Friday, March 05, 2004
Monrovia School Link ~ Number 76 ~ Feb. 25, 2004
Thanks to Irma Walling for this report on the Feb. 25 school board meeting. Apparently the board had quite a chat about school maintenance. By the way, I've got another special report planned in the next week or so. The interview is set for next Tuesday, then I'll write it up and get it out to you shortly thereafter.
~ Brad Haugaard (brad@sacklunch.net)
Here's Irma's report:
Betty Sandford attended SBA Conferences in San Diego last summer. On the 18th the School Board spent an hour with Molly Mcgee, a specialist of CSBA (California School Board Association). Betty said, "It will help us understand each other and our responsibilities."
Pam Woodbury presented the Chamber of Commerce Awards for employee of the month. Janice Herr and Marlene Wood received Teacher of the Month. Sandra Cortez and Mariann De La Torre received Classified Employee of the Month.
Cyrus Kemp said Claire Chesley asked to have poor janitorial conditions put on the agenda, but said it did not appear on the agenda. He accused Betty and Louise of sweeping it under the rug, but it was on the agenda -- item 4.5.1.
He spoke about going to a class on Thursday and said he would like to see meetings shortened. He suggested using committees to get the community involved, called them commissions. Cyrus encouraged the board to consider this.
Adele Cornils, from Glendale, is the President of the Monrovia Teachers Association. She said she is concerned about comments made about our teachers. It is her 19th year with the district. She taught for 17 years and this is her second run as President of the MTA. She sees herself as a "recycled leader". She said, "We often disagree but we don't have to be disagreeable".
At this point Cyrus disagreed, saying the board was in violation of the Brown Act.
Back to Adele: Rah Rah for the teachers. She's not happy that she will have to prove she is qualified because of "No Child Left Behind." She said she already has a long list of degrees. I don't know much about it, but like in any profession, just because you hold a degree doesn't mean you are qualified for the job.
Bruce Carter said he visited Wildrose and is very impressed with the focus on academics. He said he loves these visits.
Clare Chesley went to both Wildrose and Santa Fe's Founder's Days. She said both were wonderful celebrations. She mentioned the Honor Society at the High School, where 60 students applied and 20 were selected, not just on grades but also on character. Clare was very impressed and honored to be there. She thanked the city council for its donation of $4,000 to Mayflower for its after-school program. Mayflower does not qualify for the after-school program that the other elementary sites have. Clare plugged the fundraiser being held at Clifton this Friday to raise money for lunch benches. Sounds like fun - Elvis and the Beatles with the Clifton band, chorus and cheerleaders to open.
Bryan Wong said he did not want to be repetitive, so he passed.
Monina Diaz went to the Honor Society meeting and felt the same as Clare. She also attended Santa Fe Founder's Day. She said Santa Fe is an amazing place, family oriented, with a great PTA core of 10 parents who have brought in $11,000 in fundraising. She said she was very impressed.
Betty Sanford said the High School will be putting in a new Big M Boosters Snack Shop and extra bathrooms, to be ready for the next football season. Some of the funding is already in place.
Louis Taylor attended Santa Fe and Plymouth Founder's Days. Founder's Day celebrates the PTA and PTSA groups. She visited Bradoaks and Wildrose and says she saw happy children ready to learn. She also said something about the National Honor Society, and Francie Cash, and the MTA and CTA. Francie is being honored on March 17th. March 4th is Read Across Monrovia Day, board members will be reading to kindergarteners at the Early Learning Canyon Center.
Business Manager Linda Dempsey, speaking about building maintenance, said the district has not achieved its goal of having all sites modernized. She said the sites are short staffed but the district is working on ways around that with daily, weekly, monthly and annual checklists. It seems there are 25-28 full-time or part-time custodians for all sites. Not very many for the size of some of the campuses and the number of students per school (in my opinion). There is no custodial supervisor; that was eliminated in the early 90s. The district is looking to hire one before end of this school year.
Clare was interested in knowing what the graffiti removal practice is at Bradoaks. It seems there was some graffiti over the holidays and it was still there when school resumed in January. Funny, the graffiti that showed up at Mayflower over the holidays was taken care of in less than 48 hours. Linda Dempsey said the painters were on vacation at the time.
Clare also received a call from a parent about the high school bathrooms being locked. Linda said she was uanaware of that. Bryan asked if there was a policy at the district level or at each individual site, as he has been at sites and been unable to locate an open bathroom for his child. Linda said there was no policy. In general they are locked after school. Debby was able to speak to the vice principal (he was in the audience) regarding the locking of the bathrooms and was told that the restrooms are never all locked. I can't imagine having to run across campus looking for an open bathroom. Do they have a list somewhere informing the students which bathrooms are going to unlocked and when?
Clare asked if there was a form to make a formal complaint. Linda said they are working on this. How does a district as old as Monrovia's not have a complaint form? Clare would like there to be a way that the board can follow up on these complaints.
Gail Grant with Gail Perroti(?) gave an overhead presentation about Special Education. There are 576 students out of 6,556 that are diagnosed as Special Ed in our district. Clare was interested in knowing what avenues of dispute parents who are concerned about the cost have open to them. Monina wanted to know how the students are recommended for the program - is it staff or parents? Bryan asked how many complaints they receive from parents. Between Gail G., Gail P., Louise, and Linda all questions were sort of answered. They were not able to give an estimate of staff vs. parent recommendations. There have been times when the district has had to file a complaint, although neither complaints from parents or the district usually become formal complaints. It is unfortunate that the cost has tripled this year and that it does cost more to send the students out of our district, but they do what is best for the student. The nice thing though, is that with the clinics at Mayflower there are outside students coming in, and we can then charge them.
Cyrus Kemp made another appearance and stated that the conditions of the schools have been deteriorating for years. Time to step up to the plate maybe put it out to contract, he said. All he hears is excuses.
Thanks to Irma Walling for this report on the Feb. 25 school board meeting. Apparently the board had quite a chat about school maintenance. By the way, I've got another special report planned in the next week or so. The interview is set for next Tuesday, then I'll write it up and get it out to you shortly thereafter.
~ Brad Haugaard (brad@sacklunch.net)
Here's Irma's report:
Betty Sandford attended SBA Conferences in San Diego last summer. On the 18th the School Board spent an hour with Molly Mcgee, a specialist of CSBA (California School Board Association). Betty said, "It will help us understand each other and our responsibilities."
Pam Woodbury presented the Chamber of Commerce Awards for employee of the month. Janice Herr and Marlene Wood received Teacher of the Month. Sandra Cortez and Mariann De La Torre received Classified Employee of the Month.
Cyrus Kemp said Claire Chesley asked to have poor janitorial conditions put on the agenda, but said it did not appear on the agenda. He accused Betty and Louise of sweeping it under the rug, but it was on the agenda -- item 4.5.1.
He spoke about going to a class on Thursday and said he would like to see meetings shortened. He suggested using committees to get the community involved, called them commissions. Cyrus encouraged the board to consider this.
Adele Cornils, from Glendale, is the President of the Monrovia Teachers Association. She said she is concerned about comments made about our teachers. It is her 19th year with the district. She taught for 17 years and this is her second run as President of the MTA. She sees herself as a "recycled leader". She said, "We often disagree but we don't have to be disagreeable".
At this point Cyrus disagreed, saying the board was in violation of the Brown Act.
Back to Adele: Rah Rah for the teachers. She's not happy that she will have to prove she is qualified because of "No Child Left Behind." She said she already has a long list of degrees. I don't know much about it, but like in any profession, just because you hold a degree doesn't mean you are qualified for the job.
Bruce Carter said he visited Wildrose and is very impressed with the focus on academics. He said he loves these visits.
Clare Chesley went to both Wildrose and Santa Fe's Founder's Days. She said both were wonderful celebrations. She mentioned the Honor Society at the High School, where 60 students applied and 20 were selected, not just on grades but also on character. Clare was very impressed and honored to be there. She thanked the city council for its donation of $4,000 to Mayflower for its after-school program. Mayflower does not qualify for the after-school program that the other elementary sites have. Clare plugged the fundraiser being held at Clifton this Friday to raise money for lunch benches. Sounds like fun - Elvis and the Beatles with the Clifton band, chorus and cheerleaders to open.
Bryan Wong said he did not want to be repetitive, so he passed.
Monina Diaz went to the Honor Society meeting and felt the same as Clare. She also attended Santa Fe Founder's Day. She said Santa Fe is an amazing place, family oriented, with a great PTA core of 10 parents who have brought in $11,000 in fundraising. She said she was very impressed.
Betty Sanford said the High School will be putting in a new Big M Boosters Snack Shop and extra bathrooms, to be ready for the next football season. Some of the funding is already in place.
Louis Taylor attended Santa Fe and Plymouth Founder's Days. Founder's Day celebrates the PTA and PTSA groups. She visited Bradoaks and Wildrose and says she saw happy children ready to learn. She also said something about the National Honor Society, and Francie Cash, and the MTA and CTA. Francie is being honored on March 17th. March 4th is Read Across Monrovia Day, board members will be reading to kindergarteners at the Early Learning Canyon Center.
Business Manager Linda Dempsey, speaking about building maintenance, said the district has not achieved its goal of having all sites modernized. She said the sites are short staffed but the district is working on ways around that with daily, weekly, monthly and annual checklists. It seems there are 25-28 full-time or part-time custodians for all sites. Not very many for the size of some of the campuses and the number of students per school (in my opinion). There is no custodial supervisor; that was eliminated in the early 90s. The district is looking to hire one before end of this school year.
Clare was interested in knowing what the graffiti removal practice is at Bradoaks. It seems there was some graffiti over the holidays and it was still there when school resumed in January. Funny, the graffiti that showed up at Mayflower over the holidays was taken care of in less than 48 hours. Linda Dempsey said the painters were on vacation at the time.
Clare also received a call from a parent about the high school bathrooms being locked. Linda said she was uanaware of that. Bryan asked if there was a policy at the district level or at each individual site, as he has been at sites and been unable to locate an open bathroom for his child. Linda said there was no policy. In general they are locked after school. Debby was able to speak to the vice principal (he was in the audience) regarding the locking of the bathrooms and was told that the restrooms are never all locked. I can't imagine having to run across campus looking for an open bathroom. Do they have a list somewhere informing the students which bathrooms are going to unlocked and when?
Clare asked if there was a form to make a formal complaint. Linda said they are working on this. How does a district as old as Monrovia's not have a complaint form? Clare would like there to be a way that the board can follow up on these complaints.
Gail Grant with Gail Perroti(?) gave an overhead presentation about Special Education. There are 576 students out of 6,556 that are diagnosed as Special Ed in our district. Clare was interested in knowing what avenues of dispute parents who are concerned about the cost have open to them. Monina wanted to know how the students are recommended for the program - is it staff or parents? Bryan asked how many complaints they receive from parents. Between Gail G., Gail P., Louise, and Linda all questions were sort of answered. They were not able to give an estimate of staff vs. parent recommendations. There have been times when the district has had to file a complaint, although neither complaints from parents or the district usually become formal complaints. It is unfortunate that the cost has tripled this year and that it does cost more to send the students out of our district, but they do what is best for the student. The nice thing though, is that with the clinics at Mayflower there are outside students coming in, and we can then charge them.
Cyrus Kemp made another appearance and stated that the conditions of the schools have been deteriorating for years. Time to step up to the plate maybe put it out to contract, he said. All he hears is excuses.
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