Welcome

Having taught students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools for over 15 years, I have witnessed the impact of poor School Board policies in the classroom. And now the School Board has bankrupted the School District with their wasteful spending. I do not believe that the students and the taxpayers should suffer for the current Board Directors' mistakes, and that is why I am running for School Board Director of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, District 6.

If you agree with me that we need a sensible voice on the School Board, then please support me this November 8 by voting for Lisa Jones as Pittsburgh School Board Director of District 6.  It also would be greatly appreciated if you could help me in this endeavor by volunteering or donating to my campaign.  Thank you.

paid for by the Lisa Jones 4 School Board committee

About Lisa

Lisa Jones is fully invested in the City of Pittsburgh and its public schools.  She is a teacher with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, and her late husband George owned a small business in the Beechview neighborhood where they lived.  They were part of the neighborhood block watch to support the business community and neighbors.  She still lives in the same house that she and her late husband renovated nearly 20 years ago and belongs to the same church, Holy Trinity Lutheran, that she and George joined after they were married.

Lisa Jones appreciates the concerns of the parent.  All though she never had children of her own, she helped raised her late husband’s younger son from a previous marriage.  She also has a loving relationship with her teenage niece with whom she spends part of her summers. 

Lisa Jones believes in building relationships with students, parents, and the community.  She has taught chemistry at the same High School, Pittsburgh Carrick, for more than 15 years, so she is very familiar with the students and community.  She also coached the girl’s track team, advised the Students Against Destructive Decisions organization for many years, and worked on a committee for Curriculum Reform and Leadership.  In the summer of 2008, she facilitated a summer chemistry program for economically disadvantaged students at Duquesne University.

Lisa Jones supports Pittsburgh Public Schools and a quality education that offers courses and core curriculum that meets the students’ needs, elective courses that facilitates creativity and boosts cognitive skills, trade skills that make math and science more relevant, extra-curricular activities that builds school spirit and a sense of community. 

Lisa Jones supports the collaboration of the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools to provide safe neighborhoods and schools that fosters learning environments for our students to succeed and become well-informed, productive citizens.

Issues

Protecting The Family Budget

In this economy, families are struggling to make ends meet.  Even with all the efforts by PPS administrators to reduce the deficit, my opponent has not ruled out raising taxes to pay for unwarranted initiatives.   We must reduce the tax burden on working families so they can afford college for their children, a mortgage on a home and providing the basics of food, clothing, and shelter.  As your representative, I pledge to work within a balanced budget and watch the spending like a hawk to avoid raising taxes.

Saving Our Schools

   

Public Schools face more challenges today than ever before.  Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) has closed more schools and lost more students to Charter Schools as a result of low student achievement.  And yet, the budget for PPS has ballooned by over $40M in the last five years that it placed the District in an operating deficit of more than $65 M.

Directives approved by the current Board President to close more schools, furlough teachers, and cut good programs are PPS most recent efforts to reduce the deficit.  This approach will only adversely effect student achievement by further shuffling of students, mushrooming the number of students to teacher, and offering fewer course options and after school programs that engage students.  Unfortunately, plans to deflate managerial bloat have not been adequately addressed.  As a result, there are still more administrators to students than there are teachers to students.  I believe that taxpayers’ monies need to go to the classroom where it will impact student learning the most.

More over, we may lose even more students to parochial and private schools with the advent of vouchers.  We cannot afford to stay the course, as my opponent wants.  If we are to attract families back to our schools, then we need to accomplish two things:  establish safe learning environments and improve the quality of our students’ education.  As your representative, I pledge to collaboratively work with the other board members to resolve the issues.

Contact Information

If interested in volunteering your time, I may be contacted at l.jones31@yahoo.com.

Monetary donations may be sent to P.O. Box 79074, Pittsburgh, PA 15216.  Please make checks payable to Lisa Jones 4 School Board committee. 

For other types of donations, please contact me at l.jones31@yahoo.com.