The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Day School Believer: Former Broadway High School principal John Tweten. John Tweten teams up with Mike Honda to get funds for community day schools Helping to pass bill for at-risk children another landmark in educator's legacy By Mary Spicuzza For Willow Glen's John Tweten, Sept. 25 was both an end and a beginning. That night, Tweten was celebrating his retirement after 30 years of working with the children of San Jose Unified School District, when Assemblymember Mike Honda arrived with the best gift imaginable. Honda showed up to announce that a milestone bill to help at-risk kids--legislation both Honda and Tweten had dedicated countless hours to pass--had been signed by Gov. Wilson earlier that day. The bill, known as AB 1845, dramatically increases funding for community day schools. The day schools were created in 1995, linked to "zero tolerance" for violence in school legislation. They were meant to allow troubled students to continue their education outside of traditional schools. But the new program was so underfunded that few schools were established, leaving many struggling students who hadn't been successful in traditional settings to fend for themselves. AB 1845 allocates up to $20 million for community day schools in the 1999 budget, dramatically increasing both per-pupil spending and services for those students. "This legislation ensures that these kids can be placed in structured learning environments where they can be supervised," says Honda, who authored the bill and whose legislative priorities have long included education, public safety and domestic-violence prevention. For Tweten, whose career has been devoted to helping at-risk and troubled youth, the success of this bill adds to a lifetime of achievements in education. After Tweten, a Santa Clara University graduate, finished his service in Colombia with the newly formed Peace Corps some years ago, he immediately began work at the Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma. The center was created for young men sent away to the boarding school because they'd gotten into trouble at home. When Tweten left the center five years later, he wanted to continue working with children who were slipping through the cracks of the traditional education system. Tweten also decided to move closer to his family in San Jose. Thirty years ago, he settled in Willow Glen and began working as an administrator with San Jose Unified. During those 30 years, Tweten worked with the district's troubled children who weren't doing well in school. He developed programs for at-risk children through his role as an administrator and counselor, and helped create alternative schools. Tweten founded Broadway High School, the district's alternative school for students with academic and/or behavioral problems, where he was principal for 6 years. "We need to find places and ways for kids to succeed who aren't making it," Tweten says. "When difficult kids get shuffled like a deck of cards, it just doesn't work. They take their baggage with them, and nobody works on that baggage, and many times things don't get better." Tweten says that until the passage of Honda's bill, school districts haven't had adequate resources to work with troubled kids and are often forced to wait until a crisis situation develops. For example, each year an average of 70 students are expelled from San Jose Unified schools. He wants to help young children before they reach the crisis point. "This bill was born out of necessity. There are many more kids who need extra help than there are programs currently available for them," Tweten says. But the new funding for community day schools was clearly also born out of hard work. Tweten has worked on a 30-person committee for Santa Clara County Juvenile Court Judge Read Ambler, whose court programs focus on ensuring that juvenile offenders who come before him have access to the educational resources they need. The committee includes administrators, law enforcement, counselors and members of Mayor Susan Hammer's Gang Task Force. According to Assemblymember Honda's aide Ruben Pulido, both Tweten and Ambler were key figures in the bill's passage. "Judge Ambler and Tweten were the driving forces behind this bill from start to finish," Pulido says. At committee meetings, Tweten usually showed up with lists of important players to call and write to about the issue, and spent hours contacting different school districts. District officials throughout the state--particularly San Jose Unified Superintendent Linda Murray--provided overwhelming support for the bill, as did the city of San Jose and Santa Clara County. "This was very much a Santa Clara County-driven bill," Pulido says. Currently, there are three community schools in San Jose Unified School District: the Crossroads Program, Cares Community Day School at Hester Elementary, and the Boys and Girls School. Tweten, who has retired from the district but now teaches counselors about working with troubled youth through classes at San Jose State University, says he and others will explore a new district middle school program after funding goes into effect on Jan. 1, 1999. Tweten may have retired, but it's clear he is nowhere near winding down his life's work with kids. "John and I put a lot of time in. He's great to work with," says Lee Sturtevant, Honda's education staffer. Tweten is soft-spoken, and reluctant to take center stage, but his pride in his work shines through: "It's not a one-time grant, but a bill that will help year after year. It feels like we've left a positive legacy, one that ensures something good is happening in education." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, October 21, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.