By RON CARRICO
Special to the Daily Transcript

Oct. 24, 2000

Rapid changes in technology have resulted in a new cultural vocabulary. It wasn't long ago that only "alpha-geeks" knew about dot-com or e-mail. But now millions work in "cube farms" and become weekend "mouse potatoes."

But some things never change and once again the education of our children is a major political issue from the presidency down to the local school board. And one particular school board contest is causing heads to pop up -- something is happening.

Recent revelations that more than $500,000 has been raised to defeat one school board member is causing a wave of "prairie dogging" all over town. Like prairie dogs, voters are wondering why anyone would give half a million dollars to help a stranger obtain a job that pays about $18,000 per year. San Diego voters also wonder why Padres owner John Moores, Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and Wal-Mart heir John Walton donated $100,000 each to elect real estate attorney Julie Dubick to the San Diego School Board. People also wonder why two East Coast foundations contributed $170,000 to defeat incumbent School Board Member Fran Zimmerman, according to the Oct. 19 issue of the San Diego Reader.

Education is always at the forefront of political debate. Whether it is more money, lack of teachers or class size, there is always a debate about the crisis in education. The essence of the argument is usually that our system is failing our children and it is time for change.

Frankly, the only consistent thing in education is the ongoing call for change. And things are no different in San Diego. But since the San Diego politics are unusual, so is the way we handle education. Where else would a city fund a nationwide search for the best school superintendent, then hire the local U.S. attorney who had few qualifications for the job and then award a bonus for doing his job. Where else but San Diego would an assistant superintendent be hired who lives in New York and flies back and forth to offer his miracle cures?

But the size of these political contributions are unusual even for San Diego -- so I tried to find out why they want to get rid of Zimmerman. The first thing I learned was that not many people want to talk about it. Teachers are silent, the union didn't return calls, and one school principal told me it could be a death sentence to publicly speak about the contest. While I hope that's an exaggeration, it certainly shows that administration does not accept criticism and that those who speak out should check retirement options. And that is the problem because Zimmerman is very critical of the iron-handed policies of Superintendent Alan Bersin.

Clearly, Zimmerman is not a rubber stamp for every policy proposed, and she believes teacher and principal morale has suffered due to the "Blueprint for Education" backed by Bersin. But the Blueprint and tough policies may be more effect than a cause.

And the cause may have to do with business interests that have a social agenda for our school system. While I admit to knowing little about education, my inquiries lead me to believe that business interests in San Diego desire to benefit high-tech industry with a constantly growing pool of qualified employees. This seems like a great idea; a well-educated population is a good selling point to multinational companies looking for workers.

However, students' performance on standardized tests is the measure of the education of our students. These tests focus on reading, writing and math skills. Therefore, it is felt that a heavy immersion in the back-to-basics approach is the best way to raise student performance -- almost to the exclusion of other disciplines, such as art and music.

Many people feel that while test scores rise -- the overall result is a diminished education for our children. Unfortunately, there is apparently little tolerance for dissenting opinion of teachers or for that matter school board members like Zimmerman.

But some people believe there is more. The school district owns land which business interests may covet. For instance, there is talk that district officials want to shut down Roosevelt Middle School at the north end of Balboa Park and move the students to the existing Education Center at Park and El Cajon. A new education center could then be built at the site in Clairemont just purchased for $16 million. This move would allow Roosevelt land to be sold or perhaps used as a parking lot for the San Diego Zoo.

Apparently the business interests believe that Zimmerman won't go along with the Bersin program or plans to sell school lands. Clearly, she is not a "Bersinite" and has actively resisted many changes that were enacted, such as the land purchase or firing 600 in-room class aides to be replaced by teaching coaches.

The school board has five members; currently only Zimmerman and John De Beck are the individuals most likely to challenge the Bersin agenda. This is important because of the requirement that an 80 percent vote (or four out of five members) is necessary to buy or sell land. De Beck is not up for election -- therefore it is necessary to get rid of Zimmerman to load the board to achieve ends favorable to business interests. Could this be the real reason for the interest by the business community?

Zimmerman's Web site proclaims that she is a Harvard graduate who is experienced, independent and committed to public school reform. She claims to have championed public school reform that includes strong math, science, social studies, music, art and languages. She wants to concentrate spending the $952 million budget on students and teachers in classrooms not on unaccountable consultants, lawyers and land deals.

She is against strangulation of in-school music, art instruction, capricious school closings and cutting the classroom aides and services to English language learners. She believes that the drastic Blueprint plan will deprive students equal access to subject areas, weakening general education and re-segregating classrooms. She believes that unfortunate changes have caused ltigation and plummeting morale among teachers and principals, and have shaken community confidence. Zimmerman says clearly, "I am no one's rubber stamp."

In prairie dog towns, a loud noise or warning brings the occupants out to see what's going on; is it a hawk above or a snake in the grass? People in our town wonder why rich donors and mysterious organizations in the East are giving so much money to get rid of an independent voice on the local school board. I have no idea who is the better candidate – but we prairie dogs must raise our heads and find out what is happening. We don't want an "ohnosecond"-that time when you realize another big mistake was made.

But wait. This is San Diego, where powerful business interests say, like the Wizard of Oz, "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." So who is behind the curtain?

Ron Carrico is a San Diego attorney and can be e-mailed at carrico@inetworld.net.