Joan Sparkman Honored

More than 300 Riverside County education leaders gathered in Palm Springs today (October 13) to discuss issues ranging from testing and accountability to the Governor's ballot initiatives and help for English language learners.

Participants honored Joan Sparkman, former trustee for the Temecula Valley Unified School District and currently a trustee for Mt. San Jacinto Community College, with its prestigious "Friend of Education" award. The purpose of the Third Annual Riverside County Education Summit is to prepare educators to meet the challenges in the coming year and continue to provide quality education for children, said Dr. David Long, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools.

"This is a very special group," Long told participants in the opening session. "You care deeply about children."

Jack O'Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, voiced strong opposition to Proposition 76, which O'Connell said would "eviscerate" the funding guarantees for education under voter-approved Proposition 98.

"We have world class standards in California," O'Connell said. "But our funding ranks near the bottom." California spends $35,000 less per classroom than the rest of the nation, he said. That means fewer resources for students and fewer support personnel, such as counselors, librarians, and technology experts.

The summit drew three of the top education organization leaders in the state, including Bob Wells, executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, Kerry Clegg, president of the California School Boards Association, and Pam Brady, president-elect of the state PTA.

Clegg said CSBA does not support the Governor's Proposition 74, which affects teacher tenure, because it would actually make it more difficult to remove problem teachers from the system.

Long, in honoring Sparkman, noted that she had spent 22 years on the Temecula Valley school board and had a school and a street named after her by local residents. He said she had devoted her life to improving the lives of children.

Sparkman was also credited by others for her work in helping carve out what are now the Temecula, Murrieta, and Lake Elsinore Unified School Districts out of one larger school district in the 1980s.

"Service to community is important to me," she said. "But education is my love." The summit continues Friday with workshops and education. The sponsor is the Riverside County Office of Education.