October 22, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, October 22, 2004

Gloria Higgins

In her commitment to closing the achievement gap, Gloria Higgins wants to see some serious changes at Castro Elementary -- Mountain View-Whisman's lowest performing school -- before the start of 2005-2006.

Higgins, who has served on the school board since 2002, said she would make restructuring Castro's controversial Spanish-English language immersion program a priority for 2005 if re-elected Nov. 2.

"Castro magnifies the issue of the achievement gap," Higgins said.

With more than 80 percent of the Castro student body non-native English speakers, Higgins acknowledged that not all Castro students are academically where they should be.

"We have talked and talked and talked about Castro, and now we need to do something," she said.

One solution, Higgins recently suggested, may be to lower the size of dual immersion classrooms to force an even balance of native Spanish speakers to native English speakers. Such an idea is something critics of the program have been wanting the district to pursue for years.

Following the sudden resignation of school board member Juan Aranda, Higgins, the only one who ran for his seat, was installed. (Aranda is currently campaigning for a spot on the board, too).

If re-elected, Higgins, who oversaw the completion of the district's strategic plan, said one of her main goals is to see Mountain View-Whisman's achievement gap shrink.

"We do not need to treat race and poverty like the elephant in the room anymore," she said.

This means improving staff development to make sure teachers are addressing the learning needs of all children and giving teachers more opportunities and methods to assess their students' academic capabilities.

Another big issue the school board will have to tackle in the upcoming year is hiring the district's next permanent superintendent. Higgins said she would like the district to conduct a statewide search for the best-qualified candidate and hopes it is someone who's willing to stay longer than two years and who knows the intricacies of the California public school system.

"Money spent on hiring a good superintendent is money well spent," Higgins said.

Asked whether she thinks the district already has the best person for the job, Higgins said current Superintendent Eleanor Yick, who has a 10-month contract, hasn't stated to the board whether she'd like to apply for a longer tenure.

To control the budget, Higgins said closing a school in 2005 is the only way Mountain View-Whisman will be able to save money. She wouldn't say which school she would close, simply saying, "Every school is at risk for closure.

"Each school should look like the entire district, so we don't have segregated schools."

As for where else she would make cuts, Higgins said that's a little tricky.

"Every person in the district office is doing a job that we need done," she said. "We aren't people-heavy there, but we might be title-heavy."

Trustees could downgrade the titles of administrators, saving in salary costs in the long run, she said.

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