The following are comments delivered by Taylor at the November 15, 2023 HUSD Governing Board General Meeting

Madam President and members of the board,

I am a parent of two HUSD students, discontented with the proficiency levels of the district’s core curriculum scores.

In FY 22, one of every three students is not proficient in Mathematics and English Language Arts, and two of every three students are not proficient in Science. In a classroom of 30, twenty students are incompetent in science.

Every meeting I hear board members questioning science camps, conferences for teachers, software, books, and a host of other resources which include controvertible topics from highly partisan and ideological groups, only to be responded to with the feckless and trifling blanket statement of: “Trust our administrators. Trust our teachers. They will stay within standards.”

Madam President and members of the board, I am sorry, but I cannot simply “trust the teachers (administrators)” when 60 percent of your school cannot pass a science test. And to say “other districts in the state face similar numbers” is fallacious and dismissive. You are here to represent and answer for your students in your district.

I would love for my own children to go to overnight science camps, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity. I wish I had had such possibilities when I was a youth. But perhaps we should be focusing more on the core basics like passing a simple math, English, or science test. I would ask that you demand the same results of your school administrations and teachers that the tax payers demand of you. Be excellent in spite of the rest of the state. You owe it to your students.

Begin at 40:45