San Diego Unified Parent- Life At School

Yes, it’s long.  Yes, it’s worth it.

Possibly the best single source of hard news about the San Diego Unified School District is voiceofsd.com’s education reporter, Emily Alpert.  This website is an excellent example of how news reporting is SUPPOSED to work.  You have this site for snarky commentary.

That typed,  have a quick look at this story, then hurry back- I’ll wait….

I had the chance to meet Edward Caballero and tour the new Sherman Elementary early this month.  This is a great school, and clearly an excellent, dedicated principal.  Clearly proud of the new site, and excited about his new position, I thought I’d  witnessed a great example of the district working the way it’s designed.  Caballero is a young, open, accessible guy with a caring and thoughtful nature- the kind of principal we need, in a neighborhood who needs him.  I was fortunate to both meet him and see the new school.

Now, we have:

The Sherman Elementary community who’ve been jerked around.

The Scripps Ranch Community who’ve been jerked around.

A solid message sent to the rest of the SDUSD staff that you may not expect rational treatment from your employer.

A solid message to parents that we may not expect rational treatment from those (the Board) that work for us.

 Luis Acle, who’s judgement is clearly clouded- he can’t even get the correct signatures to keep his own job- is the only person giving us clues.  <sarcasm> Helpful, thanks. <sarcasm>

So- when will the Board be accountable to us?  When will the Board begin acting in our, and our children’s best interest?

I get my car washed on Washington Street, which is just across from the Normal Street offices of the School District.  In the afternoon, the breeze blows in a westerly direction, and with it will sometimes arrive discarded paper and other bits of information.

A few weeks ago, the breeze brought a copy of an email from Superintendent Terry Grier to all elementary principals, dated 5.11.2008 . Now, so far I like him- I like what he’s had to say, and appreciate he went to work ahead of schedule and threw himself into the political inferno that was our budget “crisis” of 2008.  I’ve attended an event where he spoke, and he’s friendly and congenial, has an amazing CV, and has probably forgotten more about education than this silly parent will ever know.

This email that blew in the breeze across Washington Street goes into detail about a new cost-neutral school improvement strategy regarding placement of kindergarten students on which I’m still edumacating myself, and I’ll hopefully have more later for you on that subject.

But for me, the last paragraph is the most interesting and provocative.  I’m going to risk a lawsuit by quoting directly from the email- if the district lawyers read this, and take objection with it’s publication, please let me know and I’ll be happy to publish your order to cease and desist and remove the quote if necessary.  So, onward:

” In addition, please remember Dr. Bill Sanders research on the importance of students, particularly disadvantaged students, NOT being assigned to weak teachers (teachers not being able to produce a minimum of one year’s academic growth) in kindergarten through third grade.  His research STRONGLY calls for our best teachers to teach disadvantaged children in their early years” [the caps are his]

Let’s see, where to start?

First, why does the SDUSD maintain teachers on staff with a proven track record of being unable to produce a minimum of on year’s academic growth?  These are teachers that should be terminated. It’s that simple- we should not have teachers on staff that cannot provide a minimum service standard.  Are we (parents) allowed to know exactly how many teachers are so substandard?  And how long have these substandard teachers been on staff?  Will they remain on staff?  How many of our children will be taught by these “weak” teachers?  Why don’t we hire strong teachers, and get rid of weak teachers? (sniff, sniff- is that the union I smell?

Second, why is just fine and dandy that children who are not “particularly disadvantaged” (it’s too much typing, let’s call’em NPD and PD) are assigned these teachers who cannot do their jobs?  Is there some standard by which staff should discriminate (ding! special word!) which children are PD from those who are NPD and thereby deserve the lower quality education?  Should my family apply for the free lunch program or something so our child can qualify as PD?

I’ll grant you, in any workforce, there are employees who are stronger or weaker than some statistical norm.  But none of the teachers we pay for should fall below the line of being unable to produce a minimum of one year’s academic growth.

p

Welcome to San Diego Unified Parent, a blog created for free and candid discussion of life in the San Diego Unified School District, with some specific references to our family’s school, Grant Math+Science Magnet. San Diego Unified Parent has been created to promote and encourage community interaction. We’ll be maintaining a positive and mutually-respectful environment that thoughtfully considers alternative points of view. Personal attacks are unwelcome and this IS a moderated blog without any guarantee for first amendment privilege.

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There are a couple ways to get the content of SDUP delivered directly to you- you can use the link on the right side of the page called “Subscribe2″ or your can use an RSS feed, a short video explanation of which I’ve thoughtfully posted.

I invite your comments- just click on the comments links anywhere.  You’ll be prompted to register, and no, I won’t use your email address for any purpose other than SDUP.  You’ll be sent a password via email (keeps the spam bots away) and you can then thoughtfully reply to any post.

SDUSD staff are encouraged to comment- help us, as parents, understand how the district is run.  I’d very much like to hear from anyone representing the San Diego Teacher’s Association as well.