MARTHA FLUOR ON:

* Charter schools

Beginning with a cautious, “I am not opposed to charter schools,”

Fluor said she favors offering parents choices. She said that for a

charter school to be successful, it needs to be the creation of the

community. As for Mesa Leadership Academy, the charter school some Costa

Mesa residents are trying to start, she said, “I’m anxious to see it. I

think there has been a lot of good discussion, but the bottom line is

what is their intent and mission?”

* School vouchers

Fluor opposes vouchers. “It’s just not a good idea,” she said.

Although she favors choices for parents, she is against any option that

does not have to meet state requirements. “I’m not in favor of a choice

without accountability.”

* Raising test scores

She said the district is on the right track, with teachers expecting

to receive within weeks the results of a new Comprehensive Objectives

for Reaching Excellence, or CORE, test that was started this year. The

test will show each child’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I think that will allow our teachers to target difficulties these

students are having.”

* What would you do first with the bond money?

As a parent, she said the No. 1 priority is the restrooms.

“If there is one thing that hasn’t changed in 17 years, it has to be

the bathrooms.”

The school site that needs immediate attention, she said, is probably

Ensign Intermediate School, followed by TeWinkle Middle School.

* Zero Tolerance -- is it time for change?

Fluor said there is a reason board members have brought this issue

back to the table in the past year. Like many students who have broached

the subject, Fluor said the main problem is in “the consistency and

fairness of it, because I can stand here today and say it is applied

differently by different individuals.”

She said she believes in the policy as a concept, “but with it needs

to come assistance.”

If a transfer is the best thing for the student, Fluor said, she

supports it, but it may not be the only answer.