Alan Scott Kholos, 62, a biotech executive, is running for re-election as a Del Mar Union School District trustee.
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I am running for re-election to continue my hard work as president of the board to maintain the educational excellence expected from our nationally-recognized schools — forming the core of our community and support strong property values.
I started my career in the Air Force developing educational software and teaching instructors on using new technology. With my degrees in engineering, business and law, I have applied this education to leadership roles in healthcare, defense, communications and software. On the board, I leverage my extensive business management, corporate governance and problem-solving skills to achieve collaborative solutions with other board members, parents, district staff and community partners.
As a parent of DMUSD graduates, I deeply understand the district and how our programs impact the educational journey of students through high school and beyond. I believe in putting our kids first — starting every board meeting with a presentation from our students.
As when I was first elected in 2012, we continue to face pressure to allocate limited budget resources to the education priorities of our community. I will continue to prioritize low class sizes, state-of-the-art educational curriculum, highly trained and motivated teachers, STEAM+ (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) resources, support for special education students and families, introduction of transitional kindergarten (TK) and ongoing facility upgrades and maintenance.
I continually engage with our parent community to understand their priorities and advocate for them during our strategic planning and budgeting processes. I also focus on expense management by reviewing contracts and payments to vendors and service providers. I have extensive experience managing law firms and have been engaged in the reduction in legal expenses during my current term on the board. I continue to vote to maintain a healthy budget reserve to protect us if faced with economic challenges in the future.
If re-elected, I plan to continue focusing on three initiatives:
1) Parent involvement: I actively meet year-round with parents at each of our nine school sites by attending PTA-sponsored events and sitting down for private conversations. I listen intently to feedback and concerns and partner with parents to approach the district staff with collaborative solutions.
2) Oversight & accountability: I apply my business governance skills to ensure that we are adhering to our board policies and strategic plan objectives. I meet routinely with our new superintendent to ensure accountability of the leadership team and the nine school site principals.
3) Special programs: My own children benefited greatly from the STEAM+ and special education programs at DMUSD. I will continue to assist the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation in raising additional STEAM+ funds from community partners. I will also continue supporting special education families in what I know personally can be a challenging journey.
I track the improvement in the academic achievement of our students through two key plans. First, our strategic plan — Destination 2028! — identifies the priority actions the district will implement to raise academic achievement. I actively engage in our public strategic plan forums that promote collaboration and input by parents, teachers and staff. Second, the local control accountability plan (LCAP) focuses us on the California priorities for achievement in eight specific areas. I use the LCAP reporting to monitor progress towards academic achievement goals and incorporate feedback that I receive from parent stakeholders.
Our district tracks chronic absenteeism, which identifies students who miss more than 10% of the school year. Over the past two reported school years, chronic absenteeism has dropped from 10.4% to 6.7%. This drop is likely due to active measures by our instructional services department and site principals to identify students and families that need support to ensure that their students are prepared to attend and learn. As board president, I review these chronic absenteeism statistics at public board meetings and discuss initiatives with district leadership to further reduce absenteeism.
During our recent superintendent search, the community identified enrollment as one of the top three issues to be addressed by a new superintendent. As board president, I am working with our new superintendent to implement an enrollment committee. We have scheduled three special meetings comprised of board members, parents, teachers, staff and administrators to review declining enrollment. The enrollment committee will explore the specific reasons for declining enrollment in our district and discuss potential strategies to ensure balanced class sizes, resource allocation and facility utilization. I anticipate that the enrollment committee will recommend special programs to attract additional enrollment to the district.
During my terms on the DMUSD, I have been highly focused on strategic budgeting. I actively participate in our budgeting process through a series of public budget workshops to prioritize both capital and operating expenses to have the maximum impact on student learning. I have reviewed the entire spending process from contracting, purchase orders and warrant payments to ensure that it is transparent and robust. I have confirmed the multiple checks in the process to ensure we are following best practices shared with other school districts, along with recommendations from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. Since I started serving in 2012, the board has voted to maintain a healthy budget reserve to prevent negative impacts from budget shortfalls.
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We cannot rely on federal and state funding to support our special education programs. Our general fund must support approximately two-thirds of our special education budget. During our superintendent search, the community identified special education as one of the top three issues. So we selected a superintendent with demonstrated experience in special education.
Special education continues to be one of my top priorities. I championed the implementation of parent-driven groups to support other special education families. Today, each school site has a parent liaison helping families and serving on a parent liaison council that meets regularly with our superintendent and special education leadership team. By focusing on families, we are seeing less friction during the IEP process. This means better outcomes for students, parents and staff. And more agreement on how to deliver special education services greatly reduces spending attorneys’ fees to resolve disagreements.
This year, we adopted a board policy to respond to immigration enforcement activity to align with Assembly Bill 495, Education Code Section 234.7 and guidance from the California School Board Association (CSBA). Specifically, the policy:
— expands protections to include both students and staff, consistent with AB 495 and the California attorney general’s model policy guidance.
— establishes protocols for responding to immigration enforcement activity on district property, district transportation and at district-sponsored programs or activities.
— limits disclosure of student, family and employee information, including education records, personnel records and other confidential information.
— reaffirms protections against discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying based on actual or perceived immigration status.
— requires specified parent/guardian notifications and submission of required policy materials to the California Department of Education.
— prohibits district resources or data from being used to create a list, registry or database based on immigration status, national origin, religion or other protected characteristics.
This year, the board adopted a new policy that recognizes the transformative potential of AI to support learning, as well as the potential for AI to negatively affect student achievement and well-being. The policy commits to principles to ensure that AI is a student-centered and staff-centered tool to enhance learning and digital citizenship, while ensuring the use of AI is ethical, transparent and responsible.
The district limits student access to mobile phones during the school day. And district-provided technology has protections to limit Internet access.
DMUSD is on the leading edge of educational technology use. Our teaching staff is highly trained in the use of educational technology, and integrates it into lessons to enhance learning and collaboration. This year, DMUSD was recognized for its commitment to innovation, equity and excellence by being invited into the League of Innovative Schools cohort through Digital Promise.
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