February 1, 2005

Pam Foley’s baptism by fire as San Jose Unified School District board member

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Instead of gently settling into her new job, Pam Foley, Willow Glen’s new San Jose Unified School District board member, is enduring a baptism by fire.

Pam Foley sees herself as the advocate for children and parents in Willow Glen specifically and in the San Jose Unified School District at large.

“I ran [for the school board] to help build the community and create a positive image of Willow Glen schools and the district as a whole. I wanted to strengthen the neighborhood schools and build outreach programs. But the first thing I get to do is close a middle school. And now we’re dealing with closing two grade schools and secession of half the district and I’m finding myself doing double duty,” said Foley during a recent interview with the Times.

She is doing some of the things she wants to do. “I’m involved in establishing rapport with the principals and meeting with parent clubs about what we can do together. It’s very exciting, because all of us are out to improve Willow Glen Schools. The rest of the time I’m spending on consolidation issues, sitting with the public and grappling with these consolidation issues.”

Meanwhile Foley’s philosophy is “to improve neighborhood schools and people will come around. It will make us stronger.”

Further conflict
But there’s further conflict surrounding the new trustee. Foley’s daughter attends Hacienda Elementary, a science magnet school, instead of Shallenberger Elementary, her neighborhood school. And, Hacienda was one of the schools the task force was considering for closure. Instead, they chose Randol, and now that school community is now up in arms.

In fact, at a January school board hearing about closing Randol and Corey elementary schools, Foley excused herself because some people were calling it a conflict of interest.

Yet she also feels that whatever she does, she’s damned. “I’m barely in office, I came in two weeks before the Christmas recess. I haven’t been there long enough to have influence [over which schools to close].

“I’m angry at the process. I’m angry that a school with high test scores is closing.”

Foley says she’s grappling with the process. She feels she can make an honest and open decision about her vote. “I was elected to make these decisions. I have lots of questions about the situation. I want to unify the district. I know parents who came to the forums. It’s a tough situation for all of us.”

She adds that when she found out Hacienda was on the list, she had a talk with her daughter about Shallenberger. “I told her she’d do well at Shallenberger, and she said that she’d be fine there. It’s a good school, the parents are great and I love the principal.”

But she questioned why the task force didn’t look at all the schools in the district, why they just chose this group of schools. She also questions if the district has made all the other cuts it needs to without closing schools, like looking more closely at transportation.

Splitting off?
The resultant outcry from Randol parents and the movement for a large chunk of the district to secede is also upsetting, Foley says. While it isn’t too likely that it will happen, it’s still upsetting, she added.

“It’s ironic that Randol is on the closure list, but the movement to secede is coming from Almaden. Randol technically is in Blossom Valley not Almaden.”

She added that the area seceding that would leave the new district with only one school that has a large Hispanic population. The remaining schools are Caucasian and Asian, “I have a concern with that,” Foley said.

The split also won’t help to pass a parcel tax, she added. “Both areas will have equal difficulty passing a parcel tax.”

Foley said the same situation with Willow Glen and Almaden splitting off was discussed years ago. She isn’t sure whether that group could get enough signatures to came to a vote, and she’s heard from lots of people that it’s unlikely to come to a vote this time.

Major duties
Foley sees herself as the advocate for children and parents in Willow Glen specifically and in the San Jose Unified School District at large. Her duties, she says, are varied.

At the same time, she sees her role as facilitating dialog between parents and the district while also asking the hard questions of the district, similar to her predecessor. She also sees her job as intervening on behalf of the community and the district and to help fundraise.

Finally, Foley wants to develop school board legislation to help effectively stabilize finances at the state level.

Zero tolerance
Children must learn that there are consequences to the choices they make, said Foley in response to a recent news article about a boy from Cupertino High who was suspended for bringing a knife to a dance. “You hope that kids make good choices, but they must also understand they are responsible for the choices they make.

“Each expulsion [at San Jose Unified] is looked at individually,” she explained. The board looks not just at the current problem, but is there a reason why this behavior is going on. Another criterion is the child’s history to help make a decision. “It’s important to see if by eighth grade he had 10 examples of violence or if he was a straight A student who had never before posed a problem. You also have to look at the instance, for example, what was the crime? Did the student violate a law?”

Foley said she does not think a student’s athleticism should be part of her consideration. At the same time, she added, it’s important to make sure that the punishment fits the crime. “You must be fair.”

A lot is taken into consideration before the question comes before the board, she said. The district staff looks at the home life, the child’s interests, the community with the parents, special needs, “the entire situation is well researched.

The staff has statutes to follow. We [the board] sometimes have to read 30-40 pages of well-documented information and make a decision in 45 days.”

Expulsion from school is not the end of education, Foley adds, because there are alternative schools such as Liberty School and the Santa Clara County’s CCOC. “It’s not the end of he world, but hopefully it will make the student reassess his or her life and what caused the situation in the first place.”

Uniforms etc.
Uniforms often are a touchy subject, Foley said. Most of the district schools either have a strict dress code or uniforms. Neither Booksin or Willow Glen Elementary schools have uniforms but both have strict dress codes, she said.

The downside of wearing uniforms is that it doesn’t allow independence and creativity, she added. “But you have to respect yourself and your body first,” she said.

The closing of Steinbeck Middle School will make it harder for Willow Glen students to attend Castillero, she responded to a question about the number of Willow Glen students attending the middle school in the Almaden area.

While a choice is still available, there’s a specific process for placement. First, the district will consider whether the student is in the school’s neighborhood. Second, does the student fall into geocode areas—low-income designated areas? Third, does the child have siblings at the school? Finally, they will consider new students.

“Willow Glen Middle School is a great school,” she added. “It has fabulous parent participation and a music program that most other schools don’t have. Rick Guptil has formed the Willow Glen Youth Band with fourth and fifth graders in the area and plans to take it to the middle school where it will develop into a marching band. Willow Glen also has theater and vocal training. It’s a viable alternative to Castillero and a great community school,” she said commenting that the incidence of problems is no greater than at any other middle school.