I came to the US in February 1975 and was "throw" into a traditional school. I admit, the first several years were difficult as there were no ESL classes. Looking back, I think it was the best thing the school system could have done for me. Success is not only about school spending millions, but it's a concerted effort with the family to make learning English a priority.

I know a family whose CA borned 1st grader hardly speaks English even thought the child attended an all English speaking pre-school. As a district parent, I'm against spending millions on school programs with no accountability from families to make English a priority in their daily lives.

As a public school teacher who taught his first course in 1975 it's painfully obvious it isn't the teachers or the school - it's the local economy. Poor economies have low scoring schools. Wealthy economies enjoy the opposite.

It's all about money, not about teachers or teaching methods or the Common Core or No Child Left Behind. It's local economics. When a parent has to work two or three jobs just to put food on the table they simply don't have enough time to help raise the child and that includes school.

Sorry to be blunt but unless the community is will to help ALL the folks, not much will happen.

Excuse me, Mr. Nelson. You are comparing apples to bananas if you compare Stevenson with Theuerkauf. There was never a community between the two.

If you look at the relationship between PACT (now called Stevenson) and Castro, when PACT was located there, you can compare apples to apples. They ran as two separate schools, but there was a community of people helping the whole school as well. PACT brought the very successful Walk-a-thon and ran it the first year with lots of volunteer help from Castro. The following year, Castro parents help to lead it. After PACT's departure, they ran it on their own - again very successfully.

There was never a community built or intended to be built between these two schools. It was a clear case of one school moving in next door.

Having said that, a Stevenson mom did bring Shakespeare in and both schools were able to benefit. A Stevenson mom brought BAWSI girls to the school and girls from both schools were able to participate. In addition, Theuerkauf allowed Stevenson to use it's multi-use room for the annual play.

It is so important to look at the whole picture before you say things like that! (You should actually apologize to both schools for your baseless claim.)

I agree with @taxpayer. I grew up in a poor, non-English speaking household with parents who held multiple jobs, yet my siblings & I all went on to earn multiple degrees and have successful careers. Were we smarter than the kids at Castro? No. Were my parents able to help us with our homework? No. We came home to an empty apartment, in a neighborhood where most people would lock their car doors if they drove through. Did we have various programs in school to help us? No. The only difference is that my parents instilled in us the importance of school and emphasized that that should be our first priority.

It seems that various districts have tried various programs aimed at the students and it's not helping. How about we tell the parents the truth - that their children's educational success or failure begins at home? Maybe the money should be spent educating & changing the parents' mindset.

If I may speak in generalities as a former urban teacher and not specifically to any pending actions before the board.

You can have the worst schools and some will succeed, the question is how much failure are we willing to tolerate?

There was a time when it did not matter if everyone received a successful education, but many of those non-skilled jobs are now outsourced or automated.

The public taxpayer cost of a failed education system will grow exponentially.

We are now left with two options:
Let a large number of students fail, and later publicly subsidize that failure with even greater tax dollars in welfare, crime, and lower tax generation, or stop doing what doesn’t work, and turnaround our schools with proven programs and wraparound services designed to treat poverty as the complex disease it really is. There’s models around the nation and world, and yes many have costs.

A taxpayer should be delighted that some school systems in our nation no longer want to continue the status quo and spend money on the same thing if it’s not working, and rather commit to hard changes that will reap long-term dividends for both children and taxpayers.

Side note, the first state to provide costly universal preschool to poor children was the Republican legislature in Oklahoma Web Link

Christopher Chiang
Mountain View Whisman School Board Trustee
The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Mountain View Whisman School District or the school board.

@Christopher Chiang

Comparing California to Oklahoma does not always work.

What is Oklahoma's position on gay marriage and providing services to illegal immigrants?

Go by Castro and take a look at all the kids that get picked up and dropped off by parents....

at least 4x as many as were picked up and dropped off at my elementary--which fed into one of the best schools in CA (and has been for 30+ years)

Working has nothing to do with it.

I have participated in several Castro programs through various community groups and am amazed at the vitality and interaction of the students. I also watch all the children who are walked to and from school with their mothers. Some of the parents have cars but I bet many don't.

That in itself limits the scope of interaction with the school and its associated programs. If the parents can not read and write they will not be able to help with homework. Computer? Again no help from many parents.

Adult Ed is clear over on Moffett Blvd...no car no school. If any adult classes were offered at Castro they would have to be at night since most parents work all day. Getting a tired adult to a school at night could be a deal-breaker to start with. The Dayworker Center already offers many classes...perhaps they could be involved in the solution for the parents. Children learn quickly as mentioned previously but if they go home and never get to speak English it slows down the learning process.

I grew up on the Mexican border and there were many non-English-speaking kids. I got to tutor many for several years during Reading since I was already ahead of the rest of the class. Not bragging, just saying. Mentorship is a powerful thing if it can be incorporated into a complete solution.

Send the Illegals packing and problem solved.