tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26610273075192618692024-02-19T01:39:52.780-06:00School ScoopKeeping you informed about the Evansville School District from my perspective.
by Melissa HammannKatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.comBlogger274125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-38001775842396483252014-04-12T14:59:00.003-05:002014-04-12T14:59:42.127-05:00April 9 Board Meeting Highlights: My last local issue blog entry<br />
The April 9 board meeting was another SRO affair with a chock-full agenda. I hope to see better meeting management with the new board to be reorganized April 28. This many hot topic items should not come to the board at one time. 4K approval, Referendum discussion, Alternative Education program presentation, are each a large enough discussion to dedicate a full meeting to. Add to that staff continuing to present arguments for pay period choice and Senior project disgruntlement and you have the recipe for a 4 hour meeting.<br />
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Referendum: Lack of specific information and seating a new board on April 28 brings this back for discussion April 30 and decision in May. Information regarding precise plans and costs for each section was requested.<br />
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4K: The unfunded first few years of this program is to be taken out of the fund balance. State law allows up to 3K per kid in year 1 and 1.5K per kid in year 2 to get a district up the the fully funded year 3 without taking money out of the fund balance. Administration noted that there is a chance that there will be funds in this grant for the year 15-16 up to 1.5K per kid. They will be applying for these funds. It will significantly reduce the depletion of the fund balance. The board approved the implementation of 4K in ECSD in 2015-16.<br />
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Alternative Education: Much information was given but much remained in question. The board will bring it back for discussion next meeting on April 30.<br />
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Teacher contracts: Board approved all but Alt Ed folks, as they have not yet approved the Alt Ed. Program. Nobody loses a position as this is expected transfer of students and staff. Seems admin. should know that the board won't approve a contract for a program that isn't approved yet. Hmm.<br />
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On top of all of this, there was a boatload of policies at third reading and handbook change requests to refer for second readings, the process of which was a bit murky as it was the first time they'd done this. Curiously, the Virtual School policy that was approved April 9 at its 3rd reading indicates that singleton students enrolled must pay HALF of the fee. So how come we have been paying the full fee? Hunh. Just another question for me to find an answer for.<br />
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This will be my last blog entry regarding the ECSD. I may yet blog about my take on national trends in education, but I'm going mum on local issues after this. Thank you all for following me through the years and most of all thank you for your support for me in the election. I promise I will bring my A game to every board meeting and endeavor to bring our kids excellence in education. It's been real. M<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-38110597555942839362014-04-12T14:26:00.000-05:002014-04-12T14:26:52.371-05:00My Remarks to the BOE: Senior Projects Part 2As promised, I am sharing my remarks to the BOE on March 12 about the newly minted Senior Projects, an additional graduation requirement for students beginning with the class of 2015. They are near and dear to me as our middle child is one of their guinea pigs. When these projects were first presented to the BOE in 2010, I believe, the board sent administration back to rework the proposal. They noted that it was too vague and without sufficient detail to be successful. By Fall of 2011, they had approval to add it as a requirement but still had to come back "by January of 2014" with a <b>detailed</b> plan. They told the class of 2015 at Freshman orientation that this was a new graduation requirement with their class. Fast forward to November of 2013 and Scott Everson finally brought the Senior Graduation Project Handbook back to the board for approval, which was granted. The projects gone through a number of iterations since they were first proposed as a former staff member who was on the original committee noted that the final product was "discouraging." <br />
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In the process of working with other concerned parents on this mess, I came across my article in the August 17, 2011 edition of the Evansville Review. This was discussed in Senior Projects Part I. The communication on this new program has been abysmal and little if any guidance has been offered to the kids. The kids are expected to create a resume as part of the final product with no formal training. Any time they need help, they are supposed to get guidance from their advisor during the 22 minute advisory period when the teachers are supposed to be guiding their core course students. Teachers have declined to become advisors "because we don't know how much work is involved," parents have repeatedly asked for clarification and pointed out potentially dangerous situations that can result from poorly supervised experiential projects, etc., etc., etc. Questions were not answered at the "optional" parent meeting. The head-in-the-sand, Pollyanna approach to this FUBAR has been awful so I picked two of my most frustrating aspects of this boondoggle and spoke at the March 12 board meeting. I focused on what I thought would be the minimum number of hours to adequately support each student in an advisory capacity, with no additional compensation (1.2 Full Time Equivalents). I also spoke about how ridiculous it was that the Boy Scout Eagle Projects and the Girl Scout Golden projects were originally rejected out of hand by Scott Everson. Once he faced incensed scouting parents, he decided that they would count if and only if the work done for the projects commenced after Graduation Day the summer before their Senior year. This was never stated in the handbook or to me personally. Since I emailed Everson about this in November and he agreed they needed to reconsider how to include these projects, I would have expected him to contact me with the committee's decision. Here were the remarks I planned to make to the board, only about half of which I was able to get through because the meeting was SRO and they needed to keep the time manageable. I submitted a hard copy for Kelly Mosher to distribute to the board and administrator.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>My remarks to the board March 12 regarding Senior Projects: </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">QEO repealed: 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Act 10 implemented: 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">ACA enacted: 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">With each of these momentous decisions by our political
leaders, more and more uncertainty has been introduced into the world of
education. Those most affected by the consequences, both intended and
otherwise, are our teachers. These are the people who shape the destiny of our
children, so it could be argued that those who are really most affected are our
kids. People who are constantly distracted by when the next shoe will drop
cannot be present in the here and now, passionately guiding our children toward
their potentials. Our district has added yet another burden to this group in
the guise of the Senior Projects. Let’s
just suppose that the average time required to advise these students is one
hour a month for twelve months and further presume advisors will be present at
each student’s 10 minute presentation. For the 139 students in the class of
2015, this represents nearly 1700 hours of time required for Senior projects alone.
A teacher’s FTE is 1440 (8 x 180) hours,
adding the equivalent of 1.2 FTEs to an already burdened staff. If one limits the pool of advisory candidates
to the HS teaching staff of 37, their work load increases by more than a week, or
about 3%. Who here is surprised that several students were told by staff
members that they weren’t agreeing to advise Senior projects until they know
how much work is involved? I urge the board to carefully scrutinize the process
by which the projects are unfolding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">In addition to the time burden on teachers, a particular
concern I have regards the time restriction placed on these projects. Though it
is not specifically prohibited anywhere in the handbook, students have been
told that no work for the project can take place before graduation day prior to
their senior year. The reason given for
this added time restriction was that the EHS Site Council felt strongly that
this should be a “capstone project that is self-contained within the senior
year.” Think of all the other capstone
classes in our school district and how the students’ successes in those programs
are dependent on the cumulative success in their foundational classes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">When students were first informed about the project
guidelines in November, they were informed that Boy Scout Eagle Projects and
Girl Scout Community Service projects were immediately disqualified with no
discussion within the community about their breadth and depth. When I
questioned Mr. Everson about this, the reasoning was to avoid kids using a
“two-fer-one” approach. He noted, "The
Scouts projects, however, appear to go way above and beyond my ‘two birds with
one stone loophole’ as some of the projects are hundreds of hours of work as I
understand it." He added that several parents had expressed concerns
about this and that he would “be taking input I’ve received from
parents (yourself included) to my committee and see what type of revised
guidelines we can create when it comes to Scouts projects and similar
extraordinary examples of service to our community."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Eagle Projects are often two years in duration from proposal
to completion and must be finished by the boy’s 18<sup>th</sup> birthday in
order for him to earn his rank. Therefore, especially for boys with early
birthdays, they often begin this work in their Sophomore year. This unstated
time restriction for the Senior Projects will disqualify most Eagle Scout
Projects as they currently stand. <span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">As
I originally told Mr. Everson in November and again last night, Eagle projects
are of a much larger scope and magnitude than any examples given in the
handbook or at the parent meeting. Last
night he seemed to reverse his stance of revising the guidelines to make Eagle
projects eligible for Senior Projects. He asked if these Eagle projects could
somehow be planned to encompass a separate and distinct sub-project to be done
in the time specified and I said I didn’t know. It’s a little late for the
class of 2015 Eagle Candidates to be able to do this, and could even affect the
class of 2016. I have emailed adult scout leaders to give them this idea with
new Eagle Plans. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I ask the board to consider the Mission Statement of the
projects (<span class="l6"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">This </span></i></span><span class="a"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">culminating self-selected
project will serve as</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span class="a"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">the capstone demonstrating students’
ability to seek kn</span></i></span><span class="l6"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">owledge through inquiry and experience, which in </span></i></span><span class="a"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">turn will allow them the opportunity
to apply their knowledge and growth in all of their</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span class="a"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">future endeavors, benefitting
our local and global</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span class="a"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">communities</span></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">). Eagle Scout projects truly
embody the stated mission of the Senior Projects. I wonder why our administration would want to
force an Eagle candidate to go through the motions of an additional lesser
project with no community service component simply to get a Senior project done
within some arbitrary, unstated time restriction. Some kids have been given
dispensation on time, according to the meeting I attended last night. Why not
the Scouts?</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue;">One parent noted at the meeting last night that, “We need to support
this program and figure out how to make it work, not change it. If they fail
spectacularly, so be it!” The bulk of those present were not eager for our
children to be the failing guinea pigs.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">I realize that the district is entering a new, untested program that
will evolve over time. These could be life-changing experiences for some, but
many of our kids already volunteer in our community and give back in
significant ways. A better model for the Senior Projects would be to take
advantage of the existing volunteer infrastructure to strengthen it rather than
tear it down to reinvent the wheel. Thank you for your time.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Since I submitted my concerns to the board, I have thought long and hard about this issue. I believe what we have here is a case of unmet expectations combined with a moving target. The board approved the Senior project graduation requirement in August of 2011 in concept with "final criteria clarified and approved by the board by January 2014." I wrote an article about them and recent review of that article shows that they changed considerably in the two-plus years it took Scott to return with the final criteria. Clearly he failed to clarify and may have even muddled the waters. If you're interested, my article ran in the Review on August 17, 2011. Every scout parent in the scouting community with a child of the applicable age to qualify were very happy that their kid might be encouraged to try for their Eagle or Gold ranks by this opportunity. Those of us who were pretty sure our kids were on track to earn an Eagle rank fully expected these amazing projects would count for their Senior Projects. Enter Scott with an arbitrary time restriction and you have completely invalidated every early birthday scout Eagle Candidate, who will have to do some bogus make-work Senior project in addition to their Eagle project, their other Scout obligations and apply for college. <br />
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My final concern for this is based on how the Senior Projects were approved by the board. There is no hard copy in the public board packets from either October 30, when it was presented or November 13, when it was approved. Scott referred the board to the school website for their information. This sets up the board to have approved an ever changing document, which is not what they are supposed to do. If nobody is willing to set clear standards and criteria for who and when they will advise, how it will play out and who is responsible for what, it's not ready for prime time.<br />
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I have told my child that this is her project, not mine. I refuse to be that parent at the science fair who builds their kid a nuclear reactor. My kids always sat next the them with the potential energy project made with a spool and a rubber band. But they did all their own work. I will support her and make sure she is safe, since the district seems to be unaware of their responsibility in this matter, but she is responsible to complete and document her project with the required criteria. She's a big girl and I am confident she is capable. I pray all the other 138 kids in the Junior class find the resources to support them in this new endeavor. If they don't, the district is directly responsible for their failure. I don't know why the board is so resistant to placing on the agenda potential liability for these projects, but burying their heads in the sand is not going to help the district if some kid gets hurt at a clinic offered in the guise of senior projects because there was insufficient infrastructure in place to avoid the injury.<br />
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<a href="http://ehsseniorproject.weebly.com/">http://ehsseniorproject.weebly.com/</a>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-32491256515850249022014-04-11T21:53:00.000-05:002014-04-11T21:53:30.779-05:00A Trip Down Memory Lane: Senior Projects Part IIn the midst of all the Senior Project hoopla, I did what many scientists did. I stopped and thought about what I knew and how I knew it. The projects as they existed when the board approved the new graduation requirement in August of 2011 have morphed into something nearly unrecognizable as approved in November of 2013. Here's what I wrote in the August 17, 2011 edition of The Evansville Review:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Evansville School Board Approves New Graduation
Requirement</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Community Service Senior Projects Will Be Required beginning with
Class of 2015</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">By
Melissa Hammann</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Nearly eighteen months have passed since EHS Principal Everson
first proposed to the Evansville School Board a new graduation requirement. Each
student in the Evansville School District would be responsible for designing,
implementing and presenting to a committee a Community Service Project in their
senior year. “Non-negotiable” components of the projects include 30 hours of
service and a multimedia presentation to a committee comprised of a primary
teacher and a community mentor. The board was concerned about a number of
details and Mr. Everson agreed to run a pilot program in 2010-2011 to
demonstrate the feasibility of such a program. Six students originally
volunteered for the projects and three were chosen to present their projects.
One student even changed her career aspirations to include a four year college
degree in order to work with disabled students. More pilot programs will
continue in 2011-2012.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">This
concept has been implemented in schools around the country in various forms. EHS
would not grant credit for this requirement in the spirit of community service
for the sake of itself, but completion of all the project requirements would be
necessary for graduation. Board Member Sharon Skinner asked “What if a student
refuses to complete a project?” Mr. Everson noted that students in danger of not
graduating are routinely taken under the wing of a teacher mentor. Most students wish to participate in the
graduation ceremony, which would only be allowed upon timely completion of the
Senior Project.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Board Member Tina Rossmiller expressed concern that parent
involvement will be critical. Principal Everson noted that if the board approved
the new graduation requirement, he could begin that process with the Freshman
Orientation night in a few weeks. Regular communications could be built in
throughout the high school career and reminders sent that are effective and
include parents or guardians of students.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The
new civics class “Project Citizen” program can be viewed as kick-starting the
process. This may be the first time students think more globally to identify
areas of need in their community, make a plan and implement it to effect
improvements. Senior projects are a perfect bookend complement to this
process.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">It
is not expected that this new requirement would necessitate more resources from
the district. Social studies teachers at the school could share the advisory
role for students during normally scheduled contact time. Any costs associated
with the project itself would be client funded (for example, a kitchen remodel
like one of this year’s students did).
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<span style="color: blue;">Final criteria will be clarified and approved by the Board by
January 2014. The vote was 5-0 in favor
of the new graduation requirement, with board members Dennis Hatfield and Nancy
Hurley absent.</span></div>
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<b style="color: blue;">Breaking News with Board
Meetings</b><span style="color: blue;">: There will be a new feature of the Business Board
Meetings effective with the September 12 meeting. Each month, two board members will be
available for “community comments” from 6:00-6:30 PM just prior to the start of
the board meeting. It is thought that this less formal atmosphere would be more
conducive to citizen input and allow dialogue to progress. Board Members
scheduled to appear in September are John Rasmussen and Tina Rossmiller. Please
come and chat with them if you have “questions, comments or
concerns.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>Reviewing this article was such at surprise to me. I am sure that the article accurately portrayed the events of the project approval in 2011 as I used a recorder to capture quotes for my articles. I was disappointed in myself for not remembering the details before we were already fully engaged in the questioning of the project. This should have been reviewed before the board even approved the process. I invite you all to review the Senior Project Handbook at the website link below to see for yourself the stark contrast between how it was envisioned above with the final approved document.<br />
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<a href="http://ehsseniorproject.weebly.com/">http://ehsseniorproject.weebly.com/</a><br />
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The only resemblance between the Senior Project Handbook approved by the board on November 13, 2013 and the proposal presented to the school board in 2011 I see is the title "Senior Project." The "non-negotiable 30 hours of service" has become 30 hours to complete, including documentation and presentation. What was originally envisioned as a strictly community service project has expanded and now kids can choose some lame "experiential based learning" project. You actually have to look on the school website and see example suggestions to fully grasp its lame-inosity. The 6 pilot programs became 2 and apparently never included any further pilots in 2011-12. I challenge you all to ask for the documentation of these pilot programs but already know the answer: "We threw it out." How in the world do you do that if you're running a pilot program to inform future decisions?<br />
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There has been essentially no communication to parents since we were told of the new requirement at freshman orientation in 2011. This contradicts Scott's reassurance that "<span style="color: blue;">Regular communications could be built in throughout the high school career and reminders sent that are effective and include parents or guardians of students." </span>Effective<span style="color: blue;"> </span>reminders could have been sent but were not. The first I heard about this since Freshmen orientation in 2011 was when my kid came home and told us a week after the board approved the Handbook in November. "Mr. Everson told us that Girl Scout Gold projects and Boy Scout Eagle projects can't be used for the Senior projects." I was stunned. I had a set of expectations of this project back in 2011 which were completely overturned when Everson initially disqualified Eagle Projects from the Senior Projects. My husband and I remember saying, "If Will goes for his Eagle, this is a slam dunk Senior Project for him!" I challenged Everson on this and was placated by lies and half-truths, answers to which he never bothered to communicate to me directly. At the "optional" parent information meeting he held last month, I was stressing the point and he noted that the committee insisted that the project be self-contained in the Senior year and couldn't an Eagle project be broken down to have some part of it done beginning the summer before Senior year? I said I didn't know and it likely depended on how early a scout's 18th birthday was. If it was in September, probably not (Eagle projects are typically 18 months or more start to finish and must be earned prior to the scout's 18th birthday). If it was in June, maybe. I told him that the handbook does not forbid beginning work early and wondered why this was suddenly being invoked. I went on the website and read the nebulous, unclear document called Senior Project Handbook several times to see where the time restriction was indicated and never found it. There is a reference to "work can begin after graduation day the year previous to graduation," but there is no specific restriction noted. More importantly, I was appalled by the complete lack of clarity that embodied the document. Even at the parent meeting, the only date that had been decided was when the kids had to hand in their proposals. No checkpoints have been defined, the final presentations have not been scheduled, etc. etc. etc. Even worse was that it would seem that our board approved this FUBAR without a hard copy in hand. So they have approved a web-based document which is ever evolving and has morphed into an unrecognizable document as compared to the original proposal. The final criteria has been clarified. Scott Everson is the gatekeeper and what he says goes. "If I approve it, you can do it. If I don't, you can't. And even though the handbook doesn't specifically prohibit working on the project prior to the onset of your official Senior-ness, you can't. Unless I say you can, like if you have to train to do a marathon or something. If you're dedicating hundreds of hours to the betterment of your community, you cannot begin a minute prior to graduation day prior to your senior year. The Pubah has spoken!" When my daughter's project partner went to him to get his approval because Ms. Buttchen told her to, he said, "Why are you coming to me with this?" "Because Ms. Buttchen told us to." She reported to our daughter that he just rolled his eyes. Of course, that could be teen drama too. It's in the dang handbook for gosh sakes.<br />
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A critical issue was brought up by a concerned parent very well versed with liability issues as regards service groups. She and her family are singlehandedly responsible for many many service projects in our community and she knows the necessary systems for safe operation of programs with children. Is liability incurred with certain kinds of projects, like training camps and community betterment work involving ladders and other potentially hazardous conditions? How at risk is the district? The kid running the projects and the kids enrolling in the camps? Their parents? After being told repeatedly that the board could not discuss these projects at the board level without it being on the agenda and then refusing to put it on the agenda, the parent who raised this issue left the April 9 board meeting after making their remarks only to have the board engage in a discussion on the Senior Projects after they left. First Mason had to take a crack at the parents for spending so much energy questioning a project that "teaches kids good work habits." He slammed a person who arguably donates the most hours I have ever seen one family donate to community service ever. Then he had to commend Scott on "this awesome program. Since Scott broached the topic and I'm not on the board after this." This likely violated open records law. Another board member asked about the liability issue and she was told, by Scott, "This can be handled with a disclaimer form. If we all worried about liability so much we'd never get out of bed in the morning." No reference to a discussion with legal counsel and how a kid running a cheer camp in the summer and the lack of infrastructure compares with the built in infrastructure of a school in full session. Just snide, obnoxious remarks that simply indicate their defensiveness and do not protect the district. I hope nobody ever gets hurt at a summer camp run as a Senior Project. The lack of foresight on the part of the administration and the board could well make a small injury become a very serious issue for the district as a whole. Just because people sign a waiver does not mean the district should cavalierly approach implementing a strong infrastructure to minimize the injury in such incidents.<br />
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Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-2318308489938417792014-04-05T13:10:00.002-05:002014-04-05T13:10:27.837-05:00Soon I Have to Stop Blogging and Meeting April 9th at 6 PMI have only a few weeks before I officially take my oath of office on the ECSD board of education. After that, I have to shut down my blog because it would be unseemly to try my case in the court of public opinion while a board member. Now it's time to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I have one more post I will make regarding the Senior Project FUBAR beginning with the class of 2015 and then School Scoop will go silent. If you're wondering about what's happening on the board after that, please come on down to a board meeting. They are held the second (business meeting) and fourth or last Wednesday (committee meetings) of the month. It's been a long four years, and I'm happy to be back on the board where I believe my talents can be put to good use. There will be heavy lifting to do, and I'm up to the task! Thank you for supporting me all these years.<br />
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Look for my post about Senior Graduation Projects after the April 9 meeting.<br />
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MKatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-56811012513494018802014-04-01T22:28:00.002-05:002014-04-01T22:28:59.297-05:00Thank you to all my amazing supporters! The unofficial results are in and I won the third seat on the school board. I have a very narrow margin over the 4th place candidate. If that remains after canvassing on April 8, I have a three year seat. If not, I have to run again next spring. If so, I hope all my peeps will be ready to do the same thing again next year. There's a lot of heavy lifting required and I'm up to the task. First up, a strategic plan! That will clarify all ensuing decisions. It won't make it easy, but it will certainly prioritize where to spend limited resources, human and otherwise. And now, to make up for all the sleep I have lost in the last few weeks! Goodnight all!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-18606509047527187792014-03-31T14:58:00.006-05:002014-03-31T14:58:54.218-05:00Please Vote Tomorrow, April 1st! For me if you're so inclined...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-59613670894337883602014-03-26T10:59:00.002-05:002014-03-26T10:59:45.630-05:00Election Coverage Today in Both the Gazette and The Evansville Review!Please take the opportunity to read the <i>Janesville Gazette </i>and <i>The Evansville Review</i> comments from Spring Election candidates. There's only one contested seat on city council, which happens to be in my District 3, so there's info about that if you're so inclined. At least half of the School Board candidates emphasized the need for a Strategic Plan, so please read the articles to best inform your vote!<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-47542840948154656602014-03-21T21:49:00.004-05:002014-03-21T21:50:16.404-05:00Look for the Candidate Statements and Interviews March 26thThe <b>Evansville Review</b> will publish statements from all of the School Board Candidates in the March 26th edition. The <b>Janesville Gazette</b> will publish an Election Special Section that will also feature interviews of the School Board Candidates with Gina Duwe. Please take the time to learn about these six candidates and inform your vote on April 1!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-16308307217001228832014-03-16T15:22:00.002-05:002014-03-16T15:22:56.700-05:00Top Ten Signs the Spring Election Season Is Upon Us<br />
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The signs of the Spring election season are upon us, even when the signs of spring tantalize us one day only to dash our hopes the next. In many ways, my mood regarding my campaign reflects that of our fickle Wisconsin spring this year. I have been agonizing about several aspects of my campaign for the last week or so, where I felt brave and confident before. As a result, I've lost a lot of sleep over this second-guessing process. Always one to use my time wisely, in those sleepless hours I generated a list of the top ten signs that the Spring election season is upon us.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>1 Signs, signs everywhere the signs!</b> </span>This is a natural for #1. I put up my signs this weekend, with more to come. Thank you so much to all my supporters for agreeing to let me put a sign in their yards. These poor old beat up signs have been through 7 years and four elections. Nobody can accuse me of not using my signs to their maximum life expectancy, which seems to be about 7 years. A number of my wires have lost their welds as I've tried to insert them into the frozen tundra. I've seen a few of Amanda Koenecke's newly minted signs as well, but nothing from the other four candidates. One told me they don't have any signs.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>2 Political ads.</b></span> Even though I only ran last year, I didn't remember ad costs being so high, even in the Review. The Gazette prices were astronomical for a cheapskate such as myself. Holy politics Batman! I'm sticking with the Review even though I haven't figured out how to reach the outlying precincts at all.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>3 Political computer spam:</b></span> I'm not even going there, but some candidates in larger, more statewide platforms, are.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>4 Political mass mailings: </b></span>I'm considering this venue, but have not yet researched the costs. I would consider this as an alternative to accessing the rural outlying areas with fliers destined to litter the landscape once they manage to escape the rubber bands to which I have attached them in past years.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">5 Surprise School Board vote</span></b>: There was recently a very contentious subject brought before the school board in which only one of the three candidates up for reelection held firm to previously stated remarks and rationale.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">6 Campaign Schmoozing:</span></b> There's always a component of this happening and it's one I don't do so well. Any suggestions about improving this aspect of my campaign would be greatly appreciated!<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">7 Grossly Exaggerated Claims in TV Commercials: </span></b>At least none of us ECSD BOE candidates have to worry about this problem! Unless somebody has unlimited wealth they've been hiding until the last minute! The outrage of the Republicans about Mary Burke's stretching the truth in her ad regarding economic indicators this spring was equally matched by the Democratic outrage regarding the Republican ads using unstated tiny print disclaimers in their ads last fall.<br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-weight: bold;">8 Rampant Use of the "R" Word. </span>For somebody who was not even willing to say the word <span style="color: orange;">"referendum"</span> prior to the survey, Mr. Roth has certainly changed his tune. In fact, the entire survey seemed to have too much focus on referendum when I first took it. However, there is a depth of information to be plumbed from this data if one knows that averages only tells you one part of the story and if you want the whole story, you're going to have to ask for and receive the raw data in order to create an effective strategic plan. Just a little word to the wise: Stoughton. Here is a district which obviously has an amazing new fabrications lab to boast (one of only two HS in the US to have won this lab grant by the manufacturer), went to referendum in 2010 and is going back to referendum again this year. You see, they seem to have become dependent on those funds by using them for more than one-time only expenditures. Without them, they have predicted dire lay-offs and class size increases. If they had been using referendum dollars how they are intended to be used, the end of the short term referendum should not signal the need for massive lay-offs and the resultant class-size increases. No referendum money should ever be used for recurring costs.<br />
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The problem became very clear to me when I helped put together the financial portion of the 4K presentation. Ms. Treuden, business manager extraordinaire, came up with the idea of putting a side by side comparison of budget impact with and without 4K using the Baird Budget Forecast model the BOE is used to reviewing. One of the assumptions she used was a 1.1% wage and benefits increase annually and the other was the maximum revenue cap increase schools have gotten the last two years ($75 per kid, which for our district is about $135,000). Assuming all other factors remain the same, the "Without 4K" column, which started at a balanced budget, was at nearly a $400,000 deficit by year 5. The lesson I came away from that was that the maximum increase in the revenue cap will not even sustain an annual 1% salary/benefit increase. This seems so minimal and yet is not sustainable. I don't know what minuscule increase would be sustainable, but I'm thinking it would be well below a half percent. How in the world does this show staff they are valued? The hands of the BOE and the district are tied unless other changes are made in how the budget is done, which can't be done effectively until a strategic plan is in place. They are stuck on some evil merry-go-round in which they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.<br />
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<b style="color: orange;">9 Jockeying for Position </b>I haven't ever been very good at this part of campaigning either, being similar to, but not the same as <b><span style="color: orange;">Schmoozing</span></b>. There is an alpha human component to this portion of a campaign in which candidates claim their experience A makes them best suited for the job because of B. I am not shy about taking credit for my strengths, or even admitting areas that challenge me. But my marketing consultant (freely advising me) tells me I need to relate more to the regular Joe on the street. I really appreciate the feedback and have been wracking my brain to come up with concrete ways in which to demonstrate what a fun character I am! It's true, I am a barrel of monkeys, but that's hard to convey when demonstrating my strengths. I guess I need to be more present in the joy of the moment, to which my yoga practice has helped me remain aware. If my readers have more suggestions in this department, I'm all ears!<br />
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<b style="color: orange;">10 Spring Break is Nearly Here! </b>In fact, our UW-Madison child has already returned for that annual week-long sleep-fest, bringing with them their homework and the flu. It has so happened that election day and spring break have coincided for several of the last spring elections wherein I have pleaded with my readers to make sure they have filled out their absentee ballots and mailed them before they go away to a tropical climate. This year, the ECSD has their spring break March 21-30. Everyone should be back in plenty of time to vote so my only plea is that you take me with you to the tropical climate so my feet can defrost in time for the election. But if you ARE planning to be gone on April 1st (it still cracks me up that election day is April Fools Day), please please <b>please</b> get your absentee ballot in before you go! Especially if you plan to vote for me...<br />
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Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-89709578973472625582014-03-13T09:54:00.000-05:002014-03-13T10:30:38.887-05:00Other March 12 Board Meeting Observations <br />
There was such a full agenda at last night's board meeting and it really ended up to be an emotionally draining 3 hours. The two big items were the 4K presentation and the CAC recommendations based on the community survey results. I was part of the 4KIC and proud to have been part of the most professional, thorough treatment of any new program research I've seen to date. Kudos to Paula Landers, facilitator extraordinaire!<br />
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The CAC recommendations for referendum were a small section of the list. I was amused to see the BOE suddenly take up the drumbeat for creating a strategic plan and Jerry jump right onto that bandwagon. I've been advocating, cajoling, pushing, you name it, I've tried it, for this august body to do this for YEARS. At least they're talking about doing it now.<br />
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Other recommendations the CAC made was to implement 4K (outside of referendum), to consider renovation/replacement of the MS no later than the 18-19 school year. Clarification of that point was asked for by the BOE because the HS won't be paid off until 2020. The answer was that the planning should begin at that time.<br />
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The new principal contracts were approved, with Joanie Dobbs as the new Levi Leonard principal and Jason Knott from Edgerton at the Middle School. Mr. Cashore's contract was revised to separate out his AD stipend from his AP duties and change his post retirement benefits to align with current administrator contracts, adding costs to be placed into an HRA to "catch him up" in this regard.<br />
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Several policies were approved as well, with further discussion about 521.1 Board Staff Communication policy in which Jerry indicated that the intent was to preserve the chain of command and not to discourage staff from contacting individual board members with concerns. That was important to the passage of this policy.<br />
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An interesting conversation came about when Jerry was discussing using part of last year's fund surplus for salary and benefit increases. It wasn't until the motion was made that I realized that this was for this school year and would be retroactive to last July 1. It comes from the $165,000 surplus in the 12-13 budget. Going forward, this change could have implications and the BOE encouraged the compensation committee to come back soon with next year's recommendations. Folded on top of this discussion, muddying the waters from my perspective, is the concept of one time stipend awards to staff. The reasoning was that a percent increase of a lower salary is naturally lower and the stipends would help equalize that. Rewarding staff for all their hard work was at the heart of the discussion.<br />
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Teaching staff were strongly represented to advocate for a choice of 20 or 24 pay periods. It was a very emotional discussion fraught with discussions of the survey that was done, who it was sent to, how it was presented, the history as to how it came about in the first place, some reference to focus groups that were never held and general unrest. 77% of the staff surveys returned supported 24 pay periods. The cost for maintaining two pay schedules has been variously reported and ranges from $10-50K in addition to the current wages in the district office. The discussion included how closely related student achievement was with school climate, and did the board not believe that increasing achievement was worth this additional cost? The history lesson included aspects of the discussion during handbook meetings that were supposed to communicate the change to staff but apparently did not. The process was put into place just last July and the BOE voted 4-3 to keep 20 pay periods this year and noted that the handbook change process forms were in the handbook and that the next version of that would be addressed in June. God bless her, Mrs. Oswald, awesome MS teacher, filled one out on the spot and handed it to Jerry right in the middle of the meeting! I understand both sides of this question and why the board voted as they did. It's unfortunate that this has taken so much of the board's energy when the question was asked and answered last year. The entire debacle highlights the abysmal state of communications in all areas of our district, not just the board. It is imperative to repair this problem if the ECSD wishes to have a positive staff.<br />
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Thanks to the BOE for clarifying that the resignation of the 0.5 FTE Gifted and Talented Resource Teacher Mark Simonson at JCMM (he was only on a one year contract) doesn't signify the demise of the program at the MS. The 0.5 position will be replaced with a 1.0 FTE next year! It was a joyous moment for me to behold.<br />
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That hits most of the high points. I did speak about Senior Projects, but will write a separate post on that later. Signing off from Hammann Campaign Headquarters!<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-35399063889799881052014-03-13T09:34:00.000-05:002014-03-13T12:29:47.915-05:00CAC Referendum Recommendations in Light of Survey Results<br />
If any of you read this morning's Gazette, you will know that the CAC has recommended that the BOE proceed to referendum on three questions on September 9 or one big question in November. The 3 questions in September option would pose a tax impact of 1.305 million dollars year for four years, as envisioned by the CAC. Instead of separating out Safety and Security from building maintenance, as was done in the survey, they recommended lumping them together into one question, with the total expense for those two items being no more than 2.8 million, whereas the survey indicated that the expense to do this would be 3.1 million (Safety at 300K and Maintenance at 2.8 million). The curriculum would be separate at a total of 900K and the Technology would be separate at 1.52 Million. The one big question would have the same tax impact, but the reasoning and timing was important. If questions are separated out, funds have to be spent only on the items specified in the referendum question and earlier voting would enable earlier purchase of services, particularly in outdoor building improvements. In Wisconsin, after November outdoor work is not an option, sometimes all the way until May. That would leave very little time to expend those funds if done in November. If all questions are lumped into one, November would be better, getting a higher voter turnout and giving flexibility for the fund usage where needed. The downside is that those adamantly opposed to one or another item in the one big question may or may not vote against the whole enchilada. The survey didn't really measure how much additional tax burden the community was willing to take on for a limited time.<br />
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So what did the survey say about the likelihood of these particular items succeeding on referendum? Important contextual information to have while reviewing the survey results are as follows:<br />
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<li>The non-parent, non-staff subgroup represents 70-75% of the voters in a district.</li>
<li>The undecided survey results typically break negative at 80% no and 20% yes.</li>
<li>Our survey results had an inordinately high "undecided/need more info" result across the board, according to the School Perceptions presentation.</li>
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CURRICULUM SUPPORT $900,000</div>
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63% of all residents responding to the survey said they would support a referendum of $900,000 over four years to improve curriculum. 52% of the non-parent non-staff group said the same. Clearly, there is community support for this item. One need not even perform the weighted average to see that this is likely to be a win at the ballot, but performing that math indicates that initiative would garner 55.3% yes votes, and even with a 2.9% margin of error would likely pass a referendum.</div>
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SAFETY AND SECURITY $300,000</div>
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54% of all residents would support this at the ballot with 22% undecided and 44% of the big voting block "non parent non staff" would do so, also with 22% undecided. This is less clear cut. Doing a straight weighted average on these numbers indicates that the likely outcome of a referendum regarding this item alone is only 47% yes. If you include 20% of the undecideds changed to yes in each group, the weighted average is now predicted to be 51.4%, which may encourage the optimists among you, but I just want to remind everyone that the margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.9%, placing this question firmly in the grey area of "it depends on who comes out to vote."</div>
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BUILDING MAINTENANCE</div>
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49% of all residents would support a referendum for this item with 31% undecided and 39% of the non-parent non-staff group supports it with 32% of that group undecided. As with the curriculum question, it's clear that a straight weighted average would fail to garner support at the polls. That result would be 42% yes. Adding in 20% of the undecided votes for each category would increase the support level to 48.34% yes. Again, margin of error puts this even further into the questionably successful category.</div>
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TECHNOLOGY</div>
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57% of all residents supported the technology initiative with a 21% undecided group. 44% of the non-parent non-staff group supported this question with 23% undecided. The straight weighted average indicates public support at the polls would stand at 47.9%, again in limbo. Changing 20% of the undecideds in each group and recalculating the weighted average results in 52.38% support for improving technology and its infrastructure.</div>
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What does all this mean? It means that if the BOE decides to take all four of these questions to referendum that Curriculum is likely to be a clear winner and the other three are a crap shoot at this point in the conversation with the community. Two may break positive and one negative. It doesn't seem wise to lump in one that is breaking positive with one that is breaking negative just to get them all on the ballot. I don't know how voters would react to lumping everything into one question, but it seems likely that that strategy, while it has good reasoning, could backfire based on this statistical analysis of the survey results.</div>
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How will this affect your property tax bill.</div>
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CURRICULUM: 23.2 cents per thousand, increasing the mill rate to $12.53 per thousand in property value, a 1.9% increase in the current mill rate. All of these calculations only include these initiatives and do not take into account the increases that will be seen due to other increases in the revenue limit and debt payment.</div>
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SAFETY and MAINTENANCE: 72.2 cents per thousand, giving an individual mill rate increase of 5.9% and a cumulative (including CURRICULUM) rate increase of 95.4 cents per thousand, or a 7.8% increase.</div>
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TECHNOLOGY: 43.8 cents per thousand for an individual mill rate increase of 3.6% and a cumulative (including both items above) increase of $1.39 per thousand, or an 11.3% increase.</div>
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-61548158352591840792014-03-12T10:15:00.001-05:002014-03-12T10:15:27.262-05:00Link to Tonight's Board Meeting PacketHere's the link that includes both agenda and packet contents for the school board meeting tonight at 6. Lots of information is included. A third reading of policy that has flown under my radar until now (so sorry) is Policy 521.1, wherein all communications between board and staff are to be through the conduit of the District Administrator. I am appalled at this and now understand where the staff got the idea they weren't to talk to board members at all. Unbelievable. Come early to snag a good seat!<br />
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Melissa<br />
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<a href="http://www.ecsdnet.org/documents/Board%20Meetings/2013-2014/March/March%2012%20board%20packet.pdf">http://www.ecsdnet.org/documents/Board%20Meetings/2013-2014/March/March%2012%20board%20packet.pdf</a>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-84709108810668011052014-03-11T11:28:00.001-05:002014-03-11T11:29:29.214-05:00Link to the Survey Results!After looking for this every day or so for the last few weeks, here's the link to the survey results.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.ecsdnet.org/documents/CAC/survey%20results/Evansville%202014%20Survey%20Report%20draft%20-2.pdf">http://www.ecsdnet.org/documents/CAC/survey%20results/Evansville%202014%20Survey%20Report%20draft%20-2.pdf</a><br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-19660050575623255572014-03-06T07:54:00.001-06:002014-03-06T07:54:58.920-06:00Thank You For the Endorsement EEA!<br />
I am very happy and humbled to announce that the Evansville Education Association has given me their endorsement. I got the call last night after attending parent teacher conferences at the High School and trying to do so at the Middle School and attempting to feed 5 people in between. Any of you who have had a 14 year old taking messages at your home can appreciate the years of training required to get my son to take a message (huge progress getting it on paper!) "Mrs. Koph (sic) 6:45." Since there are two nights of conferences, I didn't know which night he meant. He was sure it was last night. It wasn't. But we're happy there was an actual message recorded. It's all good.<br />
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Back to the endorsement. With this endorsement comes a pretty significant stipend donation to my campaign. It will help pay for ads and fliers and any other items I think will help my cause. Fortunately, I still have signs from 2007. This is the 4th campaign they've been through, so nobody can accuse me of being a spendthrift! Some of them need new wires, but it's all good! Next week, with the 40 degree weather coming, they will probably even enter the ground smoothly! No knitting needle and hammer required! (I had to use that technique last year to get the signs to stand up). Since I don't write for the Review anymore to avoid conflict of interest and appearance of partiality, this endorsement stipend is especially appreciated. Thanks again teachers and carry on!<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-48969228422067884652014-03-05T21:17:00.000-06:002014-03-05T21:22:40.086-06:00Update to the School Perceptions Update<div class="MsoNormal">
Here's an up date to the survey participation rate question, hot off the presses. Chelsea Davis from School Perceptions sent me this email literally the minute I posted the first update. I will wait a few days to post this so new data isn't made obsolete in minutes. </div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;">Hi again,
Melissa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;">There is one correction I need
to make. We are working on updating the report and noticed that the total
percentage of surveys taken was based on an incorrect number of surveys mailed.
In addition to the 3,552 surveys mailed via Every Door Direct Mail, there were
471 additional surveys mailed to individuals who do not live on Evansville Post
Office routes, but are considered District residents. Therefore, the total
number of surveys mailed was <b>4,023</b> and the overall response rate as of
last Monday (1,148 surveys taken) was <b>28.5%</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;">We apologize for any
inconvenience. This percentage will be corrected in the updated version of the
report that will be provided to the District.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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A 28.5% (1148/4023) response rate is better that the 27.3% using the Gazette's reported 4200 surveys distributed and a heck of a lot better than the paltry 400 (9.9%) the committee, with the input of School Perceptions, had determined would give them sufficiently rigorous statistics to extrapolate the results to the entire district.<br />
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Then today, I got a call from Janesville Gazette's Gina Duwe to ask me for information regarding my board candidacy. In the course of that conversation, I was able to ascertain where the original "4200" came from. Gina follows my blog and wanted to clear up her source of the total number of surveys. She told me that her source of surveys being sent to "all 4200" district homes was Mr. Roth in a previous context, which she logically extrapolated to this situation and, honestly, is pretty close to the actual number of surveys sent. I told her that even the new estimate doesn't capture the total available surveys, so don't sweat it. With the additional surveys distributed from the office (and other sources?) as well as additional codes emailed to survey respondents who requested one for each voter in the house, it's likely that there were even more than 4200 surveys made available to folks. I also told her that I wasn't criticizing her report, it's just that my analytical brain went into spasms trying to do a calculation that wasn't computing.<br />
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The bottom line is this: since School Perceptions has been doing this for over a decade with many districts, it's likely they consistently calculate the percent response rate for their survey results. So no matter what value is used, the nearly 30% rate of return was calculated in a consistent manner and, compared to surveys in other districts, is very high. I am satisfied that the values of the ECSD have been recorded in this process and can guide the district in their future decisions. I hope the board will use this data to come up with a good Strategic Plan to help them all stay focused on the vision of Excellence in all aspects of Education.</div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-17221390032936655042014-03-04T11:22:00.001-06:002014-03-04T11:22:43.216-06:00Come Early to Get a Good Seat at the March 12 School Board MeetingI know the agenda has yet to be published, but as they summarized the agenda coming forward to the school board meeting on March 12 at the Feb 26 meeting, I knew this meant 1) March 12 is going to be a long meeting and 2) a lot of interested parties will attend that don't normally do so. The district has already anticipated this and changed the normal venue to TRIS LMC (library for us old farts), entrance through the Fair Street (bus) doors. The staff has been planning to bring food and hunker down for the duration. Start time is 6:00. Come early for best viewing!<br />
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The two top drawing cards for attendance will be:<br />
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1). The Citizen Advisory Committee presentation of its recommendations to the school board based on the recent community survey.<br />
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2). The 4K Investigative Committee's presentation and recommendations to the school board based on their research and the survey results.<br />
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Either of these two presentations would increase attendance, but both items will likely increase public comment time and fill the library with interested parties. If you have something to say about either of these items, come have your 5 minutes of fame. The lousy weather has shifted the timing on the 4KIC presentation from 2-26 to 3-12, but given that the information from the survey wasn't available until two days prior to the expected presentation date of 2-26, that was probably a hidden bonus. Now there is time to put together a well-designed presentation that reflects all the hard work of the committee. The 4KIC is practicing on March 10 in the TRIS library for those interested in a preview. Paula Lander's leadership of this committee has been the epitome of professionalism and has made all the difference to the final product. Our district is very lucky to have her as curriculum coordinator and I hope they recognize that.<br />
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I don't remember all the other agenda items coming forward to the next meeting, but they will probably approve the Girl's Hockey co-op with the Stoughton (currently) 4-op, again with parents shouldering the burden of (really high) costs here. Pay periods, Press Box, Budget updates this year and next, Insurance updates, etc. will probably reappear. Basically all the items on the Budget portion of the last meeting might come up again in the discussion section of the next meeting. I don't know if the paperless board packets will come to this meeting, but Doreen said she would do a cost analysis of the various forms of what "paperless" means. I'll try to remember to post the agenda when available later this week!<br />
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One disturbing comment came up when discussing the pros and cons of changing to a policy governance model (only 12 districts out of 426 currently use it in Wisconsin). "Their meetings seem to be shorter," was mentioned as a perk. Some of the current board members seem to rate productivity of board meetings with how quickly they are finished. Too bad for our district. I always thought how well a board advocates for the education of ALL of its students was the most important measure of productivity for a school board. Taking a peek at the open enrollment net deficit alone, I'm thinking a few more hours might be called for. That is all, except if you want this attitude to be challenged:<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-22183749749878648862014-03-03T11:30:00.002-06:002014-03-03T11:31:03.787-06:00Response from School Perceptions Folks about the Response Rate<div class="MsoNormal">
Here's the response I got from Chelsea Davis at School Perceptions when I asked about the reported participation rate for the survey.</div>
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Hi Melissa,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks for your patience on this issue as I was out of the
office last week. To answer your question, the District’s postage order was for
a total of 3,552 surveys. As of last Monday, 1,148 people had taken the survey,
which is the 32.3% response rate we reported. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Because the District did not have an official community-wide
mailing list, they used the US Post Office’s Every Door Direct Mail program.
This is a typical mailing format we recommend if a district does not have a
mailing list. A number of extra surveys were available at the District Office
for anyone who did not receive a survey or requested an additional for another
eligible voter in their household.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope that helps.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Chelsea Davis<o:p></o:p></div>
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(main) 262.644.4300 ext. 7003<o:p></o:p></div>
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(direct) 262.299.0325<o:p></o:p></div>
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(fax) 262.299.0333<o:p></o:p></div>
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319 East Washington St.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Slinger, WI 53086<o:p></o:p></div>
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She notes that an unspecified number of additional surveys were made available to people who requested one for each voter in the household, and the district had copies available. So this response rate is best case scenario, which I believe is still pretty good. In discussing matters with the CAC chair, she noted that they were targeting 400 surveys as the minimum acceptable response rate, and they got nearly three times that, so looked at in this way, it's a win all around. I don't know where the 4200 number came from that the Gazette used in their article, but it was good to get the data from the source.</div>
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Thanks to School Perceptions for their quick turnaround time on this question. Now to formulate more questions now that I have digested all the data! </div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-19440519666612807302014-02-28T22:06:00.000-06:002014-02-28T22:06:22.638-06:00My Answers to the Union Questions.<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: bold;"> 1). <!--[endif]-->Why are you running for school board?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am a passionate proponent for public schools and have
witnessed a precipitous decline in the quality of the ECSD education over the
last decade, both personally and collectively as a community. I have unique
skills and abilities that are not routinely evident on the board. I believe
that my skill set of school finance expertise, data analysis of all kinds and
research persistence to become fully informed regarding school issues would be
an asset to the ECSD Board of Education. That skill set combined with an
unwavering dedication to speak my mind will help alleviate two glaring board
deficiencies that have worsened over time. I addressed both in my campaign last
year. The first and most destructive of those shortcomings is the absence of a <b>Strategic Plan</b> for the district. A
Strategic Plan is a roadmap of priorities by which successful businesses reach
their goals. It serves organizations in <b>both</b>
good times and bad by helping prioritize which programs they should support
with limited resources. It’s all well and good to have a vision statement
wherein the district vows support for excellence in every area of the business
model. However, without a plan by which it plans to execute this lofty goal,
any governing body will be buffeted by the political winds du jour. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Board has consistently stressed over the last five years
that any Strategic Plan they implement must have the unique Evansville community
values imbedded within it. The district
spent a lot of money, time and effort in 2010 to implement a Strategic Planning
process that included community input. Mr. Roth was uncomfortable using this
data and rightly noted that the community input was limited to around a hundred
individuals. The Citizen’s Advisory Committee was formed to create a survey to
take the pulse of the community values with what I understood at the time to be
a goal of creating a comprehensive Strategic Plan that involved a greater
community component. The survey I received was long on referendum questions and
short on prioritization. I don’t know if or how they plan to use this
information to help the district prioritize implementation of programs and
initiatives. When elected, I plan to encourage fellow board members to
vigorously pursue creating a Strategic Plan that uses the data the community so
kindly provided. One example of an issue that could be ameliorated by a
Strategic Plan is the districts Open Enrollment net revenue loss, which has
increased every year for five years and currently accounts for a net loss of
over three hundred thousand dollars. Once implemented, this plan could help the
district dig itself out of the open enrollment deficit it has placed itself in
by minimizing the importance of the problem for years. This is just one example
of how the district will benefit from a well thought out Strategic Plan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This brings me to the second way in which I feel I would be
an extraordinary asset on the ECSD Board of Education. I have a very good grasp
of <b>school finance</b>. It is a
complicated subject to which I have made myself a dedicated student since 2006.
I have learned much and continue to learn with each budget proposed by the
board. I have drilled down into the budget and spent hours in Ms. Treuden’s
office learning the nuances of how programs are supported and how rolling
averages work to change the revenue cap. Ms. Treuden is an outstanding business
manager and deserves to have somebody on the board who can appreciate the
complexity of her work and understand the nuances of how revenue is generated.
The public deserves to have a board member who can do all of that as well as
anticipate the effect change x will have on program y. I have done budgetary
iterations by hand for the 4K Investigative Committee Operations sub-committee
which has been a very informative exercise. I have analytical skills and
abilities and a great deal of curiosity that are also not evident on the
current board. That is not to say that these characteristics are absent on the
board, but I have been to nearly every board meeting for eight years and the
present board doesn’t consistently exhibit these traits. I will respectfully direct
questions to the pertinent person before the meeting, as I did in my former term
on the board, so they can be prepared to answer in public. Because I am a
strong proponent of a completely transparent governing body, I will repeat the
questions in a public forum. Those present will then see that the board has
addressed an issue. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> <b>2) <!--[endif]-->In what ways might you foster stronger
communications between the school board and all school staff? Between the board
and the community?</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2011, the Center for Public Education posted an article
entitled “Eight Characteristics of effective school boards: At a glance” <a href="http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-boards">http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-boards</a>. “Effective” in this case is defined as boards
governing districts with high student achievement. Regarding communication, the
brief summary states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> “</span></i><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 107%;">Effective school boards have a collaborative
relationship with staff and the community and establish a strong communications
structure to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in
setting and achieving district goals. In high-achieving districts, school board
members could provide specific examples of how they connected and listened to
the community, and school board members received information from many
different sources, including the superintendent, curriculum director,
principals and teachers. Findings and research were shared among all board
members. (Lighthouse I; Waters and Marzano) By comparison, school boards in
low-achieving districts were likely to cite communication and outreach
barriers. Staff members from low-achieving districts often said they didn’t
know the board members at all. “<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the new open enrollment paradigm, public schools must
become chimers of their own bells of success and delve into problems that
hinder education at every level. They must be open to new ways of operating
that meet the needs of all levels of learners. They must anticipate issues
where possible. Excellence in communication and complete transparency is a
crucial step toward meeting that goal. ECSD has a long row to hoe in this
regard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Poor communication was identified as an issue in the 2010
strategic planning process. To address this, last fall the Board of Education
implemented an ad hoc Communications Committee comprised of two board members
and two administrators. Plans have been
mentioned to expand the membership and step up the promotion of the community survey
to increase the response rate. While the district employed a wide variety of
media to inform the community about the survey and urge voters to complete it
in a timely fashion, I am unaware of specific publicity steps taken to inform
the community at large about the background information necessary to complete
the survey in an informed way. I take this to be a sign that more work is
needed in this area. I would first assess
where the communications committee was on their work before making any
recommendations, but generalizations can be made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some School districts employ public relations professionals
to execute well-organized and coordinated communication across all levels. Such
plans place the onus of the communication on the district and minimize district
conflicts such as programming during board meetings and planning simultaneous
events at multiple schools. These firms or professionals utilize a multipronged
approach in which a wide variety of media is employed in order to connect with
the greatest cross section of the community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Using this as a model, the district as a whole would reap
many rewards. I am not promoting yet another layer of administration, but
rather that the district use this model as they seek ways to improve. There is
little that an individual board member can do to truly effect change, but one
can envision encouraging certain programs that would improve the status quo. Extending
this to the board communications with staff and the district community, there
are a number of ways the board itself could improve the transparency of their
business. One of the best ways I can
think of for this would be to record and provide public access to the ECSD
Board of Education meetings. In that way, those who cannot attend the meetings
can access them via computer or public access TV, or even at the district
office. This would benefit both staff and the community at large. It could even
be used as a student Audio Visual credit, or technology credit if a student
records the proceedings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I would encourage the board to return to the public
listening sessions that seemed especially popular with staff but also attracted
the general public. This is a way for unfiltered information to get to a few
board members, who then shared with the board as a whole. It works for some
folk who are reluctant to speak in front of a governing body as well as those
who are intimidated by the presence of the entire board and administration. Working
as an individual board member only, I would spend time with staff at each
school to help understand some of the problems staff face. The public school
landscape has dramatically changed and this would enable me to come up to speed
with staff in all buildings, not just the ones our children inhabit. The
information gleaned from these meetings would inform my decisions as a board
member.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another way to gain public trust is by using the survey data
people spent time to provide to create a strategic plan and not just guide the
creation of a referendum. I’m part of the public that worked hard on the 2010
strategic planning process, from which information has been largely ignored,
leaving me to feel disenfranchised. If I feel this way, it’s likely others do
too. “Why bother?” is the overall sense many have at any public information
sessions the district has. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From my observation over the years, the Board of Education
as a whole would benefit from improvement in their internal communication as
well. There is a board development committee that should help address this
issue, but has yet to productively tackle the problem. Stepping up the work of
that committee would be the way I would encourage fellow board members to solve
this problem.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <b> </b><span style="color: blue;"><b> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3). <!--[endif]-->What do you believe employee compensation should
be based on?</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This question is very broad and I am not an HR specialist. A
pat answer to that is usually “whatever the local market models recommend.” The
problem right now is that there is an ever changing landscape of public school
compensation models from which to choose. It is the responsibility of
Administration to devise a compensation model that uniquely captures the
Evansville needs. My observation has been that Administration is looking to
other districts for guidance on this and a number of other issues and the
protocols are just not established yet. I also don’t think that the Board of
Education will be involved in devising any compensation models but rather in
voting in support of or against the model proposed by administration. So if you’re asking what kind of compensation
model I’d like to see the administration create for Evansville, I can answer
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The percentage of an organizations budget that it sets aside
for salary and benefits should reflect the value it places on attracting and
retaining outstanding employees. If that alone were the criteria for employee
compensation, it’s safe to say that the ECSD would be among the top employers
in education. The steady exodus of both experienced and rookie employees from
our district says otherwise. Dramatic changes in public school compensation
models began in 2009 with the repeal of the QEO and continued with Act 10 in
2011 and now the Affordable Care Act. The impact of these changes are possibly
viewed negatively but could be used to design a cutting edge, state of the art
compensation model that would reap rewards for decades if everyone (staff,
board, administration) works together to envision and implement the new model.
It won’t be easy, but things that are worthwhile rarely are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Generally speaking, employee compensation models ought to
fairly compensate employees with pay and benefits that are “usual and
customary” to their geographical region and career choice. It’s my belief that every compensation model
should be based on the competency of the individual employee. Ideal models
presume employees are competent but independently confirm this via employee
evaluations. Such evaluations include measurable parameters pertinent to an
employee’s job description as well as an unbiased evaluation of how the
employee has executed his or her job duties in the last year. Annual performance plans should be mutually
agreed upon and include overall career goals that synergistically benefit both
employer and employee. Employees who
consistently perform above and beyond the standards for their position should
be awarded additional bonuses above and beyond salary increases for the average
performer. An untouchable pot of money would be set aside for this purpose, as
it is to the employer’s advantage to encourage such high performing employees. Those
who consistently show a need for improvement through X number of consecutive
evaluations even while direction and support is provided should ultimately be urged
to move on to other careers and would be ineligible for any increases until
improvement is documented. Safeguards
need to be in place to protect both employee and employer so that a balanced
system is achieved. This model presumes
standards are set previous to the evaluation time period and in no way allowed
to become a “moving target.” If administration wants to raise the bar for a
particularly high achieving employee for the next evaluation period, that can
be done, but nothing can be added to an employee’s job description in
mid-cycle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Short answer: Employee compensation should be based on the
competence with which an employee carries out his or her job description. This
is evaluated in a fair and equitable way via a comprehensive, measurable and agreed
upon performance standard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">4). <!--[endif]-->What criteria will you use when faced with
budgetary cuts?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I refer to my answer to the first question posed. I would
vigorously encourage fellow board members to create a strategic plan using the
results of the recent survey. If that is not done, individual board members are
forced to generate their own list of criteria based on a combination of public
input and their own consciences, which not only won’t match other board
members’ lists, but will likely conflict with them. This is a very poor
substitute for a comprehensive, agreed-upon strategic plan because each board
member cannot help but bring their own agenda to the table, which shows at
every board meeting. Because the board lacks a strategic plan, what follows
would be my personal approach to budgeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First and foremost, any plan to further decimate the ECSD
needs to minimize the effect on our students. The administration tried to
implement just such a priority plan last year and it is my observation that it
was not very successful. Enrolling my upperclassman daughter into college
preparatory classes this year was unnecessarily difficult and anxiety producing
for her. Furthermore, resources tell me that students were placed into classes
for which they were woefully unqualified and teachers were told to make up the
deficit. I’m sure there are many more examples of the failure of the student
led priority system in use, but it seems to need a tweak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Furthermore, I would stress that any plan for further cuts
in the ECSD must be equitable in its distribution of pain. Why do I feel this
way? It was unconscionable in my mind that a few years ago the curricular
budget was cut by 12% while the co-curricular budget made only a 5% cut. This
year, both budgets were increased, which gave a three year average change for
the curricular budget at about a five percent decrease while the co-curricular
budget has experienced an increase of about ten percent. I concede that these
budgets are very different in magnitude, leading many to make remarks like,
“$250,000 (approximate co-curricular budget) is pittance in a 20 million dollar
budget.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That leads to my next budgetary guide. I will never think a
quarter of a million dollars is pittance. I always think of program costs in
terms of “teacher units.” $250,000 translates to the salary and benefits that
could support five (rookie) teachers in my head. After their budgetary analysis
of what portion of the co-curricular budget is paid with state aid, the
co-curricular committee concluded for the School Board that “For just the cost
of a teacher, we can keep all of our activities.” That phrase aggravated me for
both its insensitivity and deceptiveness. (Those who were there know that this
meeting was followed the following month by a proposal in which administration
recommended laying off ten teachers). It still costs the district $250,000 to
provide the co-curricular programs in their entirety. Local property taxes support a third of that
and state aid supports two thirds of that. State aid is provided through other
taxes residents pay and is not “free money.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Which leads me to my fourth budgetary guide. Just because
the state aids a program at about two-thirds, doesn’t mean it only “costs the
district a third of the projected expense.” It just means that local property taxes support
a third of the cost and state aid supports two-thirds of it. Nearly every penny
of support for public schools comes from taxes, hence the term “revenue”
designating the income for public entities. I would like to see the board show equitable
concern for being good stewards of these revenues. It is extremely vexing when
the excuse for not cutting such and so or not increasing fees becomes, “It will
negatively impact our state aid.” Unless a change decreases the revenue cap by
decreasing enrollment, the revenue cap remains the same. If you don’t pay it in
a state tax, you pay it in property tax and vice versa. It would be a breath of fresh air if the board
was as concerned about the negative effect on state aid from not spending the projected
budget in five of the last six years as they are about increasing fees for
co-curricular participation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope the drastic budget cuts are behind us, but without a
strategic plan, the only way I have to prioritize programs is to defer to those
with which I have personal experience. Sadly, many of the programs that helped our
eldest child prepare for and successfully attend our flagship state university
have already been gutted. Our subsequent children have been forced to seek
virtual schooling supplements because of this. The jury is still out on whether
or not this approach will be equally successful for them. I would like to be
part of a board that works together with staff, administration and community
not to return to the successes of yesteryear but rather seek new and innovative
ways to meet the needs of all levels of learners and ultimately exceed former
halcyon days.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>5). In the past, to save money, non-teaching
positions have been reduced from full-time to part-time, which has been
significantly problematic for students and staff. What ideas and/or plans do
you have to address this issue?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s my conclusion from the exodus of both teaching and
non-teaching professionals from the district that general problems must exist
in the district regarding budget cuts to staffing. However, there is
insufficient information in this question to provide a cogent response directed
at non-teaching positions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I can give my personal impression of teaching staff
insufficiencies from our family’s perspective.
It seems obvious from our experience with enrollment of our Junior
student this year that there aren’t enough teachers at the high school.
Evidence of this first emerged when the volume of scheduling problems exceeded
the staff time to solve them such that only families of Seniors were notified of
conflicts over the summer. In the past, it was every student. Not a single
email was sent to students in grades 9-11 indicating problems and student
schedules were simply posted online less than a week before school started.
Many schedules had little or nothing to do with what students requested, even
as alternate courses. Sources indicate that teachers were expected to accept
students without adequate prerequisite training in their classes. These are
additional indicators that the system is overwhelmed. It will only be
exacerbated next year with a small (100) outgoing Senior class and a large (145
or so) incoming Freshman class. I would urge the board to question the
mechanism of staffing and do what needs to be done as a board to reach a more
optimum student to staff ratio. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, this comes down to an issue of poor communication.
Families weren’t notified until it was nearly too late to solve the scheduling
problems. Teachers were not consulted for lack of prerequisites but rather told
to bring the kids up to speed because they had to “put kids somewhere.”
Staffing problems go far beyond the non-teacher positions and while the board
is usually not involved in the details of staffing decisions, they are
responsible for holding administration accountable for results. These are not
the kind of results a district wants to be known for and, in that way, the
board can exert its authority in requesting an improved staffing process that
would be generally applicable regardless of the position.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-58754659611801482882014-02-28T14:51:00.000-06:002014-02-28T14:53:35.619-06:00Union Forum Went SmoothlyWhew! Four school board activities in a week is a bit much for me. I haven't worked up to the board member endurance level yet, so WOW!<br />
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Last Thursday was the 4K Investigative Committee meeting at which we received a preliminary version of the March 12 presentation for input and comment. Monday was the survey presentation by School Perceptions, Wednesday was the school board meeting, where amazing board member Kathi Swanson reminded all present that $300K of the $335K surplus from last year is already spoken for via the phone system, a hundred thousand a year for three years. All the grand schemes presented by the administration for devising a "stipend" system for all employees (carefully avoiding calling it a bonus) was a little premature and could they not spend the surplus more than once? Also, since the CAC will be bringing recommendations to the board on March 12 for referendum, there's that to be considered for some of the surplus, and OH HEY 4KIC will recommend we start that program up to for 200-some thousand initial dollars that very same night. I too am guilty of forgetting about the phone system snafu last year, so all my carefully constructed analysis regarding the referendum stuff is off by a hundred thousand.<br />
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Then last night, the EEA invited all six candidates to a Q&A forum at Creekside Place to follow up on a questionnaire they sent to us earlier this month. Last year's election began a new tradition in which the EEA submits questions, hosts a forum for meet, greet 'n follow-up questions and decides who they plan to endorse going forward. Those chosen get a small stipend to spend on election costs. There wasn't as big a turn out as last year, probably because of the blinking cold. Many who were there sounded miserable with upper respiratory ailments and said about half or more of the staff sounded like they did. I asked Julie if they could also host a public forum, but she said taxing entity restrictions prevent them from doing so when they are planning to publicly endorse candidates. That's sad, because I don't think the Review will be able to get somebody to do the "Meet your school board candidates" series this year. Do any of my readers want to host a forum?<br />
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There were two follow up questions posed by DJ Redders this year:<br />
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1 What have you done first had to get to know how the schools operate?<br />
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2 How do you help show that your staff is valued?<br />
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A question from Tom Bethke followed those questions after this observation:<br />
The board meetings have gone from a collaborative process to one that seems to focus on penny pinching. What could you do to return to the collaborative process?<br />
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These were all outstanding questions and once again, Kathi Swanson hit it out of the ballpark with the last question. "The reason we are stuck in penny pinching mode is because we have no strategic plan, which the board purposely put on hold but now needs to address." Kudos to Ms. Swanson for her laser focus on the most important problem in our district. From her lips to the boards ears!<br />
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The rest of our answers to the above questions were fair to middling, but not necessarily earth shaking. I focused on my analytical skills and finance expertise, identified my persistence and willingness to speak my mind and drill down to get answers, but I don't get a sense that the teachers necessarily value financial skills per se, but the overall sense from the teachers was strong appreciation for pointing out to the school board back in November that they need to make sure the district spends their budgets. I hope to get their endorsement!<br />
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I'll post the questions asked by the EEA and my answers with the next post.<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-32873994523293546772014-02-26T12:00:00.000-06:002014-02-28T14:54:14.830-06:00School Perceptions Presents Raw Data from the Survey Monday February 24.<b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><br /></u></span></b>
<b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: blue;"><u>Happy Surprise For the Skeptics Among Us (Like Me, for Instance).</u></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: red;">WARNING: MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF FUN DATA ANALYSIS WILL BE INCORPORATED IN THIS POST. PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THE BLOG IF THIS DRIVES YOU TO DISTRACTION. </span><br />
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Monday night I attended the Citizen's Advisory Committee meeting at which the full survey results were shared. I have a visceral need to see all the raw data and it was particularly informative to hear Bill Foster from School Perceptions give the data with the perspective from other community results. I am glad my friend told me about this meeting and that I could attend it. "Bill Foster won't be presenting this at a board meeting," I was told. Hmm. So far, I haven't seen a link to a copy of the presentation on the school website either. I hope to see it soon and I will post the link as soon as I see it.<br />
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My data crunching brain has already gone into gear on this survey, causing me to submit what is likely the first of several questions to School Perceptions. This one regards the percent response reported in the survey. I remembered Mr. Foster reported that the 32.3% response rate (1148 surveys) was one of the highest he'd seen in over a decade of doing business. That alone is reason to celebrate. It appears all the overkill survey reminders did the trick! And then this morning, on my way out to yoga, I read the Janesville Gazette article summarizing the survey results. In that article, it was reported that surveys had been mailed to all 4200 homes in the district. That detail was not shared during Mr. Foster's presentation, but it also percolated in my caffeine deprived brain for a few hours. A few hours and a sufficient amount of caffeine later, it dawned on me that 1148 was not a third of 4200, but rather 27.3%. Wha??? So after I confirmed that the source of the "4200 surveys" was the Gazette, I emailed Mr. Foster to ask him how many surveys were mailed out. He's looking into the data for me and I have to say, I was really impressed with how quickly they responded to my question. Two School Perceptions people emailed me about this already, but the person who knows the answer is on vacation until Monday, so I'll keep you posted on that point.<br />
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My concerns about how the board was to use the data from the survey to create a Strategic Plan were somewhat allayed as well. The way the data was crunched seems logical, but I still need to cogitate on it some more to come up with a list of questions for Mr. Foster. I was glad to see that there was a way to quantify the information in a way that can be used to prioritize expenditure of limited resources. I am not so glad to see the focus on referendum. It really takes chutzpah to go out with your hat in your hand and ask the property owners of the highest taxed school district in the county to increase their district tax burden by nearly 12% when they have failed to fully spend all their allotted revenue in five of the last six years to the tune of over a million dollars. For those who need to see the numbers like I do, here's a brief synopsis. The total additional amount needed to fund these initiatives that the CAC will recommend to the board for referendum is $146.88 per $100,000 in property value for four years. This adds $1.47 to the already exorbitant mill rate of $12.30 (which is based per thousand in property value), or an 11.94% increase.<br />
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Another curious aspect of the survey was the question about what to do with JCMMS (Middle School). The greatest response (40%) weren't sure what to do. The remaining 60% slightly favored replacing the middle school to renovating it 34-26%. After all, that renovation thing was already done in the 2001 referendum and that sure wasn't a fix. The ambivalence was likely due to lack of information regarding the cost. <i>When</i> it should be done had a plurality locked up at 2020 or later (43%). Knowing that the current high mill rate could not bear the burden of another major building referendum, the survey respondents wisely selected "2020 or after." But how does that data translate to how strongly the people would support a more modest, temporary referendum in the interim? Those are some of the questions I have for Mr. Foster. I just don't think this sleepy little town is ready for that kind of tax increase, even though I agree that the areas targeted for referendum support are woefully underfunded. But why is the real question. My observation has been that their budgets were raided or unreasonably restricted over the last decade and we all own some of the fault for that. If the district took that total referendum amount required to support these initiatives and subtracted the million plus they have put into their coffers over the last six years, folks might be a little more open to the idea. In the mean time, lets run some numbers with regard to that idea.<br />
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The total sum of money stashed into district coffers in the last six years amounts to $1,095,589. Adding in the expected $165,483 surplus penciled into this year's budget, that leaves a cool $1,261,072 seven year surplus in the fund balance after June 30, 2014. Now lets look at the costs needed to address the highest priority issues facing the district according to the survey. Curriculum updates: $900.000;Safety and security: $300,000; Major Maintenance needs: $2,800,000;Technology upgrade: $1,520,000, for a grand total of $5,520,000. Now subtract the amount put into the fund balance over the last seven years to come to a total expenditure need of $4,258,928. Divide by four for the annual referendum needed each year for four years to see the total annual expenditure of $1,064,732, down from the annual expense of $1,380,000 before subtracting the fund surplus. Doing a simple ratio to calculate the new mill rate increase results in reducing that increase from $1.47 per thousand in property value to $1.13 per thousand (23% reduction), but still adding a hefty 9.2% to the mill rate for the next four years. At least it's gone into single digits. Looked at another way, using the fund balance surplus from the last four years would completely finance both the curriculum improvements (which garnered the highest priority on the survey) and address safety issues and still have a little left over, enough to hire a teacher ($61,072)! I warned you that my data crunching brain has begun to explore the possibilities for using the survey results.<br />
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And now for the downside of this proposal. Using up all the funds placed into the fund balance in the last seven years would reduce the percent in the fund balance to a paltry 7.7%, about what they had before they implemented a policy to grow the fund balance. This will make borrowing terms less attractive in a time when the ultimate goal of the district would be to keep building that value so they get good loan terms when they have to build a new middle school. I'm the first person to say this is a balancing act, but I'm not very optimistic that our town would vote for a referendum for all four of these items. Maybe the CAC doesn't intend to recommend all four, as Mr. Foster cautioned them to keep the questions to 3. The Gazette article was unclear about which specific items would be recommended to the board, so I included both safety and maintenance items. Maybe the 3 highest priorities and excluding the $2.8 Million dollar maintenance issues, which in reality came in at only 49% yes votes and 31% "Need more info/undecided." That would reduce the annual levy increase to only $680,000, bumping the baseline mill rate by a much more palatable 6%, or 75 cents per thousand in property value. That could be where the average citizen would call a compromise: Keep the money in the fund balance to borrow against at a later date and take a smaller hit for four years to get us through to 2020.<br />
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What would this mean to the owner of a $150,000 home? You'd pay an additional $112.08 a year in property taxes on top of the $1,845 you currently pay to support the schools (the bill is a lot higher but due to other taxing entities). That's an additional $2.16 a week to support our schools. How many of us spend that much on coffee alone? I'm willing to cough that much up for our schools.<br />
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Granted, I have two kids in the district (as well as one graduate). Based on our property values, our "tuition" for each kid will become $1305, or $145 a month per kid for 9 months of school. That doesn't include all the fees and such, but it's a way to look at it. But 49% of the survey respondents were not parents. Some of these folks get a bit testy about supporting schools when they get no direct benefit, in their minds. That's not true, of course, but many think this way. <br />
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Finally, what did the survey say about 4K? As Mr. Foster said, "This is a lightening rod topic." He even complimented the 4K committee for their work (I'm blushing). Every way the data was evaluated showed that a majority of Evansville supporting the district offering 4K, even Non-Parent, Non-Staff residents. Overall, 56% of respondents support offering 4K. That is a real Community value change that has occurred in the last six years or so. Going to referendum on the above items will enable the board to temporarily use fund balance to implement 4K, with the goal of replacing the funds with 4K revenue once it exceeds expenses in year 3. That depends on the district getting serious about stemming the flow of open enrollment students out of our district by getting back to being the cutting edge district it used to be. Otherwise, they'll be back with hat in hand in 4 more years because the downward spiral has continued. I'm pretty sure these are the scenarios that will develop over the next months. I am happily surprised about how useful the survey results may become over time, as long a myopic folks don't use it as a cudgel.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjorrdotOCbCy_u-GhYT904bVY2hqxYCBVALhV_kuvrBU8R15iIdX3xanNXRvKxiu0V9U2bpwlLWsTX96Wn0VA6VRTAJZNMXh2ZpCzFav3c6w-5jQ0fPiiqKCVn8CUyJxAYAWWbho42cu/s1600/sign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjorrdotOCbCy_u-GhYT904bVY2hqxYCBVALhV_kuvrBU8R15iIdX3xanNXRvKxiu0V9U2bpwlLWsTX96Wn0VA6VRTAJZNMXh2ZpCzFav3c6w-5jQ0fPiiqKCVn8CUyJxAYAWWbho42cu/s1600/sign.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-57928774260804371002014-02-05T22:27:00.000-06:002014-02-05T22:35:30.853-06:00School Board Campaign: A Thoughtful Strategic Plan is Imperative for a Successful DistrictWell, I've been following the 4K for Evansville WI Face Book page and reading a lot of the comments there. There is still a dichotomy of opinion in this town surrounding 4K, but there has been a consistent theme throughout the eight years this district has been wrangling with this topic. Everything is dependent on funding. Funding is limited, like in every real world endeavor. When the needs and wants exceed the resources, there's this thing called prioritization to determine which of one's creditors gets paid first. When you are very lucky and have extra money, the same list tells you in what order you should purchase which goods and services to meet the district goals. The big problem is that the district has been working on developing a strategic plan for five or six years now. The latest iteration is called the Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC). This additional committee was formed because our District Administrator didn't have buy-in on the former strategic planning process three or four years ago and therefore it was necessary for the district to spend another 11 grand to do a comprehensive community survey. The advantage is that there will be far more community input from a survey than from the 75-100 people who bothered to take time out of their busy schedules and attend the input forums in 2010.<br />
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The long anticipated surveys were sent last week. Sadly, it seems to the uninvolved perspective that the survey was designed with an eye to go to referendum, not as a way to help the district determine the community values and priorities in educating their children. Unless one equates a citizen's willingness to pay hundreds of dollars a year extra in property taxes (total if all the initiatives go to referendum) for the next four years with their support for the district. Prioritization will have to be measured in terms of how strongly people feel about a subject, I suppose. "Definitely Would vote for" could be construed as the highest priority and "Definitely would not vote for" the lowest priority. I marked "need more information" on all of them except paying for pay and benefits through referendum. Never pay for recurring costs with non-recurring income. I marked "Definitely Not" on that one. So, does that mean I don't respect our teachers and believe they should have competitive pay and benefits? No, it means I don't think this is a sustainable finance model that should be avoided at all costs. That is why I was so disappointed with the survey content, but they had to start somewhere.<br />
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Other surveys the district has shelled out dearly for include the facility use survey, safety audit and technology audit, all toll to the tune of about 50 grand. Now, I'm absolutely of the opinion that getting expert advice is useful and outsiders can be more neutral than your own in house experts. At the very least, if you're going to shell out a lot of cash for expertise, you have to listen to them carefully and at least try to implement the suggestions. I also believe that community surveys are useful only if you're planning to follow community input on the survey. Simply ignoring people's hard won input into a process because you didn't have buy-in to the process does not encourage people to provide meaningful input the next time you need it. Since there has been no attempt in four years to prioritize based on the data they did have from the first strategic planning process, the school board is reduced to a reactionary governing body subject to the political winds of the moment. This benefits nobody, and hurts our kids. When elected, the first thing I will recommend is that the board implement a strategic (5 year) plan. With this in place, there is a guide for what to spend and why and an insulation from those pesky political windstorms.<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-21469718325485211842014-02-01T14:09:00.003-06:002014-02-05T22:36:43.526-06:00The Tone of the ECSD Survey is DisappointingMy sources tell me that there are no plans to use the results of the ECSD community survey to help guide and implement a Strategic Plan based on community input and values. I hope this is wrong. I swear that during the several discussions about the survey and the rationalization of its hefty pricetag prior to the creation of the Citizens Advisory Committee, it was mentioned that a survey of the whole community was a way to get more comprehensive input than the former strategic planning process that was used in 2010. This was supposed to ensure that the resultant Strategic Plan truly prioritized programs based on input from a larger part of the community. I can't argue with that. That's why I was under the impression that the school district survey results would be used to create a Strategic Plan for the ECSD, which is currently working without the benefit of this relatively standard business practice. What successful 20 million dollar businesses do you know that fly by the seat of their pants, allowing themselves to be blown willy nilly by the political wind du jour? I venture a guess that there are none. The lack of a strategic plan is probably the single most detrimental and divisive aspect in the district, leaving the current administration unable to prioritize business decisions past the end of their collective nose. A district with no strategic plan is rudderless and cannot begin to decide how to spend its meager resources with an eye to how those choices can help materialize the vision of the district. I will once again campaign on this appalling deficit in our district and, when elected, strongly encourage fellow board members to correct this glaring problem.<br />
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Even more distressing, it's pretty obvious that the survey has become a tool to gauge the community's receptiveness to go to referendum on a number of initiatives and programs. It is sad that the district equates willingness to endorse going to referendum to fund an initiative with a person's support for a concept. As I stated on my survey, I need more information to decide if a referendum is necessary, not just total cost. In addition, I don't support a referendum to pay recurring costs such as salary and benefits. Finally, since the district has amassed over a million dollars in the Fund 10 balance over the last six years, I suggested that they should quit socking away money in the bank account and exhaust their revenues before they ask to raise my property taxes, which already tops area mill rates, except Oregon, which is marginally higher (by a penny or two). This will not improve for the next six years because of the backloaded bond on the High School. This year we paid about 2.5 million on that bond, which is added atop the revenue limit. This increases annually until we owe over four million on that bond in 2020. Even if the district doesn't add any programs or increase spending one iota, our taxes will increase every year if everything else remains the same (property values, revenue, etc.). Maybe our district leadership can multitask here and use the data for more than one use and correct a glaring deficit in the district business model. Decisions will still be difficult, but identifying and defining priorities can make the process so much more straightforward. I will continue to hope for the best.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-47111397314750754492014-02-01T13:07:00.000-06:002014-02-05T22:37:05.995-06:00Please Complete and Return Your ECSD SurveysThe surveys are here! I want to tell you all that there is an electronic option as well, which I took advantage of. You can ask the School Perceptions folks for as many survey codes as there are voters in your home. I forwarded one of the codes to my college kid to complete as she still votes absentee ballot in Evansville. Anyway, it's important to give your feedback to the district.<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-41413999166258305382014-01-13T12:38:00.001-06:002014-02-05T22:35:05.347-06:00Yeha! First hurdle overcome by pure chance: Pole position on the ballot!The order of candidates on a ballot sadly makes a difference for the uninformed voters among us. I know all of my readers are not among the uninformed. However, there are many folks who, when faced with a ballot full of folks of whose platforms they have remained ignorant, will simply select the first X number of names that present themselves. That is why clerks completely randomize the process by which the ballot name order is decided. The ECSD person who does this is Kelly Mosher. She places all the names on equally sized slips of paper and has somebody in the district office literally pick them out of a hat. The order in which they are drawn is the order in which they appear on the ballot in the spring. Through complete happenstance, my name is first on the ballot for the spring election. I presume the rest of the list will be publicized on the district website soon, under School Board and Elections.<br />
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Since there are only six of us running for four seats, there will be no primary required. That is only invoked if there are more than twice as many candidates running as there are seats available. The primary narrows it down to exactly 2X. When I won my first seat back in 2007, there were so many people running it required a primary, which necessitated placing signs out in really rotten weather and about 3 feet of snow. I am very glad I don't have to put signs up right now... If you want a sign, just let me know!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2661027307519261869.post-33347239799603320152014-01-09T14:48:00.003-06:002014-02-05T22:35:59.931-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's true, I'm running for school board again. Here's the official kick off for my campaign! Irony of ironies, the election date is April 1, 2014!<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291703306380996857noreply@blogger.com1