School daze

Posted by Michele Ellson

September 2, 2008

School started today, and while this was a happy occasion for those of us who are sending off kids after a looong summer, it marks the start of what could be a very trying year for Alameda Unified. They’ve got no superintendent (as of January 1, anyway), they’ve lost their superstar chief financial officer to another district, they’ve got a host of major issues on their plate – and no one to tell their side of the story.

The school board opted not to restore the district’s public information officer position after Measure H passed, and the person who held the job, Donna Fletcher, was let go this summer. Since then, the district’s website has not been updated (though we’ve heard that its tech staff will be picking up that job). And we’ve been told that district staff has been inundated with information calls.

And that was just over the summer. This fall, they’ve got a school board election, superintendent selection, Measure H lawsuits, a new gender identity curriculum and probably a whole bunch of other things people will be clamoring for information on. Then again, the district doesn’t know for sure if it’s getting those Measure H dollars. Or what the yet-to-be-passed state budget will offer them.