The Santa Clara County Board of Education is moving quickly to find a replacement for the seat lost by the resignation of Area 6 Trustee Darcie Green, who stepped down last month after the District Attorney’s offie called into question the legality of her appointment. The school board on Wednesday will consider a timeline and form an ad hoc oversight committee to fill the vacancy. Other items on the Board agenda include efforts to prevent teen suicide and a master plan for the coming influx of charter schools.

With its vastly superior public education system, will Boston surpass Silicon Valley as the global leader of technological innovation? It’s a distinct possibility unless we get our act together. Boston is poised to win, considering the current fights focus on turf instead of better educational results for our children.

Tonight a third petition to build a second Discovery Charter School in San Jose goes back before county education officials. Other items on the county Board of Education agenda include a report on the $2 million cuts from the federal sequestration, a study on foster youth in schools and an update on Superintendent Xavier De La Torre paying back his home loan from the county.

San Jose’s largest school district will sue the Santa Clara County Office of Education over an allegedly illegal land-use exemption to pave the way for a private charter school. The San Jose Unified School District Board of Trustees last week unanimously voted to sue the county office because it granted a zoning exemption to build the eighth Rocketship charter in the region.

The audience at the SF Commonwealth Club, in the sold out Herbst Theater, stood for a sustained ovation Monday in honor of Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court Associate Justice is traveling across the country to discuss her new book, My Beloved World. Her inspiring talk touched on the importance of her schools, and it made me think of how Rocketship and other charter schools are impacting the local educational landscape.

A neighborhood I grew up in was the focus of a land use discussion raised last week at the City Council meeting. The principal question before the council was whether or not a new school should open up in this neighborhood.

We can argue over whether it is a fiscal cliff or slope, but the real challenge for America in the coming decades is improving the mediocre results of public education. The facts show that we are in a precarious position as a nation and as the largest state—11 percent of America’s children are enrolled in California schools.

I fear we are entering a new cycle of benign neglect of school reform, where the status quo continues and student achievement results do not match the urgency of the time. Yet there are some true reformers that should be mentioned.

Thanksgiving holidays have always been a time for self-reflection. This year is no different. My look in the mirror this week will reflect on my role as a member of the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Board.

Will school board and council loser Patricia Martinez-Roach, shown at left with unsuccessful council candidates Brian O’Neill and Steve Klein and labor leader Cindy Chavez in June, get appointed to Alum Rock as a consolation prize?

Alum Rock Union School District trustees are making moves to fill a vacancy left by Darcie Green’s departure. School board watchers believe the existing majority has settled on one of two candidates: Patricia Martinez-Roach, who lost two elections this year; and Javier Gonzalez, who was passed over for a county education post. The apparent fast-tracking of the process has created a firestorm in the community.

I am writing this column as a pragmatic alarmist. This phrase is oxymoronic, but an accurate portrayal of how I feel at the end of my first term on the Santa Clara County Office of Education school board. It is Election Day 2012. Four years ago, 60 friends and supporters watched the returns with me at my election night party. We celebrated the national results along with my election to the county Board of Education. Little did I know that the Board would be at eye of the political storm brewing over charter school expansions.

Election Day is one week away and the results will tell us the kind of schools and school leaders we will have. I have two very quick pleas for the public good.

As chair of the county Board of Education the last two years, I have concluded that the delivery, organization and governance of public education has changed markedly in San Jose/Silicon Valley. Much of the disequilibrium has been generated by the federal initiative called “Race to the Top,” and the Obama administration’s embrace of school choice through the advocacy of quality charter schools.

A comprehensive plan must be developed to chart the best course for the ever-expanding charter school movement—before it is too late. Like urban sprawl, the unplanned process will be disastrous. I believe there is still time for a win for our students, a win for the teachers and a win for our region.

What does the Chicago teacher strike and standoff with the city’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, portend for the future of public education? Could a teachers’ strike be in San Jose’s future? Let’s examine the facts as they relate to this struggle for improving public schools.

As the county Board of Education looks into authorizing a zoning exemption for a new Rocketship School (#8) on Lick Ave. off of Alma, by the Tamien light rail station, we are at a new day with a more reflective conversation. This issue comes up tomorrow night on the board agenda.