Budget Watch

Still no state budget - some might think that's not necessarily a bad thing, but when it comes to public K-12 education - it IS a huge deal.

Now districts all over the state have to choose between cutting programs (which have already been in place since the 1st week of school) or raise local property taxes.

Since the legislators missed their statutory deadline, therefore breaking the law, why can't we just throw the entire useless bunch in jail?

Using public education as a pawn in this crappity-crap-crap partisan debate is immoral and sickening to me.

PBCG Update

Just a quick note on the PBCG audit, the Racine Unified School Board Audit Committee will be meeting in executive session (closed to the public) on Monday, October 1st. The committee will be discussing the possibility of continuing the 2nd phase of the audit. As most of you are aware, the audit was released to the board on August 20th, so any decision made will DEFINITELY not be one made in haste.

Also, the full RUSD Board will meeting immediately after the committee meeting to discuss the ongoing negotiations with PBCG. Again, this meeting is in closed to the public, as allowed in Wisconsin statute 19.85 (1)(e). The sticking point, of course, is the $3.8M in unbilled incentives, which is based on future savings and revenue enhancements, NOT any realized savings.

Will the board send PBCG riding off into the sunset with money this district can ill afford, or will the RUSD board stand up for the children of this district? Facing another $3.8M shortfall will only hurt the children of this district with more cuts to the classroom.

Wouldn't it be nice?

Wouldn’t it be nice if our community came together for community-wide fundraising events like our neighbors in Oak Creek?

Judging by the overwhelming success of the creation of the Kids Cove and Kids Connection playgrounds, I do believe our community supports children, at least we support building them cool places to play.

How about we come together and build them cool places to learn?

Helping my child cheat?

Okay - I need your input on this one. Is checking over my child's homework cheating, or is it simply me doing my rightful job as a parent?

If my son asks me for help - I'll help, no questions asked. But if I see that he is having a difficult time with a new concept - I will spot check his other answers to see if he understands the new material. When I inform him that his other answers are wrong, and that he should look at them again - he completely FLIPS OUT and informs me that my checking over his answers is CHEATING! I calmly (OK, maybe not so calmly every time) that I am simply doing my job as a parent!

I believe this stems from an experience when he was in 3rd grade, when a long-term substitute told them that their homework was their own and any help from anyone (including parents) is cheating.

So I ask again, is helping a child with their homework or checking completed homework cheating? How do you handle homework in your household?

Wednesday's Word of the Day

Use the following word in a sentence; please refrain from using a dictionary to look up the meaning.

logorrhea (log-uh-RI-uh)

Good news, bad news

First the good news – overall Wisconsin did better than average on the latest NAEP test (the closest thing we have as a national standardized test).

Now the bad news – Wisconsin has the largest achievement gap when comparing black/white scores. Clearly, it would seem that Wisconsin is doing something wrong.

What can be done about this? More neighborhood schools, more busing, magnet schools, charter schools? What's the answer? We need to find it quickly - our state cannot afford to have this designation.

Must see TV

I am consciously trying to point out the positive things that are going on in the district - there is enough negativity to go around. In that same vein, I will withhold all my negative comments regarding the inter-personal dysfunction of the board (as a collective unit) from last night's meeting. You can see it for yourself - as I mentioned earlier this year the business meeting is now being taped and will be shown on Channel 20.

Currently, the August business meeting is being shown. Start looking for last night's meeting next week or so, or simply consult the Television Programming Guide found on the district's new website.

I will say this though, I hope Mr. Hazen (the new interim/permanent CFO) didn't run screaming from the building last night after witnessing what has become a normal occurrence in the board room.

RUSD gets new leadership

Tonight the RUSD board voted on, and approved, two separate recommendations from the Executive Search committee. The new RUSD interim superintendent will be Dr. Jackson Parker, and the interim/permanent chief financial officer for the district will be Mr. David Hazen. Both men have long and successful careers, and both have previous ties to the school district.

Dr. Jackson Parker started his teaching career in 1963 in Racine. He was one of the co-founders of Walden III, Racine’s most successful middle and high school. He went on to become a RUSD administrator, and left the district in 1989 to become the superintendent of Burlington’s school district. He retired from that position in 1997.

Mr. David Hazen has an extensive background in finance – he has an MBA and is a CPA, having his own successful business for over 20 years. He also served on the Racine Unified School District Board of Education from 1995-2003, two of those years as RUSD Board President. He is also a current Racine County Supervisor.

The district is lucky to have both of them on board. I have to be honest, my first choice for interim superintendent would have been Dr. Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard, but fate does work in mysterious ways. When one door closes, another opens - if Dr. V had to deal with the day-to-day dealings of the district, she would not have time to transform our secondary schools.

Dr. V unveiled her “Secondary Transformation” plan tonight for the RUSD board and the 4 people in the audience. Unfortunately the JT reporter had left by then, so I will probably be the only person talking about her visionary plan in the immediate future. I apologize up front for what I’m sure will be a never-ending discussion of her plans for the district.

RUSD Board to recommend interim superintendent?

Will the district be getting an interim superintendent soon?

It does appear that the board is closer to a decision in bringing some stability to the district since Dr. Hick's sudden departure 1 month ago. Tonight at 7:00PM is the regularly scheduled RUSD business meeting.By the action items on the agenda it does seem to indicate that the board is finally ready to publicly release possible choices for both interim superintendent and chief financial officer.

I imagine the recommendations will yield some very interesting and familiar names, simply because the situation at hand calls for candidates who are familiar with the trials and tribulations of the district.

Hopefully, the board can agree on the candidates chosen, so Dr. V (who is currently serving as acting superintendent) can continue with her mission to improve our schools academically.


Updated @ 2:48PM 9/24/07: The Journal Times is reporting retired Burlington administrator, Jackson Parker, is expected to be named interim superintendent. Mr. Parker has ties to RUSD which is good - an interim superintendent needs to jump right in and get things done. Having first-hand knowledge of the district will be a huge help.

The Summer of 64

Dr. Vanden Wyngaard, RUSD Chief Academic Officer and Acting Superintendent, was recently interviewed on the radio. The interview is a must-listen for anyone that is concerned about public education here in Racine.

I am not going to rehash everything she spoke of – but I do want to point out what I feel is pivotal for the continuing success of our schools. Most of the past focus has been at the elementary level – Dr. V is now looking at transforming our secondary schools. She knows, as many do, that for any reform to be successful, 90% of the direct stakeholders need to “buy-in” and commit 100% to the initiatives.

She spent the summer, dubbed as the “Summer of 64” with 64 RUSD employees (teachers, principals and others) working on this monumental task. It is my belief that past reform initiatives have suffered because of the inconsistent implementation – there is also the notion that former leaders of this district did not engage the staff in planning sessions, therefore alienating the front-line staff from the beginning.

It is completely refreshing to see a leader willing to engage her staff from the start! I am excited, (as I am sure others are) to see what comes out of the “Summer of 64” planning sessions.

Where is the outrage?

Where is the outrage? I cannot believe the lead story this morning was OJ being released on bail, when what is probably the biggest civil rights demonstration in my adult life is at this very minute happening in Jena, LA.

It is horrific for me to realize that in 2007, when we obviously still have racial injustices like this happening, the media only wants to focus on OJ and Britney.

Bringing home the "gold"

For those of you who don’t follow the world of education, you might not have heard of the Broad Prize. Like the Stanley Cup and Lombardi Trophy are for the NHL and NFL, the Broad Prize is the pinnacle of success for large urban school districts across this country.

The New York City school district, the largest in the country, is the latest recipient of this prestigious award. Why should I mention this and what in the heck does this have to do with our local schools?

You might be interested in knowing that RUSD has ambitions to bring home this prestigious award by 2010. In fact there are signs all over RUSD – Beat Atlanta – to continually remind RUSD employees of who is our biggest competition for this award.

Under Dr. V’s tutelage, this actually could happen, in my humble opinion. I think she is focused enough to accomplish this by drawing on her strengths in closing the achievement gap and realigning our curriculum. She has only just begun, and I am already seeing positive changes in the middle school curriculum.

Hopefully, the board will act expeditiously in bringing in a new superintendent and business manager, so Dr. V can concentrate on the teaching and learning division and finally making RUSD an academic success.

Am I a Republican? Seriously?

Sometime ago, when I first started this blogging thing, somehow I was placed on some blog roll that is “helping Wisconsin become a red state” or something to that effect. I did not seek this out, but you know what they say – as long as they spell your name right…

Now, I am finding that some readers are coming to my site via a Blognet RSS feed – again I did not seek this out, but have since included a link on my site for this feed.

What I want to know is this - once you all figure out that I am not a Republican (although I am fiscally conservative) will you still visit me daily? Please?

For the record, I am not a Democrat either. I prefer to think of myself as an independent voter who often “throws” her vote away on a 3rd party candidate, as both sides of the aisle quite often disgust and sicken me.

The wheels of government roll slowly - Part 3

Disclaimer: The comments below are my own feelings and interpretations - you may not agree with them. If you choose to comment, please be courteous and remember there are 2 sides to every story.

The way I see it is this - the RUSD board (and district as a whole) is at a crossroads right now. The steps that will be taken, or not taken, in the very immediate future will determine the district's path for many years to come.

Quite frankly, the public does not have a favorable view of the district - operationally speaking that is. Regardless of the very positive academic changes happening at this very minute in some of our schools, what happens at Central Office does not stay in Central Office. Central Office, like it or not, is not a vacuum.

The dysfunction of having outside consultants managing RUSD employees does not bode well for any RUSD stakeholder. The dysfunction of the board does not bode well either. Every board member needs to take the initiative and do their own part to save this district - don't wait to be asked. Just do it!

The only way for many to speak their mind is by voting, and that they are sure to do. I want everyone to understand that if decisions are not made quickly, the public is certain to lose faith in our schools. What will happen the next time a much needed referendum is on the table?

Do you really think that Racine has that short of a memory? Some very important decisions need to made quickly - I realize this mess is complicated and cannot be fixed in a short amount of time - but please start doing something!

Last night's meeting was a perfect example - 2 hours and nothing NEW was accomplished. I am grateful that the board has formalized its priorities, but nothing new or substantive was added to the already completed list of priorities. It's time to stop talking, the Racine schools need some action.

The wheels of government roll slowly - Part 2

I reported yesterday that I had expected the board to announce a candidate for interim superintendent last night - the board had even revised the agenda to accommodate this action.

But surprise! There wasn't any action on that item - in fact, the chair of the Search Committee (Kutz) did not have ANYTHING to report at all.

Have to admit, I wasn't surprised but I was disappointed, especially since I keep hearing from many of the board members how we have to "move on". How exactly can they do they if they just keep spinning their wheels?

The wheels of government roll slowly

The RUSD Board received the results of the 1st phase of the PBCG audit on August 20th. Today is September 18th - in other words, its been 29 days.

Do you think the RUSD Audit Committee has met to decide if a 2nd phase was necessary, or even talked about the results of the audit and possible remedial actions so the board does not make the same mistakes again?

Of course, the answer is NO. Not surprising, but still disappointing.

Re-engineering the way schools work

Our neighbors to the northwest in Waukesha will be experimenting with a new configuration of its schools - not by geographical boundaries, but by age - according to a recent JS article.

It is interesting to note that this exact grade configuration was recommended in the notorious Paullin Group facility study the RUSD board commissioned. The study, done almost 2 years now, is now most likely gathering dust on the former Superintendent of Buildings and Ground's bookshelves.

One of the reasons why nothing has been done with the study is most likely due to the price tag of the recommendations - $375M! I believe, in part, that the reason the board has not acted on any of the recommendations is because of the grade configurations that were included in the final report. You see, the board gave Dr. Paullin specific guidelines for the buildings (Pre K-6, 7-9 and 10-12). They did not ask for the K-3 schools that Waukesha is experimenting with in their district.

I understand there may be some educational benefit in grouping children this way, but the negative unintended consequences of such a configuration outweigh any benefits.

Do most parents really want to have children split up that way? Can you imagine trying to schedule parent-teacher conferences? It's bad enough now! Also what happens to a 3rd grader that reads a much higher level than her peers? Don't we want to have parents involved in the schools, how easy will that be if a parent has to be at more than location at a time?

Actually, I think that districts that have K-8 schools (Union Grove, Yorkville, and most of the parochial schools) are the ones that are doing it right. Studies have shown that changing schools is a traumatic enough experience; now we want to to change schools 4 or more times in their young lives? Does that make sense to anyone?

What do you think - should RUSD re-engineer the schools to a K-3, 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12 configuration as recommended in the Paullin Group Master Facility Plan?

Something missing from tonight's agenda?

Looking over the agenda for tonight's RUSD Board of Education's meeting, I realized there is a glaringly obvious item missing from the agenda - there isn't any discussion on the interim superintendent position. Last week's "special" board meeting hinted that the newly formed Executive Search Committee was going to bring forth a candidate to be voted on by the whole board this evening.

I realize that they cannot just appoint any Joe or Jane off the street for this position, but Dr. Hicks has been gone (unofficially) since August 24th - 3 weeks ago! As I understand it, interim postions are "normally" announced within a much shorter time frame. How long is this going to take?

Note to board, why not just take Kat's advice and look behind the milk. You may already have a perfect candidate in your midst...

Updated at 11:35AM 9-17-07: The agenda has now been revised to include discussion/action on the interim superintendent. The board has also noticed another closed meeting to be held before the open meeting. I guess I'll let them slide (this one time, LOL!) on that whole 24-hour rule that WI statutes regarding Open Meetings dictates.

Child predator remains free

Have you read this? As a parent of a young girl, I am much more than “stunned” by Judge Timothy Van Akkeren’s overturning of the jury’s guilty verdict. He based his decision on the premise the park shelter, where the bathrooms are located, was not a “secluded place” as required by state statute. I’m not even sure if there is word that describes my complete horror and disbelief…

Come on, a bathroom stall isn’t a secluded space? Racine residents, particularly parents of RUSD students, are very well aware of what can happen in a bathroom stall.

The police charge him, a jury convicts him, and a judge lets him go? THIS is our legal system??? Unbelievable!

I cannot even imagine the roller-coaster of emotions this little girl’s parents must be experiencing. First the horror of this happening to your child, then finally some kind of justice when the jury finds the defendant guilty – and THEN watching why the judge calmly dismiss the charges based on some weak interpretation of a state statute.

My heart goes out to these parents who now have to explain to their daughter why the “bad man” went free to hurt others…

This judge needs to be removed from office, now. Seriously.

H/T RDW

Update on special RUSD meeting

The RUSD board met briefly Wednesday to discuss the forming of the Executive Search committee and to formalize the PBCG renegotiation committee.

The following board members were approved for the Executive Search Committee:

Brian Dey
Susan Kutz (Chair)
Julie McKenna
Don Nielsen
Gretchen Warner

Don Nielsen and William Van Atta are handling the renegotiation of the now infamous PBCG contract.

In regards to the Executive Search Committee, Ms. McKenna posed a question. Legally, can 5 board members serve on a committee - especially since 5 board members constitute a forum? I'm glad she raised this question for the record, because I asked the same exact thing.

While the board was still waiting Wednesday evening for a legal response from counsel, it appears it may be legal - as long as all the recommendations from the committee are brought to the full board to be voted on and all meetings are properly noticed.

The board also met to discuss the search process and timeline for the Interim Superintendent and Business Manager position. The board, as has been reported on in the past, is seeking an interim superintendent and business manager to hold down the fort until permanent replacements can be found.

From what I gathered (before they adjourned to closed session), a candidate for the interim superintendent was going to be decided on that night and brought to the board next Monday to to be voted on.

On a related note, if they would only follow Kat's suggestion, we would already have the interim superintendent in place and the board could focus their attention elsewhere.