Vantage Point: Keep the focus on student achievement 

“There is a bit of hero in all of us.”
—Frank Gomez, 2008–09 president, Association of California School Administrators

Indeed, there is more than “a bit of hero” in the school board leadership teams and school staff I have visited across our state in the past year. While tackling the challenges of the biggest economic calamity since the Great Depression, many school districts and county offices of education are moving boldly to create diverse programs that are successfully connecting with students, transforming schools to improve learning, and engaging their communities in conversations about the future of their children.

Visiting school districts from Del Norte to San Diego—from small, one-school districts to Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest—the most transformative programs I’ve seen were those with strong, collaborative development and implementation teams composed of local educators with a deep knowledge and understanding of their students. These teams explored successful programs elsewhere, made use of research and academic expertise, assessed their students’ needs and interests, and took the time necessary to develop programs appropriate to their unique needs. The school boards provided policy support, asked difficult questions and invited community input, and the creative and professional support of district and county superintendents brought all of the pieces together. Those governance teams are now able to assess and refine their programs as they celebrate improved student achievement.

While solutions to the challenge of underachieving students vary from district to district, what all of these successful leadership teams have in common is an unwavering focus on student learning.

As we seek to help shape the federal government’s stimulus and reform measures and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and as we take issue with one-size-fits-all programs whatever their source, local school boards and CSBA itself must make certain that improved student achievement remains the priority. At the end of the day, the differences we debate—charters or neighborhood schools, pay for performance or career ladders, school closures or other transformations, multiple career pathways or universal college prep—only matter if our choices improve the outcomes in our classrooms. We do not have the time or resources to waste on ideological posturing.

Our districts and county offices must move courageously to improve academic achievement. I was privileged to visit many programs doing just that. What these programs have in common is careful planning, with a focus on student learning, district support and expertise, and clear expectations. We need the resources and flexibility to support and sustain similar efforts everywhere.

My year as president of CSBA has been filled with challenges, to be certain, but what I will keep with me always is the memory of the successful educational programs shared with me and the vibrant, beautiful children they serve.

* * *

This month, we welcome new leadership to CSBA. Frank Pugh, our new president, is a school board trustee in the Santa Rosa City Schools, an educator at Santa Rosa City College, and a powerful CSBA advocate. Frank will lead us well. Martha Fluor, a trustee from Newport Mesa Unified School District and enthusiastic CSBA vice president, will become our president-elect as I move into the position of past president. We say goodbye and thank you to Paul Chatman, who has been a fierce defender of education for many years.

I thank our knowledgeable and experienced Delegate Assembly members for their work, guidance and support.

We are fortunate to have an amazingly creative, hard-working and brilliant staff at CSBA, and I thank them for their expertise and support.

Lastly, I thank all of you for what you do for the students of our state. I am honored to be in the company of heroes.

CSBA notes with regret the passing of Frank Gomez in August 2009.