AUSD Master Plan Process

Why don’t we ask the gay/lesbian/transgender community to fund the schools? They seem to be dictating the curriculum …

I’d like to know what it would cost to educate our kids with the kinds of fully-funded “extras” that I grew up with: small class size, choral and instrumental music every day (In high school), metal shop, auto shop, wood shop, an electronics lab, art and PE classes, and fully funded IM and interscholastic sports. Not to mention AP programs enough for anyone who wants to take them,and lots of foreign languages. And how about having sufficient counselors, nurses, administrators, support staff, and librarians, too?

Then there is the tiny little issue of paying our teachers, counselors, what they are really worth, and treating them like the talented and dedicated professionals they are.

I hope that taking the equity funding issues to Sacramento is on the Master plan list, too.

Hoping for better school support soon,

Jon

Have the teacher unions gone too far ?

- Can we take some of the emotion out of this and deliver a sound fact based analysis ?

Are we transparent in the spending ?

- Student/teacher ratios

- School specific budgets

- Administration

- Non teaching dollars

The district needs to review the students no longer attending Alameda schools.

- Why do those living in the district choose private or charter elementary schools ? middle schools ? high schools ?

- How many student/parents make this choice ?

- How does this compare to state average ? comparable districts ?

- Where do the go ? (on and off the island)

- What is the cost to the district ? (ADA + parents with means to make a difference + students that enrich the school community + test score impacts)

This “delivery gap” (and a base line of equivalent services) addressed by private schools is paid for parents.

- Why are parents willing to make those payments ?

- What would Alameda USD need to deliver to keep the students ? (e.g. uncertainty of Measure H lawsuit)

- How can the district close the “delivery gap” and recover a portion of the funds parents willingly pay private schools ?

I did not “apply” to participate in the restructuring task force for the very reasons that their minutes prove – this was not restructuring with a mission/vision – it was preparing for a worst case scenario. I am really looking forward to the master plan work – it is forward thinking and based on a reality that this community needs to pay attention to. We can take what we get and make do. We can dream big and do something out there. We can design what we want and pay for it. What I am most interested in as a parent is that the district identifies that which we think to be mot valuable and when it is time to make cuts, we know what the non-negotiables will be. As a teacher, I am most interested in creating something that is not defined by “work rules” which are nothing more that teachers being my keeper and I do NOT want to be told what I can professionally do by my colleagues. I am also, perhaps even more than work rules – intersted in addressing the ridiculous waste of text book adoption that is an expensive cycle of wasteful spending – there is no curriculum that is teacher proof and I want good curriculum vs. the diet of mediocrity that the state forces us to feed these children.

I would encourage the BOE to select Scenario Number Three. I also do not find the comments from Jeff R. Thomason to be productive in this forum. That type of behavior is exactly why the BOE needs to adopt the Safe School LGBT Curriculum

Thank you for your leadership in moving toward long term planning for the District. Scenarios one and three are obvious ends of the spectrum. Is there a FAQ on charter schools, their organization, funding and relationship to a district? This background information will be useful in formulating those “in between” scenarios.

Thanks again

J.A. The Superintendent plans to use a Graduate student from Stanford to research the charter school scenario. In the meantime you can review my background of the events that led up to the establishment of the Nea Charter scool.

As you may understand, property owners are very supported of good schools, however, another parcel tax will not be approved. The School Board along with Kirsten Vital needs to identify other source of raising money which would be equitably paid for by all residents of Alameda and/or shoppers.

I am very interested in seeing more information on AUSD becoming a charter district. It seems that this may have the possibility of returning control of Alameda schools back to Alameda, where it really belongs.

Alamedans seem to want a liveable, sustainable community and AUSD encourages non-car methods for getting to school, e.g., walk-and-roll to school day. To that end, AUSD should make siblings a higher priority for enrollment. I propose that enrollment priority be neighborhood first during roundup, then sibling priority when roundup is over. Specifically, my son is at a school that is no longer open enrollment, and my daughter cannot yet get in, even though there is space currently available. If she doesn’t get in, I will have to DRIVE to and from two different schools instead of being able to bike with the kids, participate in two different PTAs, etc., never mind that the two children have been looking forward to being in school together for the past 3 years. I know of several other families (not at our school) in the same situation. AUSD should prioritize keeping families together, not splitting them apart.

US Secretary of Education Duncan gives community schools a central place in the Pantheon of education innovations.

He advocates for keeping schools open 12 or 13 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, and 12 months out of the year. He sees schools as centers of learning and community well-being. He calls for stronger partnerships between schools and non-profits. He supports stronger investments in students health, nutrition and safety. He champions a vision of accountability that includes “traditional educators, parents, students, the business community–all of us.” And he links these strategies to student learning.

Can Alameda use Federal Stimulus monies to start this type of innovation?