SAUSD Superintendent Jane Russo acts as a Chauffeur for SAUSD School Board Members
“Santa Ana Unified School District’s projected $31 million shortfall for the 2010-11 school year could balloon by $33 million if the state budget crisis continues to escalate, district officials said,” according to the O.C. Register.
I am not sure what else the district can cut, at this point. But they have $93 million in reserves. And they have wasted a lot of money this year on several questionable moves:
- They gave Associate Superintendent Juan Lopez a raise, which he is calling a promotion, even as they were laying off teachers.
- They spent a small fortune remodeling the district offices.
- They continue to give full benefits to their part time school board members
The classrooms are crowded – and the high school labs are dangerously overcrowded.
I also heard yesterday from a pajarito who reported that the district is short-changing special education students. That is quite risky. If that keeps up, the district could face massive state fines and even a state takeover.
SAUSD Superintendent Jane Russo said, at a board meeting this year, that she serves the School Board majority. No Jane, you serve us. Perhaps it is time for parents and taxpayers to remind her of that.
If nothing else, we need to see more pay cuts for administrators and more of the reserves used to conduct the business of educating our kids.
Actually Jane was right Art. Jane does serve the Board majority. The board serves us. Time to fire the board.
I hope John and Roman will stand up to these tyrants!
Good, best news i have heard.
CUT, CUT, CUT.
dismantle, throw out the ridiculous teachers poltical wing(CTA), fire the teachers and rehire only after they are evaluated in the class room.
BEST NEWS EVER!
O yeah, and if the parents refuse to take some responsiblity for their kids education deport them! kidding, don’t get your knickers in a swist. I thougt i would try the same tactic LA union thugs tried!
No just send them to jail:)
I have a feeling you’re not kidding Michelle.
But the District has already cut the budget to the bone…oh no…what will we do? Don’t hurt the children. Sure they might all be getting breakfast and lunch free care of the U.S. Taxpayers, and may all have I-Pods and Cell Phones and Flat screen T.V.’s at home to watch the Spanish language DISH network, but parents cannot possible be expected to pay anything for their ninos education! This must not stand! Let’s have a strike or a protest. Si Se Puede! Where do we go to march against this?
Are you trying to tell me that they are going to have to cut back on the funds spent to educate all these illegal aliens? You California taxpayers are so mean!
Sorry Michele, They may all be illegal aliens but they have not all committed crimes… yet! Get your facts straight.
I’m all for cuts if they are in the right place. Currently, our library is closed before school, at lunch and after school. The books just sit there because there is no one to man the library. Our counselors are doing the job of the office assistants because there aren’t enough people to do the things that need to be done. Our attendance tech is taking temperatures and administering medicine because the nurse covers three separate school sites and the district cut the health assistant’s position entirely. Our student activities coordinator left for another position, she couldn’t get the work done in 3.75 hours as it was but now there is no one doing the work. Daily bulletins to inform the students and staff of activities and events are now non-existent because there is no one to type them up. They plan to cut the classified staff further? Might as well shut the school down.
When santa ana voters wake up and remove the current board:Hernandez,Richardson and Noji then we will see change. If you keep voting for these bozos then nothing will change.
Michelle,
Why do you care? Pay attention to your own schools.You’re activism might be better spent helping you’re own kids schools and causes.
DJ
Dear Art,
I’ve live in the Eastside neighborhood all my life and I’m getting really frustraited. I keep calling city hall and they keep insisting I talk to a woman named Jill Arthur. I tell them, I didn’t vote for her, I want to talk to the Mayor. They will not let me talk to him. My promblems involve crime and sidewalks and I’m always polite but they keep screening me out. I even went up there to try to make an appointment, I say the Mayor meeting with people but they refused to le me meet with him. I’m getting too old to take on these battles but perhaps the young residents of Santa Ana can do something. I was wondering if you would write a post about this Miss Arthur and the city Manager Dave Ream. Who are they? Why do they have such power? I keep asking everyone who Jill Arthur is and they tell me she works for the city council and city manager. Well, if she works for the council, then why don’t they tell her to set up meetings with residents. I’m so tired now. I hate to complain but I feel that i should get better service. The only time I ever saw Mr. Ream or the councilmembers over the years was when they were promoting new taxes at our neighborhood meetings. Sorry for going on so long. I guess it helps to vent. I’ll look forward to posts about Mr. Ream and Miss Arthur. Take care.
#11,
I am sorry for your troubles. Our city is tough to deal with at best.
You can email Pulido at mpulido@santa-ana.org.
Jill Arthur is one of Dave Ream’s assistants. She runs interference for him.
Have you tried to contact your Council Member?
You may email them all at council@santa-ana.org.
Keep fighting! These people can run but they cannot hide…
Hola Art,
I agree with #11. I think a post about Arthur and Ream would be good to let others share stories of issues with them and City Hall. Can you make such a post? I have talked to so many Santa Ana residents who have been treated like dirt by Mrs. Arthur. Who does she think she is? Maybe if you do a post about her city employees or others can explain the hold she has on the council and Mayor. Please write a post about her. Gracias!
Guess you have a Ream/Arthur foto for gente to see who they are
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://orangejuiceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/CIMG0082-300×181.jpg&imgrefurl=http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/08/santa-ana-city-council-transit-study-session-was-not-about-reaching-out-to-the-public/&usg=__Ods214nPDJm6MxI_Eg8OPI1zXHk=&h=181&w=300&sz=20&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=6EWZabJG9-k1gM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djill%2Barthur%2Bsanta%2Bana%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
I have a feeling you’re not kidding Michelle.
Of course i am kidding, It would be impossible to say the least to deport, thousands of people. And as much as i would love to jail loser parents that think kids are just a product of sex, i dont think we have enough jail space!
Sorry Michele, They may all be illegal aliens but they have not all committed crimes… yet! Get your facts straight.
I think you need to wiseup mate, what do you think illegal means,”not illegal?”
duplojohn:
you must not have read my very first post?
I am a very busy woman, and have never really cared about illegal immigration from south of the border, until i heard that the Orange School district was closing my school. I tried to help them keep the school open by trying to find grants. I came across a grant for 480 schools called the QEIA, HPSG, 2mil for the HPSG and 3bil for the QEIA. Only 480 schools got the grant, everyone of the schoools being a title one school with the Marjority of the students hispanic. I started to get more info about: prop10,(healthy families) caloptima, social services, non-profits ect…… all making alot of money from illegal immigrants and their kids and making alot of very rich people even richer. Their is a form of socialism going on in Orange Country and the target population is illegal hispanics and their children.
My local school was closed, but i know why they closed it! It was summed up by the Orange unified assistant super, “Non-English speakers make the district more money than Engish speakers, that is just the way it is”.
Well, no longer!
Help me Art!
My promblems involve crime and sidewalks and I’m always polite but they keep screening me out.
I am truly sorry if you have no choice, but to live in Santa Ana. I especially worry about the elderly living in Santa Ana.
Art, is not going to help you, because Art, and Sean, Dr.l, and the likes are the reason you have such high crime rates in Santa Ana in the first place. When anyone tries to do anything about the crime ie.. Taggers. You have a bunch of white and brown wack jobs touting racisim/bigotory.
Call this lady, her name is Angie, and her number is 714-647-5200. I told her i did not know your name, or your phone number, but i did read her your concerns.
Michelle,
Note that #11 did not reference tagging. Furthermore, has tagging abated since the Thomas Gordon grafitti act was passed? No.
But thanks for providing a phone number and contact for our reader to call.
Allow the cops to do their job and pick up the little twits, without the fear of being called a Latino hater (the same old victim crap) and i bet tagging wil go down. Taggers off the street = scumbag gang members off the street.
The police force is so pussified in Santa Ana, especially the gang preventation unit, that i fear alot more 14 year old kids will die in the near future from gang violence.
Every gang member needs to be shown the respect that they deserve, for being the potential killer that they may become.
We need to be helping little old ladies that are scared and alone, not enabling brat gang members to terrorize them!
By the way Art, did i tell you to Read the book “manup”, by Steven Perry. I have such a respect for Mr.Perry, He is the bees knees!
The Parent Empowerment Program targets truancy and tardiness
The Truancy Court provides prevention and intervention and DA/parent meetings
The Department of Mental Health provides screening, referrals and mental health care for undocumented and uninsured students
The Western Youth Services provides medical assistance for students and their families
The Children’s Bureau deals with student issues related to schooling and learning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Page 2008-2009 Orange County Grand Jury
Education of Parents in the Development of Strategies to Keep Their Children Out of Gangs
The Orange County Probation Department’s Gang Violence Suppression Unit provides education to parents and intervention to students for gang activity and behavior
The All For Kids Program enrolls students who are in need of medical care, glasses, prescriptions and health insurance
The Extended Day Sports Program provides after-school activities
The Familias Adelante Program provides six weekly parent/educator workshops on topics like domestic violence, healthy families, gang awareness, keeping kids safe from sexual predators, solutions to alcohol and substance abuse, and children’s sexual growth and development
The results shown by these programs are impressive. Students have significantly improved their test scores on both the Academic Performance Index and the Annual Yearly Progress tests. Scores have improved from the mid-400 range in 2005-2006 to the 700 range in 2007-2008. Pio Pico has also been able to maintain a 96.8% attendance rate that is above average for the district.
Privately Run
Organizations
Although these privately run organizations are not within the Grand Jury’s jurisdiction, they are worthy of mention because of their effectiveness in the prevention and intervention of gang activity:
The Boys and Girls Clubs: This group has a Gang Prevention through Targeted
•
•
•
•
•
Outreach Program. It is designed to prevent youths from entering gangs, intervene with gang members in the early stages of gang involvement, and divert youths from gang activities into more constructive programs. The Boys and Girls Club have also partnered with many other groups including the Pio Pico Project described above. The clubs frequently utilize former gang members to help children in their communities through participation in their local organizations. Because the Boys and Girls Clubs provide a place for children to play after school hours with adult supervision, they play a vital role in keeping children safe from the influence until their parents return home from work.
KidWorks: This group transforms neighborhoods in Santa Ana by building on the strengths and potential in the community through education, character formation and personal development. They have strategic partnerships with volunteers, churches, foundations and agencies. They offer such outstanding programs as a Homework Club that provides after-school tutoring, computer training and library resources for students. They also have a YouthWorks program that works with teenagers to help counteract the presence of gangs and drug dealers.
Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA): This program was established in 1985 as a project of the Junior League of Orange County.
•
•
The program is based on a national model developed in 1977 by Judge David Soukup in Seattle, Washington. CASA is the sole provider of volunteer advocates for the nearly 3,000 children in Orange County’s foster care system. Children helped by CASA have been taken from their parents because of abuse or extreme neglect. The program is 95% privately funded and is highly regarded in Orange County.
Westminster Family Resource Center: This center serves all families residing in the City of Westminster and surrounding communities. It provides services in three languages (English, Spanish and Vietnamese) at no cost. Services include after-school recreation and enrichment programs and gang prevention and intervention programs.
The Huntington Beach Youth Shelter: This shelter is run by the Community Services Programs Inc. It has housed and helped hundreds of children who are in crisis.
In addition, many County of Orange employees volunteer time to these community programs. For example, over 250 Probation Department employees act as mentors for the children at Pio Pico Elementary School.
There is also a California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP) that awards grants to cities and community-based organizations for programs targeting youth at risk of joining gangs or seeking to leave
Old ladies feel unsafe in Santa, because the taxpayer is paying for ridiculous feel good crap as shown above.
The cops know who the little baskets are and they don’t do a bloody thing about it, until they kill someone.
Political correctness is killing people in Santa Ana, as it did in Texas when the muslim (SOA) killed 13 soliders in a Texas fort!
And as for the Calgrip program. I will start a gang prevention program in Orange and i will call it “Your ass is grass”!