School Board Liveblog, 3rd Edition

Two weeks have gone by, and it’s time for another school board meeting!  Prepare yourself for more budget woes and, around 9 o’clock, me complaining about sleep deprivation.  Should be exciting.

Note: Italicized hyperlinks are .pdf files.

The agenda for this meeting looks relatively compact, although it’s hard to tell just from looking at the agenda how long it will last.  After the consent calendar, which includes the approval of classified and certificated personnel reports and the aptly named 2010-2011 Consolidated Application for Funding Categorical Aid Programs, Part II, the board will recognize retiring employees (congratulations to Jean Echeverria, the much-loved custodian at my former elementary school, on his retirement).  DJUSD Prevention and Crisis Manager (and Da Vinci High School Counseling Office alumna) Jennifer McNeil will deliver this year’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Report.

After Ms. McNeil’s presentation, the Board will then vote on a resolution emphasizing its support of full state funding for Assembly Bill 3632, a student mental health services bill that had its funding cut by Gov. Schwarzenegger last year, shifting the financial burden to school districts.  There seems to be little downside to the board passing the resolution, so I doubt that will be terribly controversial.  This will be followed by a discussion of the Memorandum of Understanding (.docx) between the Yolo County Department of  Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health and the Yolo County Special Education Local Plan Area on how to provide mental health services if AB 3632′s funds are not restored.

Finally, the Board will discuss the elimination of certain certificated positions (.ppt) to close the budget gap.  Because two different taxes that would affect the DJUSD budget are awaiting a vote, one statewide and the other a $200/$20 parcel tax the Board approved at the last meeting, the Board has to plan for multiple funding outcomes, ranging from a $5.7 million deficit in the event that both taxes fail to a $1.3 million surplus if they both pass.  I would guess that this is likely to be the most contentious item on the agenda, simply because (potential) drastic cuts always are.

The meeting starts Thursday at 7.  Make sure to comment!

7:12- Crowd less hostile than last time, to say the least.  President Harris calls meeting to order.  Korematsu Elementary Choir sings about Fred Korematsu.  President Harris grooves to the music.

7:18- Harris: “Who says I can’t run a meeting?”  Sheila Allen: “Oops, was my microphone on?”  Harris: “That was good… no, not for the rest of the night it won’t be.”  Da Vinci senior/former student rep to the Board Katie Wynne invites the Board to 1929 Night at Da Vinci High School.  Students will exhibit magazines they produced as if they were from the 1920s, as part of our joint U.S. History/American Literature Party Like It’s 1929 Project.  The Magazine Launch Party will be held a week from tomorrow, 6-8 pm at 1400 East Eighth Street, you should come and vote for my magazine, “Red Rose: The Journal of America’s Radical Left,” ask a Da Vinci student for details.

7:23- Staff comment: Local California School Employees Association unanimously endorses parcel tax.  Susan Lovenburg: “The parcel tax has a name now, and it’s Measure A.”  Student Representative (and Da Vinci senior!  So much Da Vinci tonight) Sarah Douglas announces that the Student Board, which is composed of representatives from all the district’s high schools, is planning on surveying students in the near future on the homework policy that the District adopted last year.  Retiree recognitions begin.

7:30- Jean is congratulated for his many years of service.  Lovenburg: “For many years, I was garden coordinator at Willett and Jean and I became very good friends… we really miss you at the campus.”  Happy retirement, Jean!

7:37- Only two more retirees showed up, neither of whom I know but both of whom are amazing people, I’m sure.  Moving on to Student Services head Pamela Mari and Jennifer McNeil’s presentation about suicide prevention.  Mari: Last calendar year, Yolo County Suicide Prevention service responded to 150 alarms for those between 8 and 18.

7:45-McNeil: Fact-based anti-suicide education is factual and emphasizes “protective factors” such as the ability to ask for help when needed.  Announces implementation of standardized risk assessment procedures for students who have demonstrated warning signs of suicide; 50 have been conducted this year so far.

7:50- McNeil ends presentation, Board begins to comment.  Mari says that further details will be announced at the next board meeting.  McNeil: “The plan is to first work within the small team of school mental health professionals” and then subsequently bring in the community at large.  Mari brings up McNeil’s recent work at Emerson Junior High, where she integrated suicide prevention into the Romeo and Juliet unit in English classes, emphasizing the need to bring up suicide prevention in a context that has some sort of relevance to them.  Allen: “The logical place might be to pop it into a health class, but that might not be the best format” to have the teacher standing up front lecturing, rather than engaging, the class.  McNeil: “Repetition doesn’t hurt either, so the more venues the better.”

7:56- McNeil details the risk assessment interviews, which, in her first year in her new job, she has helped update to focus on research-proven indicators of suicidal tendencies, earning praise from the Board. Apparently, the District used to make students sign a contract not to harm themselves if they were identified as at risk of suicide, but they’ve done away with that because they’ve realized that it’s kind of ridiculous.   Ms. McNeil plugs the parcel tax, which is funding her job.  And here’s an interesting fact: “Davis has more therapists per capita than any other city in California.”  Any ideas why?

8:04- Allen asks about outreach to LGBTQ students, in light of the rash of teenage suicides earlier this year; McNeil responds that there are no District-organized LGBTQ groups, but she would like to explore potential work with student-organized groups on various campuses, and that LGBTQ students are viewed by the group as a group at special risk.  Presentation concludes on this note.  Superintendent Roberson introduces the resolution to call for full state funding for AB 3632, calling the state’s denial of funds “a grave injustice.”

8:11- Lovenburg clarifies that it was the last governor who vetoed the funds, and adds that the new Governor has expressed interest in restoring funding; however, she agrees that they should press ahead with the resolution.  No public comment.  The resolution is passed unanimously.

8:13- Acronym explanations: All Yolo County LEAs–Local Education Agencies, i.e. school districts–interface with the Yolo County ADMH–Department of Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health–through the Yolo County SELPA–Special Education Local Plan Area–to provide mental health services to those up to 22 years old.  I think.

8:20- Board emphasizes that they don’t want services disrupted, which seems to be a moot point because, as Tim Taylor points out, we could not legally stop providing services considering that it’s mandated by the feds that we provide them.  Not much seems to happen, though that might just be because of some formatting issues I encountered in the middle of the discussion (maybe Susan could fill us in on exactly what happened here?).  Board moves on to budget planning.  Susan’s addition: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding who will pay the cost of services for students, until the mandate dispute is resolved by the courts, will be executed between the county mental health provider and the Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPA) rather than the district (DJUSD).  Board was only asked to provide direction to the Superintendent that could be conveyed to the SELPA, not to approve the MOU before us.  No vote, no action, moving on…

8:30- Budgeting especially difficult because of multiple contingencies as a result of the two taxes on the ballot, as well as the possibility of the district needing to fund AB 3632.  If the state tax extensions fail, the district loses $2.6 million, vs. roughly flat state funding if they pass; if parcel tax passes, board receives $3.2 million; AB 3632 could cost the district another $1.2 million.  Federal jobs bill provides another $1.4 million, but this is only enough to bridge the deficit if both taxes pass and AB 3632 is fully funded by the state.  The Board has to eliminate any deficit, so they must work with the worst case scenario as their starting point when it comes to budgeting.

8:40- “If we get the best-case scenario, we won’t have problems budgeting for the next three years… the problem is, that’s relying on several major assumptions.”  Daleiden: “The problem is, we don’t know we’re going to get the best-case scenario.”

8:45- Crowd report: nine people in the audience, about half of whom seem to be spacing out a little.

8:57- Responding to commenter S: The worst case scenario seems unlikely because of the Governor’s signaled intent to re-fund AB 3632, but this is still up in the air enough that the Yolo County Office of Education recommends districts not assume they will receive these funds.  Polls show majority support for the state tax extensions, but they need 2/3 legislative approval to even reach the ballot, so we’ll see how that turns out.  I remember hearing that polls had shown support for the parcel tax in Davis, though that was before the final wording of the tax had been determined and I don’t believe I ever saw the details of that poll; I can’t find a link that mentions the poll, other than in the headline, which is frustrating (note that the information about the content of the parcel tax in that last link are now out of date).  Remember that the parcel tax requires 2/3 voter approval, so that’s always dicey as well.  Also, Board President Harris recommends reading this article.

9:06- Planning for which positions to eliminate in the worst-case scenario.  Here’s the supporting document that wasn’t posted earlier.  K-3 class sizes would increase to 30;  7th and 8th graders would take a maximum of 6 periods, leading to a restructuring of the elective program; yearbook classes would be replaced by an after-school club; counselors would be cut dramatically; and so on.

9:13- Davis Teachers’ Association President Cathy Haskell emphasizes the need to let the public know about how dire circumstances are for our schools.  She adds that she’s worried about reworking the entire elective system in the junior highs, considering that we will only find out the final budget plans in June, when the state special elections will be held.  President Harris says that he understands the difficulty, but doesn’t see any way to go about it other than to make sure that we’re prepared for all situations, considering the placement of the election at the beginning of summer.

9:22- Associate Superintendent Kevin French clarifies that moving to a six-period schedule for seventh and eighth grades will mean that students taking both music and foreign language classes will have to choose between them: both grades have five required classes.  Associate Superintendent Clark Bryant says that he has talked with teachers about potentially including both language and music classes in the seventh grade “exploratory cluster” that exposes students to multiple elective classes that each last one quarter.  He adds that the music course in this cluster would likely not be instrumental music.

9:27- Daleiden praises plan to integrate languages and music into cluster, saying that it would be beneficial for students to be exposed to more languages: “If all the kids in Europe can take another language, so can the kids in Davis Joint Unified.”

9:40- “Approximately 76 to 80″ pink slips will result from the proposal, which would eliminate 42-43 full-time equivalent positions for a reduction of $2.6-$2.7 million.

9:52- Discussion moves on to junior high course planners, with Allen saying that the sixth graders will likely have to plan for both six-period and seven-period scenarios.  Some imply that there was confusion about this last year about the proposed elimination of a 7th period for 7th graders.  Allen raises the issue of whether a six-period schedule for 7th and 8th graders would eliminate 1st or 7th period; Superintendent Roberson replies that although that would be determined by discussions with parents, teachers and students at each site, the early preference seems to be for the elimination of first period, which, in my opinion, is the saner option.  Allen says that she knows her school-age children would be in favor of this and seems extremely receptive to the idea, but also adds that something needs to be worked out with sports players who need to leave school early.

10:02- Board finishes up with budget planning for now and moves on to announcements.  Pamela Mari announces talk with the author of Nurture Shock, which she says is fascinating, at Brunelle Theater on Saturday 12.  Some other announcements as well, though I didn’t hear all of them so I’ll just let trustees promote events in the comments if they’re intent on doing so.  Also, I just realized I’ve been basing the job titles I’ve been giving people on an apparently outdated chart, so apologies if I accidentally demoted anyone.

10:10- Board discussion over upcoming meeting calendar.  Stay tuned!

10:11- Meeting adjourned!

Overall, it seems like the Board didn’t take final action on many things tonight; it seemed to be more of a planning session.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Board acts on the need for budget reductions, though, I’m sure, painful as well.  Obviously, DJUSD’s situation is riding heavily on the passage of both taxes and the restoration of funding for AB 3632, so keep an eye on how those issues are resolved.  Make sure to comment to correct any mistakes I might have made, and I’ll see you in two weeks!