Comments on: Mt. Diablo district Parent Advisory Council to discuss budget Wednesday

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:50:33 +0000

Just a month now from the annual February Asilomar Moneterey extravaganza and no Board agenda items for authorization for anyone, including the Supt, to attend overnight for the multiday event. How many MDUSD personnel are going ? From Dent ? From schools ? What is the estimated costs for each in terms of travel expenses [car pooling ?] lodging [Asilomar or hotels?], meals, registration. I wonder how many days of golf Lawrence will get in with other “Supts” ? Pebble Beach ? Spyglass ? Who pays for that ?

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:40:36 +0000

Not surprised: It’s surprising that Rose Lock does not know whether the district’s three-year first interim budget submitted to the county includes QEIA funding for MDHS next year and beyond.
When so few administrators know what’s in the budget, Lawrence and Richards can highlight numbers they want the public to know about — such as revenues generated by CVHS students — while failing to address other critical elements of the budget that may also greatly impact students, such as QEIA funding.

By: Not Surprised....

Not Surprised.... — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:14:14 +0000

by the District’s numbers as stated above by Dr. J. It’s consistent with the shell game that Lawrence, Richards and crew perpetrated on the Charter petitioners.I guess all the double-talk and shady accounting caught up to them this time.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:38:42 +0000

Bel Air Elementary’s SIG Grant by itself has $2,000,000 plus in SIG grant money available to spend by June 30. That’s $4,500 per student. How are they going to spend it ? After reading their SIG grant application, I have no clue. Here we are nearly half way through the school year. Some limited funds are being used to increase the instructional time. What else is being done with this taxpayer money ?

http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/sw/t1/documents/sig10mtdiablo.pdf#search=SIG%20MDUSD&view=FitH&pagemode=none

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:39:47 +0000

Good news/Bad News: CDE has just recommend to the SBE awarding SIG grants to Meadow Homes, Oak Grove, and the district. Bad news is they slashed the request by $186,000, of which $118,000 was from the district SASS budget. CDE said they thought funding for five district administrators for two schools was “excessive”, $30,000 was over the total amount permitted by SIG, and $70,000 for consultants and trainers was duplicative and included in a previous expenditure. Oak Grove was cut $5000 for expenditures not allowed under the SIG program, and cut $63,000 for a duplicative FACT coach when two were already hired at the district level. Meadow Homes received its full request of $2,000,000.

By: Hell Freezing Over

Hell Freezing Over — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:41:44 +0000

Regarding PAC – most parents in the district probably think this is an “assigned” or “selected” group of parents based on the description located in the “parents” section of the MDUSD website:

Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council
Parent repsentatives from each school meet monthly with the Superintendent and senior staff. Notes for each meeting are available.

There is no other information available regarding PAC and its purpose, that I can find on the site. The link goes to the calendar for the meetings and the last notes attached are from early December 2009 – two years ago.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:45:05 +0000

Most of the parents were sitting around the table and they took turns asking questions or reporting on their school activities.
Lawrence also invited one parent who was not seated at the table to ask questions (I’m not sure if he is an official member of the site council, but he may be).
No other parents attended the meeting, so it’s unclear whether Lawrence would have entertained questions that were not solicited.

By: MDUSD Board Watcher

MDUSD Board Watcher — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:32:35 +0000

Teresa #17,

I can guarantee the following: if it is a question lawrence views as favorably it is allowed. If he veiws in unfavorably you get the McClatchy QEIA written statement no questions treatment.

By: g

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:26:34 +0000

Yes Sherry, you can change the meetings to once a month. But all of you have to cut your pay and benefits in half. That would include Lawrence’s $40K of ‘Other’ and ‘misc’ pay too.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:17:43 +0000

Yes, I attended it and I did not consider it to be a waste of time. In fact, I’m surprised how few parents attend this meeting, where they have direct access to the superintendent and could demand accountability, if they were so inclined.

Instead, however, most parents who attend are school site reps who listen to the superintendent’s report and ask few questions. When given the opportunity to ask about anything and/or to report on what is going on at their schools, most chose to report on their school activities.

At the very end, however, one parent asked about the MDHS vote of No Confidence and QEIA waiver. I will do a separate blog post about that.

Also, one parent asked about union negotiations and furlough days. Superintendent Steven Lawrence said it looks like there may be no furlough days this year after all. He explained in his budget presentation why the district has accumulated a reserve of $43 million. I videotaped his presentation and will post a link later.

Also, Board President Sherry Whitmarsh and Trustee Lynne Dennler attended the meeting. I was able to chat with them at length after the meeting, which makes it very worthwhile for me. Whitmarsh said she was wondering whether it might be a good idea to start board meetings at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m. She also said she was wondering whether it might be possible to only meet once a month, instead of twice a month — with the option of adding special board meetings as necessary. She said agendas will now be posted on Thursdays, since meetings have been moved to Mondays.

I also spoke to Whitmarsh and Dennler about the Vote of No Confidence and QEIA waiver. I will write about their comments in a separate blog post.

It is unclear based on the PAC agenda whether public comment is allowed, since it is not listed. If a parent who is not designated as a member of the council wants to ask questions, I’m not sure whether the superintendent would allow that.