Monrovia School Link ~ Number 133 ~ August 15, 2005
Happy day! We now have four candidates for the two Monrovia School Board seats, and interestingly, incumbents Bruce Carter and Monina Diaz are not among them. I guess they've had enough. But, we do have Ed Gililland. Ed ran during the last election and while he wasn't one of my picks, I'd have been happy if he had won one of the three open positions. Glad to have him. Also, Chris Rich is running. I'm not familiar with Chris, but I'm looking forward to meeting him, too. Also, as I've reported, Clarence Shaw and Nick Laushkin are in the running. Whew! I'm so glad you guys stepped forward. It gives us choices. Thanks to the four of you! Also in this issue, a report by June Richetts about last Friday's special meeting. She says the district has more money! Thanks for sending in your observations, June!
~ brad@sacklunch.net
By June Richetts
Yesterday I received a call about a special School Board meeting that was taking place today [last Friday] at 8 a.m. While I was unable to stay for the entire meeting I am pleased to report that there seemed to be quite a few spectators in attendence. Monina Diaz introduced the new Assistant Principal for Clifton Middle School, Fermin Jaramillo. Mr. Jaramillo is a graduate of Santa Fe Middle School and Monrovia High School.
The meat of the meeting, at least the portion that I attended, was a report from Linda Dempsey regarding the Budget for 2005-2006. This time there was good news. An expense of over $400,000 that was expected to be thrust upon the district by the State will not materialize. That, in addition to some expenditures not being as high as estimated result in a substantial surplus. The recomendation is to re-instate transportation services and to have the expense of three teachers and two substitutes at the high school.
Dennis Jones, a parent in attendance, expressed concern about the additional funds that were found in various line items of the budget;
approximately $200,000. Mr. Jones felt that this margin of error was unaceptable, especially given the cuts in services that had been approved. Clare Chesley agreed that more information regarding this money and the budget processes needed to be diseminated to the public. Linday Dempsey pointed out that a large portion came from monies that were budgeted for substitute teachers that were not needed during the past year. Bruce Carter pointed out that given the size of the overall budget, $200,000 was quite a small percentage (it's actually less than one percent). Monina Diaz and Lousie Taylor pointed out that the Business Office has always budgeted on the conservative side.
It was at that point that I had to leave the Board Meeting. However (putting in my two cents) having to create a budget based on the state's hearsay of the amount of money that it is allocating and on an enrollment "projection" (as opposed to hard and fast figures), must be a difficult process. David Conway and Linday Dempsey do an outstanding job, considering the difficulties they face. While "found money" is always a good thing, trying to apply it so that the majority of students benefit is a win/lose situation. Parents whose children benefit from the reinstatement of busing win while parents whose children have special medical needs that may feel slighted. This is called self interest and it is human nature and therefore understandable. The Business Office of MUSD has kept the district from going under while managing to keep funds available for academic acheivement. They deserve thanks. And Mr. Jones, I understand your situation as well. Perhaps the community at large can come up with some creative ideas to so that a solution can be found.
LETTER: RAISE INVOLVEMENT ~ In response to my note about wanting to see more candidates for the board election, candidate Nick Laushkin writes: Like you, I am eager to see who else might run for Monrovia School Board. Rest assured that whoever decides to run (even if there are only two candidates), I am eager to raise community awareness and involvement in our schools. To those ends, I will campaign to involve our community in a responsible vision for our schools. Best Wishes, Nick Laushkin, Candidate Monrovia School Board, P.O. Box 201 Monrovia, CA 91016, ID #: 1277737
Also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com