s been involved with yard duty at both Lincoln and McKinley, worked on the parent group bake sales benefiting the music program and supports the Burlingame Community for Education Foundation.

There will be plenty of challenges as money is tight, but Davina's experience should be a good guide in decision making at the District.

Monday is the first day of school for BHS and MIlls students.  Today's SM County Times editorial raises an important issue on the eve of a new school year.  I can't find the link on their web site, but here is the start:

California lawmakers face a challenge from the Obama administration: Revise a law that bans state use of student test scores to evaluate teacher performance or lose out on a share of $4.35 billion in federal funding for education.

In its federal "Race to the Top" program, the Obama administration has made it clear that test data must be used, along with other criteria, to weigh teacher performance.  The president rightly said, "You cannot ignore facts.  That is why any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluations will have to change its ways."

Unfortunately, the California Teachers Association has been firmly opposed to changing the law.  In 2006, when the law was drafted, teachers unions persuaded legislators to add an amendment stating:  "Data in the system may not be used…for purposes of pay, promotion, sanction, of personal evaluation of an individual teacher or group of teachers, or of any other employment related decisions related to individual teachers."

This one is complicated for sure and I don't know the solution.  "Teaching the test" can be counter-productive and there are plenty of other variables at play in any kind of data.  One thing is for sure, if even a sliver of $4.35 billion is lost because of this, it will raise some eyebrows in California.  And since the CTA is headquartered on Murchison Dr. in Burlingame this editorial might have been on some of their employees' driveways this morning.  Here's hoping for a productive school year for all!