Monrovia School Link ~ Number 98 ~ October 28, 2004
Well... it's been a long time (before the election) since I've really been to a board meeting, so first of all, let me comment on the new atmosphere. And, actually, "atmosphere" is the right word, for the meeting room had a distinct air of wintergreen. Board member Claire Chesley said she'd taken up kick-boxing (sounds useful) and was kinda sore, so she got some Ben Gay, accidentally picking up the kind that smells like wintergreen Lifesavers instead of the odorless kind. All this was fine with me since I like wintgergreen Lifesavers. I actually think all board members should smell like wintergreen. There was some good discussion about board goals, a very authentic Confederate soldier, and, oh! Did you know a lot of you have the attention span of a third grader? Read on.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
FREE FOOD ~ Last time I attended a study session it was in a back room, and when the board (wisely) moved the meetings out to the main board room, I was worried what would happen with all the roast beef sandwiches, drinks, chips and cookies they used to have. Well, they've accomodated nicely. The table set aside for the press was put to good use. Since none of the press ever bothers to use it (Hint! Hint! Star-News, Monrovia Weekly and Mountain Views), it was loaded up with food. It looked like I could get up and have a turkey on French roll if I wanted. Makes you hungry to attend a study session, doesn't it?
NOT RELATED ~ To kick off the discussion of the board's vision and goals, President Betty Sandford said the board has set goals in the past, "but they were not necessarily related to one another." She said, "We have seen they were not really effective. We needed more coordinated goals, on a five-year basis, so we can see if there's movement." Also, she said, unlike the past, the board has asked the district staff and public for input.
THOUGHTFUL ~ Overall, the study session - and later the regular board meeting - involved some pretty thoughtful discussion. During the study session the board sat down with Adele Cornill, president of the Monrovia Teachers Association, and another employee representative who whispered, so I couldn't hear him. During the study session people seemed to be getting along fine and sharing fairly openly - though things got a leeeetle bit tense between Chesley and Diaz in the regular meeting. Happily, I only gagged once, but I'll get to that in a minute. Bruce Carter said the purpose of the goals is to hold the board accountable. That, he said, is "uppermost in my mind. It's sure as hell not to put more burden on our staff. It's not to beat up on the teachers."
MEASURING ~ During the study session, Monina said that some of the comments staff members have made suggest that they want to be recognized for what already done. Does staff, she asked, feel unrecognized? Adele replied that it's not so much lack of recognition, but that there have been a lot of accomplishments in the past, but every time a goal is met, a higher goal is set. She said there's a sense that things are "never good enough." Carter replied that the board recognizes the achievements over the past few years, and that the goals are to keep the *board* accountable. He said there is a common perception in the community that the school board doesn't do anything. [I wouldn't argue with that perception, though I think things are changing nicely.] The reality, he said, is that the board has set goals. The idea, he said, is to show people - to show the "critics" [Is that me?] - what the board is doing. Clare added, "It's not like we're manufacturing widgets. My child is not a widget." But, she said, the point of the board goals is that there's got to be some sort of measurement. "We want to create goals that are measurable, but we want to keep in mind all that other good stuff - the things you can't measure." Cool. I like that. You can't measure everything, but you oughta measure the things you can measure. Adele responded quite reasonably that they may be the board's goals, but it's going to be the employees who make them happen.
YOU'RE A THIRD GRADER ~ I thought this little interaction between Cornill and Carter was interesting. She said she believe's the board's job is to educate the community, to which Carter added, "and some of them have an attention span of some of your third graders." I guess he's not running for reelection this November. But don't take offense. I'm sure he's comparing us only to third graders with the very longest attention spans.
GAG ~ Diaz kind of gingerly (I thought) mentioned to Adele that while a lot of Monrovia classes are outstanding, some classes are not, uh, "engaging." Cornill responded that "some teachers do their jobs differently. I don't believe," she said, "that anybody is not doing their job. I believe everybody is doing their job." Hoo boy! that comment makes me gag like a cat with a furball. With that one comment she instantly devalued everything else she said. I've got a lot of respect for teachers (my wife was a teacher, so I better), but since when did teachers - alone out of the entire human race - become perfect? I mean, I'd have been happy if she had said, "Most teachers are doing their jobs very well", or "Almost every teacher is doing a super job." I could buy that, but this absolutist "everyone" is doing their job is just absurd. She doesn't believe it and I don't believe it and nobody else in the room believed it. I realize she wants to stand up for teachers (bravo for that), but give me a break!
DEMONIC DETAILS ~ You know the old expression, "The devil is in the details?" Well, I saw that last meeting. During its regular meeting, the board happily and almost without discussion went over its three-part vision for it's five-year plan: "Distinguished Schools," "Instructional Excellence," and "Graduates of Distinction." Those visions may seem a bit vague, but that's okay because the detail is supposed to be spelled out in the goals, and that's where the sailing got choppy.
PROPOSED GOAL ONE ~ "All Monrovia Schools will be designated California and Monrovia Distinguished Schools, with API scores of 800 or above." Bryan Wong wanted to know - he came back to this several times - how they were going to define a "Monrovia Distinguished School." Bruce Carter suggested the staff and community work out the definition. Wong seemed okay with that, but wanted to know if the definition would apply to all schools or if there would be a different definition for each school. Carter said he'd like one definition for the district, and everybody seemed cool with that. Diaz was concerned about the goal of getting schools' API scores to 800 or above. She said that if, say, Caucasian students scored at 900 and minority students scored 700, it could average out to 800, but that wouldn't be right for the minority students.
PROPOSED GOAL TWO ~ Here's where the real disagreements came out. The proposed goal is: "All Monrovia teachers will utilize specified research-supported instructional strategies." Chesley said it isn't a goal because there is no way to measure it, and Diaz, a big supporter of Goal Two, replied that it Is too a goal, and it could be measured, and... "How?" Chesley broke in. "If you'd let me finish..." Diaz said. [I sense these two don't go out for a friendly beer together after meetings.] Then Diaz finished. She talked about whether all classrooms in the district are engaging places for children and then suggested that Joel Shawn, in charge of curriculum, should come up with the measurement criteria. So Board Prez Betty Sandford asked Shawn if he could measure the success of this goal. "I'm not going to answer that question," Shawn said, but he suggested the board hold him accountable. Later, Monina said that while she still wants classrooms to be engaging, she was having second thoughts about whether this should be a goal, and suggested maybe Clare and Bryan were right.
PROPOSED GOAL THREE ~ I won't quote this in full, but it says Monrovia schools "will provide programs to guide students to become high school graduates who 1) Aim toward college and a meaningful career. 2) Complete course requirements for UC/CSU." Carter was afraid this implies that every student should go to college and Wong said what he wants is for every student to have a "game plan" for his or her life. That, he said, might involve them sitting down with a counselor repeatedly, though that might mean hiring more counselors, which might be a budget problem. Earlier, Monina noted that some teachers had indicated that college is not for every child, and asked MTA President Adele Cornill about this. Adele said the concern is simply that the teachers want multiple avenues available for the students, to which Monina responded - in too many words - that the schools should aim first at getting kids in college, and if it's apparent that college isn't right for them, then aim at vocational school. I thought that made sense, and nobody else complained, so I guess everybody else did, too.
RESULTS? ~ So what happened finally? Well, finally hasn't arrived. This project is still in the works, so feel free to contact the district with your thoughts, but the evening wrapped up with Superintendent Taylor suggesting her staff take what they heard and try to tweek the goals to reflect what board members said. Everyone seemed to like that idea, so that's where it is for now.
CONGRATULATIONS ~ On to other topics. Congratulations to the four district employees who were honored by the board and Chamber of Commerce for their outstanding service. There were: Claude Mallory, head custodian at Canyon Oaks High School; Ross October, teacher at Mountain Park School, Debra Phipps, Career Center clerk at Monrovia High School; Marcela Molina, ROP teacher at Monrovia High.
SNACK BAR ~ Ed Gililland, who's been leading the campaign for a snack bar/restroom at Monrovia High, reported that the Big M Boosters has raised all but $18,000 for the building (out of, I think about $50,000). He introduced Rick Baricatt (Sorry if I misspelled it), representing AYSO, which has just given $5,000 for the building. I think Gililland is one of the good guys. He's been working for the schools for a long time. Even though the board didn't select him as a member when a previous member left (picking Diaz instead), and even though he didn't win a seat on the board when he ran for office, he didn't walk away. He's just keeps plugging away, helping out where he can.
CIVIL WAR ~ A private in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, complete with butternut uniform and musket, whose real name is Richard Magwood and who just happens to be Board President Betty Sandford's hairdresser, spoke to the board - at Betty's invitation - about the loss of Civil War battlefields. Today, he said "our Civil War battlefields are becoming strip malls and housing. They are in imminent danger. He said "more men killed in the Civil War than in all wars we've fought since." He said 23,000 were killed in one day at Antietem alone. "Think," he said, "if that happened in Iraq." He encouraged people to contribute to the preservation of the battlefields and offered to speak to classes studying the Civil War. Quite moving. It would have helped, though, if he had told *how* to contribute.
GOLDEN BELL ~ The Village After School Tutoring Program won a Golden Bell award from the California School Board Association. Superintendent Louise Taylor said that's a big deal, that a lot of districts don't win any. Last year, Monina said, the district won three Golden Bells and Bruce Carter said he talked with a guy from another district who basically said, "Yeah, we won three Golden Bells, too." But, Carter said, the guy he was talking to was from a district with 200 schools. So I guess it really is a pretty big deal.
DEPRESSION, ETC. ~ Chesley said was concerned about the high levels of depression outlined in the Healthy Kids survey presented at the last meeting. She suggested checking the numbers and seeing if they are correct, and if so, seeing if it would be possible to get funding for additional counselors. She also noted that a parent contacted here about some asphalt work at Wildrose and Monroe that didn't appear to be done well. Clare said the district checked it out and it turned out to be okay, but she encouraged other parents to contact the board if they ever have any concerns about what's going on (or not going on) in the district.
OBSERVATIONS ~ Compared to when I was here last, the board meetings have become a lot livelier, at least if this meeting was any indication. Also, I'd say Monina Diaz more than held up her side of the conversation. Way more. I'd guesstimate that about 40 percent of all the talking was Monina's. She has some good things to say, but she could communicate the same information with half the words. Methinks she should write the word "brevity" on a piece of paper and tape it to her bathroom mirror. Think "Gettysburg Address." Also, Monina, if you're going to object to Clare interrupting you, maybe you shouldn't interrupt Bryan when he's talking.
NEXT MEETING ~ The next regular meeting of the board will be December 8, at 7 p.m. It'll be the organizational meeting, so I think everyone will switch titles. It will be at the administration office at 325 E. Huntington Drive, right across from Smart & Final.
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