FUSD Schools in Program Improvement (PI).

On Monday, September 13, 2010 the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell released the 2009-10 School Accountability Progress Report. According to the press release from O’Connell’s office, the report “Provides results from the state accountability system: the Academic Performance Index (API), as well as the federal accountability system, comprised of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Program Improvement (PI).” It goes on to explain Both the API and AYP data are based on results from the Statewide Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) system. All results for this year and past years are on the California Department of Education (CDE) Website.

What is API? According to the information packet on API provided by the CDE, API scores are “used to measure the academic growth of a school. The API from one year is compared to the API from the prior year to measure improvement. Each school has an annual target, and all numerically significant subgroups at a school also have targets.” API Scores range from 200 to 1000. The CDE has set the minimum target API for all schools at 800, with an ultimate goal of every school meeting or exceeding that target by the 2013-14 school year. To reach that goal each school, and subgroups within the school have “growth targets” to meet each year. The idea is that if the school meets those growth targets, it will achieve the goal of 800 (or above) by the school year 2013-14.

In Ventura County there are 100 schools scoring above 800, with 23 schools scoring above 900, and 69 schools scoring in the 700’s. The remaining schools scored below 700.

What is AYP? According to CONTINUED »

Each year the Fillmore Post 9637 selects a member of the community to Honor for their commitment to help and or recognize our fellow citizens that are serving our country in uniform. This year we honor a man that went into the Marine Corp in January, 1966 and served till October 1969, Dick Diaz.

Not wanting to get his boots dirty he got assigned to a Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron, (kind of like a flying gas station) where he logged more than 1500 hours. These transports also moved troops in and out of Vietnam.

By keeping his nose clean and doing a good job he came out of the service as a sergeant E-5, not bad for 3 years, he also was awarded the Vietnam Service and Campaign Metals as well as the Good Conduct Medal.

With an Honorable Discharge in hand he began a 36 and 1/2 year career in law enforcement. In the 1980's he was chief of Police in Fillmore, went to Ventura County Sheriffs Department as a Lieutenant, and retired as a Captain. His father-in-law is a Korean war vet; his son is in the Navy.

His articles in the Fillmore Gazette highlights service members and lists the local people serving in all branches of the military.

It is our honor to recognize Mr. Dick Diaz

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Fillmore police are looking for a man in his early 20s in connection with a strong-arm robbery that took place Saturday afternoon, September 18th.

A 22-year old Fillmore man was at or near a store in the 600 block of Ventura Street when the suspect approached him and reportedly punched him in the face, taking the victims cash and newly purchased clothes.

The suspect is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, medium build.

If anyone witness the robbery or has information they may call the Fillmore Sheriffs at 524-2233.

November 2nd you will be able to vote for TWO candidates

David Lugo: The current council made the decision to make Two Rivers park the permanent home for Fillmore Little League which was a great thing for them no longer will they have to worry about raising costs that go along with the use of school property. They can know every year where they will be playing.
I disagree with the decision they made on prop. 218 it is a decision that I feel could have been avoided and if elected I will do my best to see that they do not raise in the future the city council has the power to not increase the rates on a yearly basis, my vote will be NO on increases. “Your Voice”

Brian Sipes: For years I've been a proactive citizen of Fillmore advocating for fiscal prudence with our tax dollars at City Hall. Since I have attended most City Council meetings, various subcommittee meetings, and community workshops, I've seen some good, well thought out decisions made by the current City Council. A decision that prompted my approval from the City Council is the small business ordinance that now gives local businesses an extra 5% credit when bidding on projects with the City of Fillmore. This is a victory designed to keep local businesses competitive with outside contractors. This measure subscribes to my vision of keeping Fillmore, the last, best, small town, in Southern California.
I firmly disagree with the City Council's decision to assess extreme administrative penalties exceeding over $10,000 to a specific property owner that had an excessive amount of vehicles in their driveway. I do not favor draconian measures that appear to be unreasonable. This specific incident was overly harsh and property owners cannot afford these steep penalties. Instead, I would promote a policy that would direct City staff to work with property owners to comply with City codes. It takes constant communication and being accessible from those whom represent City Hall.

Patti Walker: The council implemented policies that support and enhance economic development. Since the March 2010 adoption of the City’s Strategic Plan, much has been accomplished. Council directed staff to review signage to focus attention on the downtown corridor, workshops were provided to enhance business opportunities, and recently we’ve seen the start up of the farmer’s market.
In this economic downturn, the Council enacted policies that support local businesses. The Council adopted two resolutions, one pro-rates business license fees and another allows for a 5% bid credit to local businesses.
The Council worked to make government more transparent and accessible. The manager provides a Weekly Update posted on the city’s website every Friday outlining what is occurring in each department at City Hall.
Never before has the budget been posted on the website. Also available are Council meeting agendas which included staff reports, minutes and warrants available for public review. This information is provided no later than the Friday prior to the Tuesday Council meeting.
With two staff vacancies, implementation of many Council directed issues are on hold. The Council was focused on finding a City Manager. Immediately thereafter attention turned to the 2010/2011 budget. Currently attention has been focused on the hiring of a Finance Director. This position is very important and much has been on the back burner until the Finance Director and Deputy City Manager positions are filled. Being able to round-out the staff by filling these two positions will allow the City to run smoothly and efficiently.

November 2nd you will be able to vote for THREE candidates

Question #4: Who decides the direction of the District — the School Board or the Superintendent? What kind of relationship do you envision between them?

Dave Wilde: Both members of the school board and superintendent should have a vision for the FUSD. Constant dialogue and assessment must be in place to ensure neither lose sight or focus of that shared vision. The school board, however, has final say.
The superintendent is selected by the school board and should represent who they feel can best lead our district in a positive direction. That person has many responsibilities. Several important ones are: Make affective use of both district and school staff. With staff help develop and propose both plans and strategies to move our district forward. He/she must ensure that district monies are used in a responsible manner. Lastly, to ensure our students and staff a safe environment in which learn and work.
With that in mind it is still the school board's responsibility to over see and make final approval on these efforts. They are ultimately responsible and must make every effort to make decisions that reflect our school's primary product and that is the education of our students.

Lucy Rangel: The direction of the District is set by the School Board. This is one of the primary responsibilities it has to the entire community. If it is to govern effectively, the Board must ensure that a long term vision is established for the school system. This vision should reflect the consensus of all board members, the Superintendent, staff, and the community as to what students need in order to achieve their highest potential. The focus should be on learning and achievement for all students. The Superintendent should provide leadership based on the direction of the board; and he should accept accountability for implementing the vision, goals, and policies of the district.
Together the board and the Superintendent form the governing team. I envision this team to have a trusting relationship – one of mutual respect. The board and the Superintendent should work together collaboratively in order to move towards the district’s vision and goals. Communicating openly with trust and integrity is the type of relationship that is needed to ensure that our students receive a high quality education.

Mark Austin: The School Board should primarily be the entity deciding the overall direction of the Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD). The School Board should establish this direction by providing a clear vision of what they expect of the Superintendent. This does not appear to be happening within the FUSD and thus there is no accountability at either the School Board or administration levels. In the FUSD, the Superintendent’s primary role should be to provide strong leadership and to establish goals that facilitate the implementation of the School Board’s vision. The Superintendent is responsible for the daily oversight of the District from the direction given by the School Board.
I envision the relationship between the School Board and Superintendent to be one of shared respect. School Board members must remember that they are an elected body that serves the community and is responsible for the Superintendent. In other words, the relationship is much like an employee and employer. The School Board must hold the Superintendent accountable for meeting the community’s expectations. www.votemarkaustin.com.

Kimberly Rivers: One role of the Board is to set the vision of the District and to hire, evaluate and provide oversight to the Superintendent who carries out that vision. The Superintendent is accountable to the Trustees who sit on the Board as representatives of the community. As a trustee a goal of mine for the Board would be to demonstrate a strong “back and forth” relationship with the Superintendents office. And should the Board feel the Superintendent is off track, it should seek information, provide feedback and support, to bring the efforts more in line with the intention of the Vision.
To be clear, I feel it is important that the Board have a strong sense of oversight and hold the office of the Superintendent responsible for all the duties assigned to that office including the quality of education provided, responding to issues and concerns raised by the community, administrators, faculty and staff, while at the same time challenging and empowering the Superintendent to use his/her skill-set to improve and innovate where needed and respond to the needs of the students and all employees of the District.
Ultimately I feel that a School Board and a Superintendent should be clear on what is needed along the road to achieve the Vision. There are sure to be bumps along the way, and a good collaborative relationship allows for that, but the Board and Superintendent should be proactively transparent, accountable and always in communication with the Community at large. www.votekimrivers.com.

Tony Prado: Ideally, the direction of the District rests with the five elected Board members. In reality, to get five individuals to agree on all matters related to the District is very difficult. Therefore, the concept of team building or building a consensus of ideas becomes very important. This is where the role of the superintendent comes to play. At California School Board Conferences it has been stated that a superintendent acts a as sixth board member. A good superintendent will then guide the Board towards problem-solving and systems-thinking when issues arise.
The superintendent has enormous responsibilities. He helps the Board develop its goals and works with the Board to develope the superintendent's goals. Ideally, this reinforces the importance of a positive, productive relationship with the Board. The reality is that he will not make all Board members happy. As long as there are three Board members, a majority that agree on an issue, the decision is made.
My community involvement in various areas and having coached for more than 20 years in a variety of boys and girls sports, I believe gives me the ability to be a good team player and if necessary a team leader. Working with the other Board members and the Superintendent we can chart a course for the District into the future. In essence, I working with the other Board members and the Superintendent can provide vibrant leadership and a common voice for the District. Therefore, remember to vote for Tony Prado.

Marie Wren received a proclamation from the City of Fillmore after retiring from the Senior Center Board.
Enlarge Photo

The Sept 14th Fillmore City Council was a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission. The meeting began with about 40 in attendance and went late into the night, ending close to midnight. The agenda covering a wide range of topics that included water and sewer rates, counting of the protest ballots, street cleaning, baseball backstops at Two Rivers Park, Fillmore’s legal publications “Newspaper of Record” along with a few others.

Again, as with the City Council’s last meeting, the main focus was on questions from the public in regard to Proposition 218 which is the Water Ordinance 10-821, a proposed water and sewer rate increase. But the awarding of the contract for legal publications t the Gazette also was of great interest. Consideration for the Award of Contract for City Legal Publications, “Newspaper of Record” for FY 2010-11 became a heated topic with many voicing their views.

Citizen Kenneth Creason stated he was deeply opposed to giving the award to the Fillmore Gazette. He mentioned the Gazette’s lack of coverage of “good news” sighting the paper’s omission of a donation made to the Fillmore Senior Center for their salad bar (Front Page, April 15th edition under “Presentations” - http://www.fillmoregazette.com/front-page/medical-marijuana-city-morator...). Creason also said he cancelled his subscription to the Gazette because “Roy Payne” was allowed to write Letters to the Editor over the 250 word limit while no one else was (a false claim already exposed in response to Councilmember Gayle Washburn’s Letter dated 09/03/09 - http://www.fillmoregazette.com/letters/september-3rd-2009). Both false claims can be viewed as such online (hardcopies available at Fillmore Library for viewing).

Councilmember Jamey Brooks stated, “Mr. Farrell is a slanderer…I will never vote for him.” Councilmember Laurie Hernandez defended the Gazette by speaking directly to the naysayers, “He writes about me too—it’s an opinion. I vote yes.” Councilmember Steve Conaway asked City attorney Ted Schneider, pointedly, if the Ventura Star could publish the city legals. Schneider said “No”. Conaway also asked if awarding the Star the contract would put the city at legal risk. Schneider answered “Yes”.

The City of Fillmore had asked both the Fillmore Gazette and the Ventura County Star to give bids on the contract. The Ventura County Star is not the adjudicated paper of record for the city of Fillmore, the Gazette is, and law requires that if there is a local paper it must be awarded the contract..

A vote was taken with CONTINUED »

“It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.”
(Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)

“I don’t believe he would have hesitated to give the order to nuke the nation of Israel if he had had the bomb…Allah had given us the responsibility of eradicating the Jews, and my father didn’t question that…”
(Reformed terrorist Mosab Yousef speaking about his father Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the seven founders of the Muslim terrorist organization Hamas)

Note: Mosab Yousef is a reformed Hamas terrorist. Mosab has openly denounced terrorism, and assisted the Israeli Security Services in combating numerous acts of murder by fanatical Muslim extremists. Mosab’s fight against Radical Islam is chronicled in the excellent book, ‘Son Of Hamas.’

The entire geographical size of the nation of Israel is smaller than the state of New Jersey. In speaking with an Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter pilot he told me it takes approximately 12 minutes to fly from northern to southern Israel, and approximately 3 minutes to fly from eastern to western Israel.

Almost immediately after the United Nations Partition Resolution 181 of 1947 granted Israel statehood, five Arab nations, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Lebanon and Syria attacked Israel. This became known as the War Of Independence. After the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were slaughtered, and after fending off the attack of five Arab nations who violated the United Nations agreement and attempted to destroy the Jewish people for a second time in 1948, the Jewish people finally had a homeland.

One strategically placed nuclear bomb launched into modern day Israel would destroy the Jewish homeland thus creating a second modern day Holocaust. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated on numerous occasions and as recently as last week that The Islamic Republic of Iran’s goal is to destroy the “Little Satan” (Israel), and the “Great Satan” (The United States). Recently when Iran paraded its military fighting force and weaponry during a public display of its “military might”, the missiles had “Death To Israel” and “Death To The United States” emblazoned of the side of the missiles.

In a past statement CONTINUED »