De La Torre’s fateful recommendation
Former Santa Clara County Schools Superintendent Charles Weis (left) was relieved of duty when Xavier De La Torre (right) was hired as his replacement in June 2012. Weis had his share of problems at SCCOE (and at his previous gig), some of which are chronicled here.
De La Torre came to SCCOE after a three year stint as Superintendent of Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Texas. At their April 3, 2013 meeting, less than a year after landing at SCCOE, De La Torre presented a ‘white paper‘ to the County Board developed in conjunction with CSCA. It’s an overview of the charter school landscape in Santa Clara County, with typical demographic stats and standardized test scores for each of the county’s charters.
What I found most interesting were the Superintendent’s recommendations:
“Given the position that the SCCOE Board of Education has taken in being “bold” and “courageous” in authorizing countywide charters as well as those charters that come to them on appeal, and the voiced concern of creating charter school “urban sprawl” one of the key recommendations from this preliminary overview is for the SCCOE to develop a strategic or master plan for charter schools. A more detailed look at where future charter schools are to be located as well as the student grade levels to be served is certainly warranted in addition to what it is that charters offer that make them unique.”
Here the Superintendent steps in front of a political bus by saying the county board needs a master plan based on the specific needs of Santa Clara County. You get that? A plan based on demonstrable need. That would be a major departure from this board’s politics De La Torre’s fateful recommendation | BCS in Context: