Westlake School Board Election 2011: Laurie Gettings

Editor's Note: As part of Westlake Patch's local election coverage, we will provide profiles of each of the candidates running for office. These profiles will offer biographical and issue-oriented details about each of the candidates to help you, the voters, make more-informed decisions at the ballot box. Stay tuned for more coverage of the election.

Name: Laurie Gettings   

Date of Birth: Dec. 22, 1965

Occupation: Public Relations Consultant

Education: Bachelor of Arts, communications

Family: Married, with a 5-yearr-old and a 7-year-old who attend

Years residing in Westlake: 6

Office Sought: Westlake Board of Education

Previous Public Offices Held: None

Registered: Democrat 

Email: lauriegettings@sbcglobal.net

Candidate Statement: My foremost goal is to ensure that all board decisions are focused on strengthening students’ academic success.

All students should experience a broad spectrum of learning opportunities to prepare them for their future. This will strengthen our schools and community.

I believe Westlake can become a Blue Ribbon school. In order to accomplish this task, we must develop new programs and build on existing strengths.

At every meeting, board members put budget issues and petty differences ahead of our children and their education. While I agree we need to keep a close eye on spending, the focus needs to be on finding fiscally responsible ways to continue to provide each child with an excellent education, and to take the personal arguments out of the meetings.

We must roll out the International Baccalaureate program to all grades, because we live in a constantly-shrinking world. Many American companies work with and in foreign countries. We must prepare students for this rapidly-changing world.

I want to incorporate Service Learning and a job shadow program for high school students. This program is comprised of real-world and academic activities that can be incorporated into existing classroom goals.  

We must develop sound strategic plans with well-developed cost components in order to make effective decisions. We need to hold administration, board members, vendors and suppliers accountable for the budget. We can’t count on tax-payers to continually vote in budget increases that result in higher taxes. The well hasn’t run dry, but it has definitely been dipped into significantly.

To see more candidate profiles and election news, visit the Election Central 2011 page.