Is Charter a Better Way? Point Loma Cluster Community Forum

 

The Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation invites you (parents, teachers, staff and community stakeholders) to a community dialogue on February 2, 2011 from 6pm to 8pm at Barnes Tennis Center.

 

Education is the social justice issue of this century. 67% of US citizens believe we have a crises in education. Reform conversations are occurring at a rapid pace throughout the US. President Obama says money without reform will not fix the problem. Nationally, 32 states have already changed laws to support reform to create better schools. Despite improvement of cluster schools, 3 out of 10 students are not proficient in English Language Arts and Math.

 

For the past 12 months the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation (PLCSF) has reached out to stakeholders hosting community outreach forums and sending out cluster wide survey to hear your voice. A common theme from our community regarding our cluster schools has been control of budget and programs, accountability, teacher evaluation, data driven decision making, hiring flexibility at school sites, engaging / relevant curriculum, paced / personalized learning environments, de-tracking of students, stability of leadership and flexible / adaptive schools.

 

Get involved, hear from our great panel, learn more about our cluster schools and have your voice heard! Panel discussion will be followed by questions for the panel and community dialogue.

 

 

Paula A. Cordeiro is the Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. Cordeiro is a former teacher, principal and school head in international schools in Venezuela and Spain. She is a past president of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). Paula has published three books and recently finished the fourth edition of her co-authored text (An Introduction to Educational Leadership: A Bridge to Improved Practice. Paula's research is in the areas of school leadership, somatic learning and global education.

Ben Austin is the Executive Director of Parent Revolution since and serves as a member of the California State Board of Education. Ben has also served as a Deputy Mayor under Mayor Richard Riordan from 2000-01, as well as Senior Advisor to First 5 California from 2002-2006, where he helped create LA Universal Preschool that serves 10,000 low-income children. Ben also served as the Communications Director for the 2000 Democratic National Convention and served in the Clinton White House in a variety of roles between 1994-1999. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Georgetown Law School.

 

Larry Rosenstock is the founding principal of High Tech High. He taught carpentry for 11 years after law school in urban high schools in Boston. He served as staff attorney for two years at the Harvard Center for Law and Education, and was a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for five years. Larry was principal of the Rindge School of Technical Arts, and the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He directed the federal New Urban High School Project, was president of the Price Charitable Fund. Larry's program, "CityWorks", won the Ford Foundation Innovations Award in 1992.

 

 

Hugh ("Bud") Mehan is Professor of Sociology and Director of The Center for Research on Educational Equity, Access, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) at UCSD. Since receiving his PhD in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara in 1971, he has studied classroom organization, educational testing, tracking and untracking, computer use in schools and the construction of identities such as the “competent student,” the “learning disabled student,” the “mentally ill patient” and the “genius.” He has authored 6 books including his recently published book, Reform as Learning discusses the contentious cultural and political controversies engendered by the reforms instituted by Alan Bersin and Tony Alvarado in San Diego.