Re: Garcia comes on strong

[thomas <sally.thomas4@verizon.net>]

If he went through the Claremont Intern Program, which it looks like he did,
that is a progressive program as teacher education goes.  Not sure how many
years ago that was and of course you would want to see what he has done
between for sure!!! Sally


On 7/1/07 6:30 AM, "Peter Farruggio" <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu> wrote:

> I don't see any teaching experience in his history.  Where does he
> stand on pedagogical issues?  NCLB?  Teaching to the test?  Scripted
> phonics?  Bilingual education and teaching in Spanish?  Teacher bashing?
> etc?
> 
> 
> 
> SAN FRANCISCO
> Garcia comes on strong
> 
> 
> 
> New schools chief favors race factor in placing students
> 
> http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/BAGNGQEO1B25.DTL
> Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
> 
> Thursday, June 14, 2007
> 
> San Francisco's new school superintendent hadn't even signed his
> employment contract before diving into district controversy, saying
> he strongly supports bringing race back as a factor in the student
> assignment system.
> 
> Carlos Garcia said he believes using race can help integrate schools,
> a position shared by the majority of the school board's seven members.
> 
> "I think we see eye to eye on that," Garcia said. "I think all of us
> want to have a world that's not segregated."
> 
> The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on whether using race
> to assign students to schools is legal.
> 
> Garcia, who spent five years in Las Vegas as superintendent of the
> Clark County school system, doesn't officially take the helm in San
> Francisco for a month, but it was clear at his debut Wednesday that
> he will not shy away from speaking his mind.
> 
> In front of a standing-room-only audience inside the San Francisco
> school board chambers, he told the crowd what kind of schools
> superintendent he planned to be.
> 
> "I warned the board that my job is not to work for adults," Garcia
> said, his lip quivering and his voice filled with emotion. "My job is
> to work for children."
> 
> He described himself a fiscal conservative, saying that he wants to
> show the community that the district is "squeaky clean" when it comes
> to spending the money it does have. If he can do that, the community,
> for example, will be more inclined to support a proposed parcel tax
> on next year's ballot.
> 
> It was Garcia's first moment in the local school spotlight after the
> board approved his employment contract Tuesday evening, which
> includes a $255,000 salary and host of other benefits.
> 
> It took 10 elected officials -- including Mayor Gavin Newsom, seven
> board members and two supervisors -- nearly an hour Wednesday to
> welcome and introduce Garcia.
> 
> Board member Eric Mar called him a "street fighter," someone who will
> challenge students and fight inequity.
> 
> Board member Jane Kim remembered what someone from his former
> district in Las Vegas said about him. "If you don't want change, you
> don't want Carlos," she recalled.
> 
> After the press conference, when the television lights were turned
> off and the crowd dispersed, Garcia sat in the quiet chambers and
> said his first order of business as San Francisco's superintendent
> will be to listen.
> 
> "I really want to spend time talking to different people, business
> groups, youth groups," he told The Chronicle. "I really want to shut
> up and listen."
> 
> He said people are likely to see him in the Mission District, in
> Chinatown and in Hunters Point talking to people.
> 
> But declining enrollment will also be among the top issues on
> Garcia's to-do list.
> 
> "If we create successful schools, it would be like the 'Field of
> Dreams'," Garcia said during the press conference. "Build it and they
> will come."
> 
> Later, he said, a comprehensive analysis is needed to show why there
> are fewer students every year.
> 
> He also sees private school enrollment -- an estimated 30 percent of
> San Francisco's school-age children -- as out of whack compared with
> the national average of 10 percent.
> 
> "How do we get them back?" he said.
> 
> Garcia said he wants to ensure all the schools are quality schools --
> schools that allow children to go from the barrio to the San
> Francisco school's chief as he did.
> 
> Garcia was born in Chicago, but his family migrated back to Mexico
> when he was an infant. They returned to California when he was 5. He
> started kindergarten as an English learner.
> 
> He said he started boxing when he was 7. "Not because I liked
> boxing," he said, but because his Los Angeles neighborhood of
> Wilmington was a rough place.
> 
> He went on to college, earning a bachelor's degree from Claremont
> Men's College and a master's degree from Claremont Graduate School.
> 
> He doesn't hold a doctorate.
> 
> He has been married to his wife Gail for 28 years. They have a
> 25-year-old son and a 23-year-old daughter, as well as a small dog
> named Sami, whose pictures find a place in Garcia's wallet along with
> those of his children.
> 
> Shortly after the press conference, Garcia signed the three-year
> contract, which will also give him a $30,000 signing bonus and an
> $8,000 annual car allowance. He will begin receiving a $2,500 monthly
> housing allowance on July 1, 2008, if the district does not acquire a
> superintendent's residence in the interim.
> 
> He will also receive annual lump-sum payments to a retirement account
> if he stays more than two years.
> 
> The board voted 6-1 to approve the contract Tuesday, with Kim-Shree
> Maufas voting against Garcia.
> 
> At Wednesday's press conference, she promised to be among the first
> to work with him.
> 
> Following the event, she explained her vote, saying she had
> unanswered questions about his past in Las Vegas, specifically
> criticism from some in the African American community who said they
> felt they weren't included under his leadership.
> 
> "We have that already," Maufas said. "I don't want more of it."
> 
> She said she wanted more time to understand the criticism, but the
> majority on the board wanted to take the vote. She said if she had
> that time, she might have supported him.
> 
> "I'll never know," she added.
> 
> Garcia will officially take the district's helm on July 16.
> 
> ----------
> Carlos Garcia
> 
> -- Age: 55
> 
> -- Born: Chicago; raised in Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles.
> 
> -- Family: Wife Gail; son Ferrari and daughter Asia.
> 
> -- Education: Bachelor's degree in political science from Claremont
> Men's College; master's degree in education, Claremont Graduate School.
> 
> -- Relevant experience: Five years as Clark County, Nev.,
> superintendent; three years as the Fresno Unified superintendent;
> three years as Sanger Unified superintendent; three years as
> principal of San Francisco's Horace Mann Middle School.
> 
> E-mail Jill Tucker at <mailto:jtucker@sfchronicle.com>jtucker@sfchronicle.com.
> 
>