UPDATE: Comments on this thread are now closed. The new 2009 thread is available at this link.
I wrote a post on July 16, 2006, entitled “SAUSD corruption coming out with Mijares gone,” and it blew up to over 2,000 posts. However, it exceeded the capacities of our server and has been truncated recently at about 1,529 posts. But one of our readers has stepped up to the plate and painstakingly copied all of the comments into four NEW posts:
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2008 Comments
- SAUSD-Temporary Thread (Migration 5/16/2008) Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2007 Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2006 Comments
Also, don’t forget you can go to the right sidebar of any page page and search for “SAUSD” to get links to ALL of our past SAUSD stories.
I have been honored that this blog has allowed so many people to vent their frustrations with the SAUSD administration and school board. We will continue to shed light on these issues and I hope that our readers will continue to use this blog to communicate about the corruption at SAUSD.
SAUSD does not belong to the administrators or to the school board. It belongs to us. We will have an opportunity this fall to take back the school board, with three seats opening up. I pray that good candidates will emerge so we will be able to do exactly that. Until then, please keep the comments coming! But post them here, to this new thread. Thank you.
The DA couldn’t care less about truants. That problem belongs to the district itself. As SAUSD teacher said students truant after 7 days are considered habitual truants. Habitual truants are normally taken before the SARB (student attendance review board)first. At that meeting the board can require the kid and parents sign a contract or the district can take legal action. The sad truth is the juvenile court system is so jammed up truancy is not high on the list of problems.
If your seniors are 18 or close to becoming 18 years of age, then they are legally adults so no one cares except the district because of ADA. They just can’t do much about it.
And it’s all about the kids? Right.
Did anyone notice how some schools have posted a congratulatory note on their school marquee saying..thank you Santa Ana voters for passing Measure G.
Ain’t that swell. Political signage on a public marquee.
Anon,
Thankfully I haven’t noticed the marquees, but then again nothing surprises me. I wonder how the parents of special ed kids will feel now that their aids were cut this week. When the rent or taxes go up we shall see how the entire town feels especially after they witness how that measure G money is spent.
Is Cecilia Aguinaga the best the Democrats can do for the SAUSD School Board?
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2008/06/is-cecilia-aguinaga-the-best-the-democrats-can-do-for-the-sausd-school-board/
According to a Register story, another SAUSD student won a free car for just showing up at school all year. Another 16 year old that hasn’t had drivers Ed much less a drivers license. I’m confused. When did we start rewarding kids for doing what the law requires them to do? ie go to school.
I could understand this little perk to a kid with the highest grades in the district, but for just showing up a whole year doesn’t make sense to me.
Well maybe it does. This story clearly outlines the intent of the district to get kids to show up for school so the district can get the average daily attendance money. You may remember a former Associate Superintendent last year talking about the money rather than the quality of the kids education.
I remember a better motivator back when I went to school. That motivator was a swift kick in the ass by my parents to go! That seemed to work and was a whole lot cheaper. Read the story for yourself at this link.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/district-mendoza-school-2068621-car-students
More “lottery mentality” promoted by the derelicts in the SAUSD offices.
What’s next, scratchers?
I would think a $1,000 scholarship reserved in this student’s name upon successful completion of at least one sememster of college/junior college/trade school/university would be much more of an incentive and inspiration to the students at large.
#305 You’re correct! SAUSD is primarily interested in $$$, NOT the education of students.
#306 Desgraciadamente, you are also correct. SAUSD has all too many derelicts.
Your scholarship proposal is wise…which means it would never be considered by SAUSD officials.
Poster “anon” #306:
With your delayed scholarship idea, you are actually touching on one of the major failings of SAUSD: this school district has no formal program that tracks the success of our graduates once they have they’re diplomas. We can tell you, by school site, what number of graduates have been accepted to the UC’s, CSU’s, SAC, etc., but they cannot tell you how many progress to their second semester, let alone sophomore year, or a degree. We have absolutely no idea how well our academic programs prepare the average student for life after high school. We have special assemblies with chart after chart distributed to publicize our miniscule improvements in the California STAR exam, with its API (academic performance index), and AYP (adequate yearly progress).
Not tracking our graduates, but obsessing on API, is as irrational as a manufacturer focused on quality control, but completely ignoring sales, profits, and losses. However, this is completely rational behavior from the self-serving hypocrites who lead our district (“We LOOOVE the children — but not enough to see how they do when they leave our care.”) School administrators get promoted or fired based on API scores, and reaching AYP. Post-graduate successes or failures of students have absolutely no effect on school district leaders, and thus view it as irrelevent.
Poster #306, you’ve really sparked some thinking here. Forget about giving $1,000 to each student who makes it through their freshman college year — they’ll get a bigger reward later and they know it. Give that $1,000 to the former school principal and superintendent of each student making it through college. Wow! Watch things happen then! I can see right now Ms.Russo and her principals down at UCI talking up teaching in SA, trying to recruit real math majors for the schools instead of the unqualified (but cheap!) long term subs we use now. Keep the ideas coming #306!
SAHS teacher,
Good take. Let us all know how that new principal does there too.
I found this plea over on a recent thread about school board elections that are coming up:
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2008/06/is-cecilia-aguinaga-the-best-the-democrats-can-do-for-the-sausd-school-board/#comment-59758
OC Parent Says:
June 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Cecilia removed my son from a after school program at SAHS becouse he had a habbit of texting
Thank You Cecilia i work two jobs and its challenging to keep track of my son now i constantly worry about him
BookWorm Says:
June 17th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
#31 What is your son name i cant belive she would do that to you.
OC Parent Says:
June 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Juan Guzman he is a freshman going to the 10th grade. My son is a brigh wonderful person please help me out anyone.
My response to this parent:
OCParent,
The high dropout rate can often be a combination of “zero tolerance” stances taken by authorities combined with difficulties that all teens experience in the Junior High and High School levels.
I suggest that you call or email John Palacios. He has been a friend to teachers, staff, students, parents and community members. He’s been speaking openly and helping to fix problems brought to him despite the fact that he started the policy several years ago, when the majority of the board and the past administrators did everything possible to keep problems under the rug. I can only imagine some of the heavy handed tactics that were used against him back then.
Now, he’s still around and even more accessible than ever. In fact, he has an email list of people concerned about SAUSD and schooling in general, that he sends articles to from time to time. If this interests you or others, please feel confident that Mr. Palacios will keep your email address confidential when you email him to request that he add you to his mailing list.
Here is contact information for him. I strongly suggest that if you are having problems concerning the school district and you are just not able to get them solved using what most school districts would call problem solving avenues, then contact him ASAP.
SAUSD is not going to clean itself up. It needs attention called to its mal practices, so that the new leadership can correct things going forward.
John Palacios:
jpalacio@pacbell.net
714-542-0589
Good luck to you, your son and family! Let us know how it all goes.
As the saying goes, “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings”. Well the fat lady sang over at CAPO unified.
A Register story reports that CAPO, in final cuts, eliminated 156 jobs in classified and “administrative” jobs. We all know what that means. Classified took it up the wazoo while administrators either retired or moved on.
Why is this important to SAUSD? Because Joe Dixon now Asst. Superintendent of business Services at SAUSD bailed out of CAPO when the going got tough. Reportedly he had a major play in what they call the “Taj Mahal”, or district offices, over at CAPO. Now he is at SAUSD to create mischief with a higher salary and title.
We all need our teachers but we need our classified too. CSEA is probably the most inept union in the state. They take your money and bend over when it comes time to negotiate.
A quote from the Register story;
I’m worried about who’s going to do my job,” said Kinoshita Elementary School clerk Carol Pollard, who has been with the district for 7.5 years.
Added Wyatt McClean, labor relations representative for the California School Employees Association union: “The dedicated classified staff puts their heart and soul into what they do. … You’re not looking to put back in one classified job.”
From all reports CAPO has been run about as bad as SAUSD. In fact despite this cut, the district just approved a $28,000.00 raise for the new superintendent and he accepted it after first rejecting it. Is this starting to sound familiar?
When SAUSD hired Joe Dixon to manage business services, (in other words classified) and measure G before it was passed, while the district he left fires 150 classified employees you have to know something is wrong. When SAUSD hires Joe Dixon, a major player in a CAPO district office “Taj Mahal” where do you think measure G funds will go to? When SAUSD hires Joe Dixon, who has a correspondence degree from the college of Phoenix then it is time for classified to expect what happened to teachers to only be the beginning of what will happen to them.
Maybe the district will also kick up Russo’s salary $28k just to make it perfect. This is the link to the CAPO story.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/education/article_2059260.php
Red,
Good work. I felt many of the comments over on that other thread needed to be here. Being a skeptic I suggest the parent use that phone number since we never seem to be sure who are shills for district administration. No offense meant because Polacio did a 180 after Nativo was recalled. I’ve personally talked to Palacio and I think he has truly seen the light.
#297 spoke about how difficult it is to get a student tested for special ed.
Have the parent request that their child be tested for special ed. The teacher can help the parent draft the letter, or write the request yourself and have the parent sign it. That way the student must be tested within a certain time period. I’m not sure if it is 30 days or 60 days.
The trick is the old phrase, “The child does not qualify academically”.
What they don’t want to tell the parent or the teacher is a child can qualify for reasons other than low academic scores.
When that happens or if you think it might happen be sure to ask for the evaluation to include behavioral/emotional testing.
Unfortunately, even when the child does qualify for special ed. services they may or may not be placed into a program that will actually help the student. This has always been the case but since NCLB has been the rule of the land the situation has become pathetic.
The truancy rate is criminal in Santa Ana and may well be all over but for now let’s narrow the problem to Santa Ana.
True story:
A student has been truant for 3 months straight.
The classroom teacher takes it upon themselves to call home every day to get the student to come to school but still the student does not come to school.
Attendance is very much aware of the situation.
Letters are sent out.
The SARB process goes into effect but the paper work is never completed by admin.
State testing begins and ends without the student taking the tests.
The state requires a high percentage of students from the school to take the test.
SOMEHOW the school manages to get the student in school to take the make-up tests.
Still, the student never shows up to any classes and nothing is done by the school to get the student to attend.
The student remains truant for the rest of the school year.
Doesn’t anyone from the district level or the state level question a situation like this? Apparently not.
True story:
A student is at school but is consistently truant from class.
The teacher(s) mark the student absent.
Attendance is very much aware of the situation.
Nothing is done by admin.
True story:
A student frequently arrives to school late missing period 1.
A student may also arrive so late in the morning that they frequently miss periods 2 and 3.
The teacher(s) mark the student absent.
Attendance is very much aware of the situation.
Nothing is done by admin.
True story:
A student is frequently truant from school.
The teacher(s) mark the student absent.
Attendance is very much aware of the situation.
Nothing is done by admin.
The teacher calls the truancy hotline for the district and is told: “Well, I’m alone here today so there isn’t anything I can do about it.”
Too bad the school and/or the district cannot be reported to the child abuse hotline.
The school district now has a collection of news items. A step in the right direction for transparency. http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/sausd/cwp/browse.asp?A=3&BMDRN=2000&C=53680
Also, there was an email notification that Ms. Russo has a new executive secretary with `18 years of experience from El Monte. fyi
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080619006142&newsLang=en
More Than 1,000 Graduates of Limited-English-Proficiency (LEP) Educational Pilot Program Honored in Santa Ana
SANTA ANA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As family members and friends cheered them on, hundreds of Hispanic adults received certificates today from the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) and the California State Senate and Assembly signifying that they have successfully completed a Limited English-Proficiency (LEP) educational pilot program provided through the English Works initiative of the Greater Santa Ana Business Alliance. The event took place at the Valley High School Auditorium in Santa Ana.
In total, more than 1,000 adults who are parents of children enrolled in 40 District schools participated in the program, which took four to six months to complete.
Attending the ceremony were California State Assemblyman Jose Solorio, SAUSD Superintendent Jane Russo, Alfredo Amezcua, Greater Santa Ana Business Alliance trustee, attorney and SAUSD graduate, Alliance president and CEO Mike Metzler, and Bill Groux, CEO and founder, Retention Education/Sed de Saber.
“We are very pleased at the large number of our parents who have taken the next step in ensuring the success of their children by learning themselves so that they too can become more involved with the academic process. We hope to see more parents such as these participate in the program next year,” said Russo.
The program relies upon Sed de Saber, (“Thirst for Knowledge”), a portable, electronic learning system developed by Retention Education, Inc. of Newport Beach, California that uses storytelling, voice recording, games and review exercises to build and improve English language skills. The school district allowed participants to borrow the systems at no cost.
“The magnitude of this graduation ceremony speaks to the determination that parents, given the right learning tools and environment, have for learning the language and participating in their children’s education,” said Groux.
Sed de Saber combines an English as a second language (ESL) curriculum with the LeapFrog ® Quantum LeapPad® Plus Microphone, allowing the learner to record, play back, and compare his/her voice to the word or phrase being learned.
Sed de Saber is currently teaching conversational English to roughly 55,000 Hispanic workers in the foodservice, hospitality, and construction industries, as well as 10,000 Hispanic parents of English language-learning children via our nation’s school systems.
#315 – In addition to exposing a flaw (and I’m being polite in describing this debacle as a flaw), wouldn’t a continued truancy result in less ADA received by the district?
The district’s website says “FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE! SUCCESS IS THE STANDARD…IT’S UP TO US ALL!” Their system of handling truancies seems like a failure. What are they doing successfully resolve the problem?
There seems to be some glaring loopholes in the way the district handles the reporting of absences in addition to not following through on truancies.
At our school I’ve heard commented many times that when teachers substitute during their prep period that rarely is there a way to take attendance – no current rosters are present in sub folder. How is this handled by the Attendance Tech? We believe that the attendance is submitted by the Attendance Tech as everyone being present as there is no procedure for submitting absences because we don’t have a roster. This would fraudently increase the ADA received by the district – similar to the money received for submitting fraudulent rosters in CSR classes which was brought to light last year.
Can anyone shed some light on this and is this a common practice throughout the district? Is it something that needs to be brought to the district’s and/or the state’s attention?
#318
Absolutely. Every day a student is truant the district loses $35-$40 daily per student. (depending on whose numbers you believe) Although #315 listed a number of “true stories”, I wasn’t the poster so I do not know if those stories are true or not. It seems odd to me, as one story says, that a student spends his day on campus but doesn’t attend his classes and no one does anything about it. I assume the schools have security officers and police so why a situation like that would exist makes no sense.
#319 Since I’m not a teacher I am guessing that an attendance roster is normally in a folder. As you are a teacher, when you do have a roster what do you do with it? Do you physically turn it in to the attendance tech or does someone come around to the classrooms to pick them up? Has anyone asked the attendance tech how they keep track when no roster is in the folder? It certainly sounds strange if not suspicious.
Just FYI, all of our attendance is handled on the computer system “ICUE”. At our site, when a teacher subs on their prep and when there is a sub, the attendance is handled by the sub manually on a roster which is turned in to the attendance office and it is then put into the computer. Only teachers have access to their rosters on the computer via passwords. We sign our weekly attendance rosters which are printed from ICUE and stored somewhere on site. I’m not sure if subs handle attendance the same way at each site, but I can speak for our site, there really is nothing suspicious.
Regarding special ed: I can speak from lots of experience, a teacher has very little power to get a child tested. The district drags their feet on referrals. However, a parent can request testing and have it done almost immediately because that is the law. If a teacher does it, there is no requirement for the district to test them. Keep in mind that our archaic system for qualifying students says that there must be a discrepancy between their achievement and their IQ, if there isn’t, the kid is out of luck (“sorry, you’re just dumb” is the message).
SAUSD Police Chief Miyashiro leaving. Thomas Anthony Gordon
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2008/06/sausd-police-chief-miyashiro-leaving/
I just received this press release:
For Immediate Release
June 17, 2008
SANTA ANA SCHOOLS POLICE CHIEF APPOINTED TO HEAD RCCD SAFETY AND POLICE DEPARTMENT
At its regular meeting tonight, the RCCD Board of Trustees approved the appointment of
Santa Ana Schools Chief of Police Jim Miyashiro to head the district’s Safety and Police Department.
Miyashiro currently heads a department with 25 sworn police officers and more than 40 safety officers that patrol the seventh largest unified school district in California. As head of the P.O.S.T.-accredited RCCD department, he will oversee 41 sworn officers, more than 40 community service officers, and other personnel.
“I feel truly honored to be a part of the RCCD team. Everyone I have met so far has been very gracious in welcoming me to the District. I look forward to starting and continuing the successes of the safety and police department.”
When he assumes his duties at RCCD on July 1, Miyashiro will replace interim chief Hank Rosenfeld who has guided the district’s police operations the past year. Rosenfeld, the former longtime Chief of Police for the University of California, Riverside, came out of retirement to help RCCD develop future plans for the Safety and Police Department and to assist with the recruitment of a permanent Chief of Police.
“I think Chief Miyashiro will be great fit for the district and the department,” said Rosenfeld. “He has a solid law enforcement background with a lot of relevant experience in running this type of department. I know that he will be very successful here.”
A 1984 graduate of the Golden West College Policy Academy, Miyashiro has spent 24 years with state and municipal police agencies, including Desert Hot Springs PD, La Palma PD, UCLA, and Cal State Long Beach. At Desert Hot Springs, he assisted with the start up of the police department. Miyashiro holds an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice and a bachelor’s degree in Business and Management.
In addition to his law enforcement career, he has served as a consultant to FCMAT (Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team) for the State of California. He is also a licensed commercial pilot.
=====================================
How long untill SAUSD disbands the school police department?
I want to wish Jim the best in this new phase of his career. Jim was always open and honest with me regarding safety, the schools and the kids.
I am providing the direct link to this story as well as copy/pasting it for the OJ archives. Don’t forget to click on the link to see the pictures and discussions that accompany the story.
I think it is important to remember what our board members and principals say to our young students. In this case, I agree with their sentiments:
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-graduation20-2008jun20,0,7297663.story
Middle schools tone down graduation ceremonies.
Campuses stress that the event marks a transition to more education, not the end of the process. At a Santa Ana school, it’s ‘promotion’ and in Los Angeles it’s ‘culmination activities.’
By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 20, 2008
Commencement at this Santa Ana school was a serious ordeal. Boys had to wear ties. Girls’ dresses required shoulder straps at least 2 inches wide. Families brought balloons and flowers and decorated their cars with white shoe polish. Five rehearsals ensured flawless filing in and out of the auditorium by students in red gowns.
But if something did go awry, it was hardly the end of the world. After all, they were only leaving middle school.
At schools like Spurgeon Intermediate in a hardscrabble Santa Ana neighborhood, graduation is a time of pomp and ceremony. And, officials and parents concede, there is resignation to the fact that some will never make it through the 12th grade. Administrators have cautiously maintained the tradition, but only while also urging parents to be restrained and save the climactic celebrations for future graduations, like those in high school or even college.
Schools throughout the country in recent years have eliminated or scaled back eighth-grade graduations, concerned that over-the-top ceremonies too closely resemble high school graduations and imply finality rather than a mere transition to further education.
It is a serious concern in cities such as Los Angeles with dismal high school graduation rates. Although state dropout statistics are notoriously hard to pin down, more than one-third of the students in the Los Angeles Unified School District — about twice the state average — will not make it through their senior year, and graduation rates at the lowest-performing schools hover near 40%. In the neighborhood where Spurgeon is located, nearly four out of 10 students do not complete 12th grade, state figures show.
The ceremonies take on a deeper significance and sometimes become a source of pride in cities with large Latino immigrant communities such as Anaheim, Santa Ana or Pomona, where many parents did not make it past eighth grade themselves.
In Santa Ana, officials have tried to temper the occasion by no longer referring to it as graduation. Instead, said Spurgeon Principal Robert Laxton, it is called “promotion,” because “this isn’t the end of the line; we are promoting them to high school.”
That attitude is widespread.
In Long Beach, eighth-graders get decked out in their Sunday best but do not sport gowns at their “promotionals.”
In San Bernardino, students attend a no-frills “promotion” with only a certificate and a few words from their principal.
“It’s not a milestone, it’s a benchmark,” said district spokeswoman Maria Garcia
And starting with next year’s sixth-grade class, L.A. Unified will rename middle school graduations “culmination activities,” with exacting standards for who can participate, and will present “certificates of completion” instead of diplomas.
At Spurgeon’s promotion ceremony in Santa Ana this week, families packed a stuffy high school auditorium snapping pictures and breaking into applause when their children’s names were read as they walked across the stage. The band played “Pomp and Circumstance,” the valedictorian spoke, and school administrators handed out gold-hued certificates and academic awards.
For some families, worries persist that it could be their youngsters’ only graduation to mark.
Valerie Hopkins, 31, said part of what justified a five-hour drive to see her youngest sister graduate from Spurgeon was the lingering thought that it could be her only chance.
“We want to go through a ceremony because it makes us feel proud,” she said, holding a small bouquet of flowers for her sister, Emily Rivera. “She wants to graduate high school and go to college, but that’s still a long time, and you don’t know what could happen in those years.”
But officials were eager to qualify it as a non-graduation.
“You are really the class of 2012,” school board member Rob Richardson told students.
“This is not a graduation,” board member Audrey Yamagata-Noji said in Spanish.
The canopy of brightly colored foil balloons awaiting the now former eighth-graders outside, however, suggested otherwise. “Congratulations Grad,” they read.
Years ago, Santa Ana school district officials had eighth-graders wear gowns at the ceremonies as a way to bring uniformity and tone down the pageantry that prevailed in the 1980s and ’90s, said Yamagata-Noji.
“We had something that was supposed to be a few steps above a regular assembly, and you had girls in evening gowns and boys in tuxedos,” she said. “It just became very competitive, ridiculous and out of proportion.”
Parents also worry that too much showiness could send their children the wrong message.
“Not everyone goes on to graduate from high school,” said Maria Arroyo, whose daughter Kelsey — the oldest of three — graduated from Spurgeon this week, achieving the highest level of education in her family in the United States. (Maria, who grew up in Mexico, was educated only until fourth grade.) By forgoing the balloons, gifts and parties common among her neighbors, she hoped to signal that she expected her daughter to work hard to graduate from high school.
As they walked out of the ceremony, Kelsey told her, “Mom, I don’t want all those things; I’m going on to high school,” she recalled.
So although the ceremony at Spurgeon has kept its serious tone, the once-customary limos and extravagant after-parties are less common.
Laxton, the principal, hopes it is a sign that families are saving the expense and effort for future graduations.
“Before, maybe the message was: You’ve reached a plateau,” he said. “We don’t see that anymore, so I think it’s progressed.”
Lizbeth Silva, 13, an honors student promoted from eighth grade this week, said too much celebration could unduly reward students who are being moved along to high school even though they have failed classes. They may not have the work ethic and drive to graduate from high school, she said. “It’s like getting their hopes up,” she said.
Teachers say they struggle to impress on their students how much harder they will have to work to make it through high school. There will be an exit exam, and they will not graduate if they fail classes, they tell them.
“We cross our fingers and hope, and some of them surprise us,” said John Henrici, an eighth-grade English teacher who helped coordinate the ceremony at Spurgeon. “The message is: This is what you get to look forward to two more times, three maybe.”
Rogelio Duarte, whose daughter Elizabeth graduated from Spurgeon this week, agrees that the message should be one of continual self-improvement.
“I try to motivate her to always be looking for the next thing,” he said, seated in the packed high school auditorium where the ceremony was held.
So after the ceremony, Duarte’s family wasn’t off to a graduation bash, but to a modest dinner at Denny’s, he said.
Though Spurgeon’s ceremony had most of the elements of its 12th-grade graduation equivalent, one item was conspicuously missing: caps. So at the end, students flung rolled-up programs in the air to mimic the cap-tossing ritual.
They’ll have to wait until high school for the real thing.
tony.barboza@latimes.com
Anon Teacher
This seems like a little loose in the format and very suspicious to me. How do you know the attendance people don’t put in the whole class or whatever they want. Subs should be allowed to enter the attendance under some kind of provision too so an absolute accounting exists. Unless I misunderstand you, that is not the case. This district has been caught in too much fraud to just assume anything.
#325 – That is my concern. Many times, in moments of haste, we are hurriedly put into a class simply to provide coverage. No rosters so it is impossible to determine who is absent because the teacher does not have a list of the students. The fact is that this happens far too often and begs the question – at the end of the day how is attendance for the class submitted?
At the end of the day, is the whole class submitted as present by the Attendance Tech. If so, this is fraudulent and results in inflated ADA to the district.
My daughter promoted from McFadden this year. McFadden had a program where if the student donates their uniforms then they will be able to have a “non uniform” day on the last day. A note was sent home and I signed it, authorizing my daughter to participate. Well after daughter’s promotion, she went to school the following day with out a uniform. She was sent home because she did not have a yellow slip indicating that she participated in the uniform donation. No phone call to the home stating the student was being released. I recieved NO NOTIFICATION that my daughter was being let out UNSUPERVISED. Luckily my daughter went straight home without incident.
After I dropped off my daughter at school I noticed several students walking away from school. Now I realize they too did not have the “yellow slip”. Why weren’t parents notified? Why weren’t the students held at the office until someone came to pick them up. Most importantly, why where they released just because they didn’t bring the “yellow slip”? I would like to know if these students were classified as ‘absent” or “left early”.
Mid School Parent
Those are all darn good questions and I bet you won’t get a satisfactory answer from anyone. If I was a guessing person the district would claim your daughter was promoted, thus no longer a student releaving them of the normal student protection obligations. They would be wrong but that would be the excuse. Did this form you sign state your child had to have the ‘yellow slip’ to attend the last day of school? If not that also begs some explanation.
I can only make one suggestion. Scroll up to # 311 where you will find BOE John Palacios home phone number and e-mail. Call him up or e-mail him and give him an earful. See what he says. I think we would all like to read what you are told. Good luck.
#326
Just so I understand what you are saying. At the last minute you might be tossed into a class as a warm body to cover the class. You may or may not have a roster to fill out and even if you do it is handled by the attendance tech. Is that close?
My question now beyond the potential for more attendance fraud, is how do you prepare to teach a class when you are tossed in there at the last minute? We all know how subs are treated to start with, but do you even have a lesson plan to work with? This sounds like baby sitting 101 with ADA as the main goal..What school are you talking about. I would give you the same advice as I did # 327. Scroll up to # 311 where you will find John Palacios e-mail and phone number. Call or e-mail and run this obvious bogus procedure past him and also let us know what you are told.
I am wondering which school(s) #326 is talking about. All subs get rosters even if it’s one period at my school. As far as being “tossed in”, I’m not sure what you would have a school do when a teacher must leave for an emergency. And yes, I’d say that most of the time there is lesson plans.
Well see now that is what we need here. Experiences from both sides. If # 326’s experiences are true the district has more trouble coming if it is taken to the press as the teachers at Washington did. On the other side another teacher says it doesn’t happen that way based on experience. I believe the “tossed in” comment was mine not # 326 during the recap.
We seem to have a conflict of facts so the question now is who is right? Perhaps you both are by dealing with two different schools. You can fix it with a phone call to an apparently very willing board member and I’m guessing he would not even ask you to give your name.
A full cabinent turn over at SAUSD is nearly complete except for one glaring exception: HR and Risk Management. I think it is important for employees, students, parents and community members to understand what kinds of actions that HR/RM can take to either make the district stronger or make the problems more prevalent.
Here is an excellent outline for understanding:
http://piltonsucks.com/2008/06/22/hr-responces-to-workplace-bullying/
« Political SupportReaders Question Time »HR Responces To Workplace Bullying.
Friends and readers. When it comes to workplace bullying and it’s attendant issues-because it never arrives in the workplace alone-there are distinct stances adopted by HR Departments. Like yoga positions,they can be categorized
1]The Mafioso.Perhaps the worst stance,the Mafiosio HR Depatment knows there is a problem with workplace bullying and actively participates or supports the abuse by bringing false,fabricated or unnecessary proceedings against the targets of bullying,supporting the culprits,joining in “the fun”. Their typical way is to issue threats to targets and abuse proceedure.
They are the harbingers of doom to any organisation and they ride in on the pale horse.
Oh,yes you know who you are. And so do we.
2] The Ostrich. Identified by somewhat sandy and muffled responces to questions on respect at work. “We don’t have a problem with workplace bullying,nor are we ever going to have one” or even “We take respect at work seriously”.
The muffled responces get all the fainter when one victim tried to identify how, exactly,they are taking it sersiously. They achieve the same result as the Mafioso except passively,not actively.
3]The Firefighter. This HR position involves leaping from crisis to crisis,from formal discipline/grievance proceeding to proceeding,from court room to court room.
There’s no time to implement good practice-they are to busy putting out fires.
4]The Bureaucrat. HR Teams exactly like the HR team which covers the Edinburgh City Council Health and Social Care Department love writing policies that look good on paper and then stuffing them in a drawer, and scheduling expensive training which dosen’t tackle the problems.
Failure to monitor and audit proceedures lead to a failure in implantation. But hey, they look good,even if you don’t achieve much. Often accompanied by Firefighters or Ostriches.
5] The Tinker.The Tinker is perhaps the least glamorous respondent to the challenge of workplace bullying. They might look good patching here and there,but they only step in occasionally when a rare crisis emerges.
For the most part,their conflict resolution and workplace harassment policies and proceedures work so well they can get on with other stuff-like hiring,sucession planning,and increasing the organisations knowledge base. They do this by practising preventative medicine in the workplace,continually,monitoring and checking for signs of grievance and disciplinary proceedings,and attrition due to mental ill health.They keep their stats in order. QUIETLY.
You know the burning question,don’t you?Which one of the five positions is YOUR organisations HR adopting in responce to WORKPLACE BULLYING,HARRASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION.
BTW, Workplace Harassment is facing legislation in 12 states right now. If passed, intimidating, stalking, harassing behavior thrust on fellow employees can be punishable in civil courts. The bully tyrant and supporting HR personnel who allow mistreatment will be named, individually, in legal action by the targeted employee of workplace bullying.
Any employee with a documented history of abusing other employees will not only be a liability to the organization, but will also be personally held accountable in civil trails that seek financial awards for abuse, misconduct and harm.
There are still some major problems at SAUSD sites. I believe that the superintendent has been made aware of those individuals who betray the legitimate duties they are expected to perform, yet choose to engage in sneaky practices that are designed to destroy other employees’ careers and distract the general worksite from its intended goals.
SAUSD currently has a reprieve, legally. I suggest that an anti-bully policy be put in place to fortify the district against unnecessary future liabilities. A good policy would protect students, staff and parents from malicious practices by buffoons that prefer extreme incivility in the school system.
Read about school board member, John Palacios. He cares about SAUSD and the community.
Is John Palacio the anti-Pulido?
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2008/06/is-john-palacio-the-anti-pulido/
For some time now, I’ve been hearing some very disturbing things about Dr. Olsky’s unprofessional behavior. Apparently, it is quite common for her to tell others to “shut up” in meetings. When something is being said that is counter to what she wants, she very rudely has told individuals to “shut up”. These kind of antics are part of what has gotten her in trouble in other districts.
In light of our current budget crisis, she seems determined to bust the classified union. Where is Jane when all this is occurring? Is this the kind of district Jane wants? The age old question regarding SAUSD surfaces once again – Who is minding the store?
Hey, I don’t allow my second graders to say “shut up”, but SAUSD adminimalstration has always allowed their adminimalstrators to adminilstrate anyway they choose because…
yes…
wait for it…
“failure is unacceptable, it is up to us all!”
#335
I met with Ms. Olsky at the beginning of this school year for about 40 minutes. The meeting was requested by me over concerns at a troubled site that I felt needed to be addressed. She took copious notes and thanked me for caring enough to share. She told me that she’d address many of these issues and get back to me in two weeks. She didn’t get back to me. She didn’t address the issues, either. I persisted in meeting with her again and she had the school district’s brand new attorney write a note discouraging further meetings.
She’s more of the same cowardly crew. I was/am still disappointed in her faked sincerity and her unwillingness to actually do something positive to help staff and students.
BTW, Ms. Olsky, the substitute that has been assigned to that classroom doesn’t have proper credentials and the terms served for well over a year are illegal according to the Williams Act. You owe those students a highly qualified teacher by law. When were you going to address that?
jw
I can understand you reporting this to SAUSD and SURPRISE nothing was done. What did you expect? Your union is responsible for making sure qualified certified teachers hold these jobs so “subs” do not take up a job someone qualified deserves. Did you report this to your union as well?
#337 – If you have problems with Dr. Olsky, please take them to Jane Russo. Do not, however, allow her to have Juan Lopez and/or Cathie Olsky present. It is time for Jane to do what she’s getting paid to do – lead and supervize this district. She needs to be contacted for a face to face meeting. I don’t trust her underlings to apprise her of these kinds of problems. The district is truly pitiful.
Anonymous
Do you really believe that Jane Russo will see anyone without someone else in the room. I seem to remember a comment probably a hundred or more back or further where someone tried to see Jane and Lopez or Olsky had to be there. With the response this teacher has had I would not meet with Jane alone unless I had a high ranking union member there, or better yet John Pacio. In fact I’d suggest contacting him first.
I had a meeting with Ms. Russo over a year ago when she first “came on board” with her “open door” policy. She seemed genuine, but yes, she had Stainer in there too (taking notes). I, naieve, went along with it without any union reps.
Russo assured me that my concerns were well founded, that I was courageous to come forward, and that the problems would be “looked into” by Stainer.
Results:
1) NOTHING was done at any level to solve any of the problems.
2) Stainer, Lopez, Lohnes, and others ambushed me in a “meeting” at my site and slandered me.
3) After my demanding an apology, Lopez and Lohnes met with me (and Union reps.) and were sorry that I “misinterpreted” the slanderous remarks made. [Russo was apparently too busy to attend.]
Bottom line:
Sorry if you care about the education students receive, you will be remonstrated if you dare question anything about SAUSD practice(s).
I’m not sure if Russo truly cares, is being shielded, or what. I do know that I no longer trust her. I no longer trust anyone in SAUSD administration.
I can only continue being the best teacher possible for my students and hope the SAUSD administration will leave me alone.
I’m seeing alot of posts regarding board member John Palacio. Quite frankly, as a board member, he as been disappointing. When his youngest son was a student in our district in an SDC program, John was a huge advocate for Spec Ed. He has been virtually silent as all of our Spec Ed Inst. Assts. were let go in May and told if they wanted to work in our district they would have to reapply for their positions with no benefits and work for 3.75 hours out of the full instructional day. If John cared, we should have heard a loud roar from him. He remained virtually silent.
John also frequently misses voting in closed sessions. He is out chatting it up in the parking lot, etc.
This is not an anti-Palacio post. John, even if you’re in the minority on the board, we desperately need for you to be a loud voice. This board, district is a disaster and doing virtually everything wrong. Please, if you care, speak up loud and long. You used to do that when your youngest son was in the district.
A few years back SAUSD required all instructional assistants to have or get an AA degree. Many great, experienced assistants left the district because of that. Now it seems that the district feels instructional assistants are not very important and part time employees will be sufficient to fulfill the duties.
Does the district still require instructional assistants to have at least an AA degree?
Does the school district really think assistant principal positions should be kept when other positions are cut because assistant principals are more valuable to the everyday running of a school than classified positions such as instructional assistants, library techs, health clerks, computer techs, attendance clerks, registration clerks, grounds keepers, etc.???
The way they are cutting and eliminating classified positions seems more like union busting to me.
How many classified positions could be restored if the district cut one job… like an assistant superintendent job??
I wonder about the educational background as well as the intelligence level of the people who are making these decisions.
Question: When job descriptions are being rewritten aren’t there state laws about having to have an independent. outside consultant come in and do an overall evaluation of duties and educational/experience requirements for ALL of the jobs in that category?
When does this entire mess become an issue under California’s unfair employment practices?
And their is the rub as the above few posts prove. Who do you trust? No one. Who can you go to? Obviously not the district administration. Can you count on your union? Certainly not CSEA and SAEA is beginning to be questionable.
Palacio has put his e-mail and phone number out there (Post above #311) and has been a public voice against a lot of what has been going on, but I admit it was only after Nativo was recalled.
# 342 makes the point that John is out in the parking lot instead of in closed voting sessions. I submit he probably already knows his vote won’t make a difference so why bother and instead mingle with the teachers, staff and parents. When it came time to up the anti on Measure G to make it harder to pass, he voted. My guess he is just as frustrated as many of the teachers and parents that write here.
If he is the one person on the board who will listen then give him something to listen to. He can go public with anything without fear because he can’t get anything done in the board room anyway, and he obviously knows it. Remember when Reagan was overwhelmed by congress? He went public.
It is time to quit screwing around with Jane and her hired guns and instead try John Palacio. If that fails, go public as the Washington school teachers did.
Things will change when being a board of education member means being held to accountable standards.
Here’s an example of a Grand Jury report that is very critical of the school board of Delano Union. The report recommends that next year’s Grand Jury follow up on the report:
http://www.turnto23.com/news/16695627/detail.html#
DELANO, Calif. — A scathing grand jury report has accused Delano Union School District Board members of lying, keeping public details private and abusing their authority.
The report released on Monday detailed problems within the district’s leadership after numerous complaints. Grand jury members found the complaints to be well-founded.
They said the school board voted to opt out of a truancy reduction program with a board member lying about school participation. The report also claims the board is paying a trustee who isn’t performing any duties.
Trustees are also assuming authority in matters outside their policy-making roles, according to the report. And trustees have encouraged staff and parents to go around the district’s chain of command.
Current grand jury members have asked next year’s grand jury to follow up on the report
How is it in this day and age where people are literally going to prison for lying that this district is still getting away with the farce and fraud? A classic example is Willard. While the district is literally scrambling to throw as much dust into the wind to hide and shield its excesses they are allowing Bishop to manipulate and lie to promote his agenda. It would be most interesting to see him justify the liberation of science grant money to fund his gymnasium, which those of you who have known him for years would know was always a personal goal. Well, congratulations; there it stands in all of its glory. Never used in the 3 years except for that lone teacher who has gotten a lot out of his own private gym during the school day. There are some very serious lies there for anyone interested in looking. And it’s criminal that no one wants to look that way too long.
i am very pissed off over the way the school: officials/district/board members and future school board members,God willing NOT! (Cecilia)are all full of crap and don’t care about our children or our community. I have delt with John, Cecilia, Princilbles, Jane, Helen, Avila,and the list goes on and on and on……….. and none of them could care less. my children are now attending Newport School District.
Lets clean house and FIRE the BIG HEADS of SAUSD and the BIG HEADS the city of Santa Ana.
Lets get serious, about our childrens education and our community!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a little behind the curve on Willard. Are you stating they built a gym and it is not being used? Or do you mean a weight room?
Irvine and Tustin school districts both employ their instructional assistants in special ed at minimal hours (less than 4) that do not require them to pay benefits. Irvine has approx. 70 unfilled positions and Tustin has approx. 35 unfilled positions. With all the challenges that working with our student population brings, how will we ever fill these positions? Who suffers, not the district, just the teachers and the students.
Now consider all the additional positions that have been cut to 3.75 hours per day and you can begin to imagine the magnitude of the problem.
#348 – I think #346 is referring to the Willard fitness center – a combination of three rooms which include a spin room, a cardio room (treadmills and ellipticals) and a weight room.