Superintendent won't resign (Heather – Daily Journal)

Despite recent demands for his resignation, Superintendent Sam Johnson said clearly Friday he will not step down unless the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees makes the request. And that isn't likely since board President Marcia Cohn-Lyle said she and the other four board members are a team of six? with Johnson who are now gearing up to put actual names to the number of looming layoffs.

On Monday, the district staff will meet with the six high school principals to decide exactly who will be let go and how to maintain the programs during and after a transition. The daunting task comes just days before the school board will make its final decision of how to cut $3.5 million from the current school year's budget. There was no vote, however, since cuts will be made Sept. 28. The school board was given three options to accomplish this feat Thursday night. At the same time, the community gave heated remarks asking for Johnson's resignation, explanations for choices made leading to the situation and pleading for activities affecting students. Two options were dependent on the teachers and classified staff agreeing to take a salary rollback. Currently, both unions are standing firm against the salary cuts. In light of the stance, the district staff recommended a third option, which would eliminate 61 full-time employee positions affecting both classified and credentialed staff. Monday's meeting will allow the district time to plan this change. The goal is to have as little change for students as possible. The classroom and period should stay the same, however, the teacher may be different. School administrators need to be on board with support to ensure the transition goes smoothly, said Mills High Principal Paul Belzer. There were many suggestions from Thursday's meeting including using the district property as collateral for a loan, re-examining the new seven-period day and for the district to resist cuts until more options could be considered. However, district officials said the options are not realistic in such a short period of time. Using the property to gain a loan is illegal, said Associate Superintendent of Business Liz McManis. The sale of property is also not an option. Money generated from such a sale must be put into a specific fund to be used for infrastructure, like building new classrooms or renovating a theater. Throwing out the new seven-period day would be chaotic and cause more layoffs, said Johnson. It would require the cancellation of classes and create 16 extra teachers at the seven different high schools. The district will not consider postponing cuts either. Johnson called the option irresponsible.? If the district decided not to follow through with the cuts on Thursday, County Superintendent Jean Holbrook would have the authority to develop and adopt a budget for the district.

The district is changing habits from the past to avoid a similar situation in the future. Normally, the district would negotiate contracts after receiving the first tax projections in the spring. From now on, negotiations will take place later, to ensure the money is more likely to come through. In addition to this delay, there will be better communication between the school districts and the County Assessor's Office, which collect the taxes, and the District Attorney's Office, which litigates tax rebates, said McManis.

See San Mateo Times for additional article.

– Written by Fiona

S.M. Teachers Demand Superintendent's Resignation

A group of teachers from the San Mateo High School District will call for the immediate resignation or termination of Superintendent Sam Johnson and his associate superintendents, citing gross fiscal mismanagement, at the District's Board meeting Thursday night. The meeting will be held at The Smart Center, 789 E. Poplar Avenue, San Mateo, at 6:00 p.m.

The District has demanded increased accountability from teachers and students,? said Capuchino High School teacher and Teachers for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) spokesperson Steve Dwyer. Now it's time for the District administration to accept responsibility for the financial crisis that it has created.?

The District claims that it needs to cut $3.5 million in spending in order to submit a balanced budget to the County on September 29. They point to recent reductions in property tax revenues, and to unexpected takebacks by the County. At the heart of the District's proposal is a 3% wage reduction for teachers.

Dwyer noted that Basic Aid districts (those that get their funding primarily from property taxes) have known for years that property tax revenues were falling, and that takebacks were continuing. The Sequoia District implemented cutbacks last year and avoided costly new programs, and they are now solvent. In contrast, the San Mateo District ignored the recommendation of its own 7-Period-Day Committee and expanded the school day at a cost of $3.1 million over the last two years.?

They claim they were blindsided? by the most recent County takeback – $400,000-plus in July. But they knew well before that date that the District was facing a $3 million dollar shortfall. Even so, they continued to hire new staff well into August.?

Already, five special education teachers on temporary contracts have been laid off. The District warns that more temporary teachers will have to be let go if the teacher's association does not accept a pay cut.

Said Dwyer, The District got themselves into this mess, and now they want teachers and staff to face the consequences. But the superintendent and administrators need to be held accountable.?

More than 200 teachers and support staff will gather at the Board meeting on Thursday to protest District-proposed cuts and to urge the School Board to remove the current District administrators.

– Written by JC

Heather's article in the Daily Journal – School chief under fire

Tears were shed, ideas were shared, fingers were pointed and the superintendent's resignation was demanded as community members had their first chance to vent frustrations over the $3.5 million in budget cuts to be made next week by the San Mateo Union High School District. At a packed meeting held last night at the San Mateo High School gym, the community was given three possible options of cuts for this year's budget. Two options were dependent on the teachers and classified staff agreeing to take a salary rollback. Currently, both unions are standing firm against the salary cuts. In light of the stance, the district staff recommended a third option, which would eliminate 61 full-time employee positions affecting both classified and credentialed staff. The loss of these positions will affect more people than numbers represent, since the hours part-time employees work are combined to create many full-time equivalent positions. No cuts were made as a final decision will be made Sept. 28.

Many speakers asked Superintendent Sam Johnson, along with other district staff, to resign or take a very different paths to financial recovery. Suggestions included using the district property as collateral for a loan, re-examining the new seven-period day and for the district to resist cuts until more options could be considered. Board members requested more information about the given suggestions. Regardless of the ideas, the well-being of the students was everyone's top priority. There is a rift between the teachers and the district. A rift that we [the students] are caught in between. … I am calling for an end to the damaging rift. Our teachers should be respected and valued for all the time, effort and love they put into their work,? said student Trustee Mitra Anoushiravani.

The meeting was plagued with problems as it began in an overcrowded room that was shut down by the fire marshal. Hundreds of concerned citizens were moved to the San Mateo High School gym to accommodate the crowd a move that caused the meeting to begin an hour behind schedule. Many board members chose not to make any comment after the long line of speakers protested the cuts, requested different routes be considered and demanded answers for the decisions creating the dire situation.

A number of incorrect property tax projections, county tax rebates, rising special education costs and late notifications led to the district's current deficit position, said Associate Superintendent Liz McManus. A complicated situation she previously described as the perfect storm? of financial problems. There was no perfect storm. We just did not read the weather report,? said Burlingame High School teacher Kevin Nelson. The County Office of Education is requiring the district to create a plan to end the year with $2 million in its reserve still $700,000 shy of the legally required 3 percent reserve by Sept. 29. If the superintendent's office did not fully understand, by the start of the school year, the extent of this crisis then their hastily assembled proposals for a so-called solution are panic driven and ill considered. The district, by its own reporting, has not had time to make well deliberated decisions,? said Barbara Regan, Capuchino High School special education teacher who was representing Teachers for Fiscal Responsibility the group asking for Johnson's resignation.

This week, high school teachers facing the choice of having their salaries cut or losing colleagues to layoffs began protesting the choice by cutting off voluntary activities such as extra help for students, club supervision and locking their classroom doors during lunch. Johnson said the district's effort is to keep the cuts away from students. He said he was dismayed to learn teachers were not available to help students. There are life lessons of responsibility and sacrifice for the greater good, which students are missing out of because of such protesting, he said. Students were dismayed at the idea that any cuts would not effect their everyday lives. You seem to think by firing teachers you're not harming students. I don't know, because we're not the ones getting fired? … You'll see the test scores drop. You'll see it on paper. There are better ways to go about it than this,? said San Mateo sophomore Edan Freiberger.

Individuals made pleas for the various programs like libraries, music and special education teachers. Dorian Evers and Zaina Arslan, student leaders from Hillsdale High, presented a protest signed by 400 students to preserve the small learning communities. Monica Peck walked in front of the crowd with a large poster that read, I was fired.? The Capuchino High special education teacher received notice earlier this month that Sept. 22 would be her final day. This week the district asked Peck to stay on through Sept. 28. Peck is one of many who joined the district this summer, drawn to its higher pay and special education program. A list of 149 suggested cuts was compiled and chopped down to create the proposals presented. The proposal recommended to the board includes firing temporary teachers, laying off campus aides, cutting maintenance and food service workers, letting an accompanist for the music classes go and reducing substitute teachers, administrative workers and technology support. The options calls for the district to tighten its own belt by utilizing e-mail rather than using paper, cutting the $20,000 cell phone bill, eliminating travel compensation, a $200,000 reduction in overtime, a $5,717 salary rollback by Johnson and a $100,000 cut in transportation. Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer proposed asking the community for donations and started the efforts by handing over a $1,000 check.

The school board votes on cuts 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28 at the San Mateo Adult Resource Technology Center, 789 E. Poplar Ave., San Mateo.

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Click here for the article in the San Mateo Times (plus photo)

– Written by Fiona

According to the Burlingame Daily News (no link), the district will present the board with "three versions of its proposal, each of which features layoffs equivalent to between 26 and 61 full-time employees. The principal difference between the three versions is the level of salary cuts; one option calls for a 3% across the board salary rollback, another for a 2% cut and the third for no salary decreases. … Option 3 calls for releasing as many as 41 "full-time equivalents" of classified staff, which would likely amount to more than 50 employees.

"… The district also hopes to gain $375,000 in reimbursements from CSM by offering community college courses on its campuses during school hours. Other plans are cell phones will be replaced with walkie talkies, they will stop paying mileage stipends and eliminate funding for its "Sojurn to the Past" civil rights field trip.

"… The district spends 86% of its budget annually on personnel, meaning that it is unlikely to chop $3.5 million without some layoffs.

"… The question now is whether the union will agree to a salary rollback. If not, one alternative for the district is to lay off temporary teachers. TA president fears that if the union agreed to pay cuts, the district might lay off temporary teachers anyway."

Meeting tonight ….

– Written by Fiona

I wanted to share a letter that my wife and I sent recently to Dr. Sonny H. Da Marto and the Burlingame Elementary School District Board of Trustees (I've removed our kids' names for this public posting):

Dear Dr. Da Marto,

We were pleased to see the recent news stories indicating a serious interest on the part of the Burlingame School District in implementing a Spanish Immersion program starting in the 2007-2008 school year. Our older daughter (A—-, currently a Washington 3rd grader), has been attending private Spanish classes for four hours per week since kindergarten, but this is a poor substitute for a truly bilingual education. The timing of this new program would be perfect for our younger daughter, D—-, who will be starting kindergarten in the BSD in 2007.

We are completely committed to enrolling D—- in the BSD Spanish Immersion class as soon as registration for this program opens. While it would be our preference to have her attend our neighborhood school (Washington) if the program is housed there, we will happily enroll her in any BSD school in which the Spanish Immersion program is offered.

The BSD's mission statement sets forth the goal ?to educate our students to their fullest potential so as lifelong learners they will be able to effectively contribute to a changing society.? We can think of few initiatives that would better contribute to meeting this goal than a solid grounding in a second language, and a deep exposure to a second culture (especially one that will play such a major role in California society over our children's lifetime). As adults who did not start learning a second language until 6th grade, we can confidently state that an early start and immersion-level intensity are critical elements in achieving a level of fluency that will last a lifetime. Furthermore, as our own French withers from lack of exposure, we are thoroughly convinced of the importance of learning a language which is used on a daily basis all around us no second language offers the opportunity of use in Burlingame today and in the coming decades as Spanish.

Please keep us informed of any relevant developments as the implementation of this program proceeds. While the recent media coverage was useful in bringing this to our attention, we still have seen no official announcement from BSD the district website would be a great place to post this type of information. We appreciate the hard work, commitment and strong leadership it takes to bring a new program to life. You have our wholehearted support! Please contact us if we can be of any help.

Sincerely,

Ian Milne and Krista McCutcheon
Carol Ave, Burlingame

We received encouraging responses from Dr. Da Marto and from several school board members. Although they stressed that no decision has yet been made on whether to implement an immersion program or even on which language to teach, it is clear that there is now the possibility of getting a program if enough community and parental interest is demonstrated in the next 1-2 months.

– Written by Ian