Comments on: Tale of two schools: both took drastic actions after alleging failed leadership in Mt. Diablo school district

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:11:35 +0000

Gary, grab your ankles and enjoy. Its going to be a tough week for you next week — you still may be pulling the strings on Monday behind the scenes, but the pressures are mounting from your failed leadership during 2011. What goes around, comes around. Wednesday will be particulary enjoyable for many people, except you. Better get used to “small potatoes” — they are a delicacy. You can find them at your favorite Clayton Safeway. Or maybe I will just have some delivered to you.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:29:20 +0000

I have just added a new post about the MDHS QEIA waiver, which the site council approved last Friday: http://bit.ly/tMSO04
Trustees will vote on it Jan. 9.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:09:52 +0000

FYI, here’s a new blog post about the arrest of MDUSD custodian John Astor, who worked at Cambridge, Holbrook and Walnut Acres elementary schools: http://bit.ly/tnK7jL

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:04:26 +0000

No reports posted yet on Sitecouncil and basis for “waiver” application. SBE just posted its agenda for Jan 11-12 BOE meeting. Might be bad news for MDHS if they base request for waiver on fiscal constraints and cuts to funding. Santa Ana USD waiver “states that cuts to revenue limit funding have resulted in teacher reductions causing an increase of the student-to-teacher ratio.” CDE Recommendation is: “The California Department of Education recommends denial of this request based on three factors: (1) QEIA program requirements were known to the district prior to its decision to apply for program participation; (2) QEIA funding is expected to be used to hire teachers resulting in significantly reduced class sizes for students at QEIA schools; and (3) QEIA legislation requires an average classroom size of 25 students or lower for core subjects, with no more than 27 students per classroom regardless of the average classroom size.” http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr12/documents/jan12w20a3.doc
Unless MDUSD comes up with a more creative excuse, I wouldn’t bet on the waiver. BTW, all the districts seeking waivers HELD a Public Hearing prior to submission of the waiver application. MDUSD did not. Soon I hope someone will post the waiver request since it is now a public record having been reviewed by the site council and filed with the CDE.

By: g

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:51:34 +0000

Yes, Theresa. As I understood him, he wanted to replace the word ‘honest’ with the word ‘accurate’, and used objective/subjective as reason.

There is nothing wrong with either word, but only in the interpretation one might be looking for.

I would like to suggest to him on the simplest terms, that: while 2+2 equals 4 is an “accurate” statement, it is not “honest” until you know what you are counting.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:15:47 +0000

Anon: Police have just released a photo of the custodian: https://local.nixle.com/alert/4767798/?sub_id=215768

Other Anon: Thanks and Happy Holidays to all of you!

g: Trustee Gary Eberhart did not say “accurate but not honest.” Instead, during the strategic planning board workshop, he said he thought “honest” was subjective, but that accurate was objective.

I don’t plan to attend today’s site council meeting, but will definitely speak to those who do.

Also, I know that the No. CA QEIA monitor has passed the link for my blog onto the CDE. I’m not sure, however, whether the CDE considers outside information when it assesses waivers.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:41:23 +0000

After the waiver is filed today, I can’t wait until next week to see Theresa’s comparison of the Pittsburg waiver with the MDUSD waiver. Here is the waiver form — Pittsburg filed theirs after a public hearing. How do you think MDUSD is going to be able to answer all these questions ? What if the site council will not support some of the statements made in the waiver application ?
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/wr/documents/generalwaiverrev.doc

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:00:44 +0000

The Feb 16, 2011 WARNING letter from CDE said:
“QEIA schools that do not meet all monitored program requirements for school year 2010–11 will have their funding terminated effective July 1, 2012. The QEIA statute requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to “provide the district with funds sufficient to cover the staff and other cost adjustments” incurred in discontinuing program participation. To meet this requirement, schools will receive their annual allocation for 2011–12. This and any prior year QEIA funds may be expended through June 30, 2012. All expenditures of these funds are subject to QEIA expenditure rules, and the LEA will be required to submit to the California Department of Education a 2011–12 QEIA expenditure report.
We recognize that LEAs and schools are faced with continuing fiscal challenges, but we should note that use of QEIA funding is restricted in some important ways. ”
http://www.ccsesa.org/index/documents/12.4Spring2011QEIAAdvisoryLetter.doc

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:58:13 +0000

When was the Public Hearing conducted by the school Board ?

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:49:46 +0000

Here we go again, Mt. Diablo District custodian arrested for lewd acts w/ a minor: https://local.nixle.com/alert/4767626/?sub_id=92709

They don’t say what school he works for though.