Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.


- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Giving thanks...

I have so much to be thankful for, but this time of the year completely stresses me out! It starts in late October, with nearly every family birthday being celebrated, and goes straight through to the New Year! Not enough time or money to do the things I want to do - I get bitchy and end up not enjoying anything.

But I found this posting today, and it definitely puts everything in perspective.

I will count my blessings, and be thankful for what I do have.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. -Will Rogers

Three seek RUSD board seat

The Journal Times is reporting that 3 citizens have thrown their proverbial hats in the ring for the RUSD Board seat vacated by Randy Bangs earlier this month - the candidates are: Reverend Hargrove, Joyce Gregg and Stella Young.

All 3 candidates are worthy of the position from what I have witnessed in the past.

It's also refreshing to know that all 3 candidates seem have a leg up on the issues, or at the very least, have attended MANY meetings in the past!

So often school board candidates seem to come out of nowhere - I cannot tell you how many

times I witness candidates attending their FIRST meeting soon after their nomination papers are filed! (Picking out "new" faces is actually quite easy, as RUSD meetings are often poorly attended unless there is a "crisis"at hand )

I am not suggesting that you cannot keep yourself up-to-date on the issues by reading a newspaper or forums such as this one, but it definitely helps if you have first-hand knowledge and hear the board conversations in their entirety and in proper context.

Good luck to all 3 candidates! I know each of you will bring an unique perspective to the board floor!

Fixing a Hole

I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go...

My apologies to John and Paul, but these lyrics came to mind as I was reviewing the RUSD board materials (for tomorrow's meeting) over my morning coffee. It would seem that the RUSD board will be addressing changes in their current governing style, Policy Governance, to address the loopholes that directly led to the recent changes in district leadership.

Over and over again, the audit report written by Reinhart-Boerner included the phrase "lack of oversight" and suggested that Policy Governance possibly left too many "holes" in the financial management of the district. The board seems to be addressing these "holes", not by throwing out Policy Governance, but by rewriting some of the language. I'm glad our current board acknowledges that some of the Executive Limitations were too broadly written, and that the board is now seeking to remedy the situation.

Here 's a brief summary of some of the proposed changes, the bolded text is the proposed change in language, the text in italics is the existing language:

Policy Type: Executive Limitations

Accordingly, the CEO may not:

Fail to publish a financial condition statement annually. Fail to provide the Board with a monthly update of the Statement of Revenue and Expenditures and Balance Sheet depicting month and year-to-date financial activity as well as a financial condition statement annually.


a.Fail to use a competitive bidding procedure for the purchase of all supplies, materials and equipment, and any contracted services except professional services, in the amount of $25,000 or more.
b. Fail to use a competitive bidding procedure for professional services in the amount of $50,000 or more except for replacement positions within the Teaching and Learning Division.
c. Execute a contract which includes financial incentives to a third party without Board approval.

Hindsight is 20/20, obviously if these changes in policy language were included from the get-go, it is very likely that the RUSD board would not have to be renegotiating terms with PBCG, the consultant group hired by the former superintendent to manage the district's business affairs, but, instead, could be focusing on the issues that might actually benefit the children of RUSD educationally.

It's about time the board "fixes the hole" and focuses their collective time and energy on achieving their goal of educating every student to succeed.

A better way to fund education, or just the same old tired rhetoric?

Yesterday, for the first time in recent memory, comprehensive school-funding reform was the topic “du jour” in Madison. Wisconsin’s current funding formula needs a major overhaul – the current system is not working for many school districts across the state. Both small rural districts and large property-poor districts suffer because of the complicated formula that rewards growing communities, but penalizes districts with declining enrollments..

While I appreciate the built-in control over spending the current formula has, there are problems with it. While there is a law that states teachers must receive a 3.8% annual raise, districts are only allowed to raise revenues by 2%. Of course if a community grows, districts are allowed to levy more than the 2%.

Let’s pretend that a school district such as RUSD lost 125 students from the previous year. This means that the district will receive approximately $1,000,000 less from the state. So Unified will now need to cut $1,000,000 from its budget - we have 34 buildings in the district, so a loss of 125 students is only going to be 4 less students per building – less than one student per grade per building in many instances.

So what can be cut from the budget? It can’t be a teacher position because the district didn’t lose enough students to warrant this! It can't be salaries for the existing teachers, the QEO states the teachers must receive a 3.8% increase in compensation! What has happened over the last 15 years is that slowly, each year, these cuts have whittled away facility budgets, curriculum choices, and extra-curriculars activities.

Now, factor in that there has been federal legislation that has passed since the last time Wisconsin has addressed school finance reform. With the IDEA Act of 1997, and NCLB of 2001, districts now have diffferent mandates they must follow – most of which are costly and draining the budgets of already cash-strapped school districts.

What upsets me about the hearing yesterday in Madison, is that the group pushing for the Adequacy Funding Model “does not include any specifics for how a new system should work” but calls generally for providing adequate funding for each district. They’ve worked on this for what, 5 years, and DON’T HAVE A FUNDING PLAN?

Rightly so, some Republicans had some tough questions they wanted answered:

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) asked the main sponsors of the resolution, Sen. Roger Breske (D-Eland) and Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Middleton), whether they were seeking an increase in state spending on schools - currently more than $5 billion a year - or a revision of the complex formula for allotting money to schools. The formula relies largely on property values in districts.(emphasis is mine)

If these “new” formula is going to rely on other more equitable ways of funding, say by eliminating the sales tax exemption, or by raising the sales tax WITHOUT a SIGNIFICANT DECREASE in PROPERTY TAXES, they may just save themselves a whole lot of time and stop right now. We don’t need any MORE taxes in Wisconsin, we need less of them, and taxes that are JUST and FAIR.

Somehow the legislators in Wisconsin have to figure out how other states can pay for schools, fire and police protection, libraries and parks without overburdening the average homeowner.

RUSD looks Skyward for parental involvement?

No, the question I posed is not about RUSD looking and praying to God for guidance on how to engage parents in the educational process. I am referring to the software that district started using some time ago - Skyward is software made exclusively for both public and private K-12 institutions.

As a parent, I have already seen what Skyward has done for the teachers and employees in the district - grades are entered easily and the reports that the teachers can run are phenomenal.
Also once a change is made to a students profile, its changed everywhere in the district. No longer does it have to get changed at the school level, then the district level. No more forms in triplicate that have to be routed from department to department for signatures.

But Skyward can do more than make RUSD employees lives easier, it can help parents become more engaged in their child's school life. I know this because the school district in Union Grove uses the web-based component of this software, and the parents can log on from home and check their child's grades, attendance, even how much is left in their school lunch "account".

I understand that these enhancements ARE in the works for RUSD, but as with anything, there MAY be obstacles. Teachers need to make sure that the data is up-to-date, and of course there MAY be technical issues as well. Certainly the district will need to increase its bandwidth, and most likely will have to invest in additional computers for its staff to use.

But coming from a parent who sometimes is leery about "bothering" teachers and staff, this enhancement would be worth the nominal cost. In the long run, having parents know what the kids are doing (or not doing!!) in school will make better students in the future.

Today's the day

Today's the day that the many educational stakeholders across the state have been waiting for - school finance reform is on our legislature's agenda.

Any initial comments or thoughts? Here's the place to share them...

The Gunfight at the RTA Corral

Okay, so maybe my headline for this post is a tad bit overdramatic... But like that famous fight that symbolized the struggle between law and order and the rampant banditry of the American Old West, the Racine Taxpayers Association met with the RUSD Interim Superintendent and Board President yesterday for what was probably a very lively luncheon meeting.

I am coming to the realization that politics DO play a major part in education, although I still believe that education should be a non-partisan issue. In my humble opinion, taxpayers have a right to question financial decisions, after all, it is our money and we have a right to understand how it is being spent. But because the tax money is used for something that is intangible - education - sometimes lines get drawn in the sand. It becomes an Us vs Them issue - I know I have fallen into this frame of mind many times before. This is something I am continually addressing and trying to overcome.

The Journal Times reported that the PBCG contract was one of the many issues discussed - please allow me to pontificate briefly on that topic. While I completely understand the need for secrecy at this time, or as Baumgardt stated, to "keep my mouth shut" until the renegotiations are complete and voted on in an Open Session meeting, I do have some concerns.

Frankly, I am worried about any negative political fall-out from any decision that may be perceived as a bad one (financially speaking) by the taxpayers of eastern Racine County.

The district has decaying buildings that are literally stuffed to the gills with children - not the best learning environment for anyone, to say the least. (We treat our criminals better!) The district will need to address its facilities soon via spending referenda; the trust and support of the district by the citizens it serves is needed.

I have written about my feelings about the PBCG contract numerous times for nearly 2 years now - I am not going to repeat myself.

But I will say this - I certainly hope that any deal brokered with PBCG is one that the public can bear. What sort of compensation can the public bear and accept? That is the unknown; I know the amount I would give them if I sat on the board, but hey, my opinion doesn't matter.

Or does it?

Special Education: Not a place but a process

After the Independent Commission released its report in 2006 - it identified that 2 things should happen (in the area of special education):

1. The district needed to create a task force to examine the current special education delivery model to better align resources with meeting needs.

2. Teachers, parents, outside experts and internal special education managers should work together explore best practice models nationwide, and to formulate a new approach for special education in Racine.

In the spring of last year, Renee Pfaller (who recently resigned), gave a presentation on Special Education to the RUSD board. It was decided at the time that an in-depth analysis should be done. So the study was commissioned, and tonight the board studied the long-awaited report completed by UWM's Elise Frattura, an expert in Exceptional Education.

My head is still spinning from all the information shared in such a short time, and the results may be shocking to some, but I was not completely surprised by any of the key findings.

I already knew that our district over-identifies children of color, and I understand the devastating effects that this can have on a child. We all know the statistics, don't we? Kids "labeled" are more likely to have disciplinary problems, truancy issues, and are statistically more likely to develop alcohol and drug problems! We won't even discuss that over-identifying children takes valuable resources away from the children who really do need the services.

I am sure I will write more in the weeks and months to come, but the most important theme I want to convey is this - the way the district currently delivers special education services is outdated and does not serve the best interest of the child.

Busing a child across town for Speech, because that is where the Speech teacher happens to be, is wrong. The child should be served in his or her own school whenever possible. Instead of moving the kids all over the district - move the teacher. Nearly 1/2 of our busing budget is spent on busing these children needlessly. Over 38% of children with disabilities do not attend the school they would normally attend if they were not disabled.

Also, when students do not attend the school they would attend if not disabled, natural proportions of students with disabilities in the receiving school is exceeded. Segregating these children into a few schools is wrong. The Supreme Court says that children cannot be segregated by color - so the same policy and laws should apply here as well.

Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion that "separate facilities are inherently unequal" - we all need to start thinking that special education is not a place, but a process. Then, and only then, will we really making sure that the district is educating EVERY child.

Meetings, meetings and more meetings!

The RUSD board is again having a special meeting tonight, followed by a work session that will discuss the recent Special Education Study. It certainly seems like the board is working hard, at least if you look at the number of times they have been meeting lately. Let's hope these meetings are fruitful!

The special meeting will commence at 5:30PM and will adjourn to Executive Session to update the board members of the renegotiations of the PBCG contract. As many of you are aware, PBCG was hired by the district to oversee the business operations of the district, and were the focus of the recent audit done by Reinhart-Boerner, a Milwaukee legal firm. The board has trying to negotiate a settlement with PBCG since the initial results of the audit have been made public.

I only hope that a settlement is soon to come, and it is one that public can accept. The board needs to regain the trust of the citizens of eastern Racine County in a very big way.

Is "second shift" the solution to overcrowding?

A couple of years back, the Racine area school district commissioned a long-term facilities study. While not much has been written about the Paullin study, I would like to talk about one aspect of it briefly today.

In this study, it was pointed out that the big 3 high schools (Case, Horlick and Park) were originally designed for 1200-1400 students, yet we have 2000-2200 students in these schools. They were overcrowded way back when I started high school, and the problem definitely escalated the year I was a senior - this the year 9th graders were moved to our high schools.

Why move an additional 500-600 students into already crowded schools? It has been explained to me that the most accurate data model the district had in 1983 had projected the district was going to lose 7000 students within a very short amount of time. The district was going to go from 22,000 to 15,000 students , so the move made sense at the time.

Of course nearly 25 years later, we have seen that this did NOT happen. The district may have lost some students, but there are still over 21,000 students being serviced by RUSD - and our high schools are still dangerously overcrowded.

Other communites, like West Bend, are coming up with some creative ways to address overcrowding. Ironically, one of the ideas suggested for West Bend has been proposed by a former RUSD board member in the past - having the high schools operate on a split-shift schedule.

Is this a viable solution to help solve the over-crowding at our high schools?

Of course, the easiest solution would be to remove the 9th graders from the high schools, but in order for that to happen the district's 6th graders need to return to the elementary builidings. Because of the recently expanded 4 and 5 year old kindergarten programming, there is no longer room in these buildings for the 6th graders. So now, new buildings need to be built somewhere in the community.

I believe RUSD must soon address the over-crowding in our high schools. They have been overcrowded for decades, and some kind of decision is long overdue.

If you were in charge, how would you meet this challenge? Build more buildings, create a split-shift schedule, or some other solution?

More schools look to alternative assessments

Since the dawn of educational time, school districts across the state have relied on the annual Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) to assess their schools' performance.

(I do believe this test was used solely for the purpose of bragging rights at school administration conferences.)

With the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, however, the stakes have increased exponentially. Now school districts are punished by having poor test results - the punishment - withholding federal tax money. Money that could be used for additional staff training, books, and other educational tools that MAY actually raise test scores.

There are two fundamental problems with the WKCE:

1. The test is given in October. Shouldn't an assessment test be done towards the end of the learning year, and not the beginning?

2. The results of the October test are not released until April or May. Fourth graders not reading at grade level? Oh well, I guess we'll have to do something about it next year. Never mind that we have lost nearly a whole school year in figuring that out!

Many schools are now scrambling to find to alternative assessments, such as the NWEA-MAP, to assess both the district needs, and more importantly, the individual student's needs. RUSD has been using these tests for 2 or 3 years with much success. In fact, this was one of the few "reform-initiatives" that the former superintendent introduced that actually had full support from ALL stakeholders within the district.

What I, as a parent, like most about the NWEA-MAP tests is this:

1. There are taken 3 times a year and the results are nearly immediate - within 24 hours I have a individualized report on my child's results, with special attention paid to the progress made since the last testing.

2. The results are reported with NATIONAL norms, meaning I know how well my child did against other children in the district, state and across the country.

For once, its refreshing to know that RUSD isn't behind the proverbial 8-ball in bringing innovation to its students and teachers.

What if you threw a party and nobody came?

(Photo courtesy of www.racinepost.com)

Earlier this week, there was a historic meeting of sorts at City Hall. Members of the RUSD communication meeting met with the legislators of the city of Racine. A similar event happened earlier in the year when a RUSD board committee met with the trustees of the outlying villages in the district (Caledonia, Mt. Pleasant, Sturtevant, Wind Point, etc). Their collective goal is to better understand the problems faced and to work TOGETHER to find solutions!

What amazes me is this! It's not that the RUSD board is asking for help, but that these meetings are so poorly attended by the lay members of the community!

Although, the meeting with the villages was better attended than the one in the city - it was still sparsely attended. Perhaps the city meeting was not well advertised, I certainly hope that is the reason.

I cannot believe that the reason is that so few people care...

Breaking News - Apathy thrives in Racine

(click on picture to enlarge)

Seriously, over half of the respondents have just given up on Unified? Don't you all realize how much the public can effect change? Whether its blogging, attending rallies, public hearings or even RUSD public input sessions - the power of the Joe or Jane Public is HUGE!


I seriously hope that most of the NO respondents simply just had a bad day, and instead of kicking Fido, they took out their frustrations via their computer and mouse.



If the public will not speak, how in the hell are things supposed to get any better?

Voters reject referendum

Voters yesterday in West Bend have resoundingly made their voices heard - the $119.3 school referendum was too much for the taxpayers to bear. Many other large referenda in other Wisconsin school districts have failed in recent years. In what has become a sometimes disturbing trend, the voting public has said learned, and learned well, to say NO each time an increase in spending is proposed, even if the proposed spending is for capital projects. What happened in West Bend was expected by many, but it does shine a light on the terrible way we fund schools.

Pitting property tax owners against schools is a bad idea. While I wholly support the "idea" of revenue caps and the like, it is apparent that after 15 years of the current school funding formula, it does not work for many of the districts in our state. Don't other states fund their schools without forcing Grandma from her home?

Why can't the legislature come up with a better way - a more equitable way of funding education?

How about eliminating the sales tax exemptions and using that money to fund the schools?

Business leaders across the state complain that there aren't enough skilled workers for their businesses. Guess what, we have institutions to take care of these kinds of problems - they're called schools!

We need to move away from the "factory school" mentality, and start making sure our children are ready for the real world. Tech academies in the high schools, technology in elementary schools...

But folks, this costs money, and asking already overburdened homeowners to pony up more cash isn't working anywhere. We need a different and better way of funding our schools - people should not be forced to choose between their homes and better schools for the children of their community.

All eyes look to West Bend

All eyes will be on West Bend tomorrow, as voters will turn out to vote in what will be the state's largest school referendum to date. I imagine there will be some here in our neck of the woods who will be VERY interested in the results.

"Why would that be?" you might ask. Well, let me tell you. With over $70 MILLION dollars in BASIC repairs for the 34 buildings in RUSD, and a complete overhaul of all buildings at an estimated $375 MILLION, RUSD may soon be asking voters to ante-up for its aging infrastructure.

Nothing against West Bend, but I cannot fathom that their buildings are as in bad of shape as many of the schools in the Racine area. If you do not believe me, please make an appointment to take a tour of Walden, Red Apple, Janes or any other RUSD school built in the 19th century.

If some of these schools were rental properties, I seriously believe they would be condemned and the landlord thrown in jail.

So tomorrow, ALL of us (both the anti-tax crowd and the educational establishment) in Racine will be watching and taking notes, so when our time comes around, we will know how to answer.

RUSD board to fill vacant seat

Tonight, thankfully, the RUSD board voted to fill the vacant seat left by Randy Bangs. I was worried that they would not fill the seat (boards have odd number of members for a reason, you know!). The board also clarified the timeline in which this would happen, as outlined in state statutes and their own board policies.

Within a week, there will be a public notice letting the public know of the vacancy - then any citizen interested in the position has two weeks to contact any board member in order to be nominated. The board member may then turn those nominations over to the board president.

On December 3rd, those candidates would be interviewed (in open session) and then the board (again in open session) will choose a new candidate.

Hopefully, there will be many qualified candidates to choose from - any future board member needs to understand that there are MANY important issues facing the district this year. The board cannot simply slow down the process even more to bring a new board member up-to-speed on the issues.

RUSD board member resigns

Tonight, at 7:00PM, the RUSD Board of Education will be having a special meeting. The first action item on the agenda is accepting the resignation of a board member. One can only assume, from the reports of last week, is that the board member in question is Mr. Randy Bangs.

Mr. Bangs, often viewed as the "contentious" one, was relentless when looking for facts and data. You may have not liked or appreciated his very direct approach, but he did bring many things into question. Some of past board practices he questioned, we all know now (thanks to the recent audit) were really all not that great for the district as a whole.

So let me first thank Mr. Bangs for his diligent work on the board before I start obsessing over his replacement on the board, or worse yet, the lack of a replacement.

Thank you, Randy, for your years of diligent service.

Now back to obsessing... I believe the board (as a collective being) is not quite sure if someone should be appointed for the remaining 6 months of Mr. Bang's term. While I understand that it would take a special person to serve the remaining months of Mr. Bangs' term, I do think if certain individuals were interested - the spot should be filled.

The candidate should already be well-versed on the upcoming issues - there isn't time to bring someone up-to-speed. The candidate should understand the sometimes dysfunctional dynamics of the board, and most of all, be genuinely excited about all the positive changes administration is bringing to the table.

Now, I wonder where the board would find someone like that?

More thoughts on the RUSD board postponing redistricting

I have had 24 hours or so to assimilate the recent RUSD board decision to postpone a decision on redistricting, and I have a few more thoughts on the matter. Dr. Warner, the board member that proposed creating consensus by reaching out to the community for answers, does make a couple of excellent points.

1. This board, and past boards, have not effectively reached out to the community. All of the past efforts were kind of last-minute hodge-podge attempts, and the forums that were held were often not well attended by many sectors of the community.

2. Past community efforts have not built consensus in the community. I believe it is because most of these community efforts were broad-based and open-ended, meaning there were ambiguous questions and people were free to discuss just about anything they wanted.

While these kind of forums are great, what ended up happening (I believe) is that the faciliators asked, "What would make a great school district"? to 400 people and got back 400 different answers.

I'm not an expert on data collection, but maybe any future efforts should drill down to the answers that board and administration are actually seeking.

I do know this, however, any hardline action either way will most likely tick off at least 50% of the population. It is clear, in my mind anyway, that some sort of compromise is needed.

We need good schools for EVERY child in Racine, and the parents are the best judge of what school is best for their child. It could be a magnet school, a school down the street, or a school close to the parent's place of employment.

We already have school choice within the district, and it is extremely popular, why not just expand it and create a 100% choice district?

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Toffler