Things That Make Me Go Hmmm (part 2)
- Category: October 2011
- Hits: 104
Once again I am perplexed by the actions of our school board and district officials. Trying to decipher this conundrum of CJUSD actions (or lack thereof) and words is disconcerting. They need to make up their minds, either they want to negotiate in order to get concessions or they don’t. You are not going to get one without the other.
At the September 29th special school board Meeting, CPA, financial advisor and board consultant, Mike Williams warned the School Board that “Time is not your friend” and Assistant Superintendant of Business, Jaime Ayala said, “Concessions from labor organizations are needed”. The term “Concessions” was used at least six times throughout Mr. Ayala’s budget presentation, yet the School Board directed district officials to “stay the course” and proceed with the impasse process. Hmmm. . . that doesn’t sound like a school board that wants to negotiate concessions in a timely manner. Even their own advisors have warned them that time is of the essence to save CJUSD the optimum amount of money.
Hmmm. . . is delaying the opening of Grand Terrace High School for a year really the answer? Is closing down swimming pools (while leaving them filled and covered that is..) a viable solution? Is charging students for transportation to and from school, or extending walking distances for students going to help CJUSD save money? Is closing an elementary school and busing the students to anther school (which they promised not to do) going to get CJUSD out of this “financial crisis”? NO! What is going to get the District out of this financial mess is COMMUNICATION not closing schools, programs, and services that directly affect our students.
Communicate with ACE. Negotiate with ACE. The impasse process will take far too long to make a real difference and it will destroy what little confidence ALL employees have in CJUSD. We cannot help CJUSD to help save itself if they don’t talk to us. Leave the lawyers out of it! Communicate with your employees and change the course of financial ruin that CJUSD believes it is on.
Leadership
- Category: October 2011
- Hits: 329
Recently, I had the opportunity to read Good to Great by Jim Collins. It is a book on leadership that details the attributes that make a good company great. The book is basically a research project that poured over decades of data and discovered 11 companies that moved from good-to-great and greatly outperformed every other company. The research team identified the common traits that existed in every single good-to-great company and what they call Level 5 Leadership existed in each of those great companies.
President's Message
- Category: October 2011
- Hits: 392
Massive Rally planned for October 20th at the school board! If you don’t know what this is by now, we have not been annoying you with enough brightly colored papers. Seriously, we have asked our education partners from the Inland Empire Teachers Associations and local law enforcement and firefighters to join us. We just heard that Rick Lazano from channel 11 news has been invited by the National Organization for Women to attend. We also just received 1000 noisemakers, so get there early for the best selection or bring your own.
Read more: President's MessageOur State of Emergency Efforts Continue
- Category: October 2011
- Hits: 291
In May, thousands of Californians – students, parents, educators and supporters of public education – mobilized to call attention to the cuts decimating public education throughout the state. Our actions resulted in Democratic members of the Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown passing a state budget that protected K-12 schools from deeper cuts. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t pain. Let’s be clear, our schools, colleges and students are reeling from $20 billion in cuts over the last three years. We have some of the largest class sizes in the country. More than 40,000 educators have been laid off in the last three years. And our students are entering school with fewer education programs like music, art, PE and career technical education. In higher education, college tuition has doubled in the last four years as course offerings have dwindled.
Read more: Our State of Emergency Efforts Continue
