Once again we have had to set up a new SAUSD corruption thread as the last one started to run slow with all the comments on it.
Our schools are in crisis today – not just here in Santa Ana but all over the state. The only thing we know for sure is that we are going to take more budget hits.
I am amazed that the SAUSD hired back all their laid off administrators. How crazy is that? Class sizes are growing, good teachers are laid off, and the union, as usual, is asleep at the wheel.
We will continue to reason through all this here at the Orange Juice blog! We can but hope for the best…
#651 TSH,
You cynic, move over so I can sit next to you.
Yes, “they” find a way…
How does this happen? What changes an “educator” who professes to care first and foremost about the students and parents they serve to become so obsessed with institutional power that they get “lost-in-the-game” and sacrifice the most basic of human values at the altar of bureaucracy? Sadly, I’ve seen too many colleagues over the years leave teaching for administration/promotion/money and join “the dark side”. The “dark side” protects its own too.
There is no room for administrators who truly care.
“They” will ensure that those vigilantes who fight for truth, justice, and the “educational” way will be silenced.
Government WILL NOT help.
I have contacted the CA state superintendent and his various subordinates numerous times over the years and they refuse to intercede in “local educational issues”. There is NO oversight of corrupt educational administrators or school boards. “They” don’t lose their “credentials” no matter how heinous their crimes. Witness Capistrano Unified’s former Superintendent…got away with many improprieties, court case drags on for years, he gets a BIG FAT PENSION [along with his disgraced cronies] and the garbage he created within that District continues to STINK.
I used to believe in: “What goes around, comes around.” But now, the cynic in me thinks:
“They” always find a way around!
Room for one more? One would need precision instruments to measure how little the state superintendent cares. TSH sums it up beautifully. Still, to paraphrase a Chinese proverb, change will come from a thousand cuts.
Like an expert marksman, Wilson teacher is on the mark again and again.
All aboard the “Cynic Train”…hop on…we take everyone~
Poster “OMG” – so i guess my comment about a sexual PREDATOR from Saddleback High School can pretty much stand. I’ll even make that an ALLEGED SEXUAL PREDATOR, for you.
Doesn’t anyone else see a problem with a thirty something teacher making hay with a high school student? Or does she get some kind of free pass b/c she’s a female?
There are way too many opportunists in SAUSD who see students and the community as easy prey. It’s a sick culture there. And as Patricia and others are reporting, outright theft of funds is the norm. WHY bother to even have a Superintendent or a Board of Education, in the first place? WHY PAY for the wholesale free-for-all that masks as “leadership”?
Maybe we should start another train….the Crooked Train & the Cynic Train…you can only get on ONE or the other.
#655 RV,
Yes, WHY?
Layers and layers of bureaucracy have effectively blocked local constituents from having any real input to their own schools.
The “Unification Movement” several decades ago was espoused to strengthen the educational programs that could be offered to students. Instead, it removed control of schools from the parents/students/communities served and created a “one-size-fits-all” mentality for education. I believe that eliminating Unified school districts and turning control over local schools to the staff and parents of each local school would revolutionize education.
Just think, no more District office. Potentially, no more union. Potentially, far less government interference.
I’m all in for that Wilson Teacher. The only current recourse the schools have when they want to fight their over-bloated district offices and their ludicrous decisions is to fight for a charter school. It’s a long process but if you have the commitment of the parents and staff, it is highly likely that you can eventually succeed. Charter schools will be the wave of the future as the tide has recently been turning in their favor. Just look at what is happening in LAUSD.
You guys have some interesting ideas, but ultimately what makes a school good and what makes it accountable are the parents and community participation/commitment. If you have parents working a bunch of jobs to keep their households above poverty, they will not have spare time to devote to come to school on a regular basis. Also, in SAUSD they have created barriers to parents who DO want to be involved – the schools typically have PTO (parent teacher organizations) rather than the more strenuous PTA (Parent Teacher Associations) and membership is NOT pushed, like it is for PTA’s. If membership is encouraged, you would have parents expecting something in return for their membership fees (no matter how modest) and there are voting rules etc… PTO is much more informal and works in a site principal’s favor who would prefer no nosy parents around the campus.
In well-run districts – you need look no further than Irvine- you see a LOT of parent involvement and input. More parents there have better paying jobs so they don’t have to have as many multiple jobs, many have more “flexible” schedules from their employers to take time off to make school visits, their board meetings are televised, parents are actively recruited to be on site councils, sports/bands/theater booster boards, there is a whole city commitment to education that is reflected in the entire community. I do not believe that charter schools will ever threaten the current system there. The least desired school in the Irvine system would be preferable to the best school site in Santa Ana for the very fact that the top leadership in Irivine is committed to all schools, whereas the SAUSD admin plays politics constantly with favorite schools and funding. That kind of mentality is destructive to the education of ALL students in any given system. imo.
To Wilson teacher,
You said “I believe that eliminating Unified school districts and turning control over local schools to the staff and parents of each local school would revolutionize education.”
I see more corruption within the school because with the way Santa Ana parents are today teachers would monopolize their own school. During hard economic times who would decide who get laid off, who gets transferred etc?
“Just think, no more District office. Potentially, no more union. Potentially, far less government interference.”
That’s just ridiculous because there has to be a centralized district that handle administrative duties. No school or district or company doesn’t have a centralized “district.”
Really, Trex? Have you checked out the 1,000’s of charter schools in this country? Some are run well, others not so much. Most of them have absolutely no centralized district to handle administrative duties, the school is run by a board of directors who hires principals and teachers. Funding is sent directly to them from the district and they allocate it based on board votes. They do not have to give ridiculous benchmark tests which waste all of the student’s time, they are autonomous, they still take the same old CST tests but the methods they use to get their kids to achieve are entirely up to them.
Sounds ripe fr a Taliban charter… maybe Wiccans? O shudder…a ‘school’ of Ayn Ranters!
Halloween Math Lesson for all you teachers out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx3qd2BN_6Y
I am sure this guy would have gotten written up in SAUSD 😉
Enjoy!
Great use of creative teaching methods. I would hope he applies similar concepts as part of his actual class. We all have had one unorthodox teacher and somehow we learned more from those types than the Ferris Bueller teaching drone played by Ben Stein.
The 10/29 LA Times article “Seeds of adult dishonesty are sown in youth” is extraordinary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dishonest29-2009oct29,0,25349.story
However, hidden from the view of school board members and district managers is a current SAUSD policy that actively promotes student dishonesty in secondary schools. In the 22 years I’ve taught here, I’ve seen a continually increasing percentage of fraudulently done homework assignments at the 11th, 12th grade levels to the extent that it’s approaching 2/3 fraudulent now. It isn’t worth assigning homework any longer as a practical learning tool.
How has this come to be? It takes about one full hour to look over the assignments (a typical 2 page report) of a single class of 32, evaluate the student’s work, write a few constructive comments, and enter a score into a record book. Competent secondary teachers could just about do this 20 years ago when we faced about 140 students each day, 5 periods averaging 28 students per period.
Today, high school teachers face 200 students a day, intermediate teachers with the new 7 period day face 240 students a day. This load is simply too great to attempt any critical evaluation of student work, and few teachers even attempt it. Students quickly learn at the intermediate level that they can submit just about any non-sensical gibberish as homework, as long as it has the general appearance of the assignment, and its fraudulent nature will not be detected. Teachers simply don’t have the time to critically review today’s overwhelming amount of student work. Most simply check off that it was turned in, and let it go at that. Of course, those who cheat on homework show little knowledge on examinations, but the pressure is so great on schools to push students through the system to graduation, that course grades are primarily based on “doing the work”, that is the number of assignments turned in. Too much emphasis on examination grades results in far too many students failing the course, and resulting admonishments from school principals to get graduation rates up.
What students learn in SAUSD secondary schools is that cheating pays off, no matter how much one may preach against it.
#665 SAHS teacher is correct.
Just “google” cheating on homework, and you will see.
I would post the sites, but the “vernacular” gets repulsive.
It almost looks like “cheaters” are foul-mouthed idiots too!
Anywayz, let’s get back to the ULTIMATE CHEATERS: SAUSD
They lie. [phantom classes, lack of funding]
They prevaricate. False representations to the School Board.
And they even lie to themselves…they are all FAT!
SAHS Teacher – did the chemistry class mater ever get resolution? If so, do you have any details? It would be interesting to know if/how Russo does her job when it comes to student safety.
Regarding overcrowded chemistry classes: There’s been no district action (other than to offer a few personal improvements to my own classroom), nor did I expect the school district to act in a positive manner regarding student safety. The reason I spoke was an obligation to follow the Science Safety Handbook for California Public Schools http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/documents/scisafebk.pdf which requires the science teacher to inform school administration of hazardous conditions in science classrooms. So, I spoke up because I had a duty to do so, not from any hope that this would get results.
The risk to students in dangerously overcrowded chemistry labs is real, but it is not an issue the general public recognizes as a problem. It is very difficult to get nation-wide data on student injuries in science classrooms, as both state and federal law exempt schools from the reporting and investigation requirements of NIOSH, OSHA, or Cal/OSHA. Schools investigate themselves when it comes to student safety and injuries. Those who have attempted to assess the frequency of student injuries in science classes conclude it is far higher then public perception, but is unknown due to the secrecy prevalent in school districts. What I’m trying to do now is to write and speak in chemistry and physics internet list-serves and meetings to encourage others to speak out at school board meetings and parent meetings, and to get these presentations video-documented and up on youtube, and similar formats available to public viewing.
http://www.sateach.org/ There’s a new jibjab up of juan lopez, jane russo, cathy olsky, dawn miller and michelle rodriguez….leaders dancing around the issues + look below the jibjab for letters susan wrote to the board. I watched it about 10 times because it’s so funny seeing Juan do the “circle dance” with the ladies.
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/sausd-administrators-sitting-on-a-93-million-surplus-instead-of-rehiring-teachers/
To 669,
This just seems so immature to me. I mean rather than making fun of them why not fight the issues seriously! This just makes SAEA look bad and immature I believe. SAUSD will just shrug this off.
Trex,
I agree with you in that it is very immature. I have not heard anything else about them trying to fight for jobs back. In fact when I went in to the office, Scott was watching The Office on his computer screen. It makes me wonder what the others were doing since I could not see them.
Regarding video
At my school most of us thought it was embarrassing to be associated with the video, also that it was distasteful, and purposeless. Just wondering what other SAEA members think of it.
A lot of people at my school loved the jibjabs and said it’s about time that Juan and Jane are being called out for “dancing around the issues.” I guess some love it and some don’t, but in the end we will see what happens, right? The Union obviously has a plan so let’s give them a chance.
My view is that the JibJabs are immature and unprofessional.
What do you want the Union to do next? (the jibjabs were obviously step 1…a stepping stone to put pressure on Juan & Jane) What ideas do you have? How would you handle it? Moving on from the jibjabs now…what next?
SAEA did a great job with their powerpoint presentation to expose SAUSD’s “hidden funds”.
Has SAEA contacted every news media outlet with their information hoping that the media would seize the opportunity to show corruption at the District administrative level is negatively impacting students? SAEA should aggressively seek-out media attention.
Great idea Wilson teacher. I look forward to hearing all of them.
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/how-much-do-sausd-administrators-make/
Protest SAUSD’s incompetent budgets
Protest scheduled for Tuesday, November 10
District Office-5 PM
Wear black to symbolize the status of SAUSD’s bank accounts.
School Board meeting-6 PM
Tell the School Board that you demand them to hold SAUSD accountable!
For more info, visit http://sateachers.tumblr.com/
To lend your support and for more information, send a PERSONAL, non-district email to protestSAUSD@gmail.com
Here is the latest email from SAEA:
SAEA has worked diligently to show School Board members that the District has more than enough money to restore the 1.5% pay cut imposed on teachers, rescind all remaining RIF teachers and provide teachers with needed supplies. During October, SAEA met individually with School Board members and District Administration. Additionally, we have made presentations at School Board meetings and our conclusions were reviewed by the Orange County Department of Education and found to be “accurate.” Click on the link Email to School Board members to read the email I sent to School Board members during the weekend. Multi Year Projection table. Expenditures Table.
Furthermore, at yesterday’s Budget Special Study Session, the District and School Board members openly discussed pay-cuts and furlough days for 2010-11.
Take Action Now!
The School Board members will be making important Budget decisions on November 10th. They need to hear from teachers on how the unnecessary personnel and program cuts have affected you, both professionally and personally.
Our message must be loud and clear:
* You have the money to restore the 1.5% pay cut
* No more pay cuts or furlough days
* You have the money to provide teachers with needed classroom supplies
* You have the money to rescind RIF teachers and restore Class Size reduction in 3rd grade.
School Board members need to understand what is happening in your classroom: the money you have spent on supplies; the number of students in your class, unavailability of trained subs; etc.
SAEA’s goal is to have at least 300 teachers email School Board members. Please take the time to send each School Board member an email before November 10th and send me a copy so I can keep count.
Jose Hernandez: hernandez.ja@sbcglobal.net
Rob Richardson: rob.richardson@earthlink.net
Audri Yamagata-Noji: AYamagata-Noji@mtsac.edu
John Palacio: jpalacio@pacbell.net
Roman Reyna: roman_a_reyna@hotmail.com
Together we can change what is happening at your site and in your classroom!
Thanks for your help and support!
Susan Mercer
President, SAEA
PS. Below are all the emails in one so you can copy and paste.
hernandez.ja@sbcglobal.net; rob.richardson@earthlink.net; AYamagata-Noji@mtsac.edu; jpalacio@pacbell.net; roman_a_reyna@hotmail.com; saeapresident@hotmail.com
Here are some stray posts:
1
Art Pedroza says:
November 3, 2009 at 1:54 pm (Edit)
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/sausd-administrators-sitting-on-a-93-million-surplus-instead-of-rehiring-teachers/
2
Art Pedroza says:
November 4, 2009 at 6:11 pm (Edit)
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/how-much-do-sausd-administrators-make/
3
Anonplus says:
November 5, 2009 at 7:24 pm (Edit)
You have to be kidding me. After 3 different programs including this one covered with ads you still can’t keep this thread in one piece? We are starting over at #1?
Hey Red can you drag some of the last page over so this thing at least appears to be coherent and ongoing?
4
JJ says:
November 5, 2009 at 10:22 pm (Edit)
From an editorial in today’s LA Times:
By Jeff Bleich
For nearly six years, I have served on the Board of Trustees of the California State University system — the last two as its chairman. This experience has been more than just professional; it has been a deeply personal one. With my term ending soon, I need to share my concern — and personal pain — that California is on the verge of destroying the very system that once made this state great.
I came to California because of the education system. I grew up in Connecticut and attended college back East on partial scholarships and financial aid. I also worked part time, but by my first year of grad school, I’d maxed out my financial aid and was relying on loans that charged 14% interest. Being a lawyer had been my dream, but my wife and I could not afford for me to go to any law schools back East.
I applied to UC Berkeley Law School because it was the only top law school in the U.S. that we could afford. It turned out to be the greatest education I have ever received. And I got it because the people of California — its leaders and its taxpayers — were willing to invest in me.
For the last 20 years, since I graduated, I have felt a duty to pay back the people of this state. When I had to figure out where to build a practice, buy a home, raise my family and volunteer my time and energy, I chose California. I joined a small California firm — Munger, Tolles & Olson — and eventually became a partner. This year, American Lawyer magazine named us the No. 1 firm in the nation.
That success is also California’s success. It has meant millions of dollars in taxes paid to California, hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer time donated to California, houses built and investments made in California, and hundreds of talented people attracted to work in and help California.
My story is not unique. It is the story of California’s rise from the 1960s to the 1990s. Millions of people stayed here and succeeded because of their California education. We benefited from the foresight of an earlier generation that recognized it had a duty to pay it forward.
That was the bargain California made with us when it established the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960. By making California the state where every qualified and committed person can receive a low-cost and high-quality education, all of us benefit. Attracting and retaining the leaders of the future helps the state grow bigger and stronger. Economists found that for every dollar the state invests in a CSU student, it receives $4.41 in return.
So as someone who has lived the California dream, there is nothing more painful to me than to see this dream dying. It is being starved to death by a public that thinks any government service — even public education — is not worth paying for. And by political leaders who do not lead but instead give in to our worst, shortsighted instincts.
The ineffective response to the current financial crisis reflects trends that have been hurting California public education for years. To win votes, political leaders mandated long prison sentences that forced us to stop building schools and start building prisons. This has made us dumber but no safer. Leaders pandered by promising tax cuts no matter what and did not worry about how to provide basic services without that money. Those tax cuts did not make us richer; they’ve made us poorer. To remain in office, they carved out legislative districts that ensured we would have few competitive races and leaders with no ability or incentive to compromise. Rather than strengthening the parties, it pushed both parties to the fringes and weakened them.
When the economy was good, our leaders failed to make hard choices and then faced disasters like the energy crisis. When the economy turned bad, they made no choices until the economy was worse.
In response to failures of leadership, voters came up with one cure after another that was worse than the disease — whether it has been over-reliance on initiatives driven by special interests, or term limits that remove qualified people from office, or any of the other ways we have come up with to avoid representative democracy.
As a result, for the last two decades we have been starving higher education. California’s public universities and community colleges have half as much to spend today as they did in 1990 in real dollars. In the 1980s, 17% of the state budget went to higher education and 3% went to prisons. Today, only 9% goes to universities and 10% goes to prisons.
The promise of low-cost education that brought so many here, and kept so many here, has been abandoned. Our K-12 system has fallen from the top ranks 30 years ago to 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending. And higher education is now taking on water.
At every trustees meeting over the last six years, I have seen the signs of decline. I have listened to the painful stories of faculty who could not afford to raise a family on their salaries; of students who are on the financial edge because they are working two jobs, taking care of a child and barely making it with our current tuitions. I have seen the outdated buildings and the many people on our campuses who feel that they have been forgotten by the public and Sacramento.
What made California great was the belief that we could solve any problem as long as we did two things: acknowledged the problem and worked together. Today that belief is missing. California has not acknowledged that it has fundamentally abandoned the promise of the Master Plan for Higher Education. And Californians have lost the commitment to invest in one another. That is why we have lost our way in decision after decision.
Today, everyone in our system is making terrible sacrifices. Employee furloughs, student fee increases and campus-based cuts in service and programs are repulsive to all of us. Most important, it is unfair. The cost of education should be shared by all of us because the education of our students benefits every Californian.
We’ve gone from investing in the future to borrowing from it. Every time programs and services are cut for short-term gain, it is a long-term loss.
The solution is simple, but hard. It is what I’m doing now. Tell what is happening to every person who can hear it. Beat this drum until it can’t be ignored. Shame your neighbors who think the government needs to be starved and who are happy to see Sacramento paralyzed. We have to wake up this state and get it to rediscover its greatness. Because if we don’t, we will be the generation that let the promise for a great California die.
Jeff Bleich is the chairman of the Cal State University Board of Trustees and most recently served as special counsel to President Obama. This is adapted from his speech to the board.
Several years ago, I shared this video. As a proud parent of a child with special needs, I wouldlike to share with you this video testimonial of a young adultwith special needs. His name is Johnny, who has DownSyndrome. My son’s name is also Johnny and he too has Down Syndrome.Please click this video clip by Simple
Truths.com, a Gift of Inspiration….http://www.stservicemovie.com/
Those of you who personally know someone with special needs, the video clip will help you understand the importance of investing in special needs children and adults.
Emma McDonald in an article written in Inspiring Teachers says it all (Web site: http://www.inspiringteachers.com) …”All special-needs students are capable of success. Each will succeed according to his or her individual ability — but all can succeed. Keep that constantly in mind when working with a special-needs child in your class. Focus on your students’ strengths and be supportive of their weaknesses. Let each student know that you believe in him or her. The rewards will be tremendous for both you and your students”.
As local school districts continue to engage into a discussion about how to address the forthcoming budget reductions, please think of “Johnny the Grocery Store Bagger”….and the importance of investing in their future.
Johnny should be an inspiration to all of us.
John Palacio
Trustee
Board of Education
Santa Ana Unified School District
Just another FYI. The district has sent out a Collective Bargaining Agreement for 09-10. The union never approved it (never even saw it) and it has changes in it which were not agreed to. More info to come but just another sneaky or inept maneuver on the part of the district (not sure which yet). Notice that the front page is signed by Dave Barton, not Susan Mercer the current president. It also says that we have agreed to the 2007 salary schedule yet the district has changed the salary schedule to reflect the 1.5% decrease. More to come.
Well, that is interesting. DID David Barton sign that before he left?
RV,
It is a copy of the cover of the last contract with Dave Barton’s signature, they just copied it and put it in the front of this publication. According to my source, the union is asking their lawyer to file a “cease and desist” order and recall all the copies that were distributed.
Art I still think you should go with “vBulletin”(which I think is expensive) OR “CyBoards”(CyBoards is even more similiar to what you have here and I don’t know if it even costs anything to have) on this site. With the age of technology and cell phones with internet and such its very difficult to contribute to a site like this more often when you have to scroll for 10 mins on a cell phone. I don’t think cell phones have the “end” feature. CyBoards would allow you to condense this, search previous posts, and post anonymously if you wanted. You wouldn’t have to go away from this site or format, but instead you would be able to link this original site to CyBoards.
I’m wondering if SAUSD will EVER proactively do what is honest.
I am glad everyone has found this thread okay. Trex – maybe email art directly and see if you can convince him of the forum idea. We can start a new thread, if that would help the scrolling thing – however I was thinking that we would try and make it until the end of this calendar year and start up a clean, new thread, if possible.
Anonplus, thanks for keeping track of things around here. I appreciate your efforts.
Tmare, thanks for the information. I am really offended by a public entity, the school district, being so cavalier in the way it handles basic student and employee rights. Apparently they have created these consistent habits over the years and have become bold enough to just forge signatures and force their own version of due process without regards to any kind of consequence. This is Jane Russo’s fault. Do you know if any of the board members have addressed this breach of ethical conduct by Jane Russo and her cabinet members? Will the union encourage a mass letter writing campaign against the board, the cabinet and the Superintendent? Is there NO ENTITY to alert to get the district in line with professional standards of conduct that do NOT include lying, breach of contract and incompentence at the highest levels?
If what you have reported is true, then it is an absolute outrage and misuse of public funds to have these people in charge.
Red,
No problem. I just tell you what I see. What I see based on Tmares information reminds me of a certain prez that promised a 72 hour window to review bills online pending in congress. Hmm. Ya think? We will know by the end of today..won’t we?
This is totally off the subjects here but does any of the Classified..or at least any of the Classified who read stuff here know what CSEA is doing for us? I’m done calling and emailing them..I used to get a reponse now..I don’t get anything. So once again I have a feeling we are going to take the hit again. Pretty soon there is not going to be any of us left. I read some past Board meeting presentations and I sure as heck didn’t like the fact that they put that the easy cuts had been made “ie the low hanging fruit” boy..I’m now fruit
Also Classfied,
My sense is that your union is all but done. I spoke with someone who supposedly has some power in your union and my conversation with him left me feeling that he was entirely POWERLESS. His only hope was that the next round of cuts wouldn’t affect him anymore than what has already been done (his hours have been cut from full time to 30 hours). I really wish your union would realize that they actually DO have power. Any type of work stoppage would really affect the day to day operations of the district, I just can’t understand why that is never an option with your union. How much worse do things need to get?
tmare,
I enjoy reading yours and others comments. In your last comment to “Also Classified” you mentioned the option of any kind of work stoppage. I have thought for decades that would be the only thing that would get our district’s attention. WE really do have power, but I have yet to see it used. Does anyone really think that they care that we wear black on Wednesdays, or arm bands, etc., etc.? Yet, here we go again with those tactics. I say hit them where they will feel it for once.
On the topic of classified employees I have seen a commonality that exists, not just at SAUSD, pretty much in every district. As Tmare notes classified simply feel they are powerless. Often classified are led to believe their jobs are non-essential or at the very least can be contracted out if classified dare to rock the boat too much. Newly elected classified leaders are quickly put in there place and discover they must follow one of two paths. They either do nothing and silently hope they get whatever leftover scraps teachers get, or they find a more subtle way to ingratiate themselves with district administrators thus obtaining some semblance of being part of the process. In either case, in my opinion, neither path provides the one thing classified deserve; RESPECT
Over the years I have seen classified leaders that dare to fight the district have their work hours cut, suffer a job demotion, and even have their jobs eliminated. In one rare case I watched a fairly successful grievance chairman promoted into a job he never applied for just to get him out of the union.
It has long been my theory that classified will never be respected until they earn it. As Tmare points out failing to use the power they have has been their own downfall and they won’t use that power due to threat of retaliation coupled with one of the biggest representative jokes in the state, CSEA. A good start would be a new union, but even that might not change the mindset of the average classified employee. Then who would they blame?
The 2009-2010 SAUSD-SAEA contract now being distributed to faculty at school sites is, in fact, a fake. The signature page signed by Dave Barton was for an earlier contract; district simply put new dates on old signatures. SAEA remains in barganing for a 2009-2010 contract. Check http://www.sateach.org for updates.
Why would the district purposely release a fake agreement? Most certainly they would know SAEA would dispute it especially with the signature of the former president. Was this a prank or an incredibly stupid attempt at fraud? I assume SAEA is requesting an outside investigation and filing as many complaints to OUTSIDE agencies as possible.
FAKE CONTRACT –
And an incredible waste of funds.
RETIREMENT INCENTIVE –
Has anyone heard if there is one being considered?
SAUSD will have some ridiculous excuse, backed up with data and a lot of finger pointing to explain their most recent mishap! What a bunch of loonies we work for! What will SAEA to with this one?
I just looked at the $30,000,000.00 increase that the district is projecting for non salary items and why in the world would they put an extra 19 million into consulting services? Shouldn’t these figures be down sized? What a huge waste! Is SAEA going to organize something? I truly hope the union has something they are preparing. Time to shake it up downtown people!!!!
SAUSD always has excuses.
It has come to light that they don’t even understand the term “most improved” and have failed to adequately praise Wilson Elementary for being the most improved school in Orange County.
The SAUSD website credits Romero-Cruz as most improved and doesn’t even mention that Wilson tied with them for most points gained [86].
http://www.sausd.us/sausd/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=354868
Some brilliant mathematician figured out that Wilson, not Romero-Cruz was the most improved school in Orange County. But for some reason, no one at SAUSD could figure that out.
Which school is the most improved in Orange County?
Is it Romero Cruz or Wilson Elementary?
Both schools had an 86 point increase in scores, but the concept being considered is most improved , not most points gained, thus a stronger case can be made that Wilson Elementary is the #1 most improved school based on the percentage of improvement from 2008’s score to 2009’s score.
School 2009 API 2008 API % improved
Romero Cruz 759 673 12.8%
Wilson 717 631 13.6%
I have lost interest in reading this blog because of long posts. Please post the website that your information came from so we can go to it. Posting it all on here takes too much space. I enjoy reading them, but would much rather read it from the actual website.