Comments on: MDUSD special ed Community Advisory Committee to receive transportation update tonight

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:30:38 +0000

Lorrie, I posted this link in #32 two weeks ago. I suggest you read it ! http://cafec.org/sites/default/files/CAC-Guidelines-Fourth-Edition-2011.pdf

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:25:48 +0000

Sorry but Lorrie Davis brought this on herself by not running the CAC according to the Brown Act and being subservient to Lawrence and the District. Perhaps she can take control of the CAC again, follow the Brown Act, and exert the legislative pressure on the District that the CAC is intended to since it is a creation of the Legislature. This move by Lawrence is just the first of many to come as a result of the departure of Mildred Browne, and the dependency of Kerri Mills in getting a good recommendation from Lawrence to get an automatic extension on her contract to carry her through retirement. Its time for the CAC to step up and do what it is intended. Read the guidebook that I previously cited as published by the state.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:17:56 +0000

Becareful SR, my computer just blocked a trojan backdoor virus while looking at the FCMAT report. Wonder who put it there ?

By: SR

SR — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:05:29 +0000

FCMAT report is on district’s website.

By: MDUSD Board Watcher

MDUSD Board Watcher — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:36:51 +0000

Decision Matrix for current Board Members:

1st – make the decision that benefits themselves
2nd – make the decision that benefits their family
3rd – make the decision that benefits their friends
4th – purposefully make the decision that hurts kids the most.

VOTE NO ON WHITMARSH!

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:21:57 +0000

Re # 54-I’m still stymied and wondering that MDUSD board refused the mayoral council idea. It could have prevented some serious mistakes with school closures, busing, safe walk routes to schools, and lockdowns to name a few, and it could assist with developing a strategic plan and passing a parcel tax. Theresa do you have more insight to the board’s reasoning to deny the mayors’ request? But I’m not truly stymied and wondering, because we’ve learned this board will make the decision that’s worst for the kids.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:15:04 +0000

Jim, its always difficult to govern schools as a group — in Nevada the districts are organized by county and thus you have some of the smallest districts in the nation like Eureka County Nevada and some of the largest Clark County Nevada. California with about 1000 school districts has similar disparities. Unfortunately, this economic crisis has not caused local school districts to cut the district salaries of its leadership — that hurts retirements — but cut the staff help, increase class sizes, and reduce overall education effectiveness. The SIG grants have proved over and over again, and right here in our district, that increased instructional time between a teacher and student improves education. As I point out, take away the 3 SIG schools dynamic API improvements, and this district would have a massive drop of about 25 API points — enough to sink Lawrence’s career because it matches [maybe much worse than] his underachievements as an administrator in Roseville and West Sacramento.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:33:45 +0000

@54– Theresa, it is quite rare, anywhere in the U.S., for the schools to be run by the city government. Mayors in cities such as NYC and Chicago that do have power over public schools got that power through special state legislation.

A monopoly is a monopoly, no matter who runs it, so mayors running the local schools is unlikely to help much. They are more visible, politically, than the typical under-the-radar school board, but they also have a lot to handle already, and their re-election can depend on other factors, even when the schools are still doing poorly. Instead, many mayors are backing parent-trigger-type legislation that can provide more school choice for residents and more accountability, as Reuters reports here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-usa-education-trigger-idUSBRE85H0J620120618

Unfortunately, the “trigger law” in CA is available to parents of children only in the bottom 5% of schools. (In permitting the legislation in CA, the unions were clever enough to know that such schools typically have many low income and illegal immigrant parents, who find it difficult to organize and are easy to intimidate, which was exactly the problem in Compton and now Adelanto.) The “teacher trigger” option is available in any school, but of course, then it’s up to the teachers whether to proceed — not always an ideal circumstance.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:30:22 +0000

Anon: Regarding Arens, she wasn’t on the layoff list, so maybe she was a temporary teacher: http://www.mdusd.org/Documents/layoffs/notice-of-defense.pdf
Temporary teachers automatically lose their jobs at the end of the year and must be rehired again. And she is definitely not alone on the new hire list — lots of schools appear to have hired new teachers at the last-minute.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:57:34 +0000

I attended a Commonwealth Club forum in which the Sacramento Mayor and his wife, Michelle Rhee, talked about the importance of mayors getting involved in their local schools. He has started a foundation and a charter school in Sacramento, I believe.
In some other states, the schools are actually run by the city government. But, that’s obviously not the case in California. Here, public schools don’t even need to go through city planning commissions or city councils to get projects such as field lights approved. Private schools like Carondelet and De La Salle, on the other hand, do need city approval for expansion projects.