RE: introduction

I'm a dropout from teaching in public schools.  I'm also a dropout from serving on a local school board, and from volunteering in the classroom.  I'm a product of Seattle Public Schools, and was raised (by a teacher) to believe that public schools offered the best all around education a person could get.  So much for that myth.

My boys survived what has become of the once stellar California public school system only because I had the resources and moxie, as a single mother, to move into the best (in my mind) public school district in the Bay Area and stay in touch with the teachers while I worked full time. That they are doing well as adults is partly due to the school district and partly due to the extracurricular activites I made sure were available.  

While I care deeply about public education, I see California teachers, administrators, and districts being pulled in too many directions by worthy causes, resulting in less time available for the actual learning we expect of our kids.  I also see unfunded mandates, vague standards, and large blocks of time spent taking standardized tests.  I also see dedicated people being unable to consistently agree on just what's important.  How can there be accountability when people can't agree on what is to be measured, when, and with what disruption to classroom time?