The Oracle: What do you think are the causes of the achievement gap?

DS: Looking across the nation, you notice that it’s usually more middle or upper-lower class, because a lot of those students don’t have the resources that say, upper-middle and upper class students have tutors, wonderful online programs—just being able to connect to the Internet from home. I’d be surprised, even students here, once they leave, you’ll say, “Why don’t you go on InClass?” and they’ll say “I can’t do it from home, I have to do it here.” So I think that accounts for just not having the resources to [be able to] keep up with everybody else.

TO: What solutions would you put into effect?

DS: I’m looking into an excellent model, Lincoln High School, right in San Jose. It has managed to, in five years, close the achievement gap from about an 80 percent gap, down to within 10 percent, which I think is fantastic. I want to know what they’re doing because it’s working, whatever it is. And they’re right here, so we can’t say “Oh, they’re in Alaska, polar bears do it or they’re in Arkansas.” They’re right here, 20 miles down the road, and they’re closing their gap. They’ve had two principals, and both of them have been dedicated to continuing the programs that seem to work. They are a magnet school and I think they draw from the program “Fame”, which was on television a long time ago, using music arts programs. So I think that’s part of it because you’ve got students there that at least have a common interest. I don’t know if that’s what makes the difference, but I remember that they are a magnet school with drama and arts and dance, so I’d like to find out more about what they’re doing and why it works.

TO: How has the Social Studies Department contributed to closing the achievement gap?

DS: I think we try as a Social Studies Department to close the achievement gap. Some of the things, like the program Focus on Success in the Social Studies Department and the English Department have been very supportive of those programs. They’ve started with two English teachers, and then they’ve added a couple more teachers. And this year, we’re going to have a P.E. teacher, a science teacher, two English teachers and two social studies teachers. So, I think all of the departments are trying to work together, and as far as social studies, we’ve made a concentrated effort to support programs like Focus.

TO: How do you think minorities are disadvantaged in the United States?

DS: I think there are a lot of people, that regardless of the color of their skin, are disadvantaged in this country because really, what’s the statistics like, 10 percent of the people in this country control the wealth? So that means there are 90 percent of us who don’t control the wealth. Money is the root of all evil, but it sure buys a lot of good things, too. It will buy you the tutors, the encyclopedias, the access to the Internet, the whole SAT prep stuff, the whole nine yards so I think there are a lot of people, not just minorities that don’t have access to a lot of resources because we don’t have the funds for it. We’re thinking about $4 a gallon gas, and bread that now is almost twice as much, and milk that went up by 60 percent. So when you’re dealing with such basic level stuff, it’s hard to concentrate on the academic, which is a way of getting out of that, but you’ve got to put gasoline in your car to get to school.