Editorials

Serving Eastside Union High Schools

Editorials

From: Patricia Carrillo
Sent: Jun 22, 2009 1:55 PM
Subject: Special ESUHSD Board Meeting Re: Athletic Budget

URGENT INFORMATION

I heard today that the ESUHSD Board of Trustees took serious note of the lack of supporters at last weeks Trustee meeting regarding the budget. They noticed that NO ONE came up to the podium on June 18th to support Athletics going back in the budget. They did notice the number of people "not in support of athletics".

The Board will meet at a special meeting on June 25th at 6:00pm to finalize the Budget.

They need to hear that we still strongly support athletics as part of ESUHSD. Please try to get the word out to everyone you know who supports athletics in ESUHSD.

Come to the meeting, fill out a card and simply let the Board know where you stand on adding athletics back into the budget. 15 seconds is all you need.

Please send out to as many interested people and post to as many places as we need. We're all part of community groups.

Do you Support Athletics for ESUHSD? Go to the ESUHSD Board Meeting on June 25, 2009 at 6pm at ESUHSD Administration Office

From: Diane Blum
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:18 AM
Subject: Hip Hop Concert Cancelled - note from concert promoter's blog

Several people had wondered about the last-minute cancellation of the fundraiser. Here is a note from the concert promoters, just FYI. I personally have heard no official info from the district, but maybe that will be forthcoming. Note that for people who purchased advance tickets, it sounds like you can get a refund.

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Well, today we got the worst news we could have possibly expected. The Save Our Sports Benefit Show has been shutdown and cancelled. This isn’t a joke. After the efforts of some amazing people, and I do mean amazing for what they were able to put together in a matter of 1 month was nothing short of that. The word came down at 8:30am this morning from the East Side Union HS District Superintendent Mr. Bob Nunez, that he had in fact terminated the show. The female risk manager of the ESUHSD gave our investor and Athletic Director Mr. Ed Buller a very hard time completing the insurance policy. She made it very hard to work with her and although we had every piece to the puzzle she threw at us, she was adamant about being difficult and ultimately stopping the event.

Despite the fact that we got the okay from the A.D., the School, The Superintendent, The Save Our Sports Committee and support from The Mercury News, The SF Chronicle, Channel 2 News, Channel 5 News, 106KMEL, 90.5KSJS & more…it wasn’t good enough. In the end “RAP” was the issue and she along with the Gang Task force wanted nothing to do with it. She took it to the Superintendent and principle of Oak Grove and pushed the issue until they gave way and conceded. They called Mr. Ed Buller this a.m. and told him the show was off due to concerns over RAP at a local high school and when asked if he could speak with the Superintendent Mr. Bob Nunez, he said he wasn’t taking any calls and that his decision was final.

In the end it did not matter that this was a family safe event, all ages, parents encouraged to come and thrown by some well respected businessmen; one of whom happens to be a teacher himself. They took no initiative to reach out to us and meet with us regarding their concerns. The Gang Task Force could have met with us along with the Risk Manager and Superintendent Mr. Bob Nunez and they would have seen 1st hand that we would have welcomed even the GTF to come out and join the event to see that it was for a great cause. Instead, they opted to let their fears of RAP and this bad persona affect their decision and again leave the district with yet another missed opportunity to raise some of that $2 Million it needs to get the sports programs back.

Before I wrap this up, my question is this for the Gang Task Force & Superintendent; where do you think these kids are going to go without sports now? You think Gang Task Force is fearful now and busy now, watch what happens without these sports programs and what these kids resort to. They have nothing to keep them occupied and you shut down one of the events put together to SOLELY help get back some of that money that is owed to try and prevent future community issues with our kids? Does it make any sense? You cower behind closed doors and instead of doing what “leaders” do and meet with those in charge; you make a very abrupt and un-thoughtful decision to terminate this event. It’s amazing to all of us and you; yes all of you in charge at the school district are to blame for this. The news ran stories of “whoa is me, nobody wants to help us…the community doesn’t seem that concerned” and when it is offered you push it away because of your fear of a genre of music? You should be ashamed. WE ARE.

Thank you to all of you who donated, picked up tickets, worked behind the scenes for NO MONEY and even those on the face of that flyer for offering time out of their busy schedules to give back to a city who some of you didn’t even belong too. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we promise, this is one pebble in the road we travel and we will be successful in our efforts you can bet that. Those of you who donated will be issued full refunds.

Questions, you can call or email Ray “Playa Rae” Molina Jr. here, or 408-649-1922 because I am one of those who handle things like a “leader” as I mentioned earlier. If you’d like to discuss this with me or any of my associates (Hayves Streeter of Cadre Media, Stephen Kontac of Beats By The Bay or Suga Kane of Tha Unda), we can do that too.

From: Diane Blum
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:24 AM
Subject: 5/21 Board meeting - my notes

I attended the first 3 hours of the Board meeting last night. It started 1/2 hr late, and they changed the agenda a bit to accommodate a few dozen public speakers representing Adult Education, so I didn't get to hear one of the sections relevant to the high school budget issue...eventually the Board will generate minutes from the meeting, which will then be posted on the Board Doc/ESUHSD website. Others who remained might want to provide an update on the subsequent meeting discussion/actions. My understanding is that President Martinez-Roach was also going to make her earlier "State of the District" presentation available in soft-copy at some point. I missed that but in looking through the hard-copy, it seemed to be very focused on statistics: demographics of the district (ethnicity, English learners stats, economically disadvantaged stats, special needs stats, drop-out and graduation rates, support programs/number of students involved (this is an interesting page, showing how many students benefit from JROTC, AP, Magnet programs, etc), Adult Ed programs, lots of EDUHSD staff data (including some salary/benefits charts), stats on student attendance, drug incidences, etc).

The entire Board, Superintendent/Assoc Superintendent, Legal Counsel were present.

I will provide my notes on two discussion topics: Parcel Tax and Athletics Initiative. Again, as always, remember this is my interpretation of what was said!

Parcel Tax Discussion

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This was a Bob Nunez recommendation, he wanted the Board to approve having a feasibility study done. President Martinez-Roach said she had been a support of a parcel tax pre-election/ballot measures, but because those failed she is now questioning the viability of a parcel tax getting passed. She thought it could cost around $40,000 to get a feasibility study done.

Eddie Garcia said that the voters are disenchanted with the state, not ESUHSD (personally, I am not 100% that is true...might be an interesting poll to do). He reflected on the earlier Measure G effort, that 71% supported that. He supported the idea of the property tax study, and said that the list of "items" noted as being funded under the property tax should include sports program.

Biehl said the important thing is "local control". He supports the parcel tax as long as it is crafted correctly to reflect the right amount, exemptions for seniors, duration in effect, etc. He said the district has "very little choice" at this point. He handed out his parcel tax survey, wants people to respond to that (he should send this to me and others who will post to yahoo groups and the various websites that exist to support ESUHSD efforts! we'll gladly disseminate).

Herrera supported the feasibility study for the parcel tax as well. He reiterated Garcia's point of adding sports, that the parcel tax must benefit the "whole child". He also talked a bit about the feasibility study needing to include a poll of voter willingness, and that included identified "non-supporters"...go to them proactively and see what would it take to get them to support it.

Lan Nguyen supported the feasibility study, said it wasn't new...he reiterated that the feasibility study needed to provide a clear strategy as to how to energize voters to support it.

President Martinez-Roach supported the idea of the study, but said she didn't want to use general funds (to her, that represented a headcount being traded off). She suggested they go to their vendors to get help to fund the study. She agreed that a poll must be part of the study.

ESTA President got up and said they support the parcel tax...I believe she also stated that the ESTA org would financially support it, although that wasn't 100% clear to me, and certainly a specific amount or any other stipulations were discussed. (The ESTA VP had talked briefly during the open/public session and he said the Board would be watched closely relating to how the dealt with coming up with a budget solution that prioritized meeting the needs of "every student".)

One speaker, a teacher in one of the Arts areas within ESUHSD, offered to do the feasibility study for $10K! Two speakers, I believe both teachers within the Arts area, spoke about the fact that, 1) "Arts" is multiple areas, so it needs to be broken out into those 3 areas when discussed, and 2) "Arts" is part of core curriculum requirements, but was being lumped into an "extra-curricular" category like sports (I think this is what she was saying). Garcia said no-one was saying "Art" was extra-curricular.

So the Superintendent was chartered with coming back to the Board with a plan relating to how to get this feasibility study done, what funds could be used, etc.

Athletics:

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Biehl made a motion (see attached) to restore athletics in budget priorities for 09/10.

Garcia said sports is an integral part of education. He said no-one has said it is "academics versus sports". Need to "make decisions for the best interest of kids, not adults".

President Martinez-Roach said if sports was restored as a priority they might as well rescind all layoffs, too. She said it wasn't fiscally ok to restore something that the budget clearly can't accommodate. She said she would not agree to the resolution if she still had to lay off 200 teachers.

Biehl said they shouldn't be pitting sports versus teachers/academics. "Whole child" was brought up again as the intent.

Herrera: (I sent his memo out yesterday to the ESUHSD Supporters yahoo group, where he went into great detail as to his feelings on athletics and how the Board made an error relating to pulling the plug)... He reiterated part of the budget assumptions, that would include sports, needed to be aggressive fundraising (with benchmarks, that if certain fundraising goals weren't met, different plans would kick in). He reiterated it would have to be a very strong community partnership. He used the term, "Comprehensive" in discussing the type of plan that the Superintendent must bring back to the Board relating to including athletics in the '09-'10 budget. He also mentioned hiring a fulltime fundraiser (not sure if that is a different person than the "Exec Dir" of the ESUHSD Educational Foundation which has been discussed).

Lan Nguyen: supported it

This motion passed 4 to 1, with President Martinez-Roach the no vote.

Usage of Tier III Categorical Program Funds as Unrestricted Funds:

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I wasn't able to stay for this discussion, so would be interested in what came out of it. This was the reason so many "Adult Education" public speakers came up to talk earlier in the session. I hadn't even thought about it, but Adult Education is a substantial chunk of money in the ESUHSD budget. I believe it is in the neighborhood of $6 million dollars, if I am reading a memo they passed out correctly. All the speakers were asking that the funds remain allocated to Adult Education. There were many people there who were immigrants and had been non-English speakers. There were several who were in Adult Education to get their GED. There were several people representing Board and Care facilities who strongly supported the Adult Education available to the mentally ill. The speakers were all very passionate about the need for these services.

As I wasn't there later, I am unclear as to whether a decision was made to utilize these funds outside of how they are currently defined.

Diane's last comments:

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I have to say, I felt the tension in the air. And I kept coming back to the fact that somehow, we all need to come together if we want to figure this out. Maybe I am being naive, but it can't be about "academics vs athletics". It can't be about "athletics vs. teachers". Short-term, it can't be about the desire that the "ESUHSD Board" must go (or some of it, etc)...if that is what we focus on as our "near-term" priorities over the next 12 months, what becomes of our kids in the meantime. Short-term, it can't just be about "the state screwing us over" or whatever. We need long-terms plans in place to address all of that, but near-term...how can we do the best we can with what we have short-term influence over?

Short of anyone having a major connection with Obama to influence more stimulus funds or just having the entire district go bankrupt and starting over...I think the suggestions that I personally have heard that make sense are (and all involve acknowledging the big, smelly elephant in the room):

* ESUHSD Educational Foundation: (with a fulltime fundraiser on board) We need this NOW. This must be set-up CORRECTLY, though...more community that Board members, and a core membership that represents the overall community versus one group or the other, etc. This group's work & mission must be transparent and monitored. This Foundation must engage the community, both residential and business. I am possibly being bratty, but I feel this org has already started out on the wrong foot. It has apparently existed for a few years in some form, has members (maybe even a payroll?) and what have the results been so far??? Memo to the Board: this has to be as "independent" from you all as possible by law. A lot of people don't trust you all, for one reason or another...I'm not saying people are right or wrong...but we have to acknowledge that the lack of trust exists (oh, there's the smelly elephant!) and deal with it in order to be effective.

* Community forums run by the community. OK, so that Board meeting is a good place for the Board to update the community...but, I felt like 12 people in a room could roll-up their sleeves, be honest, and maybe get more done. Herrera mentioned the SOS2 website as a single point of info. I don't think that the district should manage the "single" site, I think the new Educational Foundation should (it needs to be dynamically maintained, no offense, but the district has other issues)! But what to do in the meantime?

The SOS website is awesome, but it is mainly focused on athletics.

The ESUHSD Supporters yahoo group is one place people need to start "talking" about what can be done. Who knows Who we have out in the community that might know someone who might be able to do something. In a few weeks, we're over 50 members, but remind me how many people are in the district???? The smelly elephant here is that so few of the ESUHSD family are involved in this. How can that be improved upon? Maybe community outreach needs to be a priority, along with community fundraising.

* UNION concessions? I am completely ignorant on this topic, but I keep hearing salaries/benefits as the culprit in our doom (oops...smelly elephant again) and as part of the key to the solution. My belief is that if this isn't proactively/publically discussed there will continue to be a divide created on this question. We don't need any more division here. We need to all work together.

Thanks,

Diane

From: Diane Blum
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 11:20 AM
Subject: My minutes to the SCHS meeting last night with Frank Biehl

Hi all. I attended the meeting at Silver Creek High School last night (5/13) sponsored by the SCHS PTSA, which had as a guest speaker, Frank Biehl. I have attempted to provide notes for those who were not in attendance. As always, please realize that these are notes that also include my impressions of what was represented, as well as my own catty comment or two. Oh, and just three additional notes, don't forget the Dave Cortese bus trip to Sacramento on June 1 and don't forget to tell everyone you know to vote Yes on the upcoming special election measures (at least 1A, B and C)! Go to this site for more easy to understand info on the ballet measure. And lastly, to improve communications on ESUHSD topics in the future (rather than these email strings from hell), Cortese's office is graciously working on establishing an "ESUHSD Supporters" Yahoo group, using as a starting group anyone's email/name who attended/signed-up at one of the Town Hall Meetings...more info on that forthcoming...

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