An Interview With The First Lady Chancellor - San Mateo Cnty CD

By Jon F. Dee

This paper was taped for an English As a Second Language class the candidate was taking prior to his run for the Board of Trustees.

A. Very good, thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Q. I would like to start with a few questions about your personal life as the community, particularly the minority communities, considers you as a role model. It has been a long way from St. Louis, Missouri, where I understand you grew up. Dr. Callahan, did you ever have an idea when you said good-bye to your father in Missouri after graduation that you would someday attain the position you have today?

A. No, but I had always enjoyed going to school. I like the academic atmosphere, and I wanted to have an opportunity to work with students, so the particular position of chancellor was never in my mind, but certainly, I knew I wanted to serve in the field of education.

Q. Could this come with hard work then?

A. It came with hard work and opportunity.

Q. So in a sense, you are an immigrant to the Bay Area. How do you feel being the first lady chancellor of this college district. What can you offer our students by way of advice? Do you have a specific message for them?

A. Well, I came to California for the same reason that foreign immigrants come to California. And that is California was portrayed as a land of opportunity, a place where people could be promoted and find jobs based upon their skills and that certainly has been my experience. So my message would be to prepare oneself to do the kind of work that you enjoy, to concentrate on doing an excellent job, and when an opportunity comes you way, seize it and make your mark.

Q. Very well said, thank you, Dr. Callahan. Many people would say if only they had the time, they could do much better, but you were ... I should say you are a family person, a career woman, and I presume a student, yourself at some extended period of time, during your career and marriage, all of these at the same time at times. How did you manage and still come out whole, not only in body and spirit but also at the top of your chosen field?

A. Well, I think a lot of it has to do with organization, with being able to set priorities and concentrating on those things that are important. I did go to graduate school while I had two young children and I made my study time following their bed time. We also worked together cooperatively, my husband and myself, in terms of sharing the responsibilities for the children. He was responsible in the morning to see that everything was taken care of before he went to work and I was responsible for taking care of the late day items. I don't think that my children missed the fact that I didn't do the laundry. That wasn't important to them. What was important to them was that I was there at a certain time, that we always had a family dinner, that Sunday was reserved as family day, for us to go to church together, to have recreation together. I think, I probably experimented with a lot of different management techniques. In fact, you would probably chuckle when I tell you that at one point I had a full time job and I commuted to Los Angeles, twice a week from the Bay Area while I was working on my doctorate. I would come home on the midnight flyer and be ready for work the next day. I felt that massing all my activities into two days a week was better for my family, I also am thankful for good genes and a strong healthy body.

Q. We pause to remind you that our guest on today's program is Dr. Lois P. Callahan, Chancellor of the San Mateo Community Colleges. To continue, Dr. Callahan, I have a question about the educational system of the nation, in general, as well as that of California, and in particular, that of the county of San Mateo. What are the bigger challenges of our education system, as you understand them, that is, in the context of your responsibilities as a chancellor?

A. Well, I think the major responsibility is to identify which instructional delivery systems are going to be most effective with students. In other words, determining how best to provide a teaching and learning environment that is going to be a positive one for our many different types of students. But underlying that, in the overall challenge of providing quality education to many different types of people is the monetary question. I think that education in the United States, in particular Calfornia, is suffering from inadequate funding to meet the needs. Currently we have over 12,000 students asking for services within our colleges, and we receive no funding to provide those services. So the immediate concern is the crunch on finances. The long-term concern is being able to deliver quality education to every type of student who needs our services.

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callahan, Our next question is: President Bush, who proclaims himself as the education president, said that to transfrom American schools, we must challenge, not only the means and methods that we have used in the past, but also the yardsticks that we have used to measure our progress. He also said that he envisions American education in the 21st Century being compatible with technological and vocational demands of the time. The other day, I read in the papers that he is proposing or expecting country-wide testing through national examinations, having more experimental schools, and even considering public funding of private schools including religious schools. What do you say about all these?

A. Well, first of all let me respond to President Bush's vision that education in the 21st Century needs to be compatible with the technological and vocational demands. I think that that is an area in which the San Mateo Community College District does very well. However, there is no single solution in our view. There are centain programs and types of courses that can be supported by computers and interactive video types of material. There are other areas in the curriculum that can best be learned by one-on-one interaction. So, my view as an educatior is that we need to use a wide variety of delivery systems and that those needs had to be matched to the subject matter. In addition, we need to consciously stay abreast of the changes not only in the workplace, but changes in the academic fields that we teach. And we in this district are very supportive of providing staff development opportunities for employees, so they can stay current. With regard to testing and national examination, I think there may be some technical curriculum across the nation that could be tested, but the states, and particularly California, have very different cultures, very different situations and I am not sure that national examinations would be the answer for us. However, among our three colleges, we believe very strongly in assessing student skills as they enter the college, so that we are able to place them in the courses where they can best benefit and thereby be successful in higher ducation. In terms of public funding of private schools, at the momemt, I would like to see public schools fully funeded before we talk about funding private schools. The public schools were established to provide a leveling opportunity, a place where immigrants and natives could all come together and share and learn to work together. My concern is that public funding of private shools would create separate types of institutions rather than integrate institutions.

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callahan, I'd like to go back to your answer to my previous question, It had to do with money matters. In terms of financing, California public schools get about 45% of the total state budget, at least in l991. Looking at absolute figures, this comes out to be about $25 billion for education out of a total state budget of $56 billion. Do you still think that the public schools really need more money to improve its performance, to make them even more competitive with other educational systems considering that the California public school system is being currently used or held up, we have heard, as a model by the United Nationss? In more practical terms does the schools system that produced the men who won Desert Storm, and makes every American proud, need more money?

A. As cost go up, the schools do need more moeny. I don't think that improvement comes exclusively from money, but currently in the state of California, we have had a policy of providing totally free education. There ougght to be a joint effort between the state and the students. And certainly there would be students who could not afford to pay a part of the cost but we have extensive aid opportunities for those students. For ecample, at the present time, student do not pay for any of their instructional supplies. And I thnk that is an area in which California might want to review its position. I am interested in maintaining access and providing the instructions to as many students who want to enroll.

Q. Like all money matters this is a touchy question. But the reason I would like to ask a little bit more in this area is that in the last election San Mateo County taxpayers rebuffed an effort to raise additional taxes for education. In the case of San Francisco County, our neighbor to the north, the schools won but by a very small margin. But this morning, I heard or read in the papers that the California Supreme court has ruled that for local communities to be able to raise taxes within the context of Proposition 13, the elections has to be by at least 2/3, so much so, that there might be a chance that communities in the San Diego area might be required to refund tax collections based on margins that did not constitute 2/3 majority.

A. I think that you have cited a very significant change in the way we have financed schools subsequent to Proposition 13. Local taxpayers have the decision making power to decide what they wanted to pay. I think, San Mateo County was a good example of taxpayers who endorsed the community colleges, supported and wanted them to be continued to be supported and maintained. The difficulty in getting the 2/3 majority to raise additional taxes has been demonstrated across the state and the question has to be raised why it is necessary to have a 2/3 on school tax election and in other elections we only need to have a simple majority, I think California needs to rethink where it is in the long aftermath of Proposition 13 and take a long look at how we might finance public education. With regard to the vote in San Mateo County, I do not consider the inability to pass the increased taxes a negative vote for education. There were very strict limitations on how that money could be spent and I think some people were voting no because of that. Some did not want new taxes for education. Others were voting no because they were concerned about how the money would be distributed. So it was a complex decision on the part of the voters here in San Mateo County.

Q. How much of the SMCCD budget comes from the State of California?

A. Over 50%

Q. And the rest are locally or internally generated?

A. The rest are local. Local property taxes are collected and sent to Sacramento and redistributed to us. And we have a small percentage of our income coming from private donations, from entrepreneurial efforts and grants.

Q. And out of this budget, what percentage goes to salaries?

A. More than 85%. So we have very limited discretionary budget. Because we are labor intensive.

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callhan. My next question is how good are community colleges vis-a-vis private college preparatory schools or is there a comparison?

A. Different types of colleges provide environments that are difficult to compare. However, in our community colleges, if you were to compare them to a large public university, the community college provides a more personal educational environment, smaller classes, all classes taught by professional instructors. So there is a more intimate and personal educational environment in the community college compared to the large public universities. In comparing us to private schools there is no single model among private schools. I think that the greatest difference between the community colleges and the private colleges is that we do not have the dormitory and student residential experience.

Q. Did you send your own children to the public schools and the community college?

A. I have two children both of whom attended the College of San Mateo. Both reflect positively on their experience here. And they went on to the University of California in competitive, scientific fields and did very well. Both have gone on to graduate schools and done well. So I feel that the first two years of college here was a very positive experience for them. Most of our students who are young have a little difficulty making the transitions from this warm, personal, caring environment to a large impersonal university. And my children experienced that but it was only a short period of time that they took to the adjustment. I think that living at home and going here for the first two years allowed them to concentrate on their studies, not worrying about where they were going to get food and where the laundry was going to be cleaned or not being distracted by dormitory activities.

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callahan. My next question is about your administration. Where would your priorities be? Is it on the teaching side or the administrative services side? Where do you see more grounds for improvement or put another way, do you see the chink in our armor?

A. Our priority has to be the classroom. So any administrative services that I am responsible for needs to be restructured in the context of how they support the classroom activity. Right now, I have given high priority to improving our Buildings & Grounds and their services affecting the student and every staff member in all the three campuses. I may be focusing on the administrative structure. However, the purpose of that is to improve what happens in the classroom. I thnk, we always have to say that the reason we are here is for the student and ask ourselves every day. What have we as a staff member done to improve the life of the student?

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callahan. This is a question, I wasn't sure I should be asking. But having come across the San Mateo Community College District Vision Statement 2000, do you believe in Affirmative Action. Consider that a recent survey reported on TV says that 76% of Americans no longer believe in affermative action, that it has become a vehicle for the quota system.

A. I do believe in affirmative action. And I have been a participant in affirmative action decisions. This district has a very carefully designed hiring procedures and policy that includes affirmative action. One can only look a the changing demographics in the community of San Mateo County and realized that its educational institutions are going to serve a more diverse population in greater nubmer and therefore it is important to model now to work together.

Q. Following your line of thinking, could there be a reason why there has been no ethnic minority member of the Board of Trustees considering the fast changing demographics of San Mateo County?

A. I think that that is a question that has puzzled many of us. There have not been many minorities who have run for the board. I think that we should all encourage leaders of the different minority community groups in the county to run for the board. The election of a minority member would add an important perspective to our policy making.

Q. So it is more of a lack of interest on the part of ethnic minorities rather than lack of support from the general community.

A. In my long history with the district, I remember only one running for the Board.

Q. One did try.

A. One did try a long time ago.

Q. Dr. Callahan, your predecessor, Mr. Smith and the chancellors before him had the opportunity to build up the infrastructure of the District. I am informed that the San Mateo Community College campuses located on 409 acres of prime land and comprising 1.1 million sq. ft. of improvments, built unobtrusively into the natural landscape, is one of the best designed community colleges in the country. When your term is over, by which accomplishment would you like the students and community to remember you by?

A. We have published a Vision 2000 Statement and I would like to be remembered by that. I would like to be remembered as one who promoted Vision 2000 and who was able to comnplete that vision. But as part of that vision, I would like to be remembered as having introduced a quality of thinking during the entire operation.

Q. Thank you, Dr. Callahan, It was a pleasure having you as guest in the weekly program Personality of the Week, courtesy of KCSM-FM91.