By FRANCES O'NEILL ZIMMERMAN
Member, Board of Education
It's almost baseball season, so I'm recommending that we field a new leadership team down at the Board of Education – and throw the bums out.
This suggestion is prompted by recent editorial and news coverage about the secession of La Jolla High School – the highest performance school in the entire San Diego Unified School District. In a gesture of surpassing irony, La Jolla High School may become a charter school to escape the dreadful Blueprint For Success.
In a few weeks, La Jolla High must decide between becoming an independent charter school or a "pilot" – the latter a palliative offer of Superintendent Bersin to control the damage.
I am not surprised by La Jolla High's spirited initiative to free itself from narrow Blueprint mandates. As a group, La Jollans are accustomed to changing things they cannot accept. But as a long-time La Jolla resident as well as the school's Board representative, I am deeply saddened that this excellent high school is being driven out of the traditional system in order to continue to function at its own high standard. Do we destroy the village to save it?
Those who care about viable public schools in San Diego must understand the seriousness of the possible withdrawal of La Jolla High School from the dumbed-down present system. Charter or "pilot" – it doesn't matter which route La Jolla chooses. The fundamental issue is that our public schools are being dismantled by Blueprint architects and their Board apologists who have fielded bonehead policies.
When will San Diego decide it's had enough? We need a moratorium on the damaging Bersin/Alvarado Blueprint. We need to revive the collaborative roundtable where sensible, long-lasting educational reform can be crafted with teachers, parents and administrators. We need to recognize every school's distinctive culture, provide expert guidance and support from headquarters, and hold each school accountable for planning and providing academic progress for its students.
La Jolla High's dilemma is worse than Hobson's choice. Go charter? Bersin threatens a lottery and says locals might not be able to attend their own neighborhood school. He even hints that the entire physical plant might be reclaimed by the district – including the new science center, swimming pool and turfed football field made possible by community gifts.
Go "pilot"? Its terms are amorphous at this writing, but La Jolla High would be officially exempt from the Blueprint that nonetheless continues to afflict every other school in the district. To keep the school from bolting, Bersin suddenly decided to reward it for having a high Academic Performance Index score.
Bersin says this is justifiable. I say it's unfair to 169 other schools in our system. I believe the "pilot" offer is no different from the phony "reprieve" granted five magnet schools whose monies were threatened last week, and the recent emergency "restoration" of money (for the rest of this year only) for a dying music program at Bell junior High.
Meanwhile, the Superintendent openly campaigns for his contract extension on TV talkshows and at taxpayer-financed lunches with community members whom he wishes to influence. In further service to this effort is a staff of 21 people working in the school district's Communications Division, plus a recently-hired $10,000 contract consultant who names the Superintendent himself as a reference.
I care about La Jolla High School where my own children once were students. But I also care about and represent schools across this city who suffer from the draconian Blueprint and this authoritarian administration. What about those kids, their families and teachers? Other schools are planning charters. We need to staunch this outflow by restoring a responsible school administration at San Diego Unified.
I believe it is time to address the credibility gap at San Diego Unified under Bersin and Alvarado. It is time to edit the three-year-old Blueprint for Student Success. It is time to find educational leadership that does not drive out our schools or sell out our children under the guise of closing the "achievement gap" while reaping personal gain and national fame. They've had four years. Their time is up.
Ed. note: A meeting to discuss the La Jolla High charter plan will be held tonight, March 20, from 6.30 to 8 p.m. at the LJHS Library Media Center, 750 Nautilus St. Parents and community members are invited to attend.
