January 14, 2005

Evergreen parents explore solutions for frustrating
academic performance issues

Charter school or school district unification explored

By Bea Baechle
Editor

A highly motivated group of Evergreen community members—spearheaded by Paul Robichaux, CEO of NewEra Software—are aggressively exploring two potential options to close the academic performance gap that occurs between the elementary and high school level.

Front row, from left: Lou Kvitek, president of the Silver Creek Valley Community Organization, speaks with Anthony Munoz, Area 6 trustee for the Santa Clara County Office of Education and Avo Makdessian, policy advisor for San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, about charter schools and school district unification at a recent dinner hosted by Paul Robichaux, CEO of NewEra Software, Inc., (back row right). Alain Pinel realtor Eric Parker and Charter School advocate Archie Carrico (back row, from left) join the drive for solutions to Evergreen’s high school overcrowding and academic performance concerns.

This gap, says Robichaux as the spokesperson, threatens the economic future of children and families in the area. With another 4,000 – 7,000 homes likely to be built in the Evergreen area—and a high school infrastructure that is already bursting at the seams here—the likelihood of a further decline is even greater.

The group is currently investigating the possibility of creating a charter school in southeast San Jose or creating a unified Evergreen School District that encompasses high school grades 9 – 12. A third alternative is the dissolution of the East Side Union High School District.

Robichaux points out that “a great elementary school district is just not enough to satisfy this community’s needs.”

Wants new district
As such, the group has filed pleadings with Colleen Wilcox, superintendent of the Santa Clara Country Office of Education to document a downward spiral of academic performance in the Evergreen community and a performance gap that exists between the actual and expected academic performance of children attending classes within the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD).

The group points to a steady decline of Academic Performance Index (API) scores from the elementary school to high school level. Yet even more important, when comparing scores of local high schools to similar schools in other areas, the academic performance drops significantly.

There is currently a 58 percent gap between actual academic performance in the East Side Union High School District and the performance that should be expected by students and their families.

The pleadings encourage the county to explore a community vision to potentially break up ESUHSD into smaller, more manageable educational elements and create a unified Evergreen School District. The group feels that unifying a district will provide a stronger thread of accountability for educating children through high school, not just through eighth grade.

“We’re in serious, serious trouble,” says Robichaux, who encourages parents to get informed and get involved in the group’s efforts to seek solutions proactively. “No one is coming to fix this for us. Mayor Ron Gonzales can’t fix this. Representative Zoe Lofgren can’t fix this. No one except the community can fix this.”

Long road ahead
Although the community may support unification, convincing the other key stakeholders—namely, the Evergreen School District, the East Side Union High School District and the East Side Teachers Association to see their vision may be another matter.

ESD Superintendent Tom Andrade has agreed to let Robichaux speak at the next board meeting on Jan. 20, but until then, he’s not ready to form an opinion on a unified school district.

ESUHSD Superintendent Esper-anza Zendejas says she will cooperate in answering the community group’s questions and resolving the matters they are concerned with—overcrowding and academic performance—but at this time, she said she “was not in a position to cooperate to break the district up.”

Zendejas said the district still has feelers out there to acquire land for a new high school in the future, or possibly sell the district’s central office as a potential solution.

When asked about the possibility of breaking up the district, East Side Teachers Association President Don McKell said, “I don’t believe this a good move. What I’m afraid of is that if a group is successful in wresting away two schools to a new unified school district, this could trigger other areas to do the same.”

McKell says the remaining portions of the district would be the schools with the most challenging socioeconomic backgrounds, “resulting in a potential of racial imbalance that would attract the attention of the courts. The damages would outweigh the benefits.”

“We would love to see schools in the district with exceedingly high API scores from every school site, but I’m not convinced carving away a school is the right answer,” he concluded.

For more information, go to the Web at www.allaboutthekids.org.

ESD board meeting Thursday, Jan. 20
The Evergreen Elementary School District Board of Trustees has agreed to hear arguments for altering the scope of the district governess at the next school board meeting to be held at the district office, 3188 Quimby Rd., on Thursday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 p.m.

Paul Robichaux, an Evergreen resident and CEO of NewEra Software, has been allotted 30 minutes to document the downward spiral of academic performance in the Evergreen community and explore academic alternatives, including one that would lead to the extension of district stewardship over community high schools.

If you are interested in improving academic choice, academic quality and responsibility for academic performance, plan to attend this meeting. If you would like to peruse Robichaux’s presentation before the meeting, you may email him at prr@newera.com.