Newsroom | Archive 2006
Fourth Annual Riverside County Education Summit Ends
Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education, speaking on the concluding day of the Fourth Annual Riverside County Education Summit, said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and education leaders are working closer together now than just a year ago.
 |
| Dr. David Long, left, shares a laugh with Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education, and Scott Himelstein, Deputy Secretary of Education, Friday at the Education Summit. |
“What a difference a year makes,” Bersin said, referring to the defeat of several measures affecting school funding placed on the ballot by Gov. Schwarzenegger. “To his credit, he made a big course correction.”
With the return of nearly $3 billion to education funding, the Governor is now focused on providing more money for after school programs, music education, and the arts, Bersin said. “We also have a larger interest in vocational programs,” he said.
Bersin told educators, “You are the heroes in the community.”
Nearly 400 educators, including teachers, principals, administrators and school board members, attended this year’s Summit, sponsored by Dr. David Long, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools. Summit participants on Thursday heard from Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the leaders of the California Teachers Association, California School Boards Association and California State Parent-Teacher Association, among others.
Bersin led off a long list of speakers on Friday, followed by a panel of two teachers – Stan Crippen, Elsinore High School, Araceli DeLaTorre, Coachella Valley High School – and Dean Lesicko, a counselor in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District.
Crippen said the demands on teachers in schools today are incredibly difficult, with more state testing, accountability, and students who are more transient and may or may not have stable homes. “It’s like you are being pulled in many different directions at the same time,” he said. “It would be my wish that we all get on one side and pull in one direction.”
DeLaTorre said she works every day to motivate students. “They come around, and when they do, it makes it all worthwhile,” she said.
Lesicko said students and parents communicate through email, cell phones and other technology today. In some cases, he said, students have lost personal connections they need to be successful. “What we need to remember that is that face-to-face connections make the system work,” he said.
Superintendents Paul Jessup (Alvord Unified), Dennis Murray (Perris Union) and Doris Wilson (Desert Sands) said that safety concerns and student achievement are key issues.
“We spend more than $2 million annually on (safety),” Murray said. “Imagine what we could do with $2 million to spend in the classroom.”
The two-day conference was held in Indian Wells. Long said plans were already underway for a fifth conference due to the interest and nearly doubled attendance in the last four years.
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
|
