Issue date: October 20, 1999
By ANNE H. KIM
Voters face a possible sea change November 2 as a slate of three candidates vowing to make sweeping reforms in the Sequoia Union High School District attempt to win all three open seats on the five-member district board. If the three succeed in pushing out the lone incumbent on the ballot, they gain an instant majority on the board.
The district itself faces a number of challenges in coming years. Among them is an incoming wave of limited English-speaking students -- many of whom are Latinos.
In fall 2000, the district will convert to an open enrollment system that will allow parents to choose where their children will attend high school. It will also put all four high school campuses in competition with each other, and with an increasing number of private and charter schools, for students.
The district has recently come under fire for low test scores, which some critics are pointing to as evidence of a poor high school curriculum.
All three on the slate -- Lorraine Rumley, Don Gibson and Olivia Martinez -- say they want to change that with additional programs, resources and a little reorganization. They share an endorsement list that reads like a who's who of the Peninsula including Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Senator Byron Sher, Assemblyman Ted Lempert and three members of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Together, the three candidates plan to spend about $15,000 on their campaign, they said.
Incumbent Allene Sieling finds herself defending the current board's record in the areas of curriculum and support programs for teachers and students. She argued that test scores are just one measure of student achievement, and said that the district has teacher training programs and some for under-performing students. At the same time, she admitted there is room for improvement, but that the district is working on that.
Mrs. Sieling said she is running a "word-of-mouth" campaign and is counting on her record.
A fifth candidate, Raymond Bell, is running a low-key campaign, and has been unreachable for an interview about his platform due to family illness and work-related travel. However, at a recent candidate's forum, Mr. Bell admitted that he was not familiar with most district-wide issues, and said he is running because he is unhappy with his daughter's daily experience at Woodside High School.
Lorraine Rumley
Paramount in Mrs. Rumley's campaign is raising teachers' expectations for their students. She said teachers do not push students who are not in advanced placement (AP) courses to succeed, and points to what she calls an average Menlo-Atherton student who said her teacher expects students to learn the spelling of 10 unchallenging words a week.
Mrs. Rumley said the district must communicate with the elementary schools from which the high school district draws its population to close the gap in curriculum between the districts, thereby preventing low academic performance at the high schools.
For students who are limited-English speakers and those in danger of falling behind academically, Mrs. Rumley said, the district should provide extra instruction and longer school days.
Mrs. Rumley said she is open to new ideas and favors charter schools if parents want them. She also said she favors an open enrollment system because it offers parents more choice, but added that the district must provide more programs at Sequoia High School in an open system to prevent low enrollment.
Because not all students will go to college, Mrs. Rumley said, the high school district should create partnerships with the business world,, providing students with mentors and real-world experience. She also said local government can help the district attract high-quality teachers to live and work in the district through financial incentives.
Raymond M. Bell Jr.
At a recent candidates' forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Mr. Bell admitted that he is not familiar with all the issues facing the district, but said he was disturbed by the quality of science classes offered at Woodside High.
Mr. Bell said he believes parents should play a bigger role in the educational process, because they ultimately are responsible for their own children's education. He said schools should treat parents as customers.
Don Gibson
Mr. Gibson said the current high school curriculum is not enough to prepare students for the real world. He said the district must provide more challenging classes and a more diverse range of courses for students who are not in advanced placement classes.
Like his slate partners, he said the district has low expectations for average students, and emphasized parent involvement in education. He said students with limited English-speaking abilities and those who are academically at risk should be required to take extra classes.
When asked who would teach those classes, Mr. Gibson said the district could work with flexible schedules for teachers and call for volunteers from the business world to come in and teach an hour or two a week.
Mr. Gibson said the district's goals are not high enough; if elected, he said, he would create long-term goals for the district and outline how to reach them.
Mr. Gibson said he is in favor of open enrollment because it will increase choice for parents and force schools to become more competitive to attract students. But Mr. Gibson criticized the district for not having a plan in place when it declared open enrollment. He said without a plan, the district is risking Sequoia High School's enrollment, which he said could drop well below the other high schools in the district. He said the district could resolve that by creating specialized courses at each high school campus to even out the playing field.
Mr. Gibson said he wants to bring in professionals as volunteers to teach real-world skills and create an internship program. He also said the district could share resources with local governments and possibly save money for other programs.
Allene G. Sieling
Mrs. Sieling said she has been very involved in the district during her tenure. Last year, she visited all the high schools to compare regular and advanced placement classes. She also received a grant last year to start a tri-district consortium to improve communication with elementary districts.
She also was a strong supporter of a program called Target Success, of which she is particularly proud. That program was designed to help parents of new students adjust to and navigate through the district.
Mrs. Sieling admits that not everything is "hunky dory" in the district. But she said several programs show that the board is moving in the right direction.
The board recently adopted school standards, and Mrs. Sieling said programs like AVID and Compass have helped under-performing students improve. She noted that students in the AVID program had higher STAR 9 achievement test scores than regular students. And the district has a liaison program with the city of Redwood City and the Redwood City elementary school district, she said.
Mrs. Sieling said that an open enrollment system offers parents choice, but added that population and ethnic diversity in the schools could be put out of balance. She also said she is worried about Sequoia High School, but believes an open system will lead to an honest discussion about the process.
On the subject of charter and corporate-owned schools, Mrs. Sieling said if those systems work for students, she is in favor of them. However, she expressed concern about the for-profit aspect of corporate-owned schools.
Mrs. Sieling agreed that working with business and government is valuable to students, and said that the district works with the Cisco corporation in a student technology program. She also said the district is working on a school-to-career program.
Olivia G. Martinez
In a time when parents are pulling their children out of public schools and putting them in private schools at a young age, Mrs. Martinez said she wants to restore confidence in public schools.
She said with the wealth and resources of Silicon Valley surrounding the district, there is no excuse for low academic performance at the high schools.
Mrs. Martinez, who has a long history of working in public education, said existing programs at the district are not enough to provide adequate support and guidance to incoming freshmen, limited English-speaking students, and teachers.
Mrs. Martinez said the district is facing a crisis because of the large number of limited English-speaking students who are entering the school district with no support. She said forming an English institute on all the campuses is critical for those students if they are to succeed.
She also criticized the district's block scheduling system, which allows Sequoia High School students to miss 30 minutes of instruction time every day. That process was originally put in place to allow teachers to work on lesson plans, but it has continued for six years, resulting in about a month of lost instructional time every year, she said. For a school with the lowest-performing students in the district, she said, that was a travesty.
Support for teachers is also critical, she said. Mrs. Martinez questioned why teachers were not being supported in the classroom with aides and supplies.
Like Mr. Gibson, Mrs. Martinez said she favored open enrollment because it offered choice, but also criticized the district for not having a clear plan in place, especially for Sequoia High School. She also felt the district should offer a different set of specialized courses at each high school campus in an open-enrollment system.
As for charter and corporate-owned schools, Mrs. Martinez said she favors them if they work, but also said the district itself should be leading the effort.
Mrs. Martinez said the district should take advantage of business associations in Silicon Valley, and said it should work with local governments to provide financial aid in finding housing within district boundaries.
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