Dr. Eimear O’Brien promised to oversee a literacy plan for Fresno County students that “everybody in the community knows about” if she is elected as schools superintendent.

In a conversation Thursday evening with GV Wire Publisher Darius Assemi, O’Brien also criticized incumbent superintendent Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher for only telling “part of the story” about literacy and math achievement in the county’s 32 public school districts.

As she sees it, the superintendent publicizes the good news while burying the truth about widespread low educational attainment.

GV Wire invited Cantwell-Copher to participate in the discussion about the future of education in Fresno County, but she declined to participate.

Endorsed by Powell and Yovino

O’Brien is a former superintendent at Clovis Unified and interim superintendent at Central Unified. She is endorsed by Larry Powell and Jim Yovino, who served as county superintendents before Cantwell-Copher.

O’Brien stressed that she will be transparent and expects families to hold her accountable for improvement in literacy and math skills throughout the county. She vowed that under her leadership, there would be rapid improvement.

“We want our kids reading by the first grade,” she said.

The candidate also called for “honest conversations” about what is required for students to accelerate their learning. And she pointed to the wide gap between a countywide high school graduation rate of nearly 90% and a much lower math skills competency rate as evidence of the need for academic reform.

“We’re kidding ourselves about grade inflation and social promotion (advancing flunking students yearly),” O’Brien said.

If she is elected, O’Brien said, she will throw herself completely into the job of ensuring that students graduate ready for the workforce or college.

“I feel like I’m going to be reimagining the role of the county superintendent,” O’Brien said.

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