|
Private Foundations Shouldn't Dictate Public School Management Jobs, CTA President Johnson Says
He Criticizes Foundation Meddling in San Diego School District
California Teachers Association
1705 Murchison Drive
P. O. Box 921
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
(650) 697-1400 www.cta.org
Contact: Becky Zoglman at 916-442-5895 or Mike Myslinski, 650-552-5324
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2002
SAN DIEGO - Citing recent private foundation grants in San Diego that come with dubious strings attached, California Teachers Association President Wayne Johnson is criticizing the practice of donations being used to dictate who will run public schools.
This school year alone, according to news reports, the San Diego Unified School District is accepting $27.5 million in grant money from foundations that made the donations on the condition that two controversial district leaders keep their jobs - Superintendent Alan Bersin and Chancellor of Instruction Anthony Alvarado.
Bersin and Alvarado have come under heavy fire from the 8,000-member San Diego Education Association, an affiliate of CTA, for their controversial school reforms and antagonism toward teachers.
"Many school districts depend on private grants, and on their partnerships with foundations," said Johnson, who heads the 330,000-member CTA. "But these San Diego donations are dictating to elected officials who they must hire. This is a form of privatizing public schools. Local teachers, parents and administrators determine the direction of school districts, not private foundations that put themselves above the will of the people. That's outrageous."
The foundations claim they made the employment stipulations because they support the "Blueprint for Student Success" reforms launched by Bersin and Alvarado last school year. However, the first independent study of those reforms says they have alienated teachers and parents, and have created a "climate of fear and suspicion."
The study released Tuesday by the American Institutes for Research found that 59 percent of San Diego teachers surveyed said they now enjoy teaching less, and that both parents and teachers feel the school district excluded them from reform efforts.
The CTA is affiliated with the 2.6 million-member National Education Association. |