And yea, the parents would line up… but they’d eventually have to choose a different school and the fact that they get to choose would help to improve whatever school their child eventually attended.

I do like the idea of opening up the high school boundaries. They were planning to do that a few years back, weren’t they? By making all the high schools Magnets so kids could choose their interest and pursue it. I thought it was a fabulous idea! You could even make them go through and an application and acceptance process based upon achievement. Fremont is ideal for that kind of program.

And could you imagine the crowds lining up at Forest Park, Weibel, Ardenwood, Chadbourne, etc. if there was open enrollment in the district. People would be camping out starting months before the enrollment date.

Marty said earlier that a newer subdivision in the weibel area was discluded from the school. So, where do those kids go? We live in warm springs and my kids will (hopefully) attend leitch. I know that some of the weibel area is districted at leitch… is that the same subdivision? Well, leitch is overcrowded as it is!

Has anyone brought up the idea of open-attendance within the city? I know we have a LARGE city… but we do have plenty of classrooms and it seems the lower performing schools are mostly lacking the parental participation and interest that the higher-performing schools have. If we could make all the schools in fremont attractive (for possibly very different reasons) to parents, wouldn’t that draw more people too all the attendance areas, instead of focusing it on the outer edges as it is now?

Lastly, former Mayor Morrison mentioned one school being sold off as a park and charter school… what school might this be? I’ve looked, and the only charter’s I’m aware of in our city are the FAME charter (located in a business district) and the COIL charter (located on the adult school campus). I’d be VERY interested in any other charters located in Fremont. Even though we live in what I consider to be one of the best attendance areas of Fremont, I am more interested in a school that fits our ideals. I suspect many parents feel the same and would increase involvement if they had more options available to them within the city.

Thank Gus for the feedback (post # 13). However, I may not explained myself well on the topic of audit.

There are various types:
First, the one you alluded to above is the standard financial audit. For example, is $3M cash stated by the city real, so it is traced and matched to bank account, etc.. This type of audit generally provides no valuable in addressing today’s climate of whether the public funds are put in the best use.

The next level of audit addresses something deeper, such as what is the root cause for city asking for Measure L Utility tax to plug the deficit; only to have the money mysteriously appeared after the measure failed. The audit would recommend how such a significant discrepancy can be prevented, so government don’t keep crying wolf for more taxpayer bailout.

Another example would be weather expenditure on A’s project, foreign travel, or other significant projects have built-in accountability, so officials, rather than taxpayers, are on hook on future liabilities.

The third level of audit function is where most government agencies and departments would generally oppose because it made them sweat. This is where the watch dog really have teeth and where hotline (for example, http://www.cityauditorlauradoud.com/fraud.html), made it easy to report misdeed. Fremont is now just a fortress when taxpayers are shut out and silently peek through over the fence, while insiders have the benefit of behind the scene meetings.

Audit and investigation can help addressing fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. In other words, those who cried wolf, use scare tactic, misled the public, are subject to criminal prosecution.
I don’t see why a prudent elected official can refuse this function, especially if audit can also make the city run more efficient, benchmark against peers for excellence, and increased transparency to the citizens.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_16231550

– because there is some force or condition which prevents you from holding regular, albeit perhaps less frequent, town hall meetings and “connecting” more with the community under the current arrangement ?

I presume you do not belong to any political party to be speaking the way you did. Keep it up.