ABOUT BRIAN

I was born in 1982 in the small mountain town of Weed, CA, 45 minutes from the Oregon border. At 18 I attended the University of California, Davis, where I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History. It was also there that I met my beautiful wife, Samantha. While at school, I became active in politics, ultimately working my way up to serve as Director of the Team California Taxpayer’s Voter Guide, a statewide election mailer which advocated on behalf of taxpayers. After graduation I worked as an Event and Distance Learning Coordinator at UC Davis before deciding to pursue a career as a Financial Advisor.

In 2013, a year which saw the birth of my first son Jack, as well as a personal bout with cancer, my wife and I decided to move to Oregon to be closer to her family. Having left my career as a Financial Advisor behind, I decided to pursue a career in technology, a field that I believe, more than any other, has the potential for the material improvement in the lives of mankind. Today, I am a Senior Project Manager at Selectron Technologies, where I work to implement software solutions that provide citizens better access to their local and state governments.
​
I believe in a meaningful life, lived in pursuit of goals greater than one’s self. That is why I am running for Newberg School Board. Will you join me?

Photo: Sarah Morace Photography

A VOICE FOR CHANGE

Our education system is broken, we all know it. State mandates and the absurd hyper-focus on standardized testing have tied the hands of well-meaning teachers and staff, preventing them from finding innovative ways to reach their students. Under the current system students are not children, they are commodities on an assembly line. They attend school not to learn, but to sit in a seat for the requisite number of hours so the District will get its tax dollars from the State. Meanwhile, our kids aren’t even given adequate time to eat a proper lunch. We are better than this, and our schools can be better than this, but it will require all of us demanding bold, fundamental change to our school system.

We need to go back to the drawing board to design a humane, holistic approach to learning that puts the student at the center. There are other school systems across the country and around the world that have figured out approaches that deliver better results while costing less than we are spending now. Let’s learn from these examples and implement reforms based on them to improve outcomes and reduce costs.
​
Our problems are solvable. The time for action is now. Let’s stand up together and demand the change that our children deserve. It is long overdue.