“This is the civil rights movement of our times.” “We are bleeding to death.” “This is a public safety issue.” These comments were spoken by members of Supervisor Dave Cortese’s contingent that rode up to Sacramento yesterday to make a bold statement about the lack of funding for public education.
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How Little Cau Bich Tran’s Death Taught Us
When news broke of a 27-year-old Vietnamese man being shot and killed at his home by a San Jose police officer, the pain of the tragedy in the local community was amplified by a gut-wrenching and unexpected feeling—familiarity.
While questions are still being asked after the May 10 shooting of Daniel Pham, the basic fact pattern that has been disclosed by the San Jose Police Department is sadly reminiscent of a 2003 incident involving a young Vietnamese mother, Cau Bich Tran, who was shot by San Jose police in her home.
Do Students Know About Memorial Day?
Hopefully, we all took a moment yesterday to honor those who have fallen while serving under our nation’s flag. However, I wonder how many of our public school students can actually tell us what the meaning and significance of Memorial Day is? US History is too often a dreaded subject in the nation’s schools.
Art is a Valuable Subject
“Art Empowers” is the title of an inspiring new student exhibition at the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University. I participated in handing out achievement certificates to more than 75 students enrolled in the ArtsConnect program of the Arts Council Silicon Valley (ACSV). The work was created in conjunction with local artists, and includes video, music, sculptures, poems and paintings. This is the 11th year of the student exhibition.
A Two-Tiered Education System
‘Surge of Charter Schools Coming to Silicon Valley, whether districts like it or not,’ was the title of the April 8, 2009 editorial in the San Jose Mercury News. Are we preparing ourselves for the aftermath of the destruction the surge wave can cause our public school system?
Blame Reckless Lenders
It’s official: the wave of defaults sweeping California and the nation is the result of irresponsible lending practices, which peaked in late 2006, according to a just-released report.
MDA DataQuick, a real estate analyst, reports that three lenders were on the tip of that wave, making a stunning number of bad loans. Between 65 percent and 75 percent of the loans made by the three—ResMAE Mortgage, Master Financial and Ownit Mortgage Solutions—have since gone south, DataQuick reports. They sold almost all of these loans to other banks, which then repackaged them into the now-familiar house-of-cards arrangements that have since collapsed.
Volunteers Make Schools Work
Schools could never make it without the dedication and generosity of their volunteers. From booster clubs to parent governance organizations like PTA, from tutors in math to builders of a school theater set, from career day speakers to cooks at a spring open-house barbecue, schools are enriched by volunteerism.
Gauging Interest
The jockeying has started early for the termed-out District 1 supervisor’s seat held by Don Gage, which will be on the ballot in June 2010, still more than a year away. Former San Jose City Councilmember Forrest Williams has been telling anyone who will listen that he’s running for the seat, and water district board member Rosemary Kamei has been mentioned as another possible candidate. One interesting entrant would be Teresa Alvarado, daughter of ex-Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, who’s been telling friends she’s serious about taking a run at it. The race could become even more interesting if Republican Pat Dando, a former San Jose city councilmember and mayoral candidate who currently runs the Chamber of Commerce, dives in
Give More Kids a Head Start
As part of his War on Poverty, and his visionary effort to create a Great Society, Pres. Lyndon Johnson launched the Head Start preschool program in 1965. That program is designed to meet the early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent education needs of many of our poorest children and families. Fortunately, Head Start was on the list for a significant increase in funding in the recent 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, just passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.
Fraternity Life & Death
Junior Johnson’s Sigma Chi brothers are mourning his apparent suicide, while his mother says they killed him
On the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2008, 20-year-old Gregory Marcel Johnson Jr. was discovered dead in the basement of the Sigma Chi fraternity house in downtown San Jose. He was found hanging from a ceiling water pipe, a noose fashioned from 14-gauge heavy-duty electrical cord wrapped around his neck twice.
Can Charter Schools Save Us?
Our K-12 public school system continues to wallow in mediocrity at a time when many nations are continuing to create a vastly more educated workforce, especially in mathematics and science. As a citizen of this great nation, I am more than a little scared about what this eventually means for us as we desperately attempt to recover as an economic superpower in this information-based economy.
San Jose Unified Must Come Clean
By Jill Escher
It’s time for SJUSD to right its wrongs. The District was found guilty of unconstitutional backdoor taxation when, in early 2006, it secretly refinanced 1997 Measure C bonds to artificially raise tax rates to repay $22 million of new bond debt. This week, Attorney General Jerry Brown handed down his much-anticipated opinion that such double dipping violates the state constitution and is illegal.
Working and Learning
Can we reduce the drop-out rate, and increase character while reducing the risky behaviors of teens, one service learning project at a time? I think we can.
The Newest Member of the Dream Team
Roll call for the emerging Presidential cabinet of the United States of America: National security team…check. Green energy & environmental team…check. Economic team…check. The United States of America now has the star quarterback in President-elect Obama, VP-elect Joseph Biden as the back-up quarterback, pro bowl quality offensive and defensive teams, yet only today will we meet the person who will be nominated for the hugely strategic position integrally related to our national security and global economic survival…the Secretary of Education.
Teachers Deserve Respect—and Money
When a bright, eager, socially conscious 21 year old tells his family and friends he wants to go into teaching, he most often gets this retort: “Damn…that is a total waste of the good money your parents spent on sending you to college and a squandering of your talents and skills.” How sad. When I told my parents I wanted to be a teacher in 1973, they were proud of my career choice.
Read This, and Thank a Teacher
By Joseph Di Salvo
California spends a lot of money on education—more than $65 billion from all funding sources in 2007-08 for K-12. Yet nearly 40 percent of Latino youth and African-American youth drop out of school prior to high school graduation. Silicon Valley’s drop-out numbers are a little higher than the state average. How disdainful is this in the land of the wealthiest and most educated people on the planet?
