State Schools Chief Vows to Streamline Testing

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

Jack O'Connell, California's new Superintendent of Public Instruction, says 
he will "streamline mandatory testing so students won't have to spend so 
much time on assessments." Following is the first half of a Sacramento Bee 
story about his inauguration.

O'Connell sworn in as chief of schools:
As a legislator, he made education his primary focus and wrote the 
class-size reduction law.
By Mareva Brown -- Bee Staff Writer
Published Monday, January 6, 2003
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/5812509p-6780646c.html

Former state Sen. Jack O'Connell was sworn in as California's new 
superintendent of public instruction Sunday in a two-hour ceremony 
punctuated by the music of a band from his high school alma mater and barbs 
from former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

O'Connell, a Democrat, replaces Delaine Eastin, a former Democratic 
assemblywoman who has been the state's schools chief for the last eight years.

O'Connell wrote the law requiring classes in kindergarten through third 
grades to have no more than 20 children.

As a three-term assemblyman and later a two-term state senator, O'Connell 
consistently made education a top priority.

He pushed for salary incentives for teachers, expanded gifted and talented 
programs and sponsored a bill that dropped the required number of votes to 
pass a school bond from 66 percent to 55 percent, allowing for millions of 
additional dollars to be collected for new and upgraded schools.

"He's a true believer," said Don Ernst, a San Luis Obispo attorney and 
close friend of O'Connell's. "He's dedicated, he's committed and he has 
great integrity. The whole package."

O'Connell was born in Glenn Cove, N.Y., in 1951, but his family moved to 
Southern California seven years later to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers. The 
family settled in an Oxnard motel that his parents owned and managed for 
many years, until the bigger chains forced them out of business.

But while O'Connell shared his father's love of the Dodgers, he was drawn 
to education by two high school history teachers, who also were his 
basketball coaches. Those two men were in the audience Sunday, along with 
about 400 other supporters.

O'Connell's oath of office was administered by Brown, now mayor of San 
Francisco, in the Assembly chambers where the two forged a tight political 
relationship many years ago. O'Connell was joined at the dais by his wife 
of 25 years, Doree, and their 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer.

He scheduled the ceremony for Sunday rather than today, when the state's 
other top officers are sworn in, so his daughter wouldn't have to miss school.

"To the 6 million public school students of California, I have a message," 
O'Connell said in a brief speech. "Carpe diem. Seize the golden opportunity 
that is presented to you in your public school system."

O'Connell, who faces a daunting battle retaining funds for education in the 
face of a $35 billion state budget deficit, reiterated his commitment to 
shrinking class sizes in the upper grades. He also promised to streamline 
mandatory testing so students won't have to spend so much time on 
assessments. But much of the ceremony was dedicated to less-serious business.

George Sheridan