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Alisal Solidarity: New Life for an Old Project
The frequently asked question in East Side circles last week went something like, “Are they insane?” The other was, “Don’t they have the internet?” Read this month’s related Kiko award article to get our perspective on her hiring. For now we’ll take the high road on the internet question; many of the links that existed in 2004 are now defunct. The detailed information uncovered by our crackerjack team of researchers occupying two floors of the Unruly Building remains in our collected vaults. Mission Unaccomplished: An Unruly Perspective on No Child Left Behind's Program Improvement DesignationWhen reflecting on the milestones of the George W. Bush presidency, Iraq and a host of Iraq-related scandals overshadow other controversies characterizing his troubled tenure in this country’s most prestigious office. Bush’s landmark education reform package—a bi- Business as Usual: Issac Haqq and the Tragedy of Oakland's University Prep
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The Kiko AwardOn Tuesday, September 25 a cry rang out across the Santa Clara Valley as 965 East Side pink slip recipients erupted in unison “WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!”
Seriously. Does anyone in Salinas have internet access? Wooden Post Considers City Council Bid in 2008
Wooden Post stood for pictures but did not speak to reporters. Wooden Post shocked the political world last year when he ran as a write-in candidate against Craig Mann in the district 6 County Board of Education race last fall. He entered the race so that the controversial Mann would not run unopposed. The Evergreen Valley Times reports that Mann and ESUHSD trustee Lan Nguyen are contenders for the seat. Is Wooden Post entering the race because of his long-standing rivalry with Mann? “We will enter this campaign only if the public demands it, not because a scandal-ridden school board member and former city council chief of staff with a credit card management problem drew us in,” Reilly said. Mann and Nguyen were unavailable for comment. The Revolution is One Orange Wall Away
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 Did You Know?Did you know that East Side Union High School Board of Trustee members George Shirakawa and Eddie Garcia are professional lobbyists? Did you know George Shirakawa is registered on The City of San Jose’s official lobbyist registry? (Read here: Did you know at one time in history that type of expertise would have been called a conflict of interest? We didn’t mean to make you lose your lunch, we just thought you’d like to know! Winter PreviewThere was a slowdown at the Unruly office. Some even thought we were closing our doors for good. Nope. Not us. We just took a well-deserved extended break. We’ve got more, much more to share with our readers. This winter read about asbestos in the gold country and the superintendent who helps out her developer friends, who’s planning to throw their hat into the 2008 election ring (and who’s throwing in the towel), as well as a new feature Kiko likes to call “Where are they now?” a look back at previous Kiko winners. Maybe, if news develops, we’ll have a little dirt on the resignation of Santa Clara County Office of Education superintendent Colleen Wilcox. In the meantime, stay informed and get unruly! |
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Teachers in San Jose’s East Side Union High School District, as well as a few in Indianapolis Public Schools, suffered a bit of shock from Salinas as news traveled that Esperanza Zendejas, the controversial superintendent of both aforementioned districts, became the superintendent of the Alisal elementary school district.
partisan behemoth endorsed and crafted by Bush, Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative George Miller infamously known as No Child Left Behind—rivals the litany of failures that will plague the historical legacy of America’s 43rd president. Unfortunately, education possesses the sex appeal of farm subsidies in public policy debate. NCLB has flown under the radar outside of education circles since its inception, with most of its most ardent vocal detractors working as educators penning invectives read by sympathetic colleagues in a variety of state and national union publications and education journals.
The ambitious promise of getting students from impoverished backgrounds admitted to four-year universities has become a charter school mission statement cliché found in brochures and home pages across the United States. This promise of a magic bullet solution to improving urban education—one that has eluded most traditional public schools for decades—provides political ammunition for public education’s ardent foes who tout charter schools as a solution to a failed system. In spite of mounting evidence that charter schools do not supply superior academic preparation, rumors of escalating violence and poor performance understandably force desperate parents to seek alternatives to their traditional neighborhood school.
While there were a number of petty tyrants and corrupt edu-despots worthy of the infamous Kiko award for this issue of the Advocate, they all took a back seat to four of the five trustees on the Alisal Union School District in Salinas, California. The Alisal 4 took a huge step into infamy when they voted to give the inspiration for the Kiko award and this website another shot at being a public school superintendent.
A startling development shook the foundations of city government last Tuesday when up and coming San Jose resident Wooden Post announced he was forming an exploratory committee to consider running for the District 8 city council seat currently held by Vice-Mayor Dave Cortese. Ignatius Reilly, Wooden Post’s campaign manager and longtime friend made the official announcement in front of Orchard Supply Hardware on Cottle Road. “The phenomenal public support Wooden Post received during last year’s write-in campaign tells us the people want a candidate with a sturdy, solid reputation they know will support their views in city hall.”
Even the nicest guy on the planet can get sucked into a bad trend that offers an improbable solution to a challenging problem. Just ask anyone you know who’s tried the Atkin’s diet. There are no simple solutions to a slimmer waistline. Nor does a magic bullet exist for those attempting to solve the urban education dilemma of raising state test scores in schools in impoverished areas. The parts of the solution that do work—smaller class sizes, early intervention programs, increased teacher salaries—require money that no state official or Joe taxpayer wants to shell out. With the state and federal government failing to meet their responsibilities in the public sector, school officials are left scrambling to try creative solutions in lieu of those proven to work.