Thursday, June 28, 2007

and Gomer Pyle says:

Suprise! Suprise! Suprise!

I guess that the Gomer Pyle reference shows my age, but it is such a perfect quote for the recent news.

The phones are ringing, the e-mails are zinging and the "Alleluia's" singing with the announcement about the new Interim Superintendent. I will admit that I was convinced that the EC Swami was absolutely correct in calling the race completely in favor of Deputy Gregg. Just when I had resigned myself to having the ECASD remain stuck in several key areas I am completely amazed that the BOE found the votes to make a change for somebody outside of the same, darn Black Box that so many of us have been trying to penetrate for years.

I guess that the next step is to locate a Deputy Superintendent. But if the Interim Sup. is truly just a "one year or less" position, I am assuming that they will have an Interim Deputy as well so the new Superintendent can select his/her own Deputy. Wow! We are going to have to get scorecards to follow all of the changes.

We are finally reaching a crucial tipping point for change with some new BOE members, new Administrators and a new way of doing business that has a chance to move our district into the 21st century. It has been way too long in coming but it makes it ever so welcome now that it is here.

Maria

Public Schools and the "Business Model"

This article is from the Wall Street Journal (link: http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110010241) and was submitted by Karen Peikert. It is lengthy but worthwhile reading.


Another School Dropout
How long can someone with an M.B.A. last in an education bureaucracy?

BY NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY
Friday, June 22, 2007 12:01 a.m.

When the kids in the Oakland public schools left for summer vacation last week, they did so oblivious to any staff changes at the district's offices. It's not really their concern, for instance, that Barak Ben-Gal, the budget director for the school system, recently decided to become Yahoo!'s director of corporate finance. But when people like Mr. Ben-Gal, who has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard and degrees in business and education from Stanford, spend three years trying to change the system and then give up, someone should notice. The people who run the operations and finances of public school districts are not visible the way that teachers are. But as with teachers, recruiting and retaining smart ones is an uphill battle.
After finishing at Stanford in 2004, Mr. Ben-Gal (full disclosure: I know him from college) was accepted into the Broad Residency in Urban Education. Funded by billionaire Eli Broad, the program takes people with J.D.s, M.B.A.s or degrees in public policy and at least four years of work experience and places them in inner-city school districts. When Mr. Ben-Gal started his residency, the Oakland Unified School District was bankrupt. It had been placed under state control, and his first role was as the special assistant to the state administrator. In the subsequent two years he was the executive officer of financial services and then finally the budget director for the whole district.

Today, thanks in some part to his efforts, the district is out of bankruptcy and several foundations have made large grants to Oakland. Now that he has left, though, Mr. Ben-Gal can offer his criticisms of the system. And they are worth understanding, particularly for two reasons.
First, an increasing number of school districts are hiring leaders from business backgrounds. Whether it's Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor who was once a corporate lawyer, or Joseph Olchefske, who left investment banking and eventually worked as the superintendent in Seattle for a few years, some businessmen find that running a multimillion- (or multibillion-) dollar school system has a certain appeal. But those thinking of this track should know what they're getting into.

Second, as standards-based education has become more prevalent thanks to No Child Left Behind, "some people may think that the problems in our schools are going to go away," says Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. In fact, he explains, all that information we're collecting about student achievement won't be helpful "if we can't figure out what specifically is improving student achievement and how much it costs." Even if administrators can get all that data, he adds, their hands are often tied.

So, for instance, Mr. Ben-Gal tells me that if a school has a surplus in its textbook fund and needs a new security officer, the money cannot be transferred. Indeed, in many cases, a district administrator won't even know how much money is available until it's too late. Mr. Ben-Gal explains that thanks to the timing of the state budget process, he would not find out about discretionary funds available for, say, a music teacher or a school counselor until halfway through that school year.

The lack of information is not just coming from above; it's coming from below. Principals often don't tell the district that they have a position to fill at their school until a few weeks before the school year begins. Why? According to the collective bargaining agreement, every teacher under contract has the right to work someplace in the school district. If a principal doesn't want a particular teacher, the district still owes him a job. A principal would rather start the year with no teacher in the classroom than take the one who has been cut from another school.

And the clerical union is like the teachers' one. Seniority, not competence, gets people promoted. Mr. Ben-Gal reports, "There were people in accounting [who] didn't know the difference between a debit and credit." And the administrators? As Mr. Hess explains, administrators are almost entirely former classroom educators. "There is nothing in their background that would lead you to believe they'd be good managers of teams of adults." Mr. Hess, who has done extensive studies of the way principals are trained, says that they are not getting any kind of education in these areas once they move out of the classroom, either.

Even if you can assemble a team of competent people (and somehow hold on to them without offering merit raises), Mr. Ben-Gal notes that you are still constrained in ways that would be unimaginable in the private sector. For instance, he compares the operations of his local school board with the board of a corporation. "Corporate boards look at big-picture governance. They ask, 'What are the major milestones our CEO should be achieving?' Board conversations are held behind closed doors because the board members are supposed to act as trusted advisers."

By contrast, the Oakland board, like most school committees, has all of its meetings televised. Every contract, no matter how minuscule, must be put to a vote. And every financial decision has to be put on hold while waiting for a monthly board meeting. As for its members acting as trusted advisers, Mr. Ben-Gal assures me that thanks to the public nature of its meetings, "the school board typically knows less than what the staff knows."

In principle, smart businessmen should want to enter this field. As Mr. Olchefske, the former Seattle superintendent, tells me: "These are fascinating, complex jobs. There are academic goals, financial goals, a lot of balls to juggle. The skills you develop are applicable in other environments."
Mr. Ben-Gal, at age 31, was overseeing the budget of an $850 million organization with 5,500 employees, $150 million in construction projects, security officers, mail carriers, nurses and bus drivers. The results-based budgeting system Mr. Ben-Gal helped institute became the subject of a case study at Berkeley's business school and spawned a case competition with seven other institutions to develop recommendations to help districts tackle similar issues. (New York and Chicago later consulted heavily with Oakland on their own budgeting reforms.) How was this news taken by Mr. Ben-Gal's colleagues? He tells me it was a "morale hit." People asked, "Why do we need to bring in outsiders to solve our problems?"

To this day, he remains amazed that the effort to "attract and draw more talent into the sector was not well received." When asked why he left, Mr. Ben-Gal cites various structural problems as well as a "lack of professional mentorship." He advises newcomers from the business arena to make sure they find a supervisor "who can make use of their skills. . . . Otherwise someone coming in might feel frustrated and underutilized."

Mr. Ben-Gal took a 50% pay cut when he came to the district. But he has no regrets about that. He says he didn't join for the money. And he didn't leave for it either.

Ms. Riley is The Wall Street Journal's deputy Taste editor.

Transparency 101

The following information is copied off of this website: http://www.illinoisloop.org/candor.html and provides excellent guidelines for what our community should expect from our public institutions like the ECASD. This was helpfully submitted by Karen Peikert commenting that she would be happy to have just 1/4th of this information available on the ECASD website. I agree!

Maria

Candor: Complete Information for the Community Checklist of Public Information

Government school districts are public bodies whose inner workings should be visible to all residents, taxpayers and education consumers. Two powerful tools are available for residents who want to learn about their school districts, namely, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act.
The Illinois Loop believes that this is only a start. To be truly operating in full candor, a school district should not be waiting for citizen petitions. The following important information should be available up-front, on the district's website as well as readily available for public inspection on-site:


Operations
Board Policies: The collected "board policies" of the school district, including administrative procedures, should be readily available in print and online. In some states this is required by state law.

Curriculum
Detailed curriculum standards.
Syllabus for each course
Identification of specific textbooks and other major curriculum and instructional materials, by grade and subject
A list of textbooks and instructional materials used in the district, revised annually by administrators under the Superintendent's direction.
Anyone may inspect any textbook or instructional material in person, with reasonable rules established for dates and times of access.
Statement of commitment to intellectual diversity
Statement of commitment to balance in treatment of controversial issues

Assessment
Results on state tests
All group and summary tabulations of any standardized tests taken that go beyond the required state tests (e.g., Iowa Test of Basic Skills)
Percent distribution of teacher-assigned letter grades

Budget and Spending
Detailed budget (not merely the very brief outline that is required by the state)
The district check register, showing all payments
Prohibition on business with campaign contributors (pay-for-play).

Staffing
Complete CV for key administrators, including the superintendent and assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and school principals. These are the people who run your children's school. You should be able to read information on who they are.
Contracts with key administrators
Salaries and bonuses of key administrators
Negotiated union contracts
Teacher salary schedule
District's Master Schedule
Breakout of degrees earned by teachers, categorized by degree subject and awarding departments.
Degrees awarded by ed schools should be reported separately from degrees awarded by other college departments.
Ed school Ed.D. degrees should be reported separately from Ph.D.'s.
Identification of hired or retained professional consultants, facilitators, and contractors, including names and web site addresses.

Meetings

School Board meetings
Notice and agenda of upcoming board meetings
Complete copies of "board packets" (documents provided to board members at each meeting)
Minutes must be taken in sufficient detail to understand each issue in question, the nature of stated positions, and resolution
Minutes should be taken by someone other than a school administrator or other board employee

Committees:
If a committee or task force was created by and is responsible to a primarily public body (e.g., a school district), then it itself is also considered a public body and is thus subject to the Open Meetings Act.
Notice and agenda of upcoming committee meetings
Names and email addresses of participants, including board members, district employees, and local citizens
Identification of leader or facilitator(s)
Detailed minutes of meetings
All documents distributed at meetings

Teacher workshops and in-service programs
Full descriptions of content, facilitators, speakers
Dates and time alloted
All materials distributed
Budget information on related expenditures, outside speakers and suppliers
Video or audio tape should be available for viewing by board members (at least!) as well as by parents and citizens

Communications
E-mail addresses for all board members. This may be an address for each member individually, or a "group adress" such that a single mailing goes to all board members. Unfortunately, some districts have been known to go to great lengths to shelter their board members from hearing public comments!
Public surveys: If any public surveys are conducted or commissioned by the district, the complete results, rather than carefully excerpted tidbits, should be available in print and onlie.

Student-Specific Information for Parents (password protected)
A general description of what is happening in each class: current unit or topic
Current long-term assignments, plus goal and description of any major project
Student status: grades, homework completion

Movement To Open Disclosure

Not a PR pro? How To Successfully Talk To Your Local District About Putting Its Checks Online by Peyton Wolcott. "Generally we start out assuming our dealings with our school districts will be a rational exercise. Most of us are volunteers and in addition to our taxes give generously to our children's schools. Then when we spend a lot of time there, we notice things. Years ago I myself felt sure that if I showed my local supe and board where money was being wasted in some areas and not adequately safeguarded in others that they would welcome this information with open arms and changes would be made on the spot. Hah! Imagine my surprise when they reacted as though to a personal attack when I was just trying to help. ... This is why I have come to the conclusion after years in the grassroot trenches that the best and most effective single step we can take to help our districts reign in costs and improve our vendor-driven curriculums in order to better educate our kids is to persuade our schools to post their check registers online."

National School District Honor Roll by Peyton Wolcott. "Alarmed at declining standards and fueled by rumors of corruption, parents and citizens have begun filing public records requests to view [school district] checks and receipts and have been generally rebuffed in this undertaking by administrators ... The quickest and fastest way to slice through this Gordion knot is for public school districts to start posting their check registers online. To encourage this, I have instituted the National School District Honor Roll ... Any district that will undertake to do this gets their name on the roll on my website. It's hard to imagine any superintendent in our great republic being able to come up with a decent reason for not wanting their district's financial operations to be perceived by their parents and taxpayers as being completely clean and transparent, sooner rather than later."

Full Disclosure Is Bad News For The Public School's Big Spenders, Family Taxpayer Network, January 24, 2007. It's that time again when school districts around the state cry poor and go begging to the taxpayers for more money. Well, it's not quite begging anymore. Nowadays they actually threaten the taxpayers. If they don't belly up to the bar, the 'it's for the kids' sentiment becomes 'do what we want or we'll punish the kids.' Years ago, school districts would argue that higher taxes and higher spending would bring about better schools. Today, their only argument is a more honest one: if overburdened taxpayers don't give them even more money they'll make the schools worse. Special programs -- art, music, and of course athletic programs -- are all on the chopping block if the citizens don't do what the bureaucrats and school board lemmings tell them to do. ...
"There is a movement around the country to force government bodies to submit to full disclosure, and some governments -- even school districts -- have agreed to post their check registers online. Have these 'under-funded' school districts provided evidence of wise spending? Have they posted all the details of all the employee contracts -- including those of administrators -- on the web? More people are becoming aware of the fact that many school boards prefer to keep some of the perks and some of the details of the benefit packages away from the public eye, since the scale of their generosity with money earmarked for educating kids would rouse ire on the part of the taxpayers."

Also see:
Open Meetings Act
Freedom of Information Act

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Let the Sunshine In!

The ECASD BOE is a publicly elected body that is required to function in compliance with the Wisconsin State Open Meetings Law (OML). This is all part of what is considered "Good Government" and it keeps elected officials accountable to the public for their decisions. The Open Meetings Law addresses everything from requiring meetings to be held in Open Session, prohibiting elected officials from meeting privately or creating "Walking Quorums" and notification of meetings so that the public is informed and can participate in the process.

Please go to this link to see the OML Guide that is very informative about what our expectations as the public can and should be for the process: www.doj.state.wi.us/AWP/OpenMeetings/2005-OML-GUIDE.pdf

There was a recent opinion by the WI State Supreme Court that ruled against the Tomah School Board for their failure to properly notify the public about meetings with Agendas that have adequate information. Please go to this link to read about the decision: http://www.tomahjournal.com/articles/2007/06/14/news/01news.txt

Even if the ECASD is in legal compliance with the OML the amount of information disseminated to the public about agenda items is pathetic. I have been asking that all pertinent information about Agenda items be posted on the web in advance of the meeting so public participation can be meaningful.

You could help in the process of letting the light of day fall on more information by writing BOE members and requesting that more information is posted and available to the public in a more timely manner. How can we participate if we don't have any information?

Two Heads Are Better Than One!

Or in the case of the ECASD, many, many ideas from lots of people are better than a couple of ideas from a couple of people.

Many of my past and continuing concerns about the Leadership of the ECASD Administration and BOE concern the lack of MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION in the process. Decision-making seems to occur among very few people who have minimum specific expertise and most of it is not research or data based decision-making. I believe that our community has a wealth of individuals with education, experience and knowledge that is going completely untapped in the decision-making process in the ECASD.

We have dozens, if not hundreds, of smart and experienced financial people who could be part of a Finance and Budget sub-committee of the BOE. We have equal numbers of individuals who have incredible experience with Strategic Planning and yet not a single one is being sought to help in the Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) Process that is getting off to a really shaky start. (See the separate posting for my concerns here.) We have many, many experienced people in the Real Estate and Construction businesses who would be valuable as members of a Facilities Planning sub-committee of the BOE. And with all the Technology expertise all around us, can anybody tell me WHY we don't have any third party review and recommendation of all of the ECASD Technology needs? With all of the professors and staff of UWEC and CVTC we have so much expertise on so many subjects and yet NONE are being sought to participate.

I am hoping that this blog will be one way that more people will be informed and then find a way to participate in the process that has been basically a "black box" that has been impermeable to public input for so many years that it is difficult to even imagine a system that is open, inclusive, welcoming, and participatory in every aspect of its functioning.

Any ideas on how to move this along? Please comment here or write to BOE members and ask them!

Maria

Pay Freeze Comments by M. Bollinger

The following comments were written by Commissioner Bollinger and published in the Leader Telegram. I will post my own thoughts on these ideas in the Comments section following.

Maria


"At the board meeting on June 4th, I displayed a spreadsheet on the boardroom overhead. It contained a numeric budgetary discussion of the salary and benefit projections of the total employee expense in our district. It was not directed at any specific union. I did this in a spirit of candid and open exchange with our tax paying public. I also said that I could not in good conscience support increases at a time when we were cutting programs.

I cited a potential $3.6 million savings that can be achieved by having our employee groups accept a ONE TIME pay freeze. I suggested this in a very unique year for the Eau Claire School District. A year in which benefit costs actually decreased. This means that I am asking all employees to voluntarily forgo a raise, only.

Typically, the QEO (qualified economic offer) is used as an assumption in the district budget model. It applies a 3.8% package to the budget increase as is mandated for teachers by state statue. If that amount is not offered we risk going to binding arbitration. Past practice has been to offer all employee groups the same amount as what is settled with the teachers (a sense of fairness I believe has created this tradition). Therefore I used the 3.8% projection in the budget model against the total Salary/Benefits amount to derive the $3.6 million savings number I mentioned in the meeting.

Keep in mind, the board must still cut $2.5 million from the budget over the next two years and class sizes have already increased. That was the thrust of my comments Monday night.

I tried to say very clearly at the board meeting - a freeze for ALL EMPLOYEES allows us to address this. I also said it had nothing to do with 'deserve' because every employee does great work. Teachers in particular do yeoman's work at a job they love for adequate but definitely not 'get rich' wages. I am quoting another, but I these words sum it up..."Teachers think that everyone works at Microsoft, and the community thinks Teachers are riding the gravy train...neither one is correct".

What bothers me about the trade off in increases in pay - is people losing their job. I went to the layoff session with Jo Burke for teachers...and it bothered me to no end with a deep sadness. Last year, over a dozen people LOST THEIR JOB. That has got to end, this board needs breathing room to do some real strategic planning and to hire our next leader.

When I worked in the Cheyenne Schools, we had a salary freeze (not benefits) for 2 years. We accepted that as the trade off for keeping jobs in the bargaining unit ranks - Wyoming is a right to work State. It was difficult but we accepted it knowing we could keep positions, retirement and benefits level.

I would not even float this idea of a freeze were it not for the zero impact to our hardworking employees in this unique of years. We may need to go to referendum again, and soon. Can anyone really gauge if our community will support one? The households in Eau Claire are crushed under the weight of increasing expenses as well. At a time when their resources are stretched, tax increases make voters angry. I know, I hear from them all the time.

I am heartened by the optimism in and of the community. I have had many offers of support, expertise and assistance. The goodwill generated by every employee (EVERY EMPLOYEE) taking a pay freeze will create the kind of environment where our voters feel like we are doing everything we can."

Comprehensive Community Planning Process

I am very alarmed that the Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) Process is starting out with the usual ECASD approach of the four "I's": Insulated, Isolated , Inadequate and Impulsively. Just the name of the group indicates that this should be broad based, strategic, and inclusive and we have just the opposite! Discussion about the formation of this effort began in February, and today is June 20th. Please see below the rather lengthy but important excerpt from Minutes of the Feb. BOE Meeting about the expectations of this process:

"Carol Craig drafted a proposal for the Board’s consideration. She said the purpose of the proposal was to make sure the public understands that the referendum is not a solution to the district’s long-term financial issues. She believed that the solution would come in the form of a long-range community plan to determine what services should be offered and what priorities should be set. She read a draft of a motion she developed.

The Board would direct administration to immediately begin developing strategies to complete a comprehensive community planning process for the purpose of determining the community-wide consensus regarding short and long range educational priorities for the ECASD. This plan will serve as a blueprint for future budgetary decisions related to, but not limited to, operational, facilities, and capital expenses/reductions. A draft of the strategies for this comprehensive community planning proposal should be submitted for the BOE review by July 1, 2007, with an implementation target date of September 1, 2007.

Dr. Klaus said he hoped a committee could be put together in the spring so that an outline of the plan could be presented by July 1st.

The Board talked about how it would achieve community-wide consensus. It was stated that the purpose would be to promote community involvement in the process. Com. Craig said she would want a plan in place to begin community engagement to determine educational priorities in the community.

The Board discussed bringing in an outside facilitator to lead the group. Com. Evans pointed out that WASB assisted with the last strategic plan and did a very good job.

Com. Kneer urged the Board to involve teachers in the process as well. Com. Craig said she envisioned including teachers, senior citizens, and community members.

Citizen Terri Stanley said it was important to establish the process and have the community involved every step of the way.

Com. O’Brien suggested changing the wording of the motion to read, “…complete a comprehensive community planning process for the purpose of developing community-wide consensus…”

Com. Craig moved, seconded by Com. Wogahn, to direct administration to immediately begin developing strategies to complete a comprehensive community planning process for the purpose of developing community-wide consensus regarding short and long range educational priorities for the ECASD. This plan will serve as a blueprint for future budgetary decisions related to, but not limited to, operational, facilities, and capital expenses/
reductions. A draft of the strategies for this comprehensive community planning proposal should be submitted for the BOE review by July 1, 2007, with an implementation target date of September 1, 2007. Carried by unanimous roll call vote.

Superintendent Klaus said he believed the group should make the public aware of reductions already in place and to ask for priorities for reductions in the future."

Needless to say NONE OF THIS HAS HAPPENED. Teachers are not involved. Community members are not involved. Senior Citizens are not involved. A committee has not been formed. Nothing happened for months. Then I asked at the May 21st BOE meeting why nothing is happening. Then something started happening but, as usual, it was completely behind the scenes and out of the sight of anybody but the Administrators and some BOE members. At the June 18th BOE meeting they announced that there would be a Closed Session to interview candidates to help in the CCP but it was confidential because it involved "negotiations."

Can anyone tell me how an organization the size of the ECASD could possibly go from NOTHING on May 21st to "negotiations" with finalists scheduled by June 18th?!?! Again, this is a completely crazy process that will not give us a good result. To have only a couple of individuals making all of the preliminary decisions about this incredibly important process is guaranteed to lead to an expensive, ill advised, time-consuming, waste of community goodwill that leaves the ECASD in worse shape than before.

Please see below a link to the American Planning Association website about how to choose a planner.

http://www.planning.org/consultant/choose.htm

This website highlights the need to PLAN for planning including defining what our goals for the project are, setting a budget and timetable, defining the roles of the consultant and other members of the team (Administrators, BOE members, teachers, other staff, community members, etc...) Other steps include soliciting candidates using an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) which would tell us WHY they are qualified to help us and an RFP (Request for Proposal) which tells us HOW they propose to help us achieve our goals. Also "deliverables" must be identified by both parties to assure that at the end of the process we have precisely what we asked for and they know exactly what they are expected to do to satisfy the contract. Finally, what are the selection criteria identified by us to hire a planner that will meet our goals for this project? This is normally an objective score (rubric) which ranks qualities that we value and applies them mathematically across candidates.

I will follow this posting with a Comment that includes a copy of an e-mail I sent to BOE members and Administrators asking for this information. I have had no response from them.

This process is vitally important for the future of our district. More voices are needed to ask for participation or we will just be chasing down one more pointless and misguided folly led by inexperienced Administrators with poor BOE oversight.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

June 18, 2007 BOE Meeting

Another series of magical moments at the ECASD BOE meeting on Monday night! For those of you not in attendance but who are interested enough in the process, I will give you my color commentary. Others who attended are certainly free to post their own comments or clarify mine.

The Agenda for the June 18th meeting was not posted on the ECASD website until Monday morning but I was informed that it was posted at the Main Office so any interested community members were welcome to get into their cars and drive down during working hours to look at it. One more obstacle to timely and easy and meaningful community participation in the process!

The meeting started out, as usual, with NO INFORMATION about agenda items available for any of the public attending the meeting. So even if you had managed to get an agenda, you had no supporting documentation to inform yourself about the "Interim Public Comment Policy", or the "Budget Adjustments", or the "Transportation Contract" or the "Appoint Montessori Board Member" or the "WKCE Results" were! But there is still the expectation that Public Comments are to occur at the beginning of the meeting before any information is presented.

Carol Craig did a yeoman's job of attempting to open up a slightly larger window of opportunity for public participation by drafting an Interim Policy that would give the public up to 30 minutes (twice that proposed by Pres. O'Brien) to comment as well as allowing comments on topics not on the Agenda (these were prohibited by Pres. O'Brien's policy). But still there is the obligation to sign up 5 minutes before the meeting begins, no repeating or supporting previous comments as that would be duplicating, the public is expected to "collaborate" before the meeting if several people have the same concerns, and there is a time limit of just a couple of minutes per person. I expect that the next development is that the public members in attendance will be expected to wear the equivalent of a dunce cap with the Scarlet Letter "P" for public emblazoned on it.

I used my allotted 3 minutes to stumble through my list of suggestions to ask for additional avenues of MEANINGFUL community participation such as having some sub-committees of the BOE that could include public member and that all information given to BOE members for decision-making and information be posted on the ECASD website in a timely manner (say, by 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the Monday meeting) so that the public can inform themselves. I also objected to the fact that the interviews with Comprehensive Community Planners is being done in Closed Session next week, thereby completely excluding the community from participating in the first stages of this vitally important process. (More on that in a separate blog posting.) Also, there is a Work Session scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 9th to discuss the Conflict of Interest policy as well as setting up a ECASD Foundation: NO public comment will be allowed. I noted that BOE members were busy writing down all of my suggestions in order to give them serious future consideration. NOT!!!

There was a motion to approve budget adjustments but nobody in the audience had a clue what they were for. Mike Bollinger made a point to acknowledge that these were due to gifts or something from the community but, again, it was too high level or classified or complicated to share with the peons in the audience or those watching PAC TV.

More motions and approvals for CESA stuff, student representatives, and reductions in co-curriculars as discussed at the last meeting. The transportation contract is up for renewal and the owners of Student Transit were available to give an overview of some of the operating details, etc... and how routes are made fairly efficient. After the presentation Bollinger made a lengthy and glowing commentary on how Student Transit is voluntarily foregoing their contractual entitlement to a 2.8% CPI adjustment factor which amounts to a $118,000 savings next year for the district. Bollinger repeatedly commented about how this exemplary, voluntary was so valuable coming from one of our community "partners" and is a wonderful example of how we can all work together during these difficult times. There is no doubt that his remarks were intended to shame the employees, and especially the teachers, back into the naughty corner for objecting to his pay freeze proposal from the previous meeting. Again, more discussion in a separate blog on this topic.

Don Johnson then gave a lengthy presentation on the WKCE results from testing the 4th, 8th and 10th graders and compared them to previous years. Again, the audience just had a shaky and poorly copied overhead projection of massive amounts of data to follow, and no comment was allowed anyway, so it was difficult to follow if the overall news indicated good progress (I think so) with some setbacks in some areas. At one point Johnson noted that "the teachers deserve the credit" for some of the significant progress in student achievement but Mr. Bollinger, surprisingly, failed to acknowledge the incredible work on the part of the ECASD employees in helping meet and exceed academic benchmarks for our students.

There was a fairly lengthy discussion about the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and that in several years the expectation is that 100% of all the students in the district will be expected to achieve proficiency in every category of Math and Reading. No exceptions. At this point, Commissioner Wogahn, not wanting to miss an opportunity to make one of his "out in left field" remarks said that since the ECASD only receives a small percentage of its funding from Federal dollars we should consider forgoing those funds and avoiding the mandates of NCLB. (The amount is approximately $8 million per year and Wogahn said that is just what they cut from the budget this year. The implication being: "No biggie. We can do that.")

I am not kidding. He proposed that the ECASD essentially become "secessionists" from federal funding and avoid federal mandates. After the rest of the BOE caught their breath and audience members picked their jaws up off the floor, Klaus gently pointed out that the district cannot opt out of participation, only the state can. And that the state would NEVER do that since 70% of DPI funding is federal. What about that arrogance that we are so special and can do things and write our own rules. This coming from a Board member in an organization that can't even get an Agenda for a public meeting posted online in a timely manner or make copies of information for members of the public.

Legislative Issues were summed up by Pres. O'Brien were that the NCLB legislation is coming up for re-authorizatin and in WI the budget is in Joint Finance and probably won't be done before July. Carol Craig buzzed in to notify him that the WI State Supreme Court had recently ruled against the Tomah School District for failing to provide adequate information in their Agendas to inform the public and encourage participation according to the mandates of the Open Meetings Laws. Klaus indicated that it referred to mostly Closed Session items (it did NOT) but said he would be sure they are in compliance.

Klaus passed out a schedule about the interviews with Community Planners for the Closed Session which is in the "if I told you I would have to kill you" category for the public. Commissioner Cummins asked if it would be OK if the public had questions for the interviews if they could e-mail them to the BOE. The irony of EXCLUDING the community from the beginning of the process of "Comprehensive COMMUNITY Planning" would be laughable if it were not just a sad, sad statement about how out of touch our leadership is.

That's all folks. Please post your own comments or correct me if I have an error in my reporting.

School Board meetings are rebroadcast during the week following the Monday Board meeting on Public Access Channel 12 on Tuesday's at 1 p.m., Wednesday's at 8 a.m. and Friday’s at 7 p.m. or tune in to 101.9 FM during the same time as the rebroadcast to hear the meeting

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Interim Superintendent position

Please see below an essay that was written by Karen Peikert and published in the Leader Telegram that discusses the probable appointment of Gregg Butler to the Interim Superintendent position. I will follow up with many, many comments that were written to me about this issue. Maria


Our city is deeply divided over the contentious issues surrounding a school
closing, teacher and staff layoffs and possible extracurricular reductions.
At the recent School Board meeting, I observed parents yelling and booing at
decisions that angered them, and incivility and condescension amongst
certain school board members.

The current animosity between and towards school leadership will eventually
start to erode the quality of our schools and ruin any chance of passing a
future referendum unless we have a dramatic turnaround in the public trust.
The failed referendum indicates that this community needs to be persuaded
that our district leaders will be good stewards of our tax dollars.

In January, the current superintendent announced that he will be stepping
down from his post to become a middle school principal, but will receive a
retirement package as though he had completed his career at the more
demanding position. On April 17, we were notified that the deputy
superintendent will be retiring at age 56, and then applying for the interim
superintendent position. I have a sneaking suspicion that those two
decisions do not exemplify kind of financial stewardship the taxpayers are
looking for.

By most accounts, school district "double-dipping" (individuals retiring at
full pension who are then rehired in another capacity) is somewhat
commonplace, and not unique to Eau Claire. Obviously, it is not illegal,
but it certainly does not happen in industries that seek to effectively
manage their bottom line. At a time when every student and teacher in the
district will directly feel the effects of the budget cuts, we must ask
ourselves whether this is the kind of principled decision-making that is
required in difficult times.

I don't doubt that the deputy superintendent has been an outstanding
contributor to Eau Claire's educational system, but at a certain point, can
we say "enough" to financial gamesmanship? Can we, as taxpayers, do anything
to change a compensation system that actually rewards educators for retiring
at an age that, in the private sector, they are often considered to be at
the top of their game? In the interim, can our School Board begin to say no
to the practice of double-dipping, thus eliminating the option of
manipulating the existing retirement system towards personal gain?

In the face of enormous budget deficits, the money involved is literally a
drop in the bucket. And truthfully, we probably need the deputy
superintendent's expertise to guide us through the challenges of the coming
school year. However, the voters of this community 'spoke' at the polls,
expressing a lack of confidence in school leadership to responsibly handle
the additional tax dollars needed to solve the budget problem. The argument
over whether this mistrust is justified is irrelevant; it must be addressed.

In the long road toward gaining taxpayer confidence, this was one small
step in the wrong direction.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Redux: Conflict of Interest

Here is a Letter to the Editor from June 4th that was published in the Leader Telegram. The letter is a rebuttal to an editorial comment written by Don Huebscher that said that basically all the BOE members have "baggage" which complicates their decision-making on the BOE. I failed to copy the online column when it was originally published and now the archived version has disappeared from the LT site. If anyone has it, please e-mail it to me and I will publish it in this blog.

My memory of it was that he basically said everyone on the board is conflicted: (Mary Kneer is an ECASD employee, Mike Bollinger is a former ECASD Administrator, Carol Craig is a member of a union that reports to the same national union as the ECASD teachers, Trish Cummins' children do not attend ECASD schools, Ken Faanes' wife is a substitute teacher, and Mike O'Brien has a double conflict with his wife's employment at ECASD and his law firm serves as the ECASD legal counsel.) Please correct me if I am misstating. Ironically, Wogahn escaped being fingered by the crack investigative journalism skills of Huebscher and yet Commissioner Wogahn rightly recuses himself every single time there is a vote on health care benefits as he is a local health care provider.

I do not have the lengthy EC residence history to know first hand, but others have informed me that John Flynn, former ECASD BOE President, sent his children to the local parochial schools rather than the ECASD schools. If that is the case, what is the big deal for people with Commissioner Cummins and her decision to home school her children?

Again, if someone has an e-copy of Huebscher's editorial I will gladly publish it here.


Opinions
Updated 6/4/2007 11:38:39 AM

Letter: Only one conflict on board



In his column of Sunday, May 24, Don Huebscher effectively demonstrates that most members of the Eau Claire school board have “baggage” (his term). However, he fails miserably to demonstrate his related contention the board members’ “baggage” somehow explains and justifies the clear conflict of interest posed by hiring the law firm that employs the board’s president to also represent the school district.

The column goes astray when it forgets the meaning of conflict of interest: a situation in which financial considerations may compromise — or appear to compromise — an individual’s professional judgment. One might question why a board member home schools her children rather than sends them to public school, but this is not a “conflict of interest,” even using a “not-so-loose definition” of the term.

Huebscher does a fair job of muddying the waters through his fuzzy thinking and imprecise use of language, but he does not demonstrate that any board member besides the president faces a clear and unequivocal conflict of interest.

SCOTT LOWE

Eau Claire

BOE Meeting June 4, 2007

This is a report of the June 4th BOE meeting from Alex Smith. I plan to watch the re-broadcast and maybe have additional comments.


I arrived at the meeting at about 7:10 and I realized I was going to have to sit out in the hallway and watch from the closed circuit TV. The first thing I noticed was that Wogahn was not there. Not a surprise.

There was a rather long discussion about the agenda item "Immediate Action-Public Comment Guidelines."

Carol Craig made several good points. Most notably she argued that whatever was being proposed was too restrictive and that guidelines should err on the side of encouraging public input rather than stifling it. She also pointed out that the proposed guidelines were at odds with existing board policies. It was a bit painful because obviously many people were there to hear the discussion about co-curriculars and this agenda item seemed to be making them impatient, although I found it pertinent and better than a Broadway play. O'Brien asked if anybody in the audience would like to speak to this issue. I guess nobody in the board room raised their hand. I meekly raised my hand from my seat in the hallway but of course he could not see me since I was not in the board room. I do not know what I would have said if I was noticed. I would have probably pointed out the irony: the public did not have the actual motion to look at and study, if there even was an actual motion. The board could learn lots by seeing how the City Council, Plan Commission and County Board proceed when public comments are allowed at open meetings.

At one point Bollinger made a spurious announcement which made the Leader Telegram. He pointed out the the district was not going to have to pay more for health benefits, and therefore the pittance allowed by the QEO would end up being almost exclusively salary dollars. He then implied that teachers would be nothing less than selfish if they did not accept a raise that is something less than the QEO offer. (This would solve the board's budget problems.) I think he said that he could not support a future referendum if teachers ended up not settling for less than the QEO. In my opinion his point was outrageous and should have been ruled out of order. Teachers perform an invaluable service. We trust our children with them. They are an integral part of our community its economy. The district successfully >paid< a consultant to find a way to hold insurance increases down. Kudos. But now it appears that they cynically did this to create leverage that would allow them to paint teachers as selfish if they accept a QEO that is mostly salary. Negative Kudos.

At another point in the meeting there was a discussion about developing a conflict of interest policy. I think the board agreed to form a subcommittee. O'Brien pointed out that he deals with conflict of interest issues everyday and therefore he would be a valuable member of the subcommittee. OK. I get it. This issue will dog this board for a year or so. Public appearance makes a difference but a majority of the board does not appreciate this fact of political life. They cannot get around it and it will paint the viability of any future referendum.

Eventually the meeting turned to co-curriculars. There was still no open seats in the board room. My back was aching so I went and sat down and watched the closed circuit TV from one of the little lounges in the building. This part of the meeting was kind of boring to me. Other people in the lounge seemed to be teachers and they were multi-tasking by grading as they listened to the discussion about co-curriculars.

Even though I said that this part of the meeting was boring, I want to say that I am a converted fan of co-curriculars. In high school, my only co-curricular was the chess club, and we did not have a sponsor, so we were off the books. As a teenager I despised official co-curriculars. But now I am an adult with four daughters. My middle school daughter has been involved in cross country and track this year. I came into her participation in these co-curriculars with a cynical perspective, but now I could go on and on about the benefits. Co-curriculars, with good, positive facutly role models, cannot be measured by reduction percentages.