Frequently Asked Questions
Learn More About Monica's Vision
Are you tough enough to serve on CUSD's School Board?
I was one of only two women in my computer science graduating class and was elected by my peers as Vice President of Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honor society. While still in college, I worked as a year-round intern in an IT/business liaison group at Hewlett-Packard and often encountered coworkers who reminded me that they had children older than me. After college, I went to law school, practiced as an intellectual property litigator, and then transitioned into the role of associate general counsel for one of my clients. As associate general counsel, I often was one of the only women and by far the youngest person in board meetings. Through these experiences, I have learned to overcome initial perceptions and successfully persuade others to value and seek out my counsel.
How do you collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders who do not always agree?
As an attorney, I have often been put in this situation. I find the best approach is to be prepared. Before discussions begin, I do my due diligence to understand what motivates each stakeholder, what their priorities are, what areas they're willing to negotiate in, and what areas they are not willing to negotiate in. Then, during discussions, I actively listen and ask questions to better understand each stakeholder and find common ground solutions that all stakeholders can buy into. Even in much more adversarial situations such as litigation, this technique has been effective in reaching a mutually agreeable resolution.
How will you work to improve equity across all student populations?
I would start by working to understand the different student populations in our district and their unique needs. Our district is vast both geographically and culturally. It would be disingenuous of me to suggest that I understand what equity looks like across all populations at this time as much of the data for this is not publicly available, and my perspective as a parent with young children just outside of downtown Carmel can be quite different from that of a parent of older children living in Big Sur or Cachagua, for example. My objective is to advocate for the success of all students in our district by meeting their needs, both academic and social-emotional, and strive for one year of growth for each child during each academic year, whether they are on an IEP or at the top of their class. Regardless of their plans after high school, each student deserves to thrive.
How would you increase community engagement?
Changing the format of the school board meetings to include public comments both at the beginning of the meeting as well as during each agendized item to allow for board members to incorporate public comments into their decision-making would be a great start. Addressing all issues, including the tough ones, head on with integrity by asking questions and providing feedback during the board's discussion period would provide transparency and allow people to better understand why a decision is made, fostering acceptance, even if they don't agree. Sharing a brief of the school board meeting shortly afterwards would help inform parents who were unable to attend or do not have the time to watch the long meetings.
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Effective communication is also key to community engagement. This includes communications between the district and the community as well as the district and its employees. How something is communicated can greatly impact how it is received, and poor communication can create unnecessary challenges. To combat this, it is important to have a communication plan and to communicate early, rather than after the fact.
