Foster City Islander Article - 02-14-2007
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Charter Public |
Phyllis Moore, President, Foster City High School Foundation |
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Can We Afford Our High School?
With the growing excitement about the charter public high school planned for Foster City, local newspapers now regularly report our progress. These articles include quotes from many who support our school and a few who do not.
Some opponents sincerely believe that existing schools already meet the needs of all students. Here’s what State Senator Joe Simitian has said about this notion, as quoted in the Redwood City Daily News: “There are six million kids in California, and we’re kidding ourselves if we think one way of educating our children is the best way.” These thought-provoking words come from a lawmaker who served as President of both the Palo Alto School Board and the Santa Clara County School Boards Association.
California’s schools rank near the bottom (48th) among the 50 states and our high school drop out rate has climbed to 30%. Yet, most efforts to improve our schools have been limited to increasing “accountability” with standards and testing, and then blaming students, teachers, and parents for low test scores. This approach has done little to fix the underlying problems in California’s schools. As a result, even schools that rank highly based on test scores often fail to provide our children with the skills they need to succeed.
Opponents question whether we can afford a high school. Supporters stress, as expressed in Time Magazine’s Dec. 18 cover story, that we can’t afford “. . . an entire generation of kids [that] will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can’t think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information for bad or speak a foreign language other than English.”
We ask opponents to consider this: by applying the same innovative educational strategy used by many successful charter public schools across the state, our high school will teach all students the skills they need to succeed in today’s competitive global economy.
Can we afford to build such a school?
The better question, for the future of our children, our community and our society: can we afford not to build it?
