Hiatus

This is the time when schools, staff, etc are off for the holidays. Hopefully, they are enjoying the time with their family and friends -- as well as resting -- for the "dash to graduation" that we inevitably seem to be in -- post January 1.

As such, I too will be spending time with my family -- as they gather from far and wide. I am looking forward to it and want them to see and enjoy Riverside. My plan would be to suspend posting of blogs until Monday, January 4th -- with the possible exception of something that might come up that would need specific attention.

Have a great hiatus and enjoy your family and friends.

Best regards,

Rick

Race to the Top ...of?

Yesterday, our Board met and determined that we were NOT going to apply for the Race To The Top (RTTT) funds -- under the current circumstances. Our meeting was also reported in the press this morning.

We have notified the State of our intent not to apply at this time, but do remain curious as to the RTTT opportunities. In explanation of our rationale for our position at this time we provided a number of concerns that are unaddressed in RTTT and therefore prohibit our involvement.

1. There is not clarity with the Legislative action or intent regarding this matter.
2. We are unsure of what exactly the “top” is in this context.
3. As we have reviewed the documents and listened to the conference calls regarding RTTT, there is a lack of clarity as to what the goal is and what the obligations are for RUSD.
4. Given the current budgetary crisis and the direct actions that we have taken to reduce both administration and staff, we are unsure that we have the organizational capacity to achieve the unspecified goals and assurances that might be involved in a RTTT application.

While we can concur that we can always work to reform and improve schools and the experience for students and parent, however we are unsure that this is the correct solution for us at this time. Possibly one of our Board members said it best when he stated that we are trying to “race to the top” but are doing so while “blindfolded” -- in the case of RTTT.

What is your opinion on RTTT?

Paper is GOOD!!

Paper is good or is it? Papyrus is good or is it? As educators we are trying to "wrap our minds" around the idea that possibly paper (the foundation piece of our modern day institution) may be becoming obsolete.

CK-12 is a non-profit corporation that is providing "digital" textbooks for students ...and their offer is to provide the access for "free." What amazes me is not the digitization of text -- certainly many others have done that. CK-12 provides a "3D" textbook that far surpasses any tradition (paper) textbook that I have seen and many learning options of students. This is a powerful textbook -- even if it is not paper. If you look at it you can see that the teacher can actually modify (improve) the text as well as it can be "updated" quickly for all concerned (we don't need the "new edition")

Nokia presents some interesting ideas about how we are once again making a transition into a new, much different era than before. They call it "the fourth screen." If you are really interested in stretching your mind you can check out the Boston Globe article on preschoolers and iPhone use -- including the video. Me thinks the world has changed before my eyes!!

Tool or Distraction?

Historically, there has been concern in schools about the presence of electronic devices in the hands of the students. As a result there have been a plethora of policies and rules about use, abuse, and confiscation. However, it seems that we live in a NEW era where the cell phone is ubiquitous with all ages -- what is the age of the YOUNGEST cell phone user that you know? As a result of the expectation of instant electronic access and universal deployment of these devices we have a new question in education -- how can (or should) we use these devices in the learning process of our students?

Recently I read two very interesting and competing news articles from two very different places. One of the articles took the more traditional approach of resolving school distractions, etc with the confiscation of student cell phones. The other article was highlighting the productive, if not unique, use of student cell phones as a tool for learning in the classroom.

At the collegiate level there is at least one university that issue these types of devices to all their incoming freshman -- with the notion that it will facilitate learning at their university.

I suspect, given not too much time, we will see more and more creative uses of these devices in the classrooms of schools across the nation. What is your speculation regarding the use of mobile devices and web 2.0 tools in America's classrooms?

So how much IS $37 million

As I am sure you are well aware, we have the task of resolving a $37 million deficit before we can present a balanced budget for 2010-11. But from my view, I have enough trouble trying to really understand how much $1,000,000 is -- so how much is $37 million?

With 92% of our budget going to personnel costs -- that would equate to $34 million in personnel reductions -- if this were to be done proportionally. Looked at another way -- and this is HUGE -- with the $9 million in reductions (from last Monday night) ...if we were to lay off ALL of our valuable classified employees districtwide (we are NOT suggesting this) -- THEN we would be at $37 million. But how would we operate without these and other valuable, critical employees? In similar regard, if we released ALL of of our management/administrative employees, we would be less than 60% of the way to $37 million (we are NOT suggesting this either). The point is, the issue we are facing is HUGE and we are going to have to think differently as to potential resolutions.

We continue to utilize our Budget Advisory Process to review and determine the budget reductions that make the greatest sense (in an insane budget world). It should be noted that the $37 million figure is based on NO more changes from the state. I continue to encourage you to call your local legislators and ask for them to resolve this issue.

Why?

So you are probably wondering -- how can we be losing class size reduction, staff, & many other potential cuts -- while at the same time we are engaged in re-building the Ramona athletic fields, King HS artificial turf, elementary wing additions, etc.? The reality is that money to support the construction projects mentioned and others comes from several specialized sources:

• the local Measure B bond funds,
• state construction bond funds,
• etc.

These funds by both their stated purpose (and therefore commitment to the local electorate) and state law can ONLY be used for construction projects. They specifically canNOT be used for staff or operational expenses (other than directly related to construction projects). While we can use "general fund" dollars for construction (which we try to avoid at all costs), we cannot use construction funds for "general fund" purposes. Hopefully, this helps to explain, "why."

Sacramento

As described previously, we are in serious budgetary trouble with each of our schools and classrooms -- based on Sacramento and the effects of their decisions on all of us. I would continue to urge you to contact your legislators and implore their swift and prudent action. Some might ask -- what do I say when I call or write? I would suggest that you keep it simple -- after all they work for YOU:

• your name and community
• your concern about educational funding AND its impact on your schools and children
• they (those in Sacramento) need to fix the problem (that is why we voted and sent them there)

It is not only important to call -- but keep calling. They need to know they have a friend in Riverside.

On a related note, we "hear" that there is a "plan" in Sacramento to avoid telling us the "bad news" in January (with the Governor's budget) -- but to hold it off until May. BAD idea, that leaves us NO time to respond and plan before our balanced budget is required to be submitted. We would hope that whatever the news is, it would be communicated in January when we still have time to develop a workable plan.

It's Time to Think DIFFERENTLY?

There's a lot going on!! Everyone knows that we have NCLB, that is asking for increased performance every year. As discussed before, we have a shrinking state budget that effects us locally. There is a call from the feds to engage the Race To The Top and improved performance. And then there are global issues and competition.

We can try to keep doing what we have ALWAYS done or we can begin to "think differently." Well what exactly is "thinking differently" -- it's a real stretch issue!! As an example -- and I am NOT necessarily advocating this solution -- what if we PAID students for performance? You say that's crazy and possibly it is -- but that is exactly what they have done in New York City. There is another program ("Earning by Learning") in Dallas, TX where students are paid for each book that they read. What if we paid our employees based on performance and then bonuses for enhanced value-added contributions? On the other hand, there are other views on this issue.

Again I am not suggesting any of these pay/incentive programs -- BUT in what way will we create different solutions in Riverside? -- HOW will we think differently and create better solutions?

Light amidst the dark

Okay even in the darkest of times, there are good things happening. Yesterday, a broad representation of our Riverside community met at Longfellow Elementary to introduce the new STAR program that will support students and families in character education, job issues and acquisition, and gang-alternative strategies. Once again our community comes together -- working to sustain and enhance the experience and options of our students. The program is supported by Riverside County DA (Rod Pacheco), the City of Riverside, Riverside Opportunity Center (Rev Jerry Lowder), Riverside PD, and ourselves.

The program through the afterschool program will provide capacity and empowerment to our students and their families. While there have been other programs like this across the U.S. -- this is a first -- given the age of the students. Based on successful models it works not only with the students but with their parents in the empowerment process. Good job Riverside -- once again!

A Time of Great Sadness

Last night was horrible, as the Board and the District set about trying to resolve its $37 million deficit. NO one enjoyed or was supportive of any of the reductions that we had to take. This is horrible!! And it affects our kids and community -- and will continue to do so for a very Loo...ong time. After the actions we had a total of about $9 million in budget reductions for the coming 10-11 school year. BUT this is less than a 1/3 of the way we have to go to close the budget gap. While we hope for a miracle from Sacramento (and certainly have not been receiving those of late), the 3 actions taken that have HUGE impact on our schools and classrooms included:

1. We took another $2.6 million in Tier III flexibility -- that means $2.6 million in program reductions at schools. These were reductions that were recommended last year by our Budget Advisory Committee -- but did not implement at the time.
2. We eliminated the class size reduction (CSR) program from the 3rd grade. That means class sizes will be at 30:1 in our 3rd grade classrooms. This action is based on the fact that Sacramento removed that code section and funding that allowed our 3rd grade CSR.
3. We essentially eliminated K-2 CSR, which will take our primary classrooms from 24 to 1 to 30:1.

Please, please call your/our representatives in Sacramento and let them know of the horrific reductions that we are undergoing -- and then KEEP calling them until something changes. We cannot make sense of this anymore.

So the Budget Improvements Start

I was in San Diego on Thursday and amongst other things heard Jack O’Connell along with others speak about our state budget. Pretty interesting!! In 2008, the State budget was $103 Billion. In 2009, it is $84.5 Billion – a fairly significant decrease. But the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) recently released his projection (non-partisan) and said that there would be another $20.7 Billion lost in the next 18 months. So using my 6th grade math – that would mean we are looking at $63.8 Billion – quite a loss from $103 Billion!!

So what does that mean to us? Using just our current numbers before the LAO’s numbers “kick in” we have to come up with $37 million in savings/budget improvements for the 2010-11 school year. Last year, to provide some perspective, we were looking for about $25 million to close the gap. Further, as of tonight we are filing a “qualified” interim financial report with our Riverside County Office of Education. Also, as of tonight, we will begin the actual budget changes in preparation for next year. While NONE of us like the task ahead, we must make these moves in a timely manner to “balance the budget” and to attempt to move us back into a “positive” financial certification with RCOE.

All should know that while we are and will do everything in our power to reduce the impact on our students – schools will NOT be the same in this coming year. PLEASE don’t forget to call or write or email or communicate with our local legislators. That is the ONLY way out -- other than impacts on every aspect of our operation.

In times of trial -- our COMMUNITY rises to the occasion

I had the pleasure of another great Riverside tradition and demonstration of the sharing of "social capital" (to use Mayor Loveridge's term). On Tuesday, I was privileged to attend a bicycle safety presentation at Woodcrest Elementary along with some Board members. While the "purpose" of the gathering was to have officers from Riverside PD help students understand the need for bicycle safety -- and we all learned about the ABCs (can't remember what was the C again?) -- the reality was this was also an occasion where 20 fortunate students received brand-new bicycles through the East Hills division of the Chamber of Commerce. They too were in attendance to see this great exchange.

Everyone in the room was excited and thrilled with what was happening -- but there were 20 that absolutely could not believe their good fortune. I know that several of these students have NEVER had a bicycle. By the way, I am not sure I could tell who was more excited the 20 kids or the parents with tears in their eyes.

Good job East Hills Chamber!! Good job Riverside!!

World Class according to some

So you are probably wondering – what is the largest newspaper in the world and what does that have to do with us?

Well, recently we had some reporters (Tatsuhito Iida and Angela Perone) visit from Yomiuri Shimbun (読売新聞,). Yomiuri Shinbun, is Japan’s largest newspaper and reported to be the largest newspaper in the world (with a circulation in excess of 14 million), visited Mici Orona’s honors biology class (at Arlington HS) to watch students using the Intelligent Papers textbook readers as part of our digital textbook pilot program. It seems that we are unique in our implementation of digital textbooks. How did they find out about us? The reporters found us when they did an Internet search for California school districts using this digital technology. We currently have 25 teachers and more than 1,200 students across the district now benefiting from the resources available through the Governor’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative. We hope to expand that list soon.

Tatsuhito and Angela shared that the Japanese population is highly interested in bringing such technology to their students as well. It is exciting to see this kind of validation that we in RUSD are, indeed a world class school district!


Coincidentally, there is another article also regarding digital text in Riverside found at the Educated Guess blog found at the enclosed hyperlink.

Budget impacts begin to take effect in schools and classrooms

The issues of budget continue to plague us as we have a responsibility to resolve a $37 million deficit for next year’s budget (2010-11). Most of us in Riverside County were given “conditional approval” by the County Office – including the requirement to take action before the end of this calendar year – in an attempt to resolve these issues. All of this before the state resolves the budget deficit that we have discussed repetitively – which is about a $20 billion problem. It is our belief that while we are NOT likely to suffer any reductions mid-year – which is great – we will suffer even a greater deficit once the Governor and Legislature start balancing their budget.

Unlike last year’s budget reconciliation, there is NO stimulus to bail us out and salvage the situation. The amount we have to resolve is larger this year than last year. Further, we have attempted about all the “tricks” and “gimmicks” that we know. What we have left are classrooms and BASIC educational programs. This year we have no option other than to impact where 92% of our budget resides – employees. Each one of those employees fills a critical role in our current education system. I can see no way to avoid the further regression of “class size reduction” and utilization of Tier III flexibility with state categorical funds.

This is certainly NOT consistent with my philosophy or prior practice – but we are left with no choice.