Education experts host local forums Education experts host local forums (February 13, 2004)

Keynote addresses from Stanford professors

By Julie O'Shea

Mountain View and Los Altos residents will get a chance to sound off about education-related issues during a series of town-hall-style forums set to start later this month.

Organizers say these "Community Dialogues," co-sponsored by the Los Altos-Mountain View League of Women Voters and the Los Altos Community Foundation, will focus on the latest research, best practices and challenges facing the state education system.

Discussions will be led by Stanford University School of Education professors Michael Kirst, Steve Davis and dean Deborah Stipek, who will kick off the series Feb. 29 with a talk entitled "Schools that Motivate Children to Love Learning."

Three other dialogue forums will follow on March 14 with Michael Kirst discussing the education funding crisis, and on April 4, Steve Davis, a former superintendent, will talk about "Community Participation in Education." The series will wind down May 2 with a panel discussion with local, state and federal educators.

The Sunday events, free to the public, will be held from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. at the Rambus building at 4440 El Camino Real in Los Altos.

"People have a lot to say about education. They want to have a voice," said Nancy Lippe, who is helping organize the series.

"There are many more challenges ahead of us," she said. "The more people we get out, here the better."

Lippe added that the series will also look at the state of education on a national level, explaining things various districts are doing well in addition to trying to learn from others' mistakes.

Following comments from each guest speaker, audience members will be split into small discussion groups. Groups will reconvene at the end of the two-hour forums to share their opinions and suggestions with the rest of the attendees.

Jim Negri, superintendent of the Mountain View-Whisman School District, and Rich Fischer, superintendent of the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, said they plan to attend at least one of the community dialogues.

"I think that people don't have a good sense of the history of how we got here," Kirst, an expert on education finance and a Stanford professor since 1969, said about the funding crisis plaguing state schools.

The public, Kirst added, reacts to what is currently happening, rather than looking at the bigger picture. On March 14, he plans to talk about specific solutions to education's financial woes, which local school districts can partake in.

These solutions, Kirst said, include the formation of foundations that act as the fund-raising arms of the districts and parcel taxes to help ease the money burden. Kirst said he will also address the proposed $4.5 billion statewide tax initiative that the California Teachers Association and film director Rob Reiner are trying to get on the November ballot.

"It's been a long, evolving education process," Kirst said, noting that there is not a "silver bullet" that this going to solve all the problems tomorrow.

Matt Neely, the assistant principal at Mountain View High School and a City Council member, will be acting as the emcee for the series.

With state school districts facing an uncertain fiscal future, Neely said, the California education crisis is both technical and personal for many people, and the public needs a forum where they can learn about the problems and talk about their concerns.

"People have to get common language on this stuff," Neely said, adding that he hopes to help community members broker that dialogue and find a common ground.

Roy Lave, president of the Los Altos Community Foundation, agreed, saying forums like this are the first step toward finding solutions.

"We have a system that is fragmented right now," Lave said.

For more information about the education series call 949-5908 or e-mail dialogues@losaltoscf.org.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.