JUNE 4TH

SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

RECAP

I’m seeing RED—and I couldn’t be happier!  Thank you to everyone who came out tonight, who made a sign, who delivered a speech.  This was exactly what we needed.  Even though the board didn’t vote our way, the they and superintendent were certainly moved by our presence.  It will not be easy forget our red shirts!  The board really responded to the students.  They mentioned how much it meant to see them there.  They represented us well with their eloquent, confident speeches along side those of parents and teachers.

Please read the attached letter entitled, “A Different Budget” by BSD budget committee chair John Burns (former Aloha High School band parent).  The budget committee is a group of 14 members including the 7 board members and 7 members at large (volunteers from the community).  John Burns was at our advocacy meeting last night to answer questions and he kindly submitted his public comment for today directly to the board via e-mail in order to yield more time for our organization to present during the limited public comment section (which was originally set for only 15 minutes).  Ultimately, the board let that part of the meeting run long so that more of us could be heard.  I wanted you all to be able to read John’s letter .  He has an extremely cogent argument for how the board should be handling the budget process and the budget itself.  The letter raises many questions about the need for so many cuts, and it is a good starting place for us to strategize our next moves over the coming days and weeks.  Most of all, John reminds us and the board that the budget is a year-round process, and that THE BOARD CAN MAKE CHANGES AT ANY TIME.

Here is something important that we all need to understand: the superintendent and central office administration answer to the school board, not the other way around.  It is the school board that receives the schools’ money directly from the state.  They are the true custodians and protectors of that money and of this district.  Let’s make sure the board does not forget that.  Let’s make sure they take the right action for our kids.  Sure, the legislature handed us a bum deal, but we can at least find the right way to spend those funds.  In that regard, the current budget is flawed.  I will elaborate more on that at Thursday’s advocacy meeting at Baja Fresh on 124th & Scholls, 7PM.

A few notes about the meeting as a whole:

While music and the arts are losing, “collaboration time” is winning.  The board is in the process of implementing a new late-start schedule to allow more collaboration time for teachers.  One of the major issues they discussed tonight was whether to move forward  more slowly with the implementation of those plans.  TIME IS MONEY.  The board knows this, so they and the district are working on the problem of justifying to the public the reason for the increase in collaboration time (and the decrease in instructional time that is the cost).  They believe collaboration time is useful and worthwhile, but they need a carefully-implemented communication strategy to get parents to agree with them and support it.

Why the board and the district think it’s okay for new programs like this to be implemented while we are experiencing severe budget cuts, I cannot fathom.  I believe the additional late-start is not necessary.  Here’s why: under the new budget and accompanying district-wide specials schedule, all elementary teachers will already gain an additional 45-minutes of weekly, administratively-directed collaboration time built into their schedule.  That’s because music and pe teachers will each teach classes of 90+ students once per day by taking all classes of one grade level to the gym for activities/rhythms/choir etc. (we are not yet sure what we will be asked to teach during that time.)  For example, in schools where there are three sections of each grade-level, the music teacher would teach three classes of students (90+ children) while being supported by two classified instructional assistants (the tech and media IAs) for 45-minutes while the classroom teachers have their PLC (professional learning community, aka “collaboration time”).  In schools with a six-day rotation, the music teacher would teach this combined class three days per rotation, and the pe teacher would do the other three days.

Two board members voted in our favor: Linda Degman and Mary Vanderwheele.  All others voted to approve the budget including cuts to music.  If you wrote a letter to the board members last week asking for consideration, please write them a follow-up letter by 9PM tomorrow.  We need to light up the board members’ inboxes tomorrow.  Repeat what you said in your testimony and add any responses you have based on what you saw and heard at the meeting last night.  If you are just coming in to this conversation, now would be a good time to send your first letter to the board.  (See talking points below.)  Plan to attend the next board meeting School Board Business Meeting, June 18, 2012, Administration Center, 16550 SW Merlo Rd., Beaverton, OR 97006, 6:30 p.m.  If we do these two things, we will have a chance at getting the board to revisit the budget this summer.  (The board does meet over the summer and there is time to make changes all the way up until the first day of school; remember, all of the board members who voted “yes” tonight did so holding their noses, so to speak.  I believe they can be persuaded.)  If we don’t do these two things, then the cuts will most certainly take place and the budget will play out as planned.  We need to keep blowing up the phones and stuffing the e-mail boxes!!!

— Site Administrator

Superintendent of Beaverton Schools
Dr. Jeff Rose  Jeff_Rose@beaverton.k12.or.us

School Board Members
Karen Cunningham  Karen_Cunningham@beaverton.k12.or.us
Tom Quillin  Tom_Quillin@beaverton.k12.or.us
Mary Vanderweele  Mary_VanderWeele@beaverton.k12.or.us
Sarah Smith  Sarah_Smith@beaverton.k12.or.us
LeeAnn Larsen  LeeAnn_Larsen@beaverton.k12.or.us
Jeff Hicks  Jeff_Hicks@beaverton.k12.or.us
Linda Degman  Linda_Degman@beaverton.k12.or.us

UPDATE ON MUSIC ALLOCATIONS
Total loss is now estimated at -17.55 positions