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Letter to the Editor - March 14, 2008
Where is the money coming from?
On the March board agenda was a fee from Wagner and Pelayes, the attorneys that the new board members hired, for attending a conference in Sacramento. The fee amounted to $2,000. When Mr. Minton asked who authorized such an expense and refused to approve it, Mr. Pelayes responded that he was asked to attend with Robert Kirk because the conference in Sacramento was delivering erroneous information about the Brown Act.
Before leaving the podium that night, Mr. Pelayes' final statement was that "we" disagreed with the interpretation of the law. My question is who is "we?" Did he bill the district for time spent on researching California law on the Brown Act? Why was he doing it in the first place? Why was it necessary to travel to Sacramento, when a letter or an email might have done the job? Just what part of the law did he disagree with? Was Robert Kirk worried about new board members breaking that law?
After the questioning by Mr. Minton, Mr. Pelayes stated that he would not bill the district for the time spend in Sacramento and his travel expenses. Good. But just how many other unnecessary expenses have there been with regards to the law firm? Have they become the board members' private law resource? The media is filled with news of budget cuts and teacher layoffs. How many unnecessary expenses have occured because of the new board? The new "choice" school comes to mind. Millions of dollars are being spent to turn it into a K-6 school. Yet, sixth graders from other schools will still be bussed there because there is no room at their current home schools. In addition, it takes a great deal of money to set up a school that is planning on teaching piano and a second language.
Where is that money coming from, and at what expense to the other schools in the district? Hardy Black stated that they closed down the sixth grade schools because they didn't serve the whole district. The choice school they're planning can only serve the neighborhood it's in and those people who can provide transportation for their children to get there. Doesn't sound very fair to me, nor should it for parents whose children will be in larger class sizes just so we can have a choice school.
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| Yes interested people should give up their Saturday to come see the board facilitate a special meeting to develop core beliefs, goals, and objectives. Do you ever remember the previous board actually working at a special meeting to achieve this? |
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| wow - Mar 21, 2008 01:47:48 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Teachers are responsible for their own actions and if they choose not to be informed of the decisions of the district they are the ones to blame. As for the idea of choice schools apparently you are one of the ones who chooses not to listen. Choice schools was a topic all during the election in 2006 for all three newly elected board members. In case you are still ill informed, these three won a decisive victory indicating that at least the voters in Hesperia were listening and wanted this. And judging by the enrollment response during the first 4 days, Cypress choice school is very popular with the parents in Hesperia. |
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| geez - Mar 21, 2008 01:43:58 PM | Remove Comment |
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| All writers are invited to the Special HUSD Board meeting Saturday March 22 8am. I challenge you to be there. Observe history as it happens.
Come watch the district attorney and McKinney lead a discussion of board issues. Is the attorney getting paid? How much? Do the two unions care in light of lay offs? This happens a day before Easter.
As a teacher I had no knowledge of the Choice School movement in our district until the HTA union president spoke at a Board meeting promoting the movement last school year. Why was I not consulted before he stood up representing me? Teachers are kept out of the info loop. A few paid leaders at the top decide the direction and tone of the union. The general membership was not informed about the decisions and behaviors of former district administrators that upset HTA leaders.
Union leaders need to present facts if they have concerns. HTA leaders need to encourage general membership attendance at board meetings. The HTA leaders need to get more general members involved. The leaders are in their own world. A case in point is promoting a 4 day work week which was not possible legally. Come on guys, do your homework. All teachers need to be informed of the school board and HTA goals. Individual political motivations are suspect. |
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| Hesp teach - Mar 21, 2008 11:13:38 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Lies, lies, lies. There will be the status quo on music at the elementary schools. In fact there could be even more offerings for music if parents at the K-6 neighborhood schools organize and work for it. All of the programs at the elementary schools will remain the same unless the parents want to go for choice at a particular school. Imagine that? Parent involvement and choice! What a winning combination. |
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| stop it - Mar 21, 2008 09:22:24 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Amen, parent voice. And, LBO, our elementary district honor band has been performing each spring at Disneyland for many years. I'm so sad that only a few choice children will be given the tremendous opportunity to learn to play an instrument. |
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| Hear the Music - Mar 21, 2008 09:03:35 AM | Remove Comment |
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| LBO, all three of my children learned to play instruments and read sheet music in elementary school. To my knowledge, all students are given a choice of learning any instrument they desire and i made a choice to find a way to get access, for them, to the instrument they chose, one of the best sacrifices i have ever made. The fact that the music program has shared teachers, or not the budget to provide instruments for the children does not make it bad. They may not have formed a band, but they did perform and hold concerts, and they learned to appreciate one of the finer things in life. A choice school should have a music program, but so should the others regardless of a budget crisis. |
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| parent voice - Mar 20, 2008 06:57:27 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Sorry, I was not aware the district had so many music teachers. Maybe it was just my kids who failed to get exposure to musical instruments other than the recorder. My kids certainly didn't have a band in elementary school. In fact I don't remember seeing ANY hesperia elementary school bands at the Kiwanas music event last week, maybe it was just for VV and AV. |
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| LBO - Mar 18, 2008 02:26:11 PM | Remove Comment |
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| I agree, JD. And here's another point. If band is taken away from the other elementary schools, when will our kids have a chance to learn to play an instrument? Won't this have a great effect on junior and senior high band programs? |
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| music - Mar 18, 2008 09:03:42 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Well LBO, speaking as a parent of two students who received music instruction in elementary, I beg to differ. If you have ever seen the music productions the elementary music teachers have exhibited, you might be impressed and surprised. |
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| JD - Mar 17, 2008 07:14:20 PM | Remove Comment |
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| In the interest of full disclosure, THERE WERE NO KIDS NAMES MENTIONED. |
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| geez - Mar 17, 2008 06:21:14 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Thank you whomever took the posts with the children's names off. That was so wrong. Leave the kids out of it. Be adult enough to not to give that kind of information. |
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| Teacher - Mar 17, 2008 01:25:20 PM | Remove Comment |
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| I don't see kids names anywhere on the post. And why are some people so quick to jump to the dark side? Couldn't this information be obtained from talking with parents or grandparents who had enrolled their children at the school? Or that someone overheard them talking about it? I doubt that any board members even bother to read these blogs let alone post on them. |
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| what - Mar 17, 2008 12:51:33 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Maybe Hardy Black or Lee Rogers are posting as /get real/. Who else would have access to school records? Anyway, why attack people who haven't attacked you? |
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| Are My Kids Next? - Mar 17, 2008 10:41:41 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Please, everyone, help remove the comment about the students by name from Cypress. No matter where you fall on the issue, this is wrong. |
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| Teacher - Mar 17, 2008 10:17:51 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Leaking information about people's kids? Probably false, but even so, just shows you how low these people are. Hesperia, who of your children will be the next target? Apparently this is someone who has access to the children's records and misuses the information, if it is at all true. |
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| MarkR - Mar 17, 2008 10:13:03 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Music this and Music that, the district has never had a music teacher full time at each school. The music teacher goes from school to school teaching basic music skills at best. Music IS valuable and does improve learning, but spread so thin i do not believe it does much. |
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| LBO - Mar 17, 2008 09:57:08 AM | Remove Comment |
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| And of course Cypress would fill its quota of those lucky few who get to attend if it will be the ONLY elementary school offering music. And it will have a higher API because it will be drawing the students of parents who are active in their kid's lives, ensuring they get signed up. This is why choice schools have higher scores, not because they are better schools, because they have more PARENT involvement. |
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| JD - Mar 17, 2008 07:15:29 AM | Remove Comment |
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| API's are not created in a year unless you spend the year drilling and killing so students can regurgitate on a test. The true test of a school is setting a fondation for on-going success. The lowest API schools fed into Cypress and, if you spoke to teachers at the junior high, they saw the Cypress students as highly successful at HJH. |
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| JD - Mar 17, 2008 07:07:39 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Whoa, people. Jim Wells, for example, will NOT be laid off because his seniority in the district prevents it. At worst, he'd move to a position in the district "bumping" a new teacher. |
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| Misinformation - Mar 16, 2008 08:31:37 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Didn't know anyone had been laid off yet. I think it is horrible that Jim Wells and others MAY actually be laid off, both because as people they deserve to have a rewarding and lucrative job and because our children will suffer. The falicy here is that all things money are linked together. The budget for buildings is separate from the budget for staff and the budget for special projects offten is all together separate from both. The fact that the board members are wise enough to consult a lawyer is a good thing. Just listen to the tone of these posts people are just waiting for a chance to sue HUSD. The oppinion piece has some great questions, however the purpose for asking them is less an effort to get answers than to be yet another tired attack on the the block of three board members. If people would LET the board handle the issues that face our district instead of always being on the attack you might just be surprised at what the board, that the voters has chosen, is capable of doing. |
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| LBo - Mar 16, 2008 07:39:56 PM | Remove Comment |
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