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Panorama | DEC 2009 |
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Panorama | DEC 2009 |
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President's View by Marisa Hanson
I
hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. A lot has happened in the past
month, so I hope your site is planning on having a meeting before
Christmas Vacation to go over the information shared at the last Assembly
meeting on December 2.
I do want to say a big thank you to all who attended the board
meeting on November 19. I
feel confident that we got our point across to the board; ESTA is unified
and ready for the future battles ahead. I felt proud and excited to see so
many familiar faces along with some new ones. This is exactly the kind of
response we want the School Board to know that we are capable or
gathering. It was quite
unusual that the board came out 35 minutes late, so I took that time to
address the crowd and thank all ESTA members who had attended. After two student presentations,
the members wishing to address the board began. I couldn’t help but use my teacher
voice to discipline the board for being late, per the request of members
as well. By the way, 56 ESTA
members had given up their time to me so I was allowed to speak as long as
I wanted, but I only spoke for about 12 minutes because my message was
going to be clear. “We
are unhappy with the way the Board is handling our
district!!!” Unfortunately, most of the questions I
gave the board, some of which were in last month’s Panorama, have yet to
be answered. The biggest
question, that I wanted an answer to is, “Why is the district spending
over $120,000 a month on attorney fees?” No one has yet to tell me if I
will see less or more of these costs in future months. I equate that to a teacher cost,
including salary and benefits or two CSEA members for an entire year. For the month of October alone,
the spending was out of control.
I still don’t know why the district spent over $4,000 at the Double
Tree Hotel in Sacramento. No one has made any effort to explain it to me
or claim responsibility. I
told the board that members do not have classroom supplies and more and
more members are having to spend their own money this year than previous
years. In addition, members
are wasting their prep period trying to make copies and they are too often
finding no paper in the copy room.
Then, when the copy machine jams, they leave frustrated because no
one is there to help them.
Although the board appeared to be listening, not one of them has
contacted me to get more information on what is going on at the school
site or to try to rectify our concerns. As for the Hanson & Bridgett report that was given to the San Jose Mercury Newspaper before ESTA, the bill has not arrived. No one has told me why the district would give the report to the San Jose Mercury three days after ESTA requested in writing for a copy. I did clearly express my disappointment while speaking to the board. The cost of the report is expected to be at least $50,000 and could be twice that amount as some people are speculating. The other report done by Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) is still ongoing, and from what I was told, our district will be required to pay 25% or more of the cost. By the time all is said and done, the cost of removing our previous Superintendent will have cost us and the district half a million dollars or more. This was money that desperately needed to be spent elsewhere. Another item I brought up at the board meeting was about our safety concerns. It appears that students who do offenses such as assault a teacher or use drugs on campus, are not going up for expulsion, since these type of offenses are labeled “Quasi Mandatory.” If you look at the district discipline chart, “Quasi Mandatory” is the area where the site administrator can decide to place the student up for expulsion or they can keep the student or request they move to another school site. Currently the only types of expulsions that are going to the board are the Mandatory expulsions, which as long as the required procedure is followed, the board approves them. I did hear from the district in a safety meeting I had this month, that the board only wants Mandatory expulsions. When I asked three board members about the Quasi Mandatory expulsions, each told me they hadn’t seen any. This practice has very dangerous and long-lasting negative effects. Finally, around 9:30 PM when the crowd was pretty light, I was able to chat with a San Jose Police Officer presiding over the meeting. He confirmed to me that he was hired that night because “the district heard a bunch of teachers were coming to the board meeting.” I was surprised and shocked to hear that the district felt the need to hire a police officer because that is not a regular occurrence. What did the district think we were going to do? My Panorama is read by the board and the district and I clearly stated our purpose in last month’s issue and it sure didn’t sound threatening to me. This is another example of how badly the Board is managing our money. To waste an unspecified amount of money on police security for the meeting is careless and quite frankly, insulting. So now you have some of the highlights of the board meeting that took place on Nov. 19. I still have lots of questions that I will continue to ask at the next board meeting on December 10 and I will keep asking those questions until I have the answers. I hope to hear the district is ready to name a Principal for Oak Grove. I believe the site has been patient enough and although Carol Blackerby is doing a great job, her time is almost over, and our district and the board need to make a decision soon. There is a lot of information that needs to be shared and I can’t possible write it all in the Panorama. Encourage your site to have monthly meetings that will allow for the exchange of thoughts, concerns, and ideas. Enjoy your vacation time, and be careful when you travel. The rest is much needed for all of us. See you in 2010!
Ala Board (11-19-2009)
Wendy Stegeman, AHHSAs
you recall, Lori Thomas did a swell job rallying the troops for the
November 19, 2009 ESUHSD Board Meeting!!! Lots of ESTA
and CSEA folks crowded the boardroom!!! 67% of the Pegasus staff
attended!!!
Now, if IHS did that… The Board stayed in the back for 45 minutes after the
scheduled start time, hoping we would leave(?). When they did arrive,
Marisa Hanson had 56 people who had donated time to her so she could take
the board to task for their inconsiderate behavior. She did not take the
whole time, but hit many topics – including the request for redistricting
the board to be on the December agenda. Many of you spoke. This board responds
to numbers, and we sure had that!!! P.S. Had they started on time, the board
member who left early to take an offspring to a movie might have been able
to stay for the whole meeting!!! Five of our fine young people received scholarship
from the 100 Black Men of Silicon Valley: EV: Charity Hawkins and Samara
White, MP: Tiana Carter and Camylle Boxton, and PH: Caitlin
Cunningham.
Congratulations, Ladies!!! Michael Ho (EV) and Christian Poblano (WCO) did
outstanding jobs presenting their schools as student reps! Robert Ibarra
explained Migrant Ed. Impressive numbers! OG and PH presented new programs to
help kids on their campuses. Many are staff driven, admin supported. The board voted not to give itself benefits until age
65 after they leave the board. Manuel Herrera, the only one currently
about to be impacted by this, voted for the board policies. Board pontificated about how admirable they are for having some Saturday meetings (“courageous conversations”) filled with iffy statistics (good numbers, questionable context) and admin pretending they alone can solve the achievement gap in spite of the pesky teachers and classified support people - then voted to support the City Partnership for SJ2020. Sounds to me like a good idea, but mostly window dressing and the stuff of overstuffed political resumes. I remain willing to be surprised.The board had the 1st reading of changed policies regarding grades/
student evaluation/exams/finals and cert of HS equivalency. Board
president asked that ESTA be involved before this is brought back. Never
occurred to the others that teachers might have some expertise in these
areas??? Board approved policy on travel expenses. Was that
before or after the $$$ they spent in Sacramento??? Was that
$4,000???
Board approved 4-1 the Audit Committee. Thanks to Pat
and Lan for understanding the potential problems with this and asking
questions.
It will be potentially very expensive, and that is only one of the
concerns articulated by the ESTA PAC Chair who attended the first two
development meetings. Board meeting moved to 12/10 from 12/17. Looks like MACSA has still not repaid funds taken
from employee pension payments. May be some property in escrow, but no
guarantee what happens to proceeds – or if they are even enough… Dan Moser appointed interim supt. [His financial
status will be reviewed next month when he comes up with names for
possible replacements for his previous job Item 11.02]. Manuel would like to stay local in the Superintendent
search and not spend a fortune – others seem to favor national search for
someone who has no idea about our district culture or history, kids or
employees. And Eddie seems willing to spend big money to get a person who
will get a much larger salary than previous folks. $300K for a
white knight???
Board jousting will continue. Financing for solar approved. Financing for
network infrastructure approved. Special Services will present what they
do and why it costs so much. Especially NPSs and transportation. Warrant registers accepted with some very scary legal
costs and other board expenditures. The new CBOC president gave a brief,
clear report with numbers that made sense. Next meeting 2/3/10 if you want
to see what they do. Contracts for architects and construction mgmt
services approved. Wonder if there was a clear and fair bidding
process???
(ed. note: based on state of construction right now, district might
be able to get some breaks from other companies than the ones they usually
use.) Everything Facilities requested approved with no
questions.
Bidding process fair and clear? How many contracts go to people who put
money into board members campaign coffers? Just a question… More fiscal and safety questions asked about a band
going to London – they raise own money – than about construction
contracts.
In board comments: Retired Supt Nunez’ contributions
appreciated, gang awareness forum at YB 11/18 commended, Latino parent
meeting with Rob Davis (fluent in Spanish) helpful and will have
follow-ups, and Metro board is ok. Carol Evans was named Outstanding Teacher of District
2!!! Way
to go, Carol!!! Closed Session: Real Estate stuff is going on – is the DO going to be
gone?
More talks scheduled in Dec. Closed Session. Two students suspended 4-0. Meeting adjourned about 11:35-40 in honor of recently
deceased ESUHSD students. NOTE: There were other actions and reports. You can get a CD of the entire meeting or read the minutes on the district website when they are posted. These were the items that seemed most relevant to district functioning.
Ways to Trim the Fat Brandi Fabricius As I read the last ESTA Panorama, I began thinking of ways to let the Board of Trustees help feel the pains of our public school budget woes. One suggestion came to mind: Donate their compensation for attending meetings back to the schools. Then the Board could just fundraise for their compensations. I mean they are here because they care and nothing says caring like donating…then they could sell See’s candy and such, communicate with the community and parents, organize and raise money to pay themselves for volunteering to be on the Board…Sounds like a good plan to me. But then, I felt compelled to ask if we as teachers could have accounts with the district to go out to eat with our colleagues? We talk shop pretty much the whole time we are together. That is work related, right? The list of restaurants the Board treats themselves to on the Districts dime was quite interesting. I have not heard of a lot of those restaurants…although after looking into them, I found they were completely out of my price range…but if the District could afford them, I would not be opposed to trying them out. Wait, then that would be wasting precious money that could help our schools… Anyway, I just thought I would share my thoughts with the Panorama and see if there maybe any other suggestions or comments on the issue of spending.
DISTRICT DISCIPLINE POLICY CARTOON
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REDISTRICTING By Wendy L. Stegeman
First, What is REDISTRICTING??? Currently, our Board of Trustees in ESUHSD is elected
at large. In theory, all five board members could live on the same block
across the street from the same school. Although it is possible that the board
could equally represent all of the children and communities in the
district, it is human nature to go with what you know and generalize that
information in your decision process, even if it is not as accurate as
might be expected. Second, WHY is redistricting important???Children, communities and campuses in our district
are all quite different from one another. The needs and goals of each
campus are unique. Each area deserves its own representative who lives in
the area and has a personal stake in what happens in the
neighborhood.
We talk about equality and equity; her is a great chance for the
board to show the students of the district really are their priority. Third, HOW does this work, you ask??? The SCCOE puts out a County Committee Handbook http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/do/ that outlines what they do and how to access their expertise. Check out pages 186-189 of Chapter 10 for clear how-to instructions. There are two ways that the process can begin: 1) The board passes a resolution (as requested by ESTA) asking the committee to start the process of getting this on the ballot, or 2) ESTA spearheads the action to get signatures from 10% of the registered voters in the district on a petition and presents it to the commit
tee. Then, the committee gets a demographer to work on an equitable way to split the district in five easy pieces for maximum local representation. Then there is a public hearing. Then the decision is made, and if the committee recommends it, it will be on the next regularly scheduled ballot. We would like to get it on by June 2010. Gosh, how can I help? There are several ways to help! You could come to the Board meeting on 12/10/09 and hold a sign or speak to the agendized request item (11.03). If the board does not pass the resolution or stonewalls by referring it to a future meeting, you can sit at a card table at a grocery store or some other venue to help educate the community, create rapport, and collect signatures from registered voters. Or you can go door to door to meet some of the fine citizens of our district – and collect their signatures!!! More info as the situation develops. And Thanks for asking!!!
A Preview: First Interim
Report Presented at the Board Meeting on December 10 By Marisa Hanson,
ESTA President On December 4, Ralph Giannini and I met with Interim Superintendent Dan Moser and Assistant Superintendent Jerry Kurr for a preview of what will be presented at the December 10 board meeting. Just to give a brief history, in April of 2005 our district had a negative interim report. This was before Jerry Kurr joined us. Since then, all subsequent reports have been positive. Jerry Kurr will be telling the board that the first interim report for this school year is “qualified”. Let me define each of those terms in a simpler manner. · Positive Interim report – The district will meet
financial obligations as budgeted until June 2011. · Qualified interim report – The district may or may
not meet financial obligations as budgeted until June 2011. Negative interim report – The district will not meet
financial obligations as budgeted June 2011. So now that we know we are going to have a qualified
report, what does this mean? It means that the district believes if
they continue to run the budget as they currently are, by June 2011 we
will have a negative balance of $3.4 million. I know this
is a year and a half away, but now is the time the district is required to
report to the county on how they are spending their money for the next
year and a half. One of the first issues that happened this year is
the Governor gave each school district $252.83 per student less than
planned.
Take that amount and multiply it by 25,000 students and you get
$6.3 million dollars. So how does a district like ours
attempt to figure out how to spend $6.3 million dollars less? Well, Jerry
Kurr came up with a plan. He reduced transportation by
$800,000.
Next, he took $500,000 from restricted maintenance and moved it to
the general fund. Then, he reduced the budget for
maintenance (hence things aren’t getting fixed lately), to about 1/3 of
which will at least cover salaries. So, this brought the shortfall down,
but it still did not get us up to positive. As for the federal dollars, our district received
about $20 million to be spent over the next two years. Some of the
federal dollars included; Title 1, Special Education, ARRI, to name a
few. The
district is currently using $14.6 of those dollars this year. Those
dollars are paying for 121.6 FTE for certificated, 20.9 FTE for
classified, and 4.5 for management which only leaves $5.48 million for the
2010-2011 school year. In order to keep this plan going, the
district needs another $9.2 million. This is how the SAC’s
were funded, which includes the 13 teachers on
Special Assignment and etc. I guess it goes without saying that
this seriously concerns me because we won’t be able to fund these programs
for the 2010-2011 school year. As for sports, Jerry Kurr was directed by the board
to allocate $800,000 for next year. Unfortunately, this amount doesn’t even
cover the total amount needed for all of the coaches’ stipends - not to
mention the Athletic Directors’ release periods. He mentioned
that funding-raising will have to make up some of the difference along
with “other” donations. With a qualified interim report, when the bonds are
sold that were obtained from Measure E, they will get less than if we had
a positive interim report which doesn’t help our school needs for site
improvements and other things. Jerry Kurr did say he will continue to look over the
“savings ideas” the sites gave the district two years ago. He said most,
if not all of those actions, have already been done.
So, where does that put us right now? Class size is
assumed for the first interim report to continue at a plus three for next
school year.
Obviously, that will have to be bargained, so it is only an
assumption.
If that is to be true, then the good news is ESTA can expect the
same number of classroom FTE will be needed. On the other
hand, Dan Moser did say there is not one solution to this problem and that
it is a possibility that non-classroom teachers could be laid off this
spring if the district can not meet their financial obligations for the
spring interim report. If that happens, then we could see some
ESTA members being bumped out of the classroom by more senior teachers who
have been out of the classroom for a few years. Ralph asked
about retirement incentives and Dan Moser did said, “There is no plan for
a retirement incentive”. Since the meeting happened after the December Assembly meeting, I felt it was important to update the membership about our budget situation. I will go into further details at the January Assembly meeting and express my concerns during that time.
A Healthy State of Medical Access Lori Thomas, OGHS
Obama care has a six month waiting period to begin
benefits. So if someone is ill, they wait six months before they get
help. Just the beginning of a huge trillion dollar deficit
building bill, but I digress. Hopefully, you will never be faced
with the need to join the public option because of your benefits here at
East Side. However, Patricia Martinez-Roach has decided that you who pay
for food for students, buy them pencils and paper need to also purchase
your health care. About twelve to thirteen individuals approached the
ESTA leadership stating they wanted to be refunded their health care
benefits. These individuals had health care through their spouses and did
not need health care through East Side. If their spouses lost their
job, then what amount of money would it take to purchase health care for
say, a family of three? In Fremont High School District, one teacher
researched through COBRA, that she could purchase health care for her
spouse, herself and their child for 1800 dollars. Yes, I said 1800
dollars (Including Delta Dental, vision, and prescriptions) Another health care option is to throw the seniors
under the bus. Other industries have betrayed their workers in this
manner. Lowering health care for those who dedicated their lives to
helping children somehow seems evil to me. Especially, when retirees
do not necessarily have the ability to earn a great deal more money to pay
for higher health care costs. The district feels that having two levels in the
contract may be an option. Meaning that the new teachers would be
hired under a new contract. This form of union breaking was
successful in the grocery stores. Already our new teachers are
facing layoffs, new tests, more training and difficult social
issues. Placing them in a situation where they will never have the
same benefits as the rest of us, creates a division in the union. A
natural resentment will grow between those on the new contract and those
on the old contract. In addition, those under the old contract will
slowly be forced out to lower costs. Being a unified group gives East Side the strength to
defend our benefits. By purchasing the large amount of policies that we
do, costs are lowered. Kaiser will not want to lose our business
because hospitals, like other businesses are experiencing financial
hardship. With so many out of work, Kaiser has found itself being a
victim of the economic downturn as well. Rather than betray our members
why not use our financial clout and negotiate with the insurance companies
for better rates. An injury to one is an injury to all. A New Endangered
Species By Mike Brennan, Editor The other day, I was listening to the news and I
heard a story about a company in California that had a project held up
because they found an endangered salamander. It cost them
millions.
Then it occurred to me; why don’t we declare students an endangered
species?
The state was able to get millions of dollars out of one company
because the endangered species act is so strong. Just think
how much money could be raised for education if the all the students in
the state were designated as an endangered species. And you know
they are an endangered species. They are dropping like flies in inner
city high schools. Literally, the drop out rate is
50%.
Tell me what species wouldn’t be considered endangered if you were
losing 50% of their population by the time they reached one quarter of
their average lifespan. The next hurdle to overcome would be
declaring them a separate species from the rest of us. Well, that’s
easy.
Let’s see, what separates species?? They look different, right? They do look
different.
Teenagers don’t look like any other kind of human. They wear
funny clothes, I think it’s called fashion, but it’s definitely a
different look.
Each new generation should be a new species. And they
behave differently; the females put make-up on in class. Everybody
knows that you put make-up on in the car during rush hour. The males
need a remote control in order to Wii. And they eat differently; they eat
candy and chips and drink high fructose corn syrup all day long and never
gain a pound.
They communicate differently too. I haven’t got a clue when one bff
is rofl and the other bff is, “like, yeah!? OMG lqtm.” Yep, they’re a
different species. But should they be protected? My contention is YES! If teenagers aren’t protected under the Endangered Species Act, they could end up living with their parents for an extended period of time. Now I’m not saying living with your parents is a fate worse than death, but living with grown children is close to it. So for the humanity of it, we must protect the parents of our students and add our students to the endangered species list. Maybe then we would have millions of extra dollars for education. | |
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