2014年11月选举：北加州湾区华裔参选人吴永健

美国学区作为一级行政机构，有相对较大的自主权。它有权民选教育委员会。教育委员会成员都是兼职的，不领取报酬，具有高度的责任心。该委员会负责制定本地区的教育政策，全权负责学区教育事务的管理。学区教育委员会的执行机构是教育局，其负责人是教育局长或学区总监。学区内各校的重大事项都要由教育委员会决定，教育局长负责执行。美国学区还有财政独立性。在美国，90%的学区都有财政独立权。它有权征税，主要是征收学区内居民的财产税，为学校筹集教育经费，拟定学校预算，决定课程设置，聘请教职员等。美国学区是公共教育经费的第一负担者。

吴永健是上海交大毕业，要竞选的是美国北加州湾区（美国加利佛利亚州旧金山）Saratoga学区委员（教育委员会成员）。他是当初学的是物理专业。来到美国以后转行计算机，现在是一名软件工程师。过去从来没有任何政治上的人生规划，工作老老实实，勤勤恳恳。如果没有SCA5，他可能永远就是我们身边普普通通上班族里面的一名。但是，就在年初反SCA 5大潮出现后，他们都走入了义工队伍，也开始了人生的转折点。吴永健加入的是28区Chuck Page共和党义工群。

我们大陆人缺乏在社区耕耘，到了选举关头，基本就是一盘散沙的状态。除了SVCA, ChuckTeam这些成组织的义工群，吴永健草根起步，很难找到义工资源。

现在，吴永健是Saratoga（萨拉托加－－美国硅谷所在地）学区唯一一个竞选学区委员的亚裔，当选希望非常大。希望住在Saratoge的朋友都能转告左邻右舍，投他一票。如果想要帮他发传单，可以直接发信联系他。他的网址：http://www.yongjianwu4susd.com 电话: 408-431-0509 email: yongjianw@gmail.com

吴永健家的老大这个夏天刚毕业去高中，老二将要进入学龄。他的所有竞争对手，孩子都早就已经离开学区了，而且家里没有小小孩要进入Saratoga学区。所以，他认为自己相对其它竞争对手，有很大优势。通过家里老大的上学经历，觉得自己对学区近几年的情况非常了解，有充分的切身感受，对于家长们关于学区有哪些问题，建议，需要提高的地方，都心里有数。只不过，如果不是今年上半年作义工的经历，他根本不会想到，自己竟然有一天会站上竞选舞台来选学区委员，为华人争取话语权。为了老二，他又对学区未来能否保证教育质量格外关心，因为涉及亲人的利益。他希望这是他能够说服选民们，哪怕是其他族裔选民们投票给他的一大论据。

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吴永健自我介绍

Yongjian Wu for Saratoga UNION School board 2014

Who am I:

I finished my undergraduate and master in Physics from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China in 1993. I came to the United States in 1994 to pursue graduate education. After earning a Master's Degree in Computer Science from Vanderbilt University in 1997, I started my career as a software engineer in Medical Device Industry in Silicon Valley. I have been married with my wife for 20 years and have a loving family with two kids: 14 years old daughter and 3 years old son. I have been a Saratoga resident for 5+ years, before that, we had our residency in Sunnyvale for 10 years.

Why I am running for Saratoga Union School District SUSD Board:

I believe in public education. I can bring in different perspective of busy working families like mine where both parents have to work hard for their day jobs to afford the residency in beautiful Saratoga. We count on the continued success of our schools in educating our children by covering full range of development opportunities.

I strongly feel that our school board should better represent the community and maintain better communication with the parents and teachers. I will be a good listener to understand the needs of the students and parents and work with the teachers to achieve better outcome for SUSD schools.

What are the key messages of my campaign:
 
Ensure we have resources to maintain adequate school hours and secure good financial standing for our schools. Find ways to allocate funds with right priority and monitor usage of the funds to achieve outstanding results.
Continue to make sure our school system provides programs to help our students to reach their full potential, such as math acceleration path; or to receive the extra care they need, such as math shadow.
Re-vitalize school curriculum so that our Elementary School can better prepare students for Middle School and Middle School better prepare students for High School and college by introducing additional electives such as Programming and more chocie of foreign language in Middle School.
More choices of extra-curriculum activities for Middle School students.
Continue the effort in ensuring our students flourishing in safe school environment and prosper in this diverse culture community.

Conclusion:

     My 15-year industry experience brings with me the understanding of what skill sets we need to develop for our students today in order to be successful in tomorrow’s global competitive work environment.
 
       I would like to bring my passion and perspective to the Board to preserve and enhance Saratoga’s greatest asset. I would like to ask for your support and your vote on November 4.