Comments on: One cheek on and one cheek off: safe school bus practice?

By: g

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:56:50 +0000

WAM, Right on. But, before he has time to do very much of any of the job he is being overpaid to do, he has found personal reasons to go through and find and delete perhaps dozens of public records that were once on MDUSD records and elsewhere on the internet. If you want to see them now you will have to, 1) know what to ask for and what’s missing, and 2) that’ll be 10cents per page thank you very much! (unless you had the foresight to save to your own document files;)

By: Wait a minute

Wait a minute — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:02:27 +0000

So Greg Rolen is “working on it”?

I’ll take that to mean that he is “working on” deflecting the blame from himself and downplaying the entire fiasco to protect himself.

Its too bad that he doesn’t put the same effort into protecting the children and getting them to the right school on time.

Its called Customer Service Greg.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:45:27 +0000

In addition, Lawrence reported to the PAC that the district has an “undesignated” unrestricted fund balance of $30.8 million, which was $7.6 million more than anticipated.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:41:17 +0000

Since the board discontinued webcasting its meetings, the public forum doesn’t reach as far as it used to.
Parent Mike Mayo complained to the board Sept. 13 about special education bus problems, including students not being picked up at all. In response, Board President Gary Eberhart publicly asked for a report from staff about what was being done to remedy the situation.
So far, the board has not received any report. Greg Rolen told me he was working on it, but didn’t know when he would present it to trustees.

By: g

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:38:11 +0000

Theresa, ask them how much they’re getting from the $479,754,954.00 the State divied up between all County School systems, to be distributed to individual school districts this year under THE PUPIL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM, JULY 2011 CERTIFICATION
FISCAL YEAR 2011-12. Then ask them why things like this, that the people should be aware of are titled and budgeted as “Other”, “Other”, “Other”.

By: Anon CVHS

Anon CVHS — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:27:09 +0000

Well my kids are graduated and I no longer attend these meetings, so maybe they have changed, but I never saw anyone blacklisted. I saw results. Sometimes not always what people wanted, but at least it was addressed. I was there through McHenry and maybe things are different. I remember the days when appealing to the superintendent could also get your intradistrict transferred looked at too. Seems things have changed …? I just wanted to impart that in the past I have noticed the admin interested in situations that were brought directly in front of them in a public forum.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:19:42 +0000

I have also heard that the $85 per semester is a financial hardship for some families.
This year, the district received a $50,000 grant from 511 Contra Costa to help defray the cost. If the district doesn’t get that grant next year, families could be forced to take on an additional financial burden for this service.

By: Just J

Just J — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:13:22 +0000

Anon CVHS is right. Unfortunatley you have to get in their face and stay there until they do something. This happens not only at the District level but also the school site level. The really bad part is when you are forced to do this they (adims.) take it personal and you are black listed after that. Again it is the adults that are supposedly incharge that make things so difficult. These people don’t care about our kids.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:49:20 +0000

I’m not sure the father was aware of the PAC meeting or knows that he can address the board directly. He works full-time and his wife doesn’t drive, so he was hoping the board would be responsive to his email. He didn’t email the Times until he became frustrated with the lack of response from the district.
His wife, Raquel Escobar, also told me she was very frustrated by the fact that she received a phone call Wednesday night telling her there would be another bus, only to learn the next morning that wasn’t true. She felt she had been lied to.
She said she had felt comforted that night, knowing her son would be safe. But when she found out the district reversed its decision and would not send another bus, she felt a sense of betrayal.
Yet, the board’s draft strategic plan states that the district wants to build trust in the community.

By: Anon CVHS

Anon CVHS — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:59:01 +0000

I sure wish parents like this would bring concerns to the various public meetings, and put Lawrence right on the spot. Come to a PAC meeting and when it is your turn, SAY WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND! My experience is that when he’s put on the spot in a one on one exchange, he listens, otherwise it is just too easy to dismiss the issue. Come on people. IF that were my kid, I would’ve driven WITH MY CHILD to the district office and sat in Lawrence’s office until he talked to me , so the admin’s could see their ADA wasting away sitting there! People , until this administration actually cares about listening to you, you need to get in their face! Stop being passive and making phone calls and calling/emailing Theresa! Do something youreslf!