State Sen. Jack O'Connell had no trouble winning the support of California's voters in his bid to become state superintendent of public instruction. He won them over, just as he won the support of CTA earlier this year - by being a strong advocate for public schools.
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Sen. Jack O'Connell joins CTA Vice President Barbara E. Kerr for a news conference and school tour supporting his candidacy for state superintendent for public instruction. One of the stops was Claire Stoemer's fifth-grade class. |
O'Connell defeated Katherine Smith, an Anaheim school board member, by 62 to 38 percent of the vote.
Along the way to victory in November, O'Connell took several opportunities to take his message directly to teachers - for example, at CTA's State Council of Education on Oct. 13 and in school visits like the one he made to Oakland's Fruitvale Elementary School earlier in the month.
O'Connell joined Oakland Education Association President Sheila Quintana, CTA Vice President Barbara E. Kerr, Fruitvale Principal Cherie Ivey, Fruitvale kindergarten teacher Rosenda Thomas and media representatives on a tour of several classrooms at the school. Although it had previously been ranked as an underperforming school, Fruitvale was taken off the list after its API scores increased 76 points this year. That success followed a concerted effort by teachers and support staff including a variety of tutoring, social services, health and after-school programs that have been implemented.
But, teachers and school administrators emphasize, the road to success began with class size reduction, a legislative program that was sponsored by CTA and authored by O'Connell.
"Class size reduction is what has really made the difference for us as teachers," said Thomas at a morning news conference. "As teachers, we're grateful to Senator O'Connell for having started the ball rolling."
Ivey, who has been at Fruitvale for 22 years as a teacher and more recently principal, agreed. "We've come a long way and it all started with class size reduction," she told media representatives.
During his visit to the Oakland school, O'Connell announced that he would support the expansion of class size reduction to all grades.
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Joining them at Fruitvale School in Oakland are Oakland Education Association President Sheila Quintana (center) and Fruitvale kindergarten teacher Rosenda Thomas (right). |
In remarks at State Council later in the week, O'Connell criticized the state's assessment system. "We have a testing system that is out of whack and out of balance. We have too many tests, we spend too much time testing, and we don't use our tests for the main purpose that testing is for. ... We must use these tests for diagnostic purposes. It is outrageous that some of these schools are not teaching art, music and social studies because they are so concerned about testing."
At Council, O'Connell spoke about the teacher shortage as well. Noting the need to recruit 200,000 to 300,000 new teachers in the coming years to accommodate the increase in enrollment, he said, "We're going to have to add to that figure because we also need to see the expansion of our successful class size reduction program."
O'Connell urged Council members to campaign, to turn out for the election and to bring three or four of their friends to the polls.
"If you work hard for me, I will work hard for you for the next four years," he said.
By the looks of the election results, teachers must have taken O'Connell's request to heart.
Dale Martin
