Comments on: Mt. Diablo superintendent lays out budget woes

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:48:14 +0000

Pink slips for 33+ music teachers? Isn’t that the most/all of the entire staff of credentialed music teachers within MDUSD?

It appears that 14 FTE’s for music are proposed to be cut via item “N3 – Eliminate elementary prep (vocal)’ from the agenda doc “potential cuts round 1 11-12.pdf”

http://esb.mdusd.k12.ca.us/attachments/0556e5d2-c38d-43b8-b058-0dde273df9e0.pdf

So does this means more bumping for this coming school year? e.g. Greg Brown (NHS), Gary Coartney (CHS), Mundy Viar (CVHS) all could get bumped by elementary school vocal music teachers who have more seniority?

Such a sad state of affairs.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:27:30 +0000

I wonder how many administrators they are flying to LAX to stay in the Westin instead of watching it for free on the Webinar ?

By: 4Students

4Students — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:03:21 +0000

This is great! Theresa, the FREE webinars sound perfect! A MDUSD teacher says she’s told to raise scores but gets no guidance from the Dent Center, so that “optimizing teaching and learning” webinar should help her and the other teachers. What does Rose Lock think? Will MDUSD ever implement any of these great ideas?

Why is MDUSD which is near Silicon Valley so backwards with technology?

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:50:59 +0000

Strange is passing himself off as a sea god?

By: Wait a Minute

Wait a Minute — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:30:21 +0000

Good job Dr. J.

So Poseidon is Strange. Makes sense.
Notice how he bailed off the board as soon as outside investigations were called for like a Grand Jury.
God forbid he ever be implicated in the many scandals seething around the MDUSD upper management and the board.
He probably didn’t want to risk losing his law license. In any case the damage is already done under his tenure (like the hiring of the sleezy Lawrence due to his wife’s Clayton connections).

I thjnk your list is a very good starting point and selfless actions such as these could really bring some public respect back to the MDUSD. Maybe Cheryl Hansen will step up and make some motions to this effect.

The board giving up their health benefits would help to prove their personal commitment to sharing the pain. I never agreed with policies that financially reward board members for public service anyways.

Unfortunately, people suffering from narcissistic personality disorders aren’t known for selfless sacrifice like the recent trip of Lawrence to the Asilomar Conference Center. I doubt he will satisfy himself with online conferences when he misses out on 5 star accomodations and meals.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:31:09 +0000

As an alternative to traveling to conferences, the district could consider free webinars, such as this one, focused on “Leading Successful School Turnarounds: Learning from Research and Practice”
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/we_e/1180
The first day emphasizes effective SIG implementation.
The second day stresses “optimizing teaching and learning, with breakout sessions focused on effective instruction in mathematics and adolescent literacy; effective instruction for English language learners, monitoring progress, and making midcourse adjustments; and Response to Intervention implementation for secondary schools.”
The Mt. Diablo district is struggling with English language learner instruction.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:55:50 +0000

Poseidon Paul claims I never propose solutions — he sure went silent when he was outed. The God of the Sea, more than anyone else, should know that loose lips sink ships. Here are some proposals that I double dare Gary to lay out on the table for discussion tonight.
1. Eliminate all medical benefits for board members.
2. Reduce the Supt and all Asst Supt’s salaries by 20%.
3. Reduce all directors salaries by 15%.
4. Double up small elementary schools to share one principal.
5. Eliminate Vice-principals at Middle Schools. It worked in Elementary schools.
6. Cut by 50% vice-principals at high schools.
7. Rescind the Gang of Five raises.
8. Hire another in house lawyer for the legal department and reduce outside lawyers to $100,000 from $600,000. Require ALL inside lawyers, including Rolen, to have 2000 “billable” hours per year.
9. Immediately freeze all longevity salary increases of administrators.
10. Immediately stop ALL overnight travel, seminars, conferences, unless approved by the board.
11. Stop watering the lawns, reduce mowing to once a month, and stop weeding.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:21:24 +0000

@Another MDUSD Mom of 3: April 26 is nearly two whole months away. Tonight they will talk about cuts WITHOUT a plan. Instead they will use a Ouiji board. Gary and Sherry promised a Strategic Plan in 2008 — they still haven’t started. Does that make you feel safe and secure ? You ask who could plan for these cuts ? We have been in a financial crisis for three years. Its not about closing 2 schools — its about closing 6-8 schools. Its about dollars ending up at the school sites, not at the Dent Center.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:03:26 +0000

Another MDUSD Mom of 3: Yes, the board plans to hold its first strategic planning session April 26.
4students: You make a good point. Part of the rationale for moving small necessary high schools off the CHS campus is to open up those classrooms for use by CHS students. If the district is building new classrooms there with Measure C money, perhaps the small necessary high schools don’t need to be moved after all.
Also, I thought these improvements were in the works before the Measure C election.

By: 4Students

4Students — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:57:34 +0000

Speaking of classrooms, why is the new bond sale to build new classrooms at CPHS and CHS? How does this affect the other high schools, like MDHS which may lose students if they open a Bay Point High School (or consolidate a 7-12 school so students can stop bussing to MDHS), and NHS which has teachers sharing classrooms (proving the capacity numbers given to SCC were wrong). Shouldn’t they consider the Superintendent’s soon-to-be-formulated comprehensive high school plan first? Shouldn’t they redraw school boundaries and create K-12 high school feeder patterns first? Shouldn’t the district have a strategic plan first?