On Monday night, October 12, the Hollywood Riviera Homeowners Association put the same questions to both candidates for Torrance Unified’s Trustee Area D seat. Jennifer Mak — 38 years in public education as a teacher, principal, and administrator, and a Torrance parent whose three children all graduated from TUSD schools — answered the way she has her whole career: students first, every tax dollar to the classroom, listen before you decide. Below is a summary of her answers, with short quotes in her own words.
Who is Jennifer Mak?
Jennifer Mak is a career educator with 38 years in public education as a teacher, a principal and a school administrator. Her family has called Torrance home for nearly 30 years, and their three children are all graduates of Torrance Unified schools.
In her opening, she said TUSD is personal to her: “My family has called Torrance for nearly 30 years, and our three children are all proud products of TUSD.” Her campaign theme is Excellence for the Next Generation: Raise the Bar, built on putting students first, expanding partnerships with families and the community, and empowering educators.
“I don’t just know what our schools want to achieve,” she said. “I know from experience what it takes to get there.”
Related: More about Jennifer
Where does Jennifer Mak stand on AI in schools?
Jennifer Mak says AI in schools should be age and developmentally appropriate, teacher-guided, and protective of students’ privacy and academic integrity. She recommends no AI use in elementary school, digital citizenship in middle school, and AI as a learning tool under a teacher’s oversight in high school.
In elementary school, she wants no AI use, because those formative years are for developing speaking, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. In middle school, students should learn digital citizenship, including how to critically evaluate AI information. In high school, AI can be a learning tool, for example when students look up sources for a group project, but only under a teacher’s oversight.
Good teaching, she said, still rests on teachers’ knowledge of the content standards, sound instructional practice, and knowing each student’s needs. (The forum question covered AI and screen time; her answer focused on AI.)
Related: Should my fifth grader be using AI?
How would Jennifer Mak attract and keep good teachers in TUSD?
Fair, competitive pay and health benefits, and teachers who feel respected. Her plan is to redirect savings in the district budget toward teacher compensation, make better use of restricted funds to free up general funds for teacher pay, and bring in more enrollment.
A teacher for 16 years (“Once a teacher, always a teacher”), she calls teachers the district’s greatest assets. She told the story of a North High teaching couple she met while canvassing, before TTA and the district reached their agreement: the husband paid nothing out of pocket for health benefits, but the wife paid $1,500 to cover a family of four. “That broke my heart.”
Her three steps: look for savings in the district budget to redirect toward teacher compensation; optimize restricted funds to free up general funds, part of which could go to teacher pay, while keeping the district fiscally healthy for the long term; and bring in more enrollment, with Meridian Academy as an example. Investing in teachers, she said, is an investment in students.
Related: How will you support teachers?
Does Jennifer Mak support closing TUSD schools because of declining enrollment?
Her answer to declining enrollment is to grow it, by bringing back families who leave for private schools in Palos Verdes, academies and parochial schools. She calls closing any campus “a very emotional experience” that affects the staff as well as the facility.
She asked the room to look at the issue from a different angle: how might TUSD increase enrollment? She credited the approval of Meridian Academy, a dependent charter school that keeps TUSD’s oversight and accountability, as an excellent way to bring students in.
At the door, she hears from families choosing other schools. One dad told her he was sending his three-year-old to a Spanish immersion program in Palos Verdes; she told him she wants to “bring both of them back to Torrance.” As a principal, she earned a partnership with UCLA Lab School in 2018, which helped her school keep its enrollment, because families got for free what would cost thousands in tuition elsewhere.
What would Jennifer Mak do first on the TUSD school board?
Listen first, then promote achievement for every student: high achievers, students who are struggling, students with special needs, and English language learners.
She would start by listening to students, families, educators and school leaders to learn the district’s strengths and its areas for growth. To her, “every student” means high achievers who deserve to be challenged, struggling students who deserve timely intervention, students with special needs who deserve the resources to access learning, and English language learners who deserve targeted instruction.
As principal of 15th Street School, she led the work to close the achievement gap, and the school earned the California Gold Ribbon School Award in 2016.
Related: My lessons from 38 years in public education
How would Jennifer Mak keep TUSD parents informed about board decisions and spending?
Keep parents informed, listen to them, and get their input on everything the district does. She wants every tax dollar to reach the classroom.
The question also asked about social media; her answer focused on how she has kept parents informed and involved. As a principal, she looked at the data, surveyed teachers and parents, and shared student achievement data with her school site council every month. She built each budget around one question: how might we maximize our fiscal resources to promote student achievement? “Our budget is not just my decision. It’s our decision.”
On the board, she wants to hold the district leadership team accountable for a data-driven, collaborative process, and to make sure every tax dollar reaches the classroom to support teachers and students.
Related: How did you run a school budget?
Does Jennifer Mak support e-bike certification for TUSD students?
Yes. Jennifer supports requiring e-bike certification classes like Redondo Unified’s, because student safety is always the number one priority.
She wants a system in place before someone gets hurt, and she wants police to come to schools for assemblies so students understand what it means to ride an e-bike.
What did Jennifer Mak say about banning books in TUSD?
She does not support banning textbooks, and noted that the state already sets academic standards.
She wants the district to explain clearly how instructional materials are chosen, and to give parents, teachers and community members a chance to review them and share their input. “My goal is to make sure that we promote transparency,” she said. “We also want all voices at that table.”
Related: How do you choose a school’s textbooks?
What does Jennifer Mak think TUSD students need over the next four years?
Students first: every student with access to excellent teaching, social-emotional support, and meaningful preparation for college, career and life.
She closed on championing educators with the resources, support and compensation they need, strengthening partnerships with families so they feel valued, and expanding community partnerships to give students multiple pathways to success. She and her husband began the campaign in June by going door to door to listen to Area D residents, and she said she will keep listening.
Related: The work begins with listening
