Willow Glen Resident

Education

San Jose Education Foundation has a daunting mission to fulfill

By Anne Gelhaus

On the face of it, the mission of the San Jose Education Foundation seems daunting: The new nonprofit wants to be the educational advocate for the city's 287 schools, approximately 200,000 students and 9,000 teachers.

But foundation president Muhammed Chaudhry views the 19 school districts his organization serves as 19 opportunities to make a difference.

"We don't want to create a tight boundary," says the Willow Glen resident. "Most people don't identify with one district; they identify with the whole city."

Chaudhry began laying the groundwork for the San Jose foundation as executive director of the Franklin-McKinley Education Foundation. That foundation, which serves the Franklin-McKinley School District, works with children age 5 and younger, connecting them and their families to services to help them prepare for kindergarten.

"By age 5, a child can learn five languages," Chaudhry says. "How do you make that happen?"

The foundation will expand this program, as well as the School Readiness Initiative, which provides resources such as basic medical and dental services and early literacy development.

"This program is more for Title I schools," Chaudhry says. "We're trying to create equity across the city."

Beyond Title I

The foundation also offers merit-based programs such as $500 teacher innovation grants. The first grant recipient, Rachelle Burnside, teaches American literature at Branham High School in the Campbell Union High School District. (The foundation also serves school districts that are based outside San Jose borders but have campuses within city limits.) Burnside plans to use the grant monies to connect classic American literature to film and other media in order to give students a deeper understanding of such works.

The foundation's other classroom work will focus on improving math and science education.

"The corporate community is saying they want workforce development and leaders from their own back yard," says Chaudhry, who started his career in the corporate world before switching to nonprofits. "We're looking at how we can use technology to improve the classroom."

To that end, the foundation's website features an online teacher resource center, with links to professional sites for credentials and a wealth of teaching aids and information.

"One of the goals of the California Teachers Association is professional development," Chaudhry says. "We'd like to work with them on that part of it."

Chaudhry says the foundation should also provide an intra- and interdistrict communications channel via its superintendent and teacher advisory boards.

"We need to know what they need," Chaudhry adds. "Hopefully, this will evolve into advisory groups at each district."

All these efforts take capital, so Chaudhry and the foundation board started fundraising about 18 months ago. A June 22 dinner to launch the nonprofit group raised $150,000; the Knight Foundation has invested $2.1 million; and First 5 Santa Clara County allotted $2.3 million to the School Readiness Initiative.

Chaudhry says it's important that parent groups and community organizations invest time in the foundation and buy into the idea of one organization serving all of San Jose's schools.

"We want to make this an educational city where everyone supports our schools because polls show that's our No. 1 concern," he says.

For more information on the San Jose Education Foundation, visit www.sjefoundation.org.