One school Board seat will decide whether the District reopens its long fight over detracked freshman classes. Michael Dekshenieks, who is running unopposed for the Area D seat, and Trustee Rich Ginn are both adamant supporters of tracking. If Alon Shiran, who has promised to “bring back advanced and honors classes,” unseats Board President Amy Koo, he would join Trustee Richard Ginn and Dekshenieks as the deciding vote.
The Election Desk endorses Koo. The District’s current blend of detracked freshman classes and later AP options is functional. After M-A replaced its two freshman English tracks with Multicultural Literature and Voice, the share of socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) students earning at least a C, the minimum grade for UC and CSU credit, rose from about half to 74% by the course’s second year, according to a study the District commissioned. Teachers and administrators largely support the detracked classes.
Our endorsement doesn’t rest solely on whether detracking works. Even voters who disagree with the District’s stance on freshman year tracking should prefer keeping it to fighting over it again. We agree with a point that Trustee Mary Beth Thompson and President of the Sequoia District Teachers Association Edith Salvatore made at the April 22 meeting.
“I do not believe continuing to relitigate this one question over and over is the best use of Board time,” Thompson said. “I do not see evidence of harm.”
“I think it’s important, as we see this topic come back again and again, that we not get worn down and make a knee-jerk reaction to change something when we don’t have data to support that change,” Salvatore said.
A Shiran win would create a majority of trustees who want to reopen the detracking question. Previous rounds of this debate consumed hours of public comment, cost $54,500 for a consultant’s study, and created tense meetings where teachers lined up to defend detracking, and parents lined up to oppose it. With a recall drive underway, a structural deficit, and lawsuits accumulating, the District should not spend another term relitigating detracking.
