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Thank you for your support!
Candidate Statement
I have served on the Governing Board of the Jefferson Elementary School District for the past sixteen years. During this tenure the number one priority of my efforts, determinations and decisions as a trustee has been as a champion for the students, particularly when ensuring our district provides a well-rounded education including funding academic programs in the Arts and Music and in Technology.
Due in part to my efforts over the years, and the enthusiasm and participation by our students in these programs, a large percentage of the Tracy area high school students enrolled and participating in music programs continues to consist of students from the Jefferson School District community. This has helped perpetuate the success of the Performing Arts magnet at Tracy High School – as stated to me personally by the Director of Performing Arts at Tracy High.
If re-elected, I will continue to serve the Jefferson School District community with all of the fervor and dedication with which I have served for the past four terms.
Re-elect Daniel Wells to help keep the students our top priority!
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Over the years and even before I began serving as a trustee, I have offered numerous out-of-the-box, forward-thinking and innovative ideas and solutions to address issues the district faced, and have vociferously opposed any cuts to academic programs without exhausting every opportunity to avoid such cuts justified by stated budget shortfalls, and suggested seeking additional revenue streams rather than merely relying on what the state funded.
Once elected, I began with efforts to shore up budget clarity to help ascertain exactly where the district finances stood, and often uncovered tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that were hidden by clerical errors and/or vague budgetary practices.
It took a few years but the primary music education program was reinstated and now our district music program flourishes at all of our schools.
There's more!
In an effort to seek additional revenue streams, at my initial suggestion, grant funds – offered by the owners of the Tracy Peaker plant to offset additional polution generated by the plant – were pursued which resulted in the purchase of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) school bus at no cost to the district, and a CNG filling station was installed on site at Jefferson School campus by PG&E – again at no cost to the district.
Regarding the advancement of Technology, I was instrumental in initially helping the district set up web sites for the district and each individual school. See www.jeffersonschooldistrict.com. Furthermore, to help the community become more aware of and involved with decision-making processes, I have hosted a community site: www.jeffersonvoice.net, which provides historical agendas, minutes, budget/financial statements/differentials and webcasts of past board meetings.
Looking to the future, I have been fortunate to have established a good rapport and working relationship with the rest of the board and our superintendent who have recognized the value I have to offer the district. We are working together to continue to maintain high academic standards and success, and to ensure the fiscal viability of the district, including support for the Measure J bond which has provided much needed funds to refurbish aging school facilities, increase security and student safety, enhance technology and install renewable energy equipment/processes while construction rates are low, thus offering opportunities to save General Funds normally expended on utilities, thereby leaving them available to maintain teaching positions and academic programs that would otherwise be threatened by budget shortfalls due to ongoing state K-12 funding cuts.
See our page on the League of Women Voters of California's Smart Voter site: http://smartvoter.org/vote/daniel_wells.
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I ask for your support.
Here's how you can help:
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Vote for Daniel Wells
Be sure you are registered to vote
and vote on election day - Nov. 2! |
Endorse the Campaign
Add your name to our list of supporters. |
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Be sure to include your name and address. |
Donate to the Campaign
Any generosity you would offer to help defray the costs
of the campaign would be most appreciated. |
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One last thing... Nothing is more effective than 'word of mouth', so would you please email this to any of your friends/
contacts who might be interested - even if they don't live in the district since they might know someone else who does... |
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