Monrovia School Link Preview ~ Number 128 ~ June 26, 2005
Well, we lost Joel Shawn to Arcadia. Sad day. There's what will probably be an interesting presentation coming up this Wednesday morning about charter schools (Clare's interested in exploring them). In this issue there's a report on confidential medical releases for students, some parents are concerned about losing transportation to get their kids to school, and, of course, the health aides issue. Thanks to Maritza Diaz for this write-up. She's a co-worker of mine who has agreed to do some writing for the newsletter. By the way, I was thinking of telling you there's a great new restaurant, called the Peach Cafe, about a block east of Myrtle on Colorado, but I decided that isn't really about education, so I'm not going to tell you.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
By Maritza Diaz
Never let it be said that school board meetings are boring. Not in Monrovia, anyway. Not anymore. By the end of the night a new budget was approved, a beloved administrator's resignation was accepted and parents spoke out against budget cuts.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...~ Four Monrovia Unified School District employees were honored for outstanding service. Some of them brought a cheering section, taking up half the room, and all that support was nice to see. The winners were: Fred Saiz - Warehouse Delivery Driver, District Office; Karen Meza - Playground Aide, Plymouth Elementary School; Shannon Varner - Receptionist, Plymouth Elementary School; Tamara Morrison - Site Coordinator, Village After School Program. Congratulations Everyone!
THE PUBLIC VOICE ~ The public had a lot to say tonight and I mean a lot. The HOT items that drove people to the podium were cutting school transportation, cutting health care workers and the Attorney General's legal opinion that the district must release students from school for "confidential medical reasons."
Six or seven members of the Latino community attended to ask the board not to cut transportation in the budget. All the parents delivered the same message: their children need the bus to get to get to school. Many said they wouldn't be able to provide other transportation because they lacked cars, licenses or money.
Also, many parents feared that cutting health workers from schools would prevent children from getting proper care from trained and licensed professionals. The other health issue dealt with Attorney General Bill Lockyer's opinion about letting kids out for "confidential medical" reasons without their parents' consent. Some parents worried about children's safety once they left school, and wondered what legal liability the district might face as a result.
The pleas and concerns of the parents turned out to be pretty emotional and the audience seemed moved.
CHARTER SCHOOLS ~ Under the Board Member Reports item, Clare Chesley said that on June 29 at 7:30 (that's a.m. this Wednesday) there will be a meeting with a USC expert on Charter Schools to discuss opportunities for Monrovia.
PATHETIC ~ Bruce Carter said he enjoyed the graduations he attended and is gratified many graduates are college bound. He also said that the board doesn't want to cut services but is forced into it because of the "pathetic" level of funding California provides. He said they have no choice but to provide a balanced budget. As long as California and the voters continue to treat education badly they are forced to make do, he said. Maybe the new Mega Million lottery will send more money to education because the regular lottery sure isn't providing enough.
LESS HEALTH ~ Diane Jackson, district health coordinator, presented the new health service plan. It looks like there will be one coordinator and four licensed nurses on staff for the district. Students with special medical needs will be encouraged to transfer to Mayflower School, which will have a full-time licensed nurse. With a limited number of nurses most of them may be rotated throughout the district, working some hours here and some there. Some medications, such as insulin injections, will only be administered by a licensed professional or by a parent who has to come to the school.
As far as regular screenings go (scoliosis, hearing, etc) a parent suggested that student nurses could do them to save money. The district saves some bucks and the student nurses get some practice.
THE BUDGET - Money, money, money. There's never enough. According to Chief Business Officer Linda Dempsey "the only good thing about it is that it's on time and it's balanced (over 3 years)." In order to get this done, the board made about $900,000 of cuts including:
- Reducing teaching staff by 9 for next year
- Reducing transportation to handle only special education students, which is required.
- Reducing health services
Dempsey also said that there still is no State budget and she doesn't hold out hope that the $3.2 billion that the state owes to education will be paid.
Before the vote Sandford said that in years past she has always said "cut transportation," but hearing all the parents tell their stories about needing transportation she was concerned how that was going to be handled. But that didn't stop her from voting "yes."
Dr.Taylor said the district is still concerned about transportation and will continue to address the issue. She said the district sent out surveys to parents and 25% were returned. Eighty families said they would pay for transportation. When they ran the numbers, she said it turns out they needed 300 families that would be willing to pay for transportation to keep it. Dempsey also said they are working with Foothill Transit to cover a route. Diaz said if anyone had any ideas to help deal with the issues to contact them.
DECLINING ENROLLMENT ~ Board Member Clare Chesley expressed concerns about declining enrollment and its effects on funding, then Carter added that judging by what he sees on television, sales of Viagra seem to be up a lot and that could be a long term solution for declining enrollment. Uh huh, I'm not touching that.
MEDICAL CONFIDENTIAL ~ Item 9.2 dealt with the students getting out of school for confidential medical reasons without consent of their parents. It seems that if the district complies with the Attorney General's opinion the district might get sued. If it doesn't comply, it might get sued. So what is there to do? Dr. Taylor said they have devoted a great deal of time and research to this issue and that these are conflicts that haven't been resolved. She said the issue must be sent to the state level and dealt with in the legislature. Her recommendation at this time is to follow status quo practice and encourage students to get parents involved.
Donna MacLeod, Senior Director of Pupil Personnel Services, then presented a brief background on the subject and what other school districts are doing. She said that schools probably thought this was not obligatory but that changed in 2004. She said two law firms have told the district that the Attorney General's opinion should be considered law. They said the district would not be held liable for students once they left the school grounds. Out of sight, out of responsibility.
She said the district has gotten support and opposition from parents on this matter.
MacLeod said Roseville Union High School District did not accept the Attorney General's opinion and is being sued. She said other districts didn't know what they were talking about, others didn't call back. Arcadia does not allow confidential absences (She actually said in the meeting that Arcadia does allow them, but contacted us later for a correction). Glendale and El Monte do not require parent consent.
So what's the final word? The issue needs more research and will be brought back in the fall and see what people say.
BON VOYAGE ~ The board unanimously voted to accept the resignation of Dr. Joel Shawn, who will now be working next door in the Arcadia School District. President Diaz even joked that they should vote not to accept his resignation. But that wouldn't be nice, besides, I'm sure he'll visit. [Oh. Sad, sad. I've always blabbered about what an excellent administrator I consider Joel Shawn to be. Maybe I shoulda kept my mouth shut. - Brad]
NEW BOOK ~ A new health textbook titled "Glencoe Health" is up for public review. So stop by, check it out and see if you like it.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:36. Considering all that was going on, that seemed pretty early.
Until Next Time - The next gatherings of the board will be July 24 and August 24, 2005. See you then.
HALF-RETRACTION ~ Well, I guess I really need to take back about half the nasty things I've been saying about the lazyness of the local media. When brought to its attention, the Star-News not only ran a story about Monrovia parents objecting to the proposed policy of letting students out of school for "medical" reasons without their parents' knowledge (a measure prompted by Attorney General Lockyer's parents-be-damned interpretation of the law), but it also ran an editorial that - quite properly - blasted the AG, calling his opinion "outrageous," among other things. It's well worth reading. Here's a
link to it to it. [Brad]
LETTERS: NO ANONYMOUS POSTINGS ~ I like the opinion-style of this newsletter. I know I don't agree with many of the opinions - but they are just that - opinions. I do *hate* the anonymous postings - people so passionate about a topic, they are too afraid to have their name printed next to it. If you feel so passionately about something or someone, at least have the courage to stand up and say "This is me and this is what I believe". Everyone that subscribes to your newsletters knows this isn't an objective, factual newsletter. That it conveys a lot of the facts and events - but there are plenty of personal opinions sprinkled throughout. If I want something dry and solely fact-based, I'll read the minutes. It also gives you something you don't usually get - the actual way someone views a topic. People try so hard to be "PC" and watch what they say in public, when in private they hold a completely different view. For example, I like knowing what Clare thinks about the children in our lower socio-economic classes and children whose parents don't speak English and how she views accountability as a one-way street (away from the district and lying solely with parents and teachers) - these are good things to know about someone claiming to be an advocate for all children that are served by our school system. And while I admire her courage for saying exactly what she feels on all these topics - I couldn't disagree more with virtually every one of her statements.
I do agree that parents are not held up to the same standards our parents were, for fear of litigation. And of course there are teachers that are below-standard and wouldn't we all like to have a Mrs. Proctor or Ms. Graber. But where is the outrage that the State of California and public school district administrators are not held accountable for the spending on our schools? Where is the outrage that when a budget crunch is upon us the first thing to go is the arts/music and education funding? Accountability must be some new fancy way to say "blame". Who can we blame next?
Everyone is accountable - even our School Board. There's enough blame for everyone.
But how about instead of placing blame on children and the ill-equipped parents that are trying to raise them or the few (and in my years in the district - I have maybe seen 2) teachers that have lost their passion for the profession, why not offer some solutions on how to make this a better District? What is your plan? Expel students that come to school dirty or underfed? Eliminate all bi-lingual translations on all school related documents to make them feel so unwelcome they leave our district? Bust the teacher's union and hope that we can find teachers that are willing to work in a district that doesn't provide some sort of professional protection and allow them to have a voice in their livelihoods? Really, I want to know. Nobody wants the government to raise anyone's child. The government can barely get me my driver's license, let alone raise a child. But not every child is growing up in some of the nurturing, healthy, loving homes that we are raising our children.
It was a tough year - and as I saw it bring out the best in some people, I saw it bring out the absolute worst in others - parents and teachers alike. But, if we all want to move forward and move past all of this - everyone has to be willing to believe this can be a better district and should be looking for solutions and not looking to blame.
SIGNED!
Alex Zucco
[Alex later sent some Emerson quotes to tack on the end. She writes: "If Clare wants to quote Emerson - let's see the whole view of his beliefs, not just the one that serves her agenda."]
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered."
"Let us treat men and women well; treat them as if they were real. Perhaps they are."
"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship."
And my very favorite by Emerson: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
GOODBYE SHAWN ~ [A note from Board Member Clare Chesley she sent me before the meeting] I am sorry to tell you and all that Dr. Joel Shawn has accepted another position (Deputy Superintendent in Arcadia) and therefore given us his resignation. Please know that there is nothing nefarious or conspiratorial about his leaving. Very simply, he got an offer which included a promotion in position and a significant pay increase. I am very sorry to see him go. Although we differ in our political ideology, Joel and I share the educational vision which focuses on academic rigor and high expectations for all students. Not only did Joel make this vision his mantra, he pushed for it in his daily work, i.e., "he walks his talk". I really appreciate Joel's mastery of education curriculum, his sharp mind (like a hot knife thru butter) and his clear and easy to understand reports. He makes statistics fun! He brought incredible depth and breadth of knowledge to principals, teachers and staff. He taught me so much about the complexities of education, especially the funding of education, and I really regret that I will lose his wisdom and insight. He helped stubborn me see different sides to issues and was never afraid to tell me exactly how he felt about a topic even if he differed from me - how refreshing! I thoroughly enjoyed debating political and educational issues with him such as the topic of subgroup identification. I will mostly miss, however, his wry sense of humor. Joel and I share a common love of the absurd and we really laughed hard, mostly at ourselves. I have no idea how we will replace him...
LETTER: PLAIN LUDICROUS ~ The problem with the account of the June 8th school board meeting is very simple - it is yet another example (with all respect to the writer, who obviously took a lot of her personal time) of how ill informed as a public we (all) are.
Reality is there is only so much power that rests with our local school board. Much of the money is tied by the federal government, the state government, the unions, and the courts (i.e. insurance premiums).
There was a response letter that mentioned turning to newspapers for facts. What newspapers? The newspapers and TV I see all focus on national and international issues, no wonder we've allowed so much control to head back East and up North - that's the only politics anyone is watching. Then when it comes time for us to get hit in our hometown we run to the local school board and ask them to do something.
"The core values of an organization are the promises its members make to each other. The budget is the most comprehensive and detailed description of what the organization has promised to do in expressing those values. What makes budgeting so difficult for a future-oriented leader is that the budget is mostly about history, about keeping promises that have already been made. If the promises were made wisely, they will have created a good set of present opportunities, attracting great people, secured a strong position in the market with a positive image, and allowed for increasing net revenues.
"The need for growth is a product of the fundamental paradox in each budget. Driven mostly by the promises of history, the budget must also make promises to secure a future. The most brilliant plans for the most glowing future mean nothing until the budget lets them happen. The budget - mundane and arcane - is the ultimate leadership forum. It deserves whatever leadership attention is required to make is serve all its purposes well, and it deserves continuous prayer." - Richard Kreigbaum
I would add that it mostly deserves to be in the hands of our local officials. It is easy to sit in Washington and Sacramento and make the painless decisions to restrict dollars to various popular programs and simply send the remaining (unrestricted) crumbs to Monrovia to take the heat over.
To my thinking, that's just plain ludicrous.
- Anonymous [Sorry, Alex]
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