What our Kids Need to Succeed

Changing Priorities for our Schools Hal’s talk will cover the challenges to having high school graduates college or career ready, and how those changing needs might lead organizations like ours, that strongly support our schools, to rethink the priorities for our work. Hal is the former General Counsel of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest in the country with approximately 700,000 students.  Since leaving the district, Hal has continued to write and consult about education, including publishing a well-received study of high performing districts: “Renewal, Remaking America’s Schools for the 21st Century.”  He is speaking to us this week on the topic of “New challenges for our schools and changing priorities for the Rotary." Previously, Hal had a varied career. He was Deputy General Counsel/Legal Counsel at the Department of Defense and a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Tuttle & Taylor.  Between those two, he spent several years as a political consultant, including a stint as Chief of Staff to State Senator John Garamendi.  He also headed a startup software firm (who around here hasn’t?) that specialized in building data base platforms for government agencies. Hal graduated from Swarthmore College and Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Journal.  He also clerked for Judge Max Rosenn of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. As many of you know, Hal has continued to work on interesting education projects, including the development of education summit for school supporters here in Sonoma County and a nationwide effort to eliminate standardized testing for accountability purposes. Hal lives in Forestville with his wife, Estelle.