Posted on 01/17/2005 10:12:25 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Outraged that one of their neighborhood schools may close and worried about San Jose Unified School District's future, a group of parents in Almaden and Blossom Valley are trying to break away and create their own new ``South Valley'' district.
The ambitious plan includes 13 schools that would serve many affluent, mostly white and Asian families in the southern end of the existing sprawling school district. San Jose Unified would be left with 30 schools and a student population nearly two-thirds Latino and likely poorer than its southern counterpart.
The secession movement has infuriated Superintendent Don Iglesias and could turn ugly as parents move ahead with an effort that some officials see as misguided.
``As a school district, we clearly will not support any attempt to tear apart one of the most successful and ethnically diverse urban school districts in the state,'' Iglesias said. ``This is a lengthy process that expends energy in a divisive way and is highly unlikely to be approved at any level.''
The secession movement faces an uphill battle to win county approval, and few similar efforts in California have prevailed. Many liken such reorganizations to a bitter divorce, and San Jose Unified is not likely to give up territory, campuses and high-performing schools without a fight.
The breakaway district has been discussed quietly since October, primarily among active Almaden parents and on a listserv.
Stunning move
But San Jose Unified's recent announcement that Randol Elementary is one of three schools likely to close at the end of this academic year has angered scores of families, many of whom are stunned that Randol -- a National Blue Ribbon School with high test scores -- is even being considered for closing.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Now that's innovative management, huh?
FRont Page of the Merc, Upper right column
Superintendent Don Iglesias is very unhappy .. LOL
SV Ping please?
can you do that? just up and create a new school district?
and 43 (30 left plus 13 split) schools seems like too many schools in one district.
Sorry, am away from the 'pooter that has it. < |:(~
The state has to approve any change.. which adds to the mess.
Forget about local controls and the education of your children..
This is the age of status quo and entrenched bureaucracies.
or is it? ;)
Just homeschool and ignore the school fiascos...
Sorry, am away from the 'pooter that has it. < |:(~
First time I saw the post, I thought there was an extra "f" in the word. ;)
I'm one of the parents trying to split.
I have a special needs daughter. If we homeschool her or send her to private school, then we lose all of her special education services.
It would be very expensive to pay for all of those services.
When you have a special needs kid, you don't have many choices.
So closing nationally recognized schools is now defined as "successful" by the teacher's union.
The only thing working for us is a new change in administration in our state.
We got very lucky and happened to see Tom Campbell at the grocery store where we were collecting signatures. He talked to us a long time, and sent a letter to the Superintendent requesting information.
We're starting to get press, and that's a good thing. The more visible this thing is the better.
I think I need to go walk my neighborhood today. I need to get more signatures!
The teachers are against this whole thing. This is a letter that the teachers and staff sent to one of our local papers.
http://www.almadenresident.com/ar-op-guest.shtml
This is a school administration problem. They are the problem, and they have their own private agendas and it is not for the good of the kids.
The sun is out in North SJ. Have a nice walk ... And Good Luck!! :-)
I am so happy. We are definitely making waves.
Mr. Iglesia was very arrogant at the public forums last week. I was late to the Thursday meeting, and I guess he starting that meeting off with telling the parents how to act. He didn't like it when parents in the audience were clapping after points made by the speakers.
The district keeps on trying to spin this that they are closing my kids school because of decreasing enrollment. I went to a non-biased website that analyzes school data. It graphs enrollment each school in the district since 1998. Our school lost like 5 kids last year before that enrollment was increasing. Of course, I know a few of the parents who didn't enroll their kids in our school. They were afraid the district was going to close our school since we were on the chopping block last year.
Now, there are schools in the district who have never been on the short list, and their enrollment has been dropping for many years.
Now, I need to start looking up demographics. Our school is 13 % Asian, 27% hispanic, and 50% white. One of the high schols (Pioneer) has similar demographics. However, it is somehow not diverse enough. One of the other elementary schools (Almaden) is 75% hispanic and 12 % white.
California has gotten so diverse that I think it is going to be hard for them to say that we are trying to separate by race.
Also, one of our most active parents is Hispanic.
There's one teacher that's out of a job no matter what happens.
I've had this discussion with teachers and ex-teachers that I know. What the teachers want and what the union wants are not typically the same thing.
I don't know the situation in California, but here in the People's Democraitc Republic of Illinois, if the schools do something that doesn't make sense, the union is usually behind it.
Good luck with your efforts to keep the school open. ;)
Looks like we're going to be on the news tonight:
Ch 4 short story at 4 PM -- Chris Brubaker was interviewed
Ch 5 at 5PM
Ch 4: Longer story at 6 PM
I think we're getting pretty good press.
The district must be a bit nervous. I think it's a good local issue for the news to cover.
Good!
KRON will repeat at 9PM and they all should be running on the late news as well..
They get tired of covering the same old crap coming out of the City Hall. Besides, they have kids too, and can connect to the issues better, perhaps.
It's for the kids, after all. ;-)
You should live in my state. The courts ruled that every child in the state is eligible for special education services whether they go to public school, private school, Catholic school, Christian school, or homeschool.
The thing is that our school is multi-cultural, so they really can't make the argument that we are not diverse enough. In San Jose, if whites are a majority at a school it is only by about 51-55%.
It's just that at our school at least one parent has a job, and I think everyone is legal.
Now, they are talking about the haves vs the have-nots.
The district is just trying to spin things to get their agenda passed.
The district says that they want to work with the parents. However, the district's only option is to close our school and go to a lower performing, older, and uglier school with less facilities like a science lab and nature trail. As long as the parents agree with that, then the district wants to work with us.
The district also wants us to tell Sacramento to fix the problems. I personally don't want Sacramento or the feds to fix the problems. Schools should be fixed locally. If our district is split, then I think the local community will support our small district.
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