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School Year's Limits Lamented: SCHOOLS CHIEF URGES LONGER DAY, YEAR

Posted on: Saturday, 20 May 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Luis Zaragoza, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

May 20--Santa Clara County's schools chief made time -- specifically, increasing the amount of it spent teaching and nurturing children -- a centerpiece of her fifth annual State of the Schools address Friday.

Because of the raft of standardized tests that cut into instructional time and the rising expectations of parents, the state and the federal government, "Those who work at our struggling schools will tell you there is not enough time in the day to do everything," county Office of Education Superintendent Colleen Wilcox told a gathering of about 100 educators and business leaders at agency headquarters in San Jose.

"To accomplish all we want to accomplish, we need a longer school day, and we need a longer school year," she said. "We operate under constraints of time that were formulated in . . . an era when the United States was primarily a nation of farmers who often relied on their children for seasonal help in the fields.

"It's time to nudge the school calendar into the 21st century."

How that gets done would have to be decided by local school boards, because Wilcox lacks the authority to unilaterally change school calendars.

And it wouldn't be easy, as it would require negotiating work schedule changes in collective bargaining agreements with teachers and other school workers, not to mention persuading parents and students accustomed to vacationing in the summer to buy into the idea of adjusting their daily and annual schedules.

The county Office of Education and its elected board play several different roles in the operations of 34 districts representing more than 300,000 students. For instance, the county office operates preschools and special-education programs, often in concert with districts.

And its $250 million annual budget sustains a variety of business, administrative and technical services for districts. The seven-member board represents the various regions of the county and serves as an appeals board for matters such as student expulsions.

Wilcox came to the county office in 1994 after serving as a superintendent in Illinois and in administrative posts in Los Angeles and Tucson. She is a speech pathologist, and her official biography on the county office's Web site mentions her stint as a Peace Corps worker in Guatemala.

Don Macleod, president of the Santa Clara-based tech company National Semiconductor, has worked with Wilcox on fundraising and was at her talk. He said he applauded the issues Wilcox raised Friday and urged others to do what they could to "help move her agenda forward."

Wilcox on Friday also called for restoring arts and physical education classes that have been lost in past years to spending cuts and reallocations.

"A well-taught arts curriculum benefits students in many ways, from creative thinking to emotional intelligence to personal expression," she said.

"One cannot measure an education by a test score alone."

Wilcox acknowledged that her suggestions would cost districts more money. And although the governor has signaled his support for increased school funding, the high cost of living in Santa Clara County "means we must do more on our own," she said. She cited the increasing role of foundations in supplementing school funding.

Yet another issue that probably will demand time and money in large amounts is an anticipated teacher shortage throughout pricey Silicon Valley and the state. With teachers in the county 50 or older outnumbering teachers in their 20s by 2-1, and recruitment made difficult by the county's cost of living, "We simply do not have enough young teachers to fill the positions that will be vacant over the next three to five years," Wilcox said.

"It is inescapable that we in Santa Clara County must do a better job of recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers."

Contact Luis Zaragoza at lzaragoza@mercury news.com or (408) 920-5803.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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