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By Kimberly Rivers — Monday, February 21st, 2011
Concerns, Issues regarding Building/Inspection, Safety, Fire, to be brought before State Politicians
I have been contacted by someone with contacts at the State level who "will be speaking with the Politicians in Sacramento" in the coming weeks and specifically wants to hear from residents, parents, students, staff of FUSD on If you have any concerns regarding issues at any site, or with building/inspection etc. We need this info by the end of this week. Happy Monday, Kim |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Monday, February 7th, 2011
Curriculum Audits at Piru and Middle School; Graduation Requirements; Budget Update Etc.
Below are several segments from the January 18, 2011 School Board Meeting. Our goal is to start recording all meetings, and get the videos posted promptly. You'll notice that we've "cut" it up so that you can watch the segments that you're interested in. Future Farmers of America report by Brooke Aguirre and "Students First" award to Janice Schieferle Curriculum Audit Report from Principals at: Piru Elementary School and Fillmore Middle School: Student Rep (Sean Chandler) and Board Member Reports: Discussion on Jeff Sweeney's suggestion to begin to examine graduation requirements: Budget Update: |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Budget Breakdown and Site Budgets
School Matters Post Questions received via email: “How much of the budget is spent on Administrative salaries and compensation?” “It may be helpful to show a breakdown of expenses in the District, including books and supplies, facilities [and so on]”. – Concerned Resident First, I need to make a correction; in a previous blog post I indicated that the budget for FUSD is $35 million. But according to the projected, unaudited budget (I have requested a copy of the audited budget) dated June 2010 for this current school year the total General Fund budget is $30.7 million but remember budgets are fluid and ever changing, and in school districts they are based on how many students sit in classrooms each day, so we really don’t know the years budget, until the year is over. Make sense? So if we first look at the pie chart included in the Unaudited Budget dated June 2010 the District reports that it spends 86% of its budget on personnel. According to another chart “management” (salaries only, excluding benefits) expenses makes up 6% of the total budget. Compare that to 42% for certificated employees (teachers) or 4% for books and supplies. Certificated Non Management Salaries: $12.4 million Administrative Salaries, per report from District office dated September 2010. Salary Total Expense **Note: the salary was reported to me upon request. But I have been unable to obtain a report on the actual District expense of all of the benefits and compensation for the position of Superintendent. So, this number of Total Expense for the position of Superintendent is an estimate. Here is how I calculated it: =$180,293.00 Total Expense to the District ESTIMATED. Any additional expenses incurred associated with duties are compensated, as well as any additional costs of an annual physical examination not covered by the health insurance provided. Sub-Total: $2,243,756 Site Budgets: I thought this was an easy way view the Districts budget; again this is all based on the unaudited budget dated June 2010. Site Budgets: Mountain Vista: Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund Piru: Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund San Cayetano: Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund Sespe: Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund Fillmore Middle School Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund Sierra High School Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund Fillmore High School Unrestricted General Fund 2009-10 Estimated / 2010-11 Proposed Restricted General Fund So there you are. Do you think the money is being spent well? My next step on this is to get job descriptions of each of the administrative positions. Remember School Matters. Thanks for reading. |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
At last nights School Board meeting Board members Tony Prado, Lucy Rangel ad Dave Wilde all commented on this video that Assist. Superintendent Director of Educational Services Katy Hadley showed at a recent workshop they attended. The video did float around facebook a while back. Check it out: *************** I was recently listening to an author from India being interviewed about the great progress happening in India. He spoke about how every single successful person he knew in India, who had risen up out of the chaste (or class) of their parents... every single one worked for themselves. They created their own job. This got me thinking, in the US we hear all about job creation, and many expect our governments to seemingly wave a magic wand, or maybe a dollar, and *poof* create hundreds of thousands of jobs. But what about the idea that folks need to start preparing to climb out of that box, to think about filling the needs of their community, and creating their own jobs. Doesnt' work for every single person, but think about even the effect of a small shift. Hummmm. Look around our world. Egypt. Tunisia. Los Angeles. And sometimes even yes, our own Communities of Fillmore, Piru and all of Ventura County. Public Education needs to shift its goals, challenge students to build their confidence in ways that they can find their passion, their contribution, their voice and take it out into their community in a positive way. It’s beyond jobs. It comes down to do we want kids trained to get an A, B or a C (I think our current system even trains some kids to get D’s and F’s…) or do we want them to be confident enough to fail… and keep going…. and get up again and keep going. What would they do if they knew they would not fail? What would they do if there were TRULY no stupid questions? Maybe they just might solve the world’s problems that we don’t even know exist yet. |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
According the California Department of Education Piru Elementary Schools, with a 2010 Base API score of 709 has been placed on a list of 1000 "low performing" schools in California. While there does appear to be some concerns over some schools being on list that have scores over 800, Piru Elementary appears to truly meet the criteria for "low performing". http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/op/yr10ltr10.asp (Enter Ventura County, and select Fillmore) Click here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/op/yr10ltr10.asp to see the letter sent to all County and District Superintendents on October 8, 2010. Here are some excerpts from the letter that may be of interest to some parents whose children currently attend Piru Elementary or who may be planned to send their children there fall 2011: "Parents may exercise their transfer option using this list for their students to begin enrollment at another school for the 2011-12 school year. Parents must submit an application requesting a transfer to the desired school prior to January 1, 2011. Parents who opt to transfer their students under this law may enroll their students within the same district or any other district, provided the school to which they are applying has a higher Academic Performance Index (API) score than the school from which the students are transferring." Note that the deadline for next school year was January 1, 2011. But what about parents who were not notified of this option? Or what about parents who students starting in the fall? Please consider posting your findings and experience here to help other parents. Are you choosing to transfer? Why or Why not? |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Fillmore Middle School When: Thursday, February 3rd To recognize student achievement. The middle school is doing something a bit different in an effort to increase parent participation in the student award ceremonies. Usually a night time event, switching to the morning may get more parents, and adding waffles and strawberries is a fun and unique way to get kids excited and hopefully motivated to win an award. |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Friday, January 28th, 2011
Program Improvement, January 18, 2011
Here is the Video of the School Boards Study Session on "Program Improvement" from Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Check back next week for a post on budget information for the District. Answers to the following questions: |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
Is School Board Addressing the Issue of Program Improvement?
"Can you give an estimate as to what percentage of time is spent at school board meetings talking about what individual campuses are doing to get out of PI status? I’m not there for the meetings but it just seems to me that this should be a big issue for board members and they should be grilling the superintendent and principals on a pretty regular basis about this. Are board members complacent about this? Are board members getting this type of information privately during closed sessions because it’s embarrassing to the district?" - Submitted by Fillmore Resident via email, (requested to stay anonymous because of connections to the District*) For an explanation on Program Improvement see: www.fillmoregazette.com/front-page/state-releases-school-progress-report My read of this question is that it is asking for my opinion based on what I have seen. So please keep in mind that this particular post is essentially my opinion. 1. Give an estimate as to what percentage of time is spent at meetings talking about what individual campuses are doing to get out our PI status? 2. Are Board members complacent about this? In my opinion they are. Some Board members might be waking up a bit, but the jury is still out on this one. I really think this is an issue that should have folks asking more tough questions, and being much clearer with administrators about what the Board expects to see each and every year. Ask this again in June. And remember, a big part of “PI” is the school choice conversation as well. This year FUSD had declining enrollment. Board members were presented with the numbers. In this tight financial situation each student that leaves the District means less income for the District. Not one question was asked about WHY students were leaving the District. Not one. I would really like to see the Board get interested in the “PI” issue not because it means the schools are “failing” the state standards, but because it means that the schools are “failing” the students, and the community. Remember, the quality of our local schools affects what businesses fill our business parks, it affects property values, crime levels. It affects community. When all schools are in PI that means that students have the right to transfer to a non-PI school outside of the District. That is a right that the law guarantees. The Board should be vigorous about addressing this issue first because of what it means for the students, but second because of the affects that on going “PI” designation has on the number of students enrolled in FUSD schools. 3. Are board members getting this type of information privately during closed sessions because it’s embarrassing to the district?” This is a tougher question to answer since the public is not privy to what is discussed in closed sessions. If I understand the restrictions pertaining to closed sessions, any general discussion regarding Program Improvement SHOULD be happening in open session. Again I want to emphasize, that I know of nothing indicating that this is being discussed in closed session, I’m simply responding to this question. I think it would benefit the Board and District as a whole to shed more light on this issue not only because the public should be fully informed about the true state of the schools, but because it would improve the public's perception that the Board is knowledgeable on this and is demanding improvement at all schools, and is prepared to hold administrators accountable. *Keep in mind that employee evaluations made by the Board are generally protected, and MAY be discussed in closed session, and therefore need not be released to the public. BUT the public may participate in evaluation processes. Some Boards do hear from the public regarding administrator and superintendent evaluations. I hope that answers your questions. Feel free to send a follow up, or post a comment here. What do you think? Are the School Board members taking this issue seriously? Is it really that ‘big” of an issue? Do you care whether or not your child’s school is in “PI” status? Thanks for reading, post a comment because School Matters. Kimberly Rivers |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Friday, January 14th, 2011
What: FUSD School Board Study Session on "Program Improvement"; What it is? What it means? What is the District doing about it? The School Board general meeting will begin at 6:30 following the study session. |
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By Kimberly Rivers — Friday, January 14th, 2011
"Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Shane Cohn
Here's a portion of the article, see the full piece at : www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/?id=8531 “What we’ve tried to do in Ventura County is keep chaos away from kids and families,” said Mary Samples, special education local plan area director. “We have worked so hard and diligently with the mental health department to keep everything intact.” The cash-strapped Office of Education will owe approximately $2.5 million for mental health services and up to another $5 million in residential social services during the span of the MOU, Samples said. “Additional money will now be coming out of school districts, and something else will have to be given up on the general education side of things,” said Samples. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget spared additional cuts to K-12 public education, if a five-year extension of temporary tax increases is approved by voters in June. But unless an increase in state revenue is provided by the voter-approved tax extension in June, the 2011-12 school year for K-12 California public schools is forecast to lose $2 billion in funding due to the cuts Schwarzenegger had enacted, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. Extending the higher tax rates on sales, vehicles and incomes would offset some of the $2 billion in projected school district losses, Brown said. ************* What are your thoughts on this? |