Mayors who think they have the secret to fixing schools

August 22, 10:52 AMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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Villaraigosa: miracle worker?

I’ve been following education news in Los Angeles from afar as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa crusades to take over schools in the apparent belief that those stupid educators are inept and he, with zero education experience, can achieve true reform.

  Brown: not as easy as he expected.

Jerry Brown tried the same thing in Oakland, of course, with his two once-vaunted charter schools, Oakland School for the Arts and Oakland Military Institute – both showered with gushing press coverage when they first started up.

Before he started those schools, I heard Brown speak about them at an event run by the California charter school folks. His attitude came across to me as belligerent – just watch me and I’ll show those stoopid educators how it’s done – though I suppose he was trying to be a cheerleader. Both schools are still there, but both have struggled all along the way. He really owes those stoopid educators an apology for his attitude now that he’s learned it’s not just oh-so-easy. To give Brown his due, he has really remained committed to the schools – he didn’t start them up and then leave them struggling on their own – but that also shows how difficult the task has been.

(That “stupid educators” attitude is behind a lot of “education reform” efforts, in my opinion. The notion that experience is not only useless but actually a negative seems awfully naïve and poorly thought out. I wonder why this attitude doesn’t extend to other professions. Stupid doctors! They haven’t cured cancer! Stupid police! They haven’t stopped crime! Let some eager-beaver amateurs show them how it’s done!)

In the case of the ambitious Villaraigosa, who looks impressive in a lot of other areas, it seems like potential political suicide to make this big grandstanding effort when the odds of failure -- or washout, at least -- are so high. I guess one could argue that it demonstrates his commitment and sincerity that he’s willing to take that risk.

So Villaraigosa took over 10 of Los Angeles’ most troubled schools five months ago. Now he’s already facing turbulence, with principal turnover at seven of the 10 schools, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Perhaps those schools will succeed after all – and succeed without the shenigans that often taint the claims of showplace “it’s a miracle!” schools, primarily getting rid of the most challenging students ("this school just is not the right fit for you -- bye now..."). It would, of course, be wonderful if someone found the winning formula. Chalk me up as a skeptic in this case, though. It would be great if I were proven wrong, but unfortunately, skeptics almost always wind up right -- and starry-eyed true believers embarrassed -- when it comes to miracles in education reform.