Okay, okay ...

You are right, I have been remiss and have not posted to this blog as I should.  It seems with the end of the year I have been up to my ears and beyond with projects, commitments, etc.  As several of you have pointed out, I have not posted since June 10th.  Sorry, I will do better and get back on track.

Best regards,

Rick

And OUT of the Darkness Comes…

I am reminded that when things get dark and cloudy in the mountains and it looks very foreboding – there comes light and brilliance as we approach the goal. So through the darkness we can suddenly see the mountain goal in its brilliance.

While things certainly have been dismal with budget issues, state funding, etc. in the past months …I am reminded here as well that there is brilliance in the midst of this all. If any of you doubt that, I wish that you had attended the commencement exercises (a culmination of 12+ years) at our high schools in the past several nights. We have extraordinary students that are doing extraordinary things – and often with extraordinary stories of perseverance and overcoming – thanks to their teachers and families.

Last night (much as in prior evenings this week) it was a collage of great student music, “graduating” (retiring) staff members, inspiring student speeches, diplomas, and Junior Class ushers waiting their turn. Of course, all topped off with a dance of joy and glee between students and faculty in total celebration. If it doesn’t make it to YouTube – it should, as it was total and appropriate exuberance.

Congratulations to all of our teachers & staff and the graduating students!

So Now It Is Official

On Friday, our 4 elementary schools that have been recognized as 2010 California Distinguished Schools officially received their plaques and designation from California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell. It was especially gratifying to have our own California Teacher of the Year, Amber Carrow (Chemawa teacher), announce each of our four schools. 

It is always good when we have others recognize the great work and performance of our teachers and school staff. The California Distinguished School Award process is much more rigorous than in earlier times. The process starts with a “nomination” based on performance data, which is followed by an “application” from the school describing their “signature practices.” That application is reviewed and a smaller number of schools are selected for “validation visits” where CDE representatives come to your school for the day to review and validate the substance of those identified practices. Finally, there is a subsequent selection of the California Distinguished Schools. This year, there is a comprehensive listing of signature practices (from California Distinguished Schools) from across the state by various attributes – which provides a mechanism for sharing best practice.

Congratulations to the school, parents, students, and staff of each of our 4 California Distinguished Schools:

• Benjamin Franklin Elementary
• Mark Twain Elementary
• George Washington Elementary
• Woodcrest Elementary

Let the Graduations Begin

Yesterday morning the Board of Education voted in favor of all the RCTA agreements presented and will have the MOU for ratification on Monday, June 14th. 

However, the main event of the year began last night with the graduation for 20 students in the Project TEAM program at the Adult School.  Kudos to both the students and the staff for their diligence and mutual caring.  Great performance and great culmination to their work.

Monday, we will begin with all the high school graduations and middle school promotions.  In all the cases, the culminating activity not only for the students and their families, but for the staff and what they have been working on all year -- or even all decade.  I am looking forward to those activities that I will be able to attend (can't make them all due to duplication of times).

So What Does This All Mean?

I trust that as you read this, the School Board has today done the following:

• Rescinded most of the 7-12 RIF notices such that we have the normal contractual staffing levels
• Had a public disclosure of the MOU (ratification will come on June 14th) that was ratified by RCTA last week, and
• Hopefully, approved the ERIP based on mutual determination of how it will be paid for (it was not cost neutral).

Which I am sure raises the question with many of you (and with me) – where are we then in the restoration of the many certificated employees that have been notified of possible layoff (RIF). THAT is not an easy question as there are multiple variables and many moving parts in that equation. However, let me make an attempt at it realizing that this is an estimate (not a specific) and I will probably be close, but not perfect.

We started with notices that affected 455 people – in a variety of categories including teachers, counselors, administrators, librarians, etc.  What is included herein is based on people not FTE (Full Time Equivalents), as this is an issue that obviously impacts people not statistics.

455 Original notices of possible lay off
-90 Notices that were rescinded in early May based on: resignations, retirements, leaves of absence, etc.
=======================
365 Balance
-74 Rescission of RIF notices to secondary teachers
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291 Balance
-56 Rescission's based on the MOU that will affect some elementary teachers and librarians
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235 Balance
-64 Rescission's based on the possible retirements reflected in the ERIP
=======================
171 Balance
-43 Rescission's based on reduction/elimination of credential impacts
=======================
128 Balance

Huge progress has been made on a very difficult task. While none of us can quite imagine the size of the problem when we began, together we have been able to make a sizable dent in the problem. However, 128 left with NO rescission is too many, AND it is still clear that this causes genuine damage to our schools:

• to what happens every day in schools and what resources are available to our students
• to staff members and families that still are in layoff status
• to the future unless these agreements are extended …as this is only a 1 year (2010-2011) agreement

The related question is – if my RIF notice has been (will be) rescinded – where will I be placed for an assignment? Clearly, our interest is to maintain as much stability as possible and as such NOT move people unless absolutely necessary. However, again the situation is effected by many variables including: how many staff are allocated to a particular site; rules, contracts, and policies governing this situation; specifics regarding each individual (e.g., credential and seniority); etc. Bottom line, probably the key determiner will be seniority.

In any case, thank you all for your work and cooperation to moving these issues forward.

R and R

I hope that you all had a great weekend and Memorial Day. Hopefully, you took time to remember the purpose and meaning of Memorial Day within the holiday gala. I had the great pleasure of “getting away” with my son and going to where I can best gain perspective – the High Sierras – hopefully above 10,000’ – “Woo Who”. Day one we saw 7 people and on day two we saw 4 people. It was great and restful – hopefully it was the same for you.

For those that are interested, I don’t usually look like my standard blog portrait (above), but rather more like the picture to the right.

It was also a time for catching up on some reading and reflection. Had the opportunity to read The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey. It was an interesting read that talks about the requirement of trust in a global, 21st century environment.

Furloughs

I extend my most ecstatic congratulations to RCTA and the certificated staff of our District that have agreed to furloughs to save the positions of our fellow employees. This past Friday RCTA passed their ratification of furloughs in excess of 82%. This adds to the furloughs that have agreed to by our administrators and managers in the District. The School Board will have public disclosure of the RCTA agreement (public disclosure is by law required 10 days before ratification) on Thursday, June 3rd. They will then ratify the MOU with RCTA on June 14th (after the prescribed disclosure period and review by the county office). We are hopeful that there will be more good news as the data from the ERIP is being considered.

We are in difficult and unusual times indeed!! Who would have ever thought we would need to take such action to do the right thing for each other and for the well being of our public education institution?