Thank you, Ken Yeager. It's about time the city of San Jose started recognizing and nurturing downtown Willow Glen instead of proposing to spend millions of dollars on the downtown area again and again—the real jewel is right under their nose.

I don't think we have ever expected much, but clean sidewalks, clean fixtures, good lighting, safe crosswalks and enough garbage cans, with frequent pickups have been too long in coming. And I appreciate your efforts in making these a reality for the community.

Until recently, it seems most of us spent more time and money on our own homes than the city ever has on downtown Willow Glen. It's nice to see the change, and I thank all of those who not only brought this to your attention but have been instrumental in the evolution of these changes.

Keep it up. There is more to do, but the city is finally on the right track, taking care of one of its most valuable existing assets: downtown Willow Glen.

I support anything that improves Willow Glen and our community's quality of life.

—Harold Schapelhouman, Britton Avenue


Lack of funding is to blame for API scores

The DeCinzo cartoon in the Nov. 20 issue of The Willow Glen Resident was terribly inappropriate and disparages the hard work of teachers, administrators and parents who are working diligently to raise the achievement scores of students at Willow Glen Middle School and High School.

The SAT-9 testing and resultant API scores are much too complex to explain by a simple cartoon. Mr. DeCinzo needs to do his homework and ask why a community like Willow Glen has these scores and what is the San Jose Unified School District doing to help Willow Glen schools.

During the past 10 years the school population in Willow Glen has changed dramatically, thanks to desegregation, bussing and choice. Our teachers have accepted this challenge and are doing the best they can. However, funding does not follow needy students who are bussed into Willow Glen, as this funding stays at their neighborhood schools.

Until San Jose Unified returns funding to neighborhood schools—all of its schools—and allocates desegregation funds to where the neediest students are, we will continue to see this disparity in test scores and funds between the haves and have-nots.

We are doing a terrible disservice to our children by bussing them out of their neighborhoods. The money that pays for busses could provide more programs for all students. Our teachers and students deserve better.

—Carol Myers, Board of Education, Trustee Area #3


Actions of the SJUSD are a disappointment

The article regarding Willow Glen High School's Academic Performance Index (API) scores reinforced my beliefs about the San Jose Unified School District Board of Education—that they are not concerned about students as a whole.

Instead, they are more interested in numbers produced by a battery of standardized tests forced upon students. To the board, students are instruments that are only necessary to make themselves look better.

As part of the curriculum of Dr. Ekeruo's advanced placement government class at Willow Glen High School, students are required to attend public sessions with the local government. I am one of those students. On two occasions, I have attended the school board meetings in order to meet my class requirement. Both times I felt that the meetings were a complete waste of time for everyone involved.

I did not witness any guidance or direction from any of the members.

The school board is made up of bureaucrats who feel that they are more important than they really are. They are more caught up in themselves than focusing on their "goals."

Throughout the course of both meetings, the members of the board talked about themselves instead of attempting to fix the problems that plague our school system. Their primary focus, on my second visit, was on a "board retreat" that was attended by all the board members. What is a board retreat? To me, it sounds like another excuse to pretend they are trying to improve our schools.

Another cruel fact hit me as soon as I drove up to the district office on Lenzen Avenue. There, in all its splendor, sat the headquarters of the San Jose Unified School District. This opulent structure represents what is wrong with the district. While many of the district's schools are inadequate, the board members get their own fancy office building. It proves that the school board values itself before its students. No school district needs a multimillion-dollar office building to conduct its business.

These people are supposed to be responsible for determining what students are going to learn. One of their supposed achievements was creating "lifelong learning standards." The problem with creating these standards is the inability of students and teachers to figure out how to incorporate them in our daily lives. The fact is, the school board's achievements are not really as special as they would hope.

Standardized tests represent what is wrong with the way the state of California runs its education system. These tests are supposed to represent students' progress. However, tests such as the SAT-9 and STAR fail to work for anyone. Teachers are forced to give these exams that take up valuable class time. Students often show little interest, as the tests do not impact them significantly. The only reason the school board worries about the scores is because they measure what kind of "job" they are doing.

The San Jose Unified School District Board of Education is an organization that I have little faith in. These individuals represent what is wrong with our school system. Until there is a major overhaul, we will continue to remain behind. The school board has a profound impact on everyone involved in the district. I only wish that I could find their impact to be a positive one.

—Keith Doleshel, senior, Willow Glen High School

Correction

In the Nov. 20 issue of The Willow Glen Resident the website for more information on the Central County Occupational Center's nursing program should have read www.metroed.net.