I have been totally flummoxed on what in today’s world constitutes a progressive agenda for public education. I believe I am a progressive on many debatable public policy issues. When I attempt to outline a progressive agenda for K-12 education I am personally conflicted now more than ever
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Chamber Endorses Carrasco for District 5
The San Jose Silicon Valley ChamberPAC has just announced they are endorsing Magdalena Carrasco for the District 5 city council seat.
“In this time of economic uncertainty, San Jose needs independent, common sense leaders like Magdalena Carrasco at City Hall,” said incoming ChamberPAC chairperson Joshua Howard in a statement. “Her commitment to neighborhood business and job creation will be a welcome addition to the council.”
A relative outsider to the local political scene, Carrasco beat out other East Side candidates Xavier Campos, Aaron Resendez and J. Manuel Herrera for the chamber’s backing.
Start-Up Education
I am so proud to be a resident of San Jose. With all the draconian budget cuts, layoffs in government and education it is easy to be depressed. Yet, San Jose is a shining example of a city that can still think strategically in down times while inspiring hope for a better future for all. This municipal strength is thanks in large measure to the organizing skills of People Acting In Community Together.
Pegram Enters District 9 Race
Larry Pegram, president and co-founder of evangelical group Values Advocacy Council, today declared his candidacy for the District 9 seat on the San Jose City Council, which is being vacated by termed-out Judy Chirco. Pegram was a member of the City Council from 1974 to 1980. His most recent political venture was a short-lived run for the GOP nomination in the 11th Congressional District.
San Jose 2010 State of the City Address
Full text of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s 2010 State of the City Address, delivered February 18, 2010 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
Charter Summit Brings Hope
Peyton Manning vs. Drew Brees: Will one of these two quarterbacks end up as MVP of Super Bowl XLIV? Entirely possible. So is eliminating the achievement gap while increasing graduation rates for students in Santa Clara County. And the odds just got significantly better for all children in our public schools.
Yeager Delivers Emotional Address
An emotional District 4 Supervisor Ken Yeager delivered the State of the County address earlier this morning as the first openly gay President of the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors.
Before a crowded hall of high-profile local officials—including District Attorney Dolores Carr, Sheriff Laurie Smith, District 1 candidates Teresa Alvarado and Forrest Williams, and the mayors of San Jose, Santa Clara and Campbell—Yeager recalled being a 26–year–old staffer for former county supervisor Susanne Wilson on Aug. 6, 1979, the day the board heard fiery arguments against a ban on discrimination against gays for housing or employment.
Subs Deserve Respect, Too
According to Carolyn Bucior, who is writing a memoir about substitute teaching, 5.2 percent of teachers nationwide are absent on any given day, a rate three times as high as that of other professionals and one and a half times higher than teachers in Britain. Regular full-time teachers receive 10 sick days per year, by collective bargaining agreement.
By the time a student completes 12th grade he has had substitute teachers for almost one year of his 13 years of schooling.
Charter Schools Could Revolutionize California Public Education
There is a Choice Revolution going on in public education today. Charter schools are at the heart of the increasing number of educational options available to parents—and public-school choice is generally a good outcome of the charter movement.
The federal program Race to the Top, which makes $4.35 billion available to states, requires that they lift caps which now limit the number of new charter schools. Locally, we are likely to see a huge growth in the number of charter schools without the 100-per-year cap imposed by the state of California.
More on the Achievement Gap
Whoa! The achievement gap continues to be a very controversial topic to many SJI posters. I was the guest of my wife, Chris, last Wednesday at San Jose’s Downtown Rotary Club. She invited me because County Superintendent Weis was the luncheon speaker presenting about SJ2020 (a City and school district initiative to close the achievement gap), currently in its embryonic stages. When Superintendent Weis participated in the Q & A immediately following his 20-minute talk, the first question from the audience was predictable
The Education-Employment Gap
I hope that the various viewpoints expressed on my blog the last few weeks have been instructive to readers and leaders. It is obvious we have a schism of opinion relative to race and the elimination of the achievement gap. The polarity of responses mirrors the divide we have on many issues in this great country.
I trust it is not too presumptuous of me to postulate that we who reside in San Jose want all children, irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity or religion to have pathways to a successful life. Can we all agree on this outcome?
Perez Retires from SJECC
Rosa Pérez, Chancellor of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, announced that she will be retiring because of poor health. Pérez has battled respiratory problems in the past. Her retirement will go into effect on June 30, when her current contract expires.
Pérez was something of a trailblazer at SJECC. She is the first Latina to serve as Chancellor on a permanent basis, and she is also one of the nation’s very few openly gay chancellors. But her tenure at the head of SJECC has not been without its controversies. She has come into conflict with the California School Employees Association for downsizing staff because of the economic crisis.
Confronting Racism in Education
Historically, civil rights issues have been a struggle. Yet solvable they are. My epiphany after last week’s unexpected tsunami of racist comments on SJI in response to my post was, sadly, that we have not come as far as I thought we had as an enlightened community. However, the bright rays of hope that we can still succeed in the goal of eliminating the achievement gap were built into the altruistic beliefs spoken by the students who are engaged in their quest to become teachers for the children in San Jose.
SJ2020: Closing the Achievement Gap
Bottom-up-reform for improving education in Silicon Valley is more effective than top-down-reform efforts, however there is a paucity of examples of the former. In our climate of entrepreneurial know-how one would think there would be a bounty of examples of schools rearranging the apples on the proverbial cart to innovate and improve achievement for all. Yet, school the way we knew it back before the Apple II was introduced is still the norm.
The Economics of Education
Before I get to the point of this column let me congratulate, Elinor Ostrom, who yesterday became the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize in economics. Ms. Ostrom, a political scientist at Indiana University, was honored along with Oliver Williamson, an economist at UC Berkeley. This gets me to the topic of this week’s post. The economy and education are inextricably linked.
District 1 Race is On
Sitting at a café table outside Original Joe’s in downtown San Jose, Forrest Williams unzips his binder and starts flipping through the pages within, searching for a document. He finds what he is looking for: a slightly wrinkled, stapled packet of paper with a large amount of handwriting in the margins. This packet contains a long list of city council members, county supervisors, assembly members, senators and water board members—everyone the former San Jose City Councilman has ever worked with in his two decades as an elected official.
