Quality public education should be the number one issue of our time, and the president the next four years should be leading the effort to create a public school system in America second to none. Nation building at home must be the mantra, and it needs to begin with our children.
At 6pm tonight at Hofstra University, the second Presidential Debate of 2012 will take place. Debate moderator Candy Crowley, CNN’s chief political correspondent, will introduce the candidates for a Town Hall meeting format. The stakes for the two candidates are huge, especially for the incumbent.
Either candidate could score points if they raise the issue of quality public education from preschool through grade 16. But each candidate should have specific suggestions on how to come closer to the top public education model enjoyed in Finland.
I wish I could be there to ask a question, but the audience is suppose to be made up of undecided voters, and I have already made up my mind. However, if I were there I would ask a question about education, which intertwines with every other major issue. National security, economic growth, quality of life, reducing crime, increasing GDP, innovation, and health care are all related to the preschool through 16 grade public education system, which is currently at risk.
My question: “Mr. President, Many studies in the last few years have pointed to the importance of the teacher’s role in creating equity in opportunity for all students at the highest of achievement levels. In Redwood City last month I heard your Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, say that the teacher preparation pipeline system in America is badly broken. If reelected, what would you do in order to fix it and ensure that all children, no matter where they live or the color of their skin, has a highly skilled and talented teacher in their classrooms?”
And a question for Gov. Mitt Romney: “Mr. Governor, in the October 2012 newsletter by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools, Program and Policy Analysis, it is asserted that ‘…society needs to recruit and retain a substantially greater proportion of the best and the brightest college graduates as career teachers and student support staff.’ What would you do as President to ensure that this long range goal becomes a reality by the end of your second term?”
I would not expect much of a comprehensive answer from either candidate. For too long the political system on the national level neglects to pay proper attention to public education. Therefore, we have initiatives like Race to the Top from 2009 that put, as some say, the failed national policies of No Child Left Behind on steroids.
If I had a follow-up question I would zero in on the local scene in Silicon Valley:
“President Obama and Gov. Romney, you both know about the Rocketship Education Charter Management Organization and the success of the blending learning model, parent involvement and longer school day begun in San Jose, CA.
“In Santa Clara County, the county school board has approved 25 Rocketships. Their CEO John Danner says he could not have the level of success experienced with student test results without the Teach For America Program. Roughly 80 percent of Rocketship’s teachers are from TFA. The vast preponderance of Rocketship’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch and are English Language Learners. As you both know, TFA recruits the top tier of graduates from mostly Ivy League Universities to teach for a minimum of two years—usually these are not your career teachers.
“In addition, Summit Charter School, one of their first schools in Redwood City was featured in ‘Waiting For Superman,’ and it has 30-50 percent of its teachers recruited directly from the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). These are usually career teachers. Therefore, I have concluded that if the teacher preparation pipeline is broken in America it is broken in Silicon Valley and we must fix it now. Any ideas for us locally?
“And lastly, Mr. President and Gov. Romney, how would you support reforming state teacher tenure laws and last hired, first fired collective bargaining precepts?”
Perhaps when this column is published someone can send it over to Candy Crowley before the debate. With a thoughtful response to one of these questions, I might even be persuaded to vote differently than my current decision. For me, no issue is more important today than the quality of our public education system.
Joseph Di Salvo is president of the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Board of Trustees. He is a native of San Jose.
This is a task better left to individual states. However, I’d say the best answers are to streamline the educational system, get rid of the ‘middlemen’ i.e. county boards of education, mandate a voucher system that associates tax dollars with the student, regardless of the school that is attended or whether it is public or private, basically create more of a free market system with less bureaucracy.
But, you’ve never advocated any of that, so it’s unlikely you’ll describe answers such as this (and I distinctly remember Mitt Romney advocating a voucher system) as ‘coherent’.
If you read the letters to the editor, from HATE STAMPOLIS WEBSITE LEADER KATHY WATANABE, you will wonder if the cause of American education is served by this hate speech.
For two long in Santa Clara, a vicious cyber bully has haunted the good homes of the city attacking every one. Now it seems this lazy slob of a blogger has new disciples. Retired educators and “parent leaders” who seem to have little to do but to attack elected college trustees and county board members as paid operatives for anti Stampols campaign, though they are supposed to be city commissioners.
The deal was made for Karl Watanabe to get a free ride for the West Valley Board by other board members, who employed the rotten cyberbully as a “consultant,” who gave Karl Watanabe a free seat on the college board while Kathy Watanabe could sponsor a website attacking Stampolis.
Stampolis and his allies want to reform education, but Santa Clara Unified is the place where retired administrators due more about their pension packages than school funding. ^There are wait lists for the two back to basic schools because school administrators are out busy campaigning and not teaching.
James Rowen appears again. He is not a retired SC school worker. He is a paid cyberbully.
Note:
two should be too
due should be do
I think the debate revealed the candidates position on Education.
The President is for it and Romney is against it.
> I think the debate revealed the candidates position on Education.
> The President is for it and Romney is against it.
Rich! Rich! Rich!
You can do better than THIS.
You’re a PROFESSIONAL political consultant, for heaven’s sake.
Only mouth-breathing sub-morons are going to believe your analysis.
Or, maybe that’s the method to your madness.