Congratulations to Robert Hutchingson for the best pro public education letter to the editor of the week. When will Trageser stop writing factually challenged inflammatory nonsense about the good teachers of VUSD?
Read more about Trageser's propaganda attack on VUSD teachers and his follow up comments defending his lies here:
http://vistaschools.blogspot.com/2010/02/jim-trageser-caught-in-lie-refuses-to.html
Read Jim Trageser's factually challenged inflammatory comments about the outstanding teachers of Vista Unified here and in the comment section following:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/trageser/article_f6bb9d6f-2c6a-51bb-ba50-cc4d4651da39.html
Read Robert Hutchinson's verbal spanking of Jim Trageser below.
Teachers want you to know the truth
I am a proud Vista Unified School District teacher who must correct Jim Trageser ("Budget cuts won't be equitable," Feb. 21). His statement that, "In Vista Unified, union leaders have steadfastly refused to agree to any reduction in pay or benefits," is patently false. In fact, Vista Teachers Association leaders and teachers have accepted five unpaid furlough days for the next two school years. To me, unpaid furlough days qualify as a reduction in pay, since my paycheck will be smaller.
Mr. Trageser's second false statement is that VUSD teachers' salaries and benefits were "... raised so generously during the economic boom a few years back .... " It is true that local districts received cost of living adjustments from the state a few years ago, but Vista's teachers received not one penny of a raise, while teachers in other districts did receive raises, creating a painful gap between our salaries. We are now among the lowest-paid teachers in San Diego county.
Meanwhile, VUSD management gave themselves hefty raises and concurrently chose to spend $10 million on an obscure reading program (Lindamood-Bell) that actually benefitted very few students. Shame on Jim Trageser for submitting an editorial without proofreading it for errors.
Robert Hutchinson
Oceanside
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Jim Trageser caught lying, refuses to acknowledge or retract his lies
Our old ANTI propagandist friend, Jim Trageser of the North County Times, is up to his same dirty tricks of making inflammatory and false allegations on the editorial page about good VUSD teachers.
In his opinion piece about VUSD teachers massive show of support at the district office, here is his first false statement: "It's hard not to become angry at the chutzpah of public employee unions that oppose any and all pay or benefit cuts, and who routinely categorize taxpayers as "selfish" for not wanting to fork over even more of our hard-earned dollars." At least four lies in one sentence, can you find them all?
Here are the real facts which disprove Trageser's four lies.
(1)VUSD teachers did take a voluntary pay cut last year to save small class sizes for all of VUSD's first through third grade students. They gave up a full day of pay. One day out of 185 days. This day cost every VUSD teacher a little more than 1/2 of 1% of their yearly pay. Depending on the teacher's yearly salary, the cut was between $400 to $800. Did Jim Trageser donate that much to any school anywhere?
(2)VUSD teachers have also taken massive benefit cuts in our health insurance in terms of out of pocket expense of co-pays and monthly premiums. Last year it cost my wife and I over ten thousand dollars out of pocket to keep our son alive. (He has severe autoimmune disease.) Our family chose the PPO coverage with its expensive monthly premiums to have the best coverage possible for him. Without counting the premium costs, we still were out more than ten thousand dollars for what was the "best" coverage we could get from VUSD. Our anti public education friends like Trageser routinely say we have "Cadillac" insurance at VUSD. Yeah right, Jim.
(3) No one at the VTA has opposed "any and all" pay or benefit cuts in this year's bargaining either. In fact we already took a big benefit cut by moving from Aetna to Health Net on January 1st of 2010. All VTA leadership has asked is that the Bales team institute the cuts recommended by the district budget committee rather than her more draconian cuts, that any percentage cuts in teacher pay be the same for administrators and that the cuts be made temporary until such time as full state funding is restored. (For how that could happen and who is responsible for the current massive California education cuts read here:
http://vistaschools.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-is-responsible-for-california.html
(4)No one has called taxpayers selfish. He has no evidence of this from any article in the NCTimes or opinion piece written by any VUSD teacher. He made that part up just to inflame his readers (both of them).
Read the rest of Trageser's hit piece here: WARNING it takes a strong stomach to read the whole thing.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/trageser/article_f6bb9d6f-2c6a-51bb-ba50-cc4d4651da39.html
In the comment section following his propaganda "editorial" hit piece, he has been caught in yet another lie. This one was first made up by ANTI school board trustee, Jim Gibson in 2002. Gibson told audiences then that whether teachers received a bargained raise or not, each and every VUSD teacher still got an annual pay raise because of the step and column salary schedule.
Here is how the documented liar and propagandist, Jim Trageser, restated VUSD board member Jim Gibson's original 2002 lie : "Vista teachers HAVE received annual raises each year - the union's dirty little secret."
On the comment blog, I corrected this new Jim Trageser false statement. Trageser posted a comment after my correction to insist he is right and stands by his false statement. He "knows" he is correct because he claims to have talked to secondary sources that confirm his biased prejudice against good VUSD teachers. However he admits that he refuses to fact check himself by going to primary sources like the VUSD Payroll Department or the VUSD teacher salary schedule on line. He seems only willing to check "hearsay" sources that confirm allow him to still hate the straw men of greedy VUSD teachers that he has created himself out of lies. Great reporter that Jim Trageser is, NOT!
I gave him the web address of the VUSD teacher salary schedule in a previous post. He would not check it himself, instead he said he checked only SECONDARY sources. He first went to Stacy Brandt NCT new education reporter who Trageser claims supported his contention that every teacher gets a raise every year. His other secondary source consisted of two teachers he says he knows who he says confirm "the annual raise every year" lie. But Trageser does not tell us if they are public school teachers. Nor do we even know if they are real people in the universe we inhabit or only made up people in Jim Trageser's own personal universe.
To read the comments after Trageser's hit piece go here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/trageser/article_f6bb9d6f-2c6a-51bb-ba50-cc4d4651da39.html?mode=comments
In my post below I provide him with the phone number of the VUSD payroll office so he can check a PRIMARY source himself. Of course given his track record of fondness for made up inflammatory 'facts' about the good teachers of VUSD, I would be surprised if he checked a PRIMARY source like the Payroll office. His resistance to checking PRIMARY sources allows him to keep his comfortable "angry" facts that he seems to so cherish.
Jim, I just got off the phone with the the VUSD Payroll office. I was told that on an average year, a ball park estimate, of about 70% of VUSD teachers get a step or column increase in pay.
This means that 30% of the VUSD teachers in an average year get no raise of any kind unless there is a bargained raise across the all columns and steps. There have been no bargained raises for more than three years for VUSD teachers.
For the last three years 30% of the VUSD teachers have had NO raise. Meanwhile the cost of living has gone up. Many of their mortgages are now upside down to the value of their homes. And many of their spouses have been laid off.
Gee, is 70% really equal to 100%? I guess your Jim Trageser's pretend world, it is.
Here is the phone number of the district office: (760) 726-2170 the extensions of the payroll office are 2244 or 2209 or 2348 or 2243 or 2264. Now I have done the heavy lifting for you, Jim. Can you pick up the phone and give the payroll office a call? or is that still too tough a job?
Then if you are man enough admit you were wrong when you, Jim Trageser, wrote: "Vista teachers HAVE received annual raises each year - the union's dirty little secret."
(1)The word "annual" is wrong. (2)The implication that every teacher receives a raise is wrong. (3)The use of the singular possessive "union's" is wrong. All California public school system have a similar step and column salary schedule not just the one represented by the Vista Teacher's Association. (4The use of the word “secret” wrong since the salary schedule is online and all school districts have a similar salary schedule. (5) Using a pejorative adjective “dirty” is wrong. Step and column salary schedules are not literally covered with dirt nor are they some kind of smut.
Jim, if you continue to defend your erroneous post I will give you "The Richard Kirk Award" for being the most truth challenged NCTimes writer of the day.
At least on my blog, if I am shown to be factually incorrect, I admit it and correct the error. It is a strange world where an online blog has higher standards the local “news” paper.
In his opinion piece about VUSD teachers massive show of support at the district office, here is his first false statement: "It's hard not to become angry at the chutzpah of public employee unions that oppose any and all pay or benefit cuts, and who routinely categorize taxpayers as "selfish" for not wanting to fork over even more of our hard-earned dollars." At least four lies in one sentence, can you find them all?
Here are the real facts which disprove Trageser's four lies.
(1)VUSD teachers did take a voluntary pay cut last year to save small class sizes for all of VUSD's first through third grade students. They gave up a full day of pay. One day out of 185 days. This day cost every VUSD teacher a little more than 1/2 of 1% of their yearly pay. Depending on the teacher's yearly salary, the cut was between $400 to $800. Did Jim Trageser donate that much to any school anywhere?
(2)VUSD teachers have also taken massive benefit cuts in our health insurance in terms of out of pocket expense of co-pays and monthly premiums. Last year it cost my wife and I over ten thousand dollars out of pocket to keep our son alive. (He has severe autoimmune disease.) Our family chose the PPO coverage with its expensive monthly premiums to have the best coverage possible for him. Without counting the premium costs, we still were out more than ten thousand dollars for what was the "best" coverage we could get from VUSD. Our anti public education friends like Trageser routinely say we have "Cadillac" insurance at VUSD. Yeah right, Jim.
(3) No one at the VTA has opposed "any and all" pay or benefit cuts in this year's bargaining either. In fact we already took a big benefit cut by moving from Aetna to Health Net on January 1st of 2010. All VTA leadership has asked is that the Bales team institute the cuts recommended by the district budget committee rather than her more draconian cuts, that any percentage cuts in teacher pay be the same for administrators and that the cuts be made temporary until such time as full state funding is restored. (For how that could happen and who is responsible for the current massive California education cuts read here:
http://vistaschools.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-is-responsible-for-california.html
(4)No one has called taxpayers selfish. He has no evidence of this from any article in the NCTimes or opinion piece written by any VUSD teacher. He made that part up just to inflame his readers (both of them).
Read the rest of Trageser's hit piece here: WARNING it takes a strong stomach to read the whole thing.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/trageser/article_f6bb9d6f-2c6a-51bb-ba50-cc4d4651da39.html
In the comment section following his propaganda "editorial" hit piece, he has been caught in yet another lie. This one was first made up by ANTI school board trustee, Jim Gibson in 2002. Gibson told audiences then that whether teachers received a bargained raise or not, each and every VUSD teacher still got an annual pay raise because of the step and column salary schedule.
Here is how the documented liar and propagandist, Jim Trageser, restated VUSD board member Jim Gibson's original 2002 lie : "Vista teachers HAVE received annual raises each year - the union's dirty little secret."
On the comment blog, I corrected this new Jim Trageser false statement. Trageser posted a comment after my correction to insist he is right and stands by his false statement. He "knows" he is correct because he claims to have talked to secondary sources that confirm his biased prejudice against good VUSD teachers. However he admits that he refuses to fact check himself by going to primary sources like the VUSD Payroll Department or the VUSD teacher salary schedule on line. He seems only willing to check "hearsay" sources that confirm allow him to still hate the straw men of greedy VUSD teachers that he has created himself out of lies. Great reporter that Jim Trageser is, NOT!
I gave him the web address of the VUSD teacher salary schedule in a previous post. He would not check it himself, instead he said he checked only SECONDARY sources. He first went to Stacy Brandt NCT new education reporter who Trageser claims supported his contention that every teacher gets a raise every year. His other secondary source consisted of two teachers he says he knows who he says confirm "the annual raise every year" lie. But Trageser does not tell us if they are public school teachers. Nor do we even know if they are real people in the universe we inhabit or only made up people in Jim Trageser's own personal universe.
To read the comments after Trageser's hit piece go here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/trageser/article_f6bb9d6f-2c6a-51bb-ba50-cc4d4651da39.html?mode=comments
In my post below I provide him with the phone number of the VUSD payroll office so he can check a PRIMARY source himself. Of course given his track record of fondness for made up inflammatory 'facts' about the good teachers of VUSD, I would be surprised if he checked a PRIMARY source like the Payroll office. His resistance to checking PRIMARY sources allows him to keep his comfortable "angry" facts that he seems to so cherish.
Jim, I just got off the phone with the the VUSD Payroll office. I was told that on an average year, a ball park estimate, of about 70% of VUSD teachers get a step or column increase in pay.
This means that 30% of the VUSD teachers in an average year get no raise of any kind unless there is a bargained raise across the all columns and steps. There have been no bargained raises for more than three years for VUSD teachers.
For the last three years 30% of the VUSD teachers have had NO raise. Meanwhile the cost of living has gone up. Many of their mortgages are now upside down to the value of their homes. And many of their spouses have been laid off.
Gee, is 70% really equal to 100%? I guess your Jim Trageser's pretend world, it is.
Here is the phone number of the district office: (760) 726-2170 the extensions of the payroll office are 2244 or 2209 or 2348 or 2243 or 2264. Now I have done the heavy lifting for you, Jim. Can you pick up the phone and give the payroll office a call? or is that still too tough a job?
Then if you are man enough admit you were wrong when you, Jim Trageser, wrote: "Vista teachers HAVE received annual raises each year - the union's dirty little secret."
(1)The word "annual" is wrong. (2)The implication that every teacher receives a raise is wrong. (3)The use of the singular possessive "union's" is wrong. All California public school system have a similar step and column salary schedule not just the one represented by the Vista Teacher's Association. (4The use of the word “secret” wrong since the salary schedule is online and all school districts have a similar salary schedule. (5) Using a pejorative adjective “dirty” is wrong. Step and column salary schedules are not literally covered with dirt nor are they some kind of smut.
Jim, if you continue to defend your erroneous post I will give you "The Richard Kirk Award" for being the most truth challenged NCTimes writer of the day.
At least on my blog, if I am shown to be factually incorrect, I admit it and correct the error. It is a strange world where an online blog has higher standards the local “news” paper.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Doug Porter blames Sacramento Republicans for defunding schools in California
Below is a small excerpt from an excellent article by Doug Porter, a parent of children in the San Diego City public school system. Doug Porter also writes for the Voice of San Diego, our fine local online newspaper and the OB Rag which is a breath of fresh and balanced air in a sea of local newspapers whose editorial staff are rabidly anti union and anti union pay.
The political challenges facing area schools are daunting. The only real solution is to increase funding, yet the Governor is defining the current revenue shortfalls as a “spending” crisis; slightly more one third of the State’s Legislators are pledged to oppose any steps that might be taken that could resolve the shortfalls. (blog editor note: Sacramento Republicans) This representative minority will likely remain an effective deterrent to continuing educational programs unless parental groups can make their voices heard in a manner that implies that political winds are changing around the State. After all, the one thing that politicians all try to excel at is getting re-elected (or, in these days of term limits, continuing their philosophy of governance).
The arguments relating to budgets need to be re-framed, and quickly. The cost of education is not about “spending”; it’s an investment. Each dollar spent on education returns three in future taxpayer dollars. The cost per pupil of education in California has fallen from slightly less than $6000 per year to under $5000, putting the State on a par with such bastions of educational excellence as Mississippi and Alabama. Further cuts in education will increase the dropout rate in high schools, which will in turn lead to crime rates increasing. (Consider that the average inmate in a California correctional institution costs taxpayers over $60,000 per year!) And then there is the matter of having a competitive and competent workforce as a bulwark against further exportation of jobs in the face of globalization.
Read the rest of Doug Porter's incites here:
Education Budget Goes Bust – Drastic Cuts Likely in 2010
by Doug Porter on December 4, 2009
http://obrag.org/?p=15527
The political challenges facing area schools are daunting. The only real solution is to increase funding, yet the Governor is defining the current revenue shortfalls as a “spending” crisis; slightly more one third of the State’s Legislators are pledged to oppose any steps that might be taken that could resolve the shortfalls. (blog editor note: Sacramento Republicans) This representative minority will likely remain an effective deterrent to continuing educational programs unless parental groups can make their voices heard in a manner that implies that political winds are changing around the State. After all, the one thing that politicians all try to excel at is getting re-elected (or, in these days of term limits, continuing their philosophy of governance).
The arguments relating to budgets need to be re-framed, and quickly. The cost of education is not about “spending”; it’s an investment. Each dollar spent on education returns three in future taxpayer dollars. The cost per pupil of education in California has fallen from slightly less than $6000 per year to under $5000, putting the State on a par with such bastions of educational excellence as Mississippi and Alabama. Further cuts in education will increase the dropout rate in high schools, which will in turn lead to crime rates increasing. (Consider that the average inmate in a California correctional institution costs taxpayers over $60,000 per year!) And then there is the matter of having a competitive and competent workforce as a bulwark against further exportation of jobs in the face of globalization.
Read the rest of Doug Porter's incites here:
Education Budget Goes Bust – Drastic Cuts Likely in 2010
by Doug Porter on December 4, 2009
http://obrag.org/?p=15527
Strokes, occupational risk for teachers due to repeated illnesses caught from students
Carotid Plaque Thickness Tied to Past Infections
By Megan Brooks
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 15 - Past or chronic exposure to five common infections -- Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and HSV-2 - seems to be associated with atherosclerotic plaque buildup in the carotid arteries, which raises the risk of stroke, according to a report in the March issue of Stroke.
In a prior study, researchers led by Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind, of Columbia University Medical Center, New York, found that cumulative exposure to these pathogens was associated with an increased risk of stroke, even after accounting for other risk factors.
"The hypothesis was that people who have been exposed to more infections, even common ones, throughout life would be more likely to have blood vessel damage that leads to atherosclerosis and plaque formation," Dr. Elkind told Reuters Health. "This appears to be the case."
In their latest study, Dr. Elkind explained, "we were attempting to see whether the same measure of infectious burden that we had previously related to risk of stroke was also associated with atherosclerosis."
READ MORE HERE:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716989?src=mp&spon=3&uac=86387MV
By Megan Brooks
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 15 - Past or chronic exposure to five common infections -- Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and HSV-2 - seems to be associated with atherosclerotic plaque buildup in the carotid arteries, which raises the risk of stroke, according to a report in the March issue of Stroke.
In a prior study, researchers led by Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind, of Columbia University Medical Center, New York, found that cumulative exposure to these pathogens was associated with an increased risk of stroke, even after accounting for other risk factors.
"The hypothesis was that people who have been exposed to more infections, even common ones, throughout life would be more likely to have blood vessel damage that leads to atherosclerosis and plaque formation," Dr. Elkind told Reuters Health. "This appears to be the case."
In their latest study, Dr. Elkind explained, "we were attempting to see whether the same measure of infectious burden that we had previously related to risk of stroke was also associated with atherosclerosis."
READ MORE HERE:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716989?src=mp&spon=3&uac=86387MV
Who is responsible for California's fiscal mess? Garrick, Harkey, Fletcher and Wyland!
I suggest that anyone who really wants to solve the problem, check out the California Tax Reform Association website
http://caltaxreform.org/?p=211
Read the following article:
"Low Hanging Fruit in the Tax System: 10 Policies for $20 Billion"
Here are ten relatively easy solutions to our INCOME problem for the state treasury. None of which would affect any of those reading my comments here. In fact if these ten proposals were all enacted sales tax and car tax would be reduced for ordinary folks like us while raising an easy twenty billion to fully fund California state colleges and universities, Community colleges and K-12 public schools.
One of these is an absolute no brainer. California produces the third highest amount of oil of any state in the country. Yet we are the only state with no tax on oil production.
Sara Palin raised taxes on oil production in Alaska in 2008. Her whole state is run by the proceeds and there still is plenty of money left over for $2000 to $3500 gift for each and every Alaska resident.
In California Prop 13 passage virtually ended the only tax our state had on oil companies which was their property taxes.
Here in California, USA, we the citizens provide oil companies with a safe drilling environment (unlike Nigeria, Venezuela, Middle East) made possible by the blood and sweat of our military and law enforcement. In return for that blood and sweat, the oil companies give nothing back. For the privilege we grant them of taking all our oil in complete safety physically and economically, they return ZERO to the taxpayers of California. We are in effect subsidizing oil company CEOs hundred million dollar a year salaries. Read more here:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/15/business/fi-hiltzik15
"A California tax on oil drilling? Why not?"
However, we cannot pass any tax increase at all in California. Not even on the super wealthy 1% that control more than 90% of all our wealth.* Why? Because the Republicans in Sacramento refuse to consider even a Sarah Palin type tax on oil production. They just scream and have temper tantrums saying no! no! no! as they are paid to do by their rich sponsors. They vote as a block without dissent (reminds me of the old USSR Politburo).
* http://obrag.org/?p=17786
California state law requires two thirds to pass a annual state budget. It also requires a two thirds majority for any new tax on the wealthy economic elites that are draining our state of resources. The two thirds majority rule means that even though Sac Repubs are a tiny minority, they have the power to stop any new budget or any fix to our California State income crises. With just over one third of the seats in our state legislature, they can and have stopped any legislation to fix the budget nightmare and education funding crises.
Last summer the Sac Repubs stopped all attempts to fully fund education in California. They should feel the wrath of the angry mob. That righteous anger should not be directed at the local school board members who have no control over the 60 to 90% of their local school district funding. The state is supposed to help fund local school districts and it used to before this new brand of straight party line, Politoburo, Sac Republican group started trying to end the functioning of our representative democracy in California and along with its end the end of California public education. The Sac Repubs all should be run out on a rail at the next election.
The Sac Repubs know that they can make far more money from their wealthy CEO sugar daddies than the trifle they take in salaries as legislators who are supposed to be working for the average California citizen. Currently the SAC Repubs are in the pocket of the CEOs that run and loot our major corporations and our government coffers. The Sac Repubs feel they have nothing to fear as the are given political cover daily by the bought and paid for AM radio con men. (Think KFI AM 640 John and Ken). The Republicans in Sacramento do the bidding of their corporate donors first, last, and always. It is time to show them that they can no longer get away with bankrupting the state and destroying our once vaunted educational system.
Don't believe me google California Republicans and Intuit or Turbotax. The Sac Repubs cost the state billions by holding up the state budget last summer so their corporate sponsor Intuit could screw poor Californians out of a state run computer tax filing program that cost Intuit a few tens of thousands in potential business.
http://www.sacbee.com/2009/10/06/2233219/viewpoints-intuit-uses-clout-to.html
No fiscally responsible person should vote for any Republican for any California state office in the next election particularly State Assembly and State Senate.
One of the absolute worst for corporate controlled temper tantrums is a local assemblyman from the 74th assembly district, Martin Garrick. This guy should not even be dog catcher. Here is his website where he brags about forcing these massive cuts on state government, California State Colleges and Universities and public schools. http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/74/
Martin Garrick and his Republican cronies are political hacks with no hearts and no sense of responsibility to the voters who elected them. Others hacks of his strip are are Diane L. Harkey of the 73rd, and Nathan Fletcher of the 75th. A real trio of cold hearted greed merchants who have their hands out for CEO money. They will jump into action for any CEO with the enough cash. But probably worse of all is State Senator, Mark Wyland of the 38th. He is the biggest weasel by far. Rubbing elbows with the economic elite is one of his favorite pass times especially when they are so generous to him.
Let's sack the whole bunch at the next election this November.
Instead of protesting a local school board's actions in cutting jobs, salaries, school days and programs because they were forced to by drastic state fund cuts, we should be taking the protest to those truly responsible the Sac Repubs like Garrick, Harkey, Fletcher and Wyland the Weasel.
Let these losers know that we the people will take their safe Republican seats away from them if they do not look our for the best interests of the citizens of California.
http://caltaxreform.org/?p=211
Read the following article:
"Low Hanging Fruit in the Tax System: 10 Policies for $20 Billion"
Here are ten relatively easy solutions to our INCOME problem for the state treasury. None of which would affect any of those reading my comments here. In fact if these ten proposals were all enacted sales tax and car tax would be reduced for ordinary folks like us while raising an easy twenty billion to fully fund California state colleges and universities, Community colleges and K-12 public schools.
One of these is an absolute no brainer. California produces the third highest amount of oil of any state in the country. Yet we are the only state with no tax on oil production.
Sara Palin raised taxes on oil production in Alaska in 2008. Her whole state is run by the proceeds and there still is plenty of money left over for $2000 to $3500 gift for each and every Alaska resident.
In California Prop 13 passage virtually ended the only tax our state had on oil companies which was their property taxes.
Here in California, USA, we the citizens provide oil companies with a safe drilling environment (unlike Nigeria, Venezuela, Middle East) made possible by the blood and sweat of our military and law enforcement. In return for that blood and sweat, the oil companies give nothing back. For the privilege we grant them of taking all our oil in complete safety physically and economically, they return ZERO to the taxpayers of California. We are in effect subsidizing oil company CEOs hundred million dollar a year salaries. Read more here:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/15/business/fi-hiltzik15
"A California tax on oil drilling? Why not?"
However, we cannot pass any tax increase at all in California. Not even on the super wealthy 1% that control more than 90% of all our wealth.* Why? Because the Republicans in Sacramento refuse to consider even a Sarah Palin type tax on oil production. They just scream and have temper tantrums saying no! no! no! as they are paid to do by their rich sponsors. They vote as a block without dissent (reminds me of the old USSR Politburo).
* http://obrag.org/?p=17786
California state law requires two thirds to pass a annual state budget. It also requires a two thirds majority for any new tax on the wealthy economic elites that are draining our state of resources. The two thirds majority rule means that even though Sac Repubs are a tiny minority, they have the power to stop any new budget or any fix to our California State income crises. With just over one third of the seats in our state legislature, they can and have stopped any legislation to fix the budget nightmare and education funding crises.
Last summer the Sac Repubs stopped all attempts to fully fund education in California. They should feel the wrath of the angry mob. That righteous anger should not be directed at the local school board members who have no control over the 60 to 90% of their local school district funding. The state is supposed to help fund local school districts and it used to before this new brand of straight party line, Politoburo, Sac Republican group started trying to end the functioning of our representative democracy in California and along with its end the end of California public education. The Sac Repubs all should be run out on a rail at the next election.
The Sac Repubs know that they can make far more money from their wealthy CEO sugar daddies than the trifle they take in salaries as legislators who are supposed to be working for the average California citizen. Currently the SAC Repubs are in the pocket of the CEOs that run and loot our major corporations and our government coffers. The Sac Repubs feel they have nothing to fear as the are given political cover daily by the bought and paid for AM radio con men. (Think KFI AM 640 John and Ken). The Republicans in Sacramento do the bidding of their corporate donors first, last, and always. It is time to show them that they can no longer get away with bankrupting the state and destroying our once vaunted educational system.
Don't believe me google California Republicans and Intuit or Turbotax. The Sac Repubs cost the state billions by holding up the state budget last summer so their corporate sponsor Intuit could screw poor Californians out of a state run computer tax filing program that cost Intuit a few tens of thousands in potential business.
http://www.sacbee.com/2009/10/06/2233219/viewpoints-intuit-uses-clout-to.html
No fiscally responsible person should vote for any Republican for any California state office in the next election particularly State Assembly and State Senate.
One of the absolute worst for corporate controlled temper tantrums is a local assemblyman from the 74th assembly district, Martin Garrick. This guy should not even be dog catcher. Here is his website where he brags about forcing these massive cuts on state government, California State Colleges and Universities and public schools. http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/74/
Martin Garrick and his Republican cronies are political hacks with no hearts and no sense of responsibility to the voters who elected them. Others hacks of his strip are are Diane L. Harkey of the 73rd, and Nathan Fletcher of the 75th. A real trio of cold hearted greed merchants who have their hands out for CEO money. They will jump into action for any CEO with the enough cash. But probably worse of all is State Senator, Mark Wyland of the 38th. He is the biggest weasel by far. Rubbing elbows with the economic elite is one of his favorite pass times especially when they are so generous to him.
Let's sack the whole bunch at the next election this November.
Instead of protesting a local school board's actions in cutting jobs, salaries, school days and programs because they were forced to by drastic state fund cuts, we should be taking the protest to those truly responsible the Sac Repubs like Garrick, Harkey, Fletcher and Wyland the Weasel.
Let these losers know that we the people will take their safe Republican seats away from them if they do not look our for the best interests of the citizens of California.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
OhManOh--Best Pro Public Education Post Award
After years of domination of the North County Times comment sections by our angry and truth challenged ANTI public education friends, finally we are getting fact based, pro-public education bloggers. The prize winner for best recent pro-public education post is the one below written by OhManOh.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
OhManOh said on: February 19, 2010, 11:31 am
Why does everyone keep blaming teachers? Some of you are down right vitriolic.
From what I've read, they haven't had a raise in years, they've already given a pay cut this year in the form of a surrendered buy back day and they offered five furlough days for the next two years. They've been more than fair. They were just opposed to the District plan to make those 5 days permanent and the Districts proposed 2% cut on top of the 5 furlough days.
In my opinion, it sounds pretty stupid of them to even offer as much as they have. They're already among the lowest paid in the county. What's worse, the District Administration has not yet shared in any of the cuts. Not only have they not had any pay cuts, they been giving themselves double-digit raises while they been negotiating in bad faith and declaring repeated impasses with the teachers union.
Under the teachers current pay, after giving back buy back days, the teachers are already working for less than they did in 2007. Under the proposed 2% pay cut and five furlough days, it'll amount to a 4.9% cut in pay. They'll be working for less than they did in 2005, not to mention the increase in the cost of their benefits. This is because the District has not been passing on COLA nor have they given any other raises, to the teachers that is.
But, the Administration has been giving themselves raises, plenty of raises. Raises run from 14% to 25% depending upon position. It's time to roll back some of those exorbitant administrative pay and benefits.
If enrollment has indeed declined, than it's time for a smaller school system in response. That includes the district office and administration as well. At the school level, the district has already gotten rid of Vice Principals, Counselors, nurses, music, sports, etc. It's time for fewer administrators as well. Reportedly, Vista has one of the highest ratios of administrators to students. That sounds like excess to me.
So, cuts should be across the board and fair. If teachers are working for 2007 wages, then administrators should get their pay cut to 2007 levels as well. Take back those 14-25% raises. If there are fewer students, then there should be fewer teachers and administrators.
The next step should be contractual class size if more monetary cuts are needed. To that end, some layoffs or early retirements of teachers might be necessary with larger class sizes.
So, in my opinion, first cut the pork on the administrative side. Cut administrative pay so that it's in line with the cuts that the teachers have already taken. Eliminate unnecessary administrative jobs and eliminate the district pet projects. If that's not enough, entertain furlough days for both teachers and admin. But, the cuts resulting from furlough days needs to be equal on a percentage basis. 5 furlough days for a teacher amounts to a much higher percentage pay cut when compared to 5 furlough days for an administrator. This is because teachers are paid for fewer days per school year than administrators.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
OhManOh said on: February 19, 2010, 11:31 am
Why does everyone keep blaming teachers? Some of you are down right vitriolic.
From what I've read, they haven't had a raise in years, they've already given a pay cut this year in the form of a surrendered buy back day and they offered five furlough days for the next two years. They've been more than fair. They were just opposed to the District plan to make those 5 days permanent and the Districts proposed 2% cut on top of the 5 furlough days.
In my opinion, it sounds pretty stupid of them to even offer as much as they have. They're already among the lowest paid in the county. What's worse, the District Administration has not yet shared in any of the cuts. Not only have they not had any pay cuts, they been giving themselves double-digit raises while they been negotiating in bad faith and declaring repeated impasses with the teachers union.
Under the teachers current pay, after giving back buy back days, the teachers are already working for less than they did in 2007. Under the proposed 2% pay cut and five furlough days, it'll amount to a 4.9% cut in pay. They'll be working for less than they did in 2005, not to mention the increase in the cost of their benefits. This is because the District has not been passing on COLA nor have they given any other raises, to the teachers that is.
But, the Administration has been giving themselves raises, plenty of raises. Raises run from 14% to 25% depending upon position. It's time to roll back some of those exorbitant administrative pay and benefits.
If enrollment has indeed declined, than it's time for a smaller school system in response. That includes the district office and administration as well. At the school level, the district has already gotten rid of Vice Principals, Counselors, nurses, music, sports, etc. It's time for fewer administrators as well. Reportedly, Vista has one of the highest ratios of administrators to students. That sounds like excess to me.
So, cuts should be across the board and fair. If teachers are working for 2007 wages, then administrators should get their pay cut to 2007 levels as well. Take back those 14-25% raises. If there are fewer students, then there should be fewer teachers and administrators.
The next step should be contractual class size if more monetary cuts are needed. To that end, some layoffs or early retirements of teachers might be necessary with larger class sizes.
So, in my opinion, first cut the pork on the administrative side. Cut administrative pay so that it's in line with the cuts that the teachers have already taken. Eliminate unnecessary administrative jobs and eliminate the district pet projects. If that's not enough, entertain furlough days for both teachers and admin. But, the cuts resulting from furlough days needs to be equal on a percentage basis. 5 furlough days for a teacher amounts to a much higher percentage pay cut when compared to 5 furlough days for an administrator. This is because teachers are paid for fewer days per school year than administrators.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Vista Teachers ran VUSD into the ground financially, says ANTI blogger, "blob"
Did you know that the Vista Teachers are running and ruining this district? The same teachers who have not had a contract in three years are controlling the VUSD school district and the VUSD school board. The same teachers who are among the lowest paid in San Diego County, actually control the entire VUSD. Wow. Those teachers must be awfully dumb to pay themselves so poorly when they have the financial reins of the school district in their hands.
As far as financially ruining the district, the greatest loss of taxpayer money in history was the 50 million dollars lost because Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti stubbornly refused to allow the district to build Mission Vista High School in 2002 at the cheap level Kawano site.
At that time the projected cost of Mission Vista High School was between 50 and 54 million. Construction could have started in 2002 with completion projected for 2005.
Today the cost of Mission Vista High School is 100 million. The start of construction was delayed until spring 2007 with completion projected for the fall of 2010.
Why did this happen? Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to be the state required fourth vote to acquire the cheap level Kawano property.
The cheap level Kawano property was identified as the last best, large parcel left in the district. No other cheap level 50+ acre parcel was available. But Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to allow the district access to this property. In addition they did all they could to delay Mission Vista High School from being built at the second best site, the Melrose parcel owned by David Arnold's company. Dr. Guffanti was chairman of a group that not only opposed the Melrose site, the group SUED our district to stop the construction WHILE GUFFANTI SAT ON THE VUSD SCHOOL BOARD. Talk about your conflict of interests.
Because of Gibson and Guffanti obstructionism the start of construction at MVHS was delayed from summer of 2002 to the spring of 2007--almost five years of delay. The cost increased almost fifty million dollars.
But according to our ANTI friends, it was not Gibson and Guffanti who caused financial difficulties in VUSD. No, our ANTI friends blame our outstanding but long suffering VUSD teachers!
The same Vista Teachers that gave up their own personal time and money to help pass Prop O to relieve overcrowding. The Vista Teachers that returned part of their salaries last year to preserve K-3 class size reduction. The same teachers who supported school bond after school bond knowing that if one were passed that raises would be deferred as new schools always impact the same General Fund that raises come from. Sure enough Vista Teachers have gone from third highest salaries in the county for unified school districts to 32nd out of 37 reporting districts in average salary for San Diego County. (Sacramento Bee)
Read the comments of ANTI public education blogger, Blob here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
At 4:24pm Blob, accuses without providing any evidence, the teacher's union of running VUSD into the ground financially.
This is a ridiculous charge on its face. Current financial problems in all California school districts have to do with reduction in funding from the State of California which on average provides 60% of funds for California school districts.
In some districts even a greater share of district funding comes from the state. In the rural school district where I was the superintendent, the state of California share of our funds was over 90%.
In what universe did the local Vista teachers gain control of the actions of the state legislature that passed budgets with deep deep cuts to statewide K-12 funding. These deep State of California cuts have driven the discussion regarding the need for reductions in employee salary, layoffs, and furlough day at VUSD and at many other statewide and local school districts. VUSD is one of those districts.
Articles in the the North County Times newspaper indicate large prospective fiscal cuts and furlough days in the Poway Unified School District, in Temecula school district, in the Oceanside School District among other local districts. Wow those Vista Teachers really get around. They not only control decisions in Sacramento to cut funding, they control a whole lot of the other local school districts near them as well.
Wow, I am so impressed with Blob's logic. Glad to know how powerful Vista school teachers are.
As far as financially ruining the district, the greatest loss of taxpayer money in history was the 50 million dollars lost because Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti stubbornly refused to allow the district to build Mission Vista High School in 2002 at the cheap level Kawano site.
At that time the projected cost of Mission Vista High School was between 50 and 54 million. Construction could have started in 2002 with completion projected for 2005.
Today the cost of Mission Vista High School is 100 million. The start of construction was delayed until spring 2007 with completion projected for the fall of 2010.
Why did this happen? Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to be the state required fourth vote to acquire the cheap level Kawano property.
The cheap level Kawano property was identified as the last best, large parcel left in the district. No other cheap level 50+ acre parcel was available. But Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to allow the district access to this property. In addition they did all they could to delay Mission Vista High School from being built at the second best site, the Melrose parcel owned by David Arnold's company. Dr. Guffanti was chairman of a group that not only opposed the Melrose site, the group SUED our district to stop the construction WHILE GUFFANTI SAT ON THE VUSD SCHOOL BOARD. Talk about your conflict of interests.
Because of Gibson and Guffanti obstructionism the start of construction at MVHS was delayed from summer of 2002 to the spring of 2007--almost five years of delay. The cost increased almost fifty million dollars.
But according to our ANTI friends, it was not Gibson and Guffanti who caused financial difficulties in VUSD. No, our ANTI friends blame our outstanding but long suffering VUSD teachers!
The same Vista Teachers that gave up their own personal time and money to help pass Prop O to relieve overcrowding. The Vista Teachers that returned part of their salaries last year to preserve K-3 class size reduction. The same teachers who supported school bond after school bond knowing that if one were passed that raises would be deferred as new schools always impact the same General Fund that raises come from. Sure enough Vista Teachers have gone from third highest salaries in the county for unified school districts to 32nd out of 37 reporting districts in average salary for San Diego County. (Sacramento Bee)
Read the comments of ANTI public education blogger, Blob here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
At 4:24pm Blob, accuses without providing any evidence, the teacher's union of running VUSD into the ground financially.
This is a ridiculous charge on its face. Current financial problems in all California school districts have to do with reduction in funding from the State of California which on average provides 60% of funds for California school districts.
In some districts even a greater share of district funding comes from the state. In the rural school district where I was the superintendent, the state of California share of our funds was over 90%.
In what universe did the local Vista teachers gain control of the actions of the state legislature that passed budgets with deep deep cuts to statewide K-12 funding. These deep State of California cuts have driven the discussion regarding the need for reductions in employee salary, layoffs, and furlough day at VUSD and at many other statewide and local school districts. VUSD is one of those districts.
Articles in the the North County Times newspaper indicate large prospective fiscal cuts and furlough days in the Poway Unified School District, in Temecula school district, in the Oceanside School District among other local districts. Wow those Vista Teachers really get around. They not only control decisions in Sacramento to cut funding, they control a whole lot of the other local school districts near them as well.
Wow, I am so impressed with Blob's logic. Glad to know how powerful Vista school teachers are.
Vista Teachers took over the district in 1994, declare our ANTI friends
Our ANTI friends have long accused the Vista Teachers of 'taking over the district' in 1994. Today ANTI public education blogger, Blob, again raised this false accusation which I address below. Read the Blob's full comment here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
Blob was incorrect when he wrote at 4:24pm that the teachers took over the district in 1994.
In 1994 a broad coalition of outraged VUSD voters including the VUSD teachers, Vista business and Vista real estate interests banned together to recall two school board members who were part of a board majority whose actions brought national attention and ridicule to our district.
Read more about that 92-94 VUSD board's actions at the Los Angeles Times Archives:
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/vista-ca-schools
A few headlines about the 1992- 94 VUSD school board majority found at the Los Angeles Times site above:
1. New Vision for Vista Schools: After Recall of Religious Conservatives on School Board, Moderates Are Casting Off Many of Its Policies.
2. Bibles and the Board--a Skirmish Brews : Education: A new religious fundamentalist majority of school trustees in the San Diego County community of Vista raises fears about its agenda.
3. Christian Bloc Ousted From Board : Education: Two members of Vista school panel are recalled after seeking to impose a religiously oriented approach to teaching students about sex.
4. School Board's Creationist Trend Causes Stir in Vista : Education: Members to vote on forbidding 'dogmatic' teaching of science. Test of Christian right's strength seen.
5. Vista Schools OK Sex Education Program With Religious Theme
6. Vista Board OKs Teaching of Creationism
or read about that 1992-94 board actions at the New York Times archives:
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=creationism+Vista&srchst=nyt&submit.x=13&submit.y=7&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=full&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=01&day2=26&year2=2010
New York Times headlines about VUSD from 1992 to 1994 includes the following:
1.A School Board in California Makes Room for Creationism
2.Political Proving Ground For the Christian Right
3.A City Pulls Its School Board Back to the Center
4.TELEVISION REVIEW; Exploring the Crusade Of the Anti-Darwinians
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
Blob was incorrect when he wrote at 4:24pm that the teachers took over the district in 1994.
In 1994 a broad coalition of outraged VUSD voters including the VUSD teachers, Vista business and Vista real estate interests banned together to recall two school board members who were part of a board majority whose actions brought national attention and ridicule to our district.
Read more about that 92-94 VUSD board's actions at the Los Angeles Times Archives:
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/vista-ca-schools
A few headlines about the 1992- 94 VUSD school board majority found at the Los Angeles Times site above:
1. New Vision for Vista Schools: After Recall of Religious Conservatives on School Board, Moderates Are Casting Off Many of Its Policies.
2. Bibles and the Board--a Skirmish Brews : Education: A new religious fundamentalist majority of school trustees in the San Diego County community of Vista raises fears about its agenda.
3. Christian Bloc Ousted From Board : Education: Two members of Vista school panel are recalled after seeking to impose a religiously oriented approach to teaching students about sex.
4. School Board's Creationist Trend Causes Stir in Vista : Education: Members to vote on forbidding 'dogmatic' teaching of science. Test of Christian right's strength seen.
5. Vista Schools OK Sex Education Program With Religious Theme
6. Vista Board OKs Teaching of Creationism
or read about that 1992-94 board actions at the New York Times archives:
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=creationism+Vista&srchst=nyt&submit.x=13&submit.y=7&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=full&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=01&day2=26&year2=2010
New York Times headlines about VUSD from 1992 to 1994 includes the following:
1.A School Board in California Makes Room for Creationism
2.Political Proving Ground For the Christian Right
3.A City Pulls Its School Board Back to the Center
4.TELEVISION REVIEW; Exploring the Crusade Of the Anti-Darwinians
Vista Schools Recall 2010 blogspot now on line
I have reserved the blog title of Vista Schools Recall 2010 to post information about the politically motivated recall movement against three of our finest VUSD school board trustees.
The blogspot is located at www.vistaschoolsrecall2010.blogspot.com
I intend to edit some posts from this website and add them to the new site along with new material as needed to answer the truth challenged accusations of our ANTI public education opposition.
The blogspot is located at www.vistaschoolsrecall2010.blogspot.com
I intend to edit some posts from this website and add them to the new site along with new material as needed to answer the truth challenged accusations of our ANTI public education opposition.
VUSD enrollment has declined 20% declares Vista Watchdog 1, prominent ANTI blogger
Vista Watchdog 1 has twice asserted(at 9:51am and 12:53pm) on the comment blog following the article about last nights protest that there has been a twenty percent student enrollment decline at VUSD. Each time he asserted these figures he wrote with a Dick Cheney like certainty. There was no question that what he said was the truth. VUSD enrollment according to VWdog has declined from a high of 25K to a current enrollment of 20K.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
I can find no evidence of such a decline at the official VUSD website.
Here is what I did find.
VUSD had a student enrollment of 24,150 in October of 2003.
http://www.vusd.k12.ca.us/Departments/BusinessServices/facilities/cbo/CBO%20Meeting%20Documents/2004-02/CBO_Capacity-Enroll_Relo_Age_Sum.pdf
In the 2008-2009 school year the average enrollment (without considering charter schools) was 23,147.
http://www.vusd.k12.ca.us/Pages/VUSDFacts.aspx#enroll
This is a decline of one thousand students.
At just one of VUSD's charters, Guajome Park Academy the current enrollment is 1450 students according to Judy who answers the phone there. Adding current GPA's numbers to the 2008-9 VUSD numbers appears to indicate that there has been no enrollment decline at VUSD whatsoever. (The 2008-9 numbers were the most current I could find at the official VUSD website.)
Knowing VWdog's reputation for "accurate" assertions after articles about VUSD, I am sure VWdog would be happy to share with us the source of his numbers that seem so different from the official numbers at the official VUSD website. I will await his response and post it here if such a response comes.
Of course I do not really expect him to back up his assertions. Our ANTI friends seldom have facts to back up what "everyone" on their side knows. How can our ANTI friends continue their self-satisfying tirade of hate and anger at our fine school district and its excellent teachers, if they cannot create an evil strawman from phony facts?
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments
I can find no evidence of such a decline at the official VUSD website.
Here is what I did find.
VUSD had a student enrollment of 24,150 in October of 2003.
http://www.vusd.k12.ca.us/Departments/BusinessServices/facilities/cbo/CBO%20Meeting%20Documents/2004-02/CBO_Capacity-Enroll_Relo_Age_Sum.pdf
In the 2008-2009 school year the average enrollment (without considering charter schools) was 23,147.
http://www.vusd.k12.ca.us/Pages/VUSDFacts.aspx#enroll
This is a decline of one thousand students.
At just one of VUSD's charters, Guajome Park Academy the current enrollment is 1450 students according to Judy who answers the phone there. Adding current GPA's numbers to the 2008-9 VUSD numbers appears to indicate that there has been no enrollment decline at VUSD whatsoever. (The 2008-9 numbers were the most current I could find at the official VUSD website.)
Knowing VWdog's reputation for "accurate" assertions after articles about VUSD, I am sure VWdog would be happy to share with us the source of his numbers that seem so different from the official numbers at the official VUSD website. I will await his response and post it here if such a response comes.
Of course I do not really expect him to back up his assertions. Our ANTI friends seldom have facts to back up what "everyone" on their side knows. How can our ANTI friends continue their self-satisfying tirade of hate and anger at our fine school district and its excellent teachers, if they cannot create an evil strawman from phony facts?
Teacher Pay Cuts are NOT what last night's protest were about
The teachers are not protesting about pay cuts despite the North County Times slanted take on the protest.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html
In fact the teachers already accepted a pay cut to their current salaries to protect small class size in K-3 classrooms this year. Every teacher and employee knows there will be additional cuts next year.
The protests at the board meeting last night were about the following four issues:
(1) district admin not asking the school board to bargain for the far less onerous cuts recommended by the district's own budget committee.
(2) district admin insisting that the pay cuts be made permanent. District admin could have been just a fiscally responsible to suggest classifying the cuts next year as "provisional or temporary" for two or three years with reinstatement of today's salary if and only if the district is fully funded at the end of that time.
(3)district admin mandating that the teachers take NON-monetary roll backs of the teaching contracts rights regarding teacher transfer and "site based decision making" in addition to the proposed pay cuts that would equal about 5% of their already very low pay.
NOTE: VUSD Average pay is already extremely low compared to other San Diego County Districts. We are fifth from the bottom in San Diego County.
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/995141.html?appSession=437139247174619
(3a)Transfers--District admin wants to chance transfer policy to a provision that district admin (not site admin) can move any teacher at any time to any site. This provision would put unlimited power solely in the hands of the district superintendent who could use frequent transfers for punishing teachers with great evaluations just because dist admin does not like the teacher's politics or union activities.
(3b)Site based decision making--District admin wants to eliminate all of the currently very weak site base decision making provisions in the contract. This change would allow dist admin to make top down mandatory decisions regarding school site governance and site discretionary spending without the current very weak rights for opposition from site principals, site parents (school site councils) and site teachers.
Apparently district admin wants no repeat of the rebellion two years ago of several School Site Councils to the taking of all SSC money for LindaMood Bell. This rebellion lead directly to the election of two new school board members Angela Chunka and Elizabeth Jaka who had been prominent PTA members opposing the taking of the funds from local SSCs.
The teachers of the district understand there will be pay cuts. Even though the average pay of teachers in VUSD is now 32nd out of 37 reporting districts in San Diego County, the good teachers of VUSD are willing to sacrifice even more. They just want fairness. Last year the good teachers of VUSD accepted a pay cut to save small class size in K-3 classrooms. Last year no such similar cuts were made to salaries in surrounding districts which already were paying significantly more in their salaries to their teachers.
On last night's news coverage I saw one VUSD teacher with a sign at the School Board meeting which read that Oceanside teachers would have to accept 30 furlough days to bring their salary down to what his current salary is in VUSD.
The VUSD budget committee came up with cuts that were far more fair than those demanded by the VUSD district admin. These are the cuts that Joyce Bales should be recommending to the VUSD board members.
Sadly the school board, at the moment, seems enthralled by Joyce Bales et. al. Hopefully a majority on the board will see that Bales' recommendations are clearly not the best for the district or its schools, parents, students or employees.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html
In fact the teachers already accepted a pay cut to their current salaries to protect small class size in K-3 classrooms this year. Every teacher and employee knows there will be additional cuts next year.
The protests at the board meeting last night were about the following four issues:
(1) district admin not asking the school board to bargain for the far less onerous cuts recommended by the district's own budget committee.
(2) district admin insisting that the pay cuts be made permanent. District admin could have been just a fiscally responsible to suggest classifying the cuts next year as "provisional or temporary" for two or three years with reinstatement of today's salary if and only if the district is fully funded at the end of that time.
(3)district admin mandating that the teachers take NON-monetary roll backs of the teaching contracts rights regarding teacher transfer and "site based decision making" in addition to the proposed pay cuts that would equal about 5% of their already very low pay.
NOTE: VUSD Average pay is already extremely low compared to other San Diego County Districts. We are fifth from the bottom in San Diego County.
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/995141.html?appSession=437139247174619
(3a)Transfers--District admin wants to chance transfer policy to a provision that district admin (not site admin) can move any teacher at any time to any site. This provision would put unlimited power solely in the hands of the district superintendent who could use frequent transfers for punishing teachers with great evaluations just because dist admin does not like the teacher's politics or union activities.
(3b)Site based decision making--District admin wants to eliminate all of the currently very weak site base decision making provisions in the contract. This change would allow dist admin to make top down mandatory decisions regarding school site governance and site discretionary spending without the current very weak rights for opposition from site principals, site parents (school site councils) and site teachers.
Apparently district admin wants no repeat of the rebellion two years ago of several School Site Councils to the taking of all SSC money for LindaMood Bell. This rebellion lead directly to the election of two new school board members Angela Chunka and Elizabeth Jaka who had been prominent PTA members opposing the taking of the funds from local SSCs.
The teachers of the district understand there will be pay cuts. Even though the average pay of teachers in VUSD is now 32nd out of 37 reporting districts in San Diego County, the good teachers of VUSD are willing to sacrifice even more. They just want fairness. Last year the good teachers of VUSD accepted a pay cut to save small class size in K-3 classrooms. Last year no such similar cuts were made to salaries in surrounding districts which already were paying significantly more in their salaries to their teachers.
On last night's news coverage I saw one VUSD teacher with a sign at the School Board meeting which read that Oceanside teachers would have to accept 30 furlough days to bring their salary down to what his current salary is in VUSD.
The VUSD budget committee came up with cuts that were far more fair than those demanded by the VUSD district admin. These are the cuts that Joyce Bales should be recommending to the VUSD board members.
Sadly the school board, at the moment, seems enthralled by Joyce Bales et. al. Hopefully a majority on the board will see that Bales' recommendations are clearly not the best for the district or its schools, parents, students or employees.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Year Around Education (YRE) was a VTA plot claims Roxy, ANTI blogger
The latest conspiracy our ANTI friends accuse the good teachers of VUSD of doing is a plot to institute the Year Round Schedule and track system in order "to deny students the FULL benefits of an education."
What? Is this bizarro backwards land logic? We all know that the VUSD was forced into the year around schedule after our ANTI friends TWICE "defeated" school bonds to build much needed new schools.
Our ANTI friends were able to circumvent the will of the majority voters by convincing barely more than one third of the VUSD voters to vote no on Prop K and then Prop L. At the time California State law required a two thirds super majority for school bond passage. Had either Prop K or L passed there would have been no need for Year aRound Education(YRE). The bonds would have provided funds for building additional schools and providing needed classrooms for our students thus ending any need to discuss alternatives like YRE. The only other choice was double sessions where half the students came in the morning and the other half came in the afternoons.
At the time none of us in the VTA leadership had heard of YRE. We expected double sessions to be instituted when the second bond failed. The school district literally had no more room in the parking lots for temporary buildings to house our over crowded elementary and middle school students. After the failures of Prop K and Prop L., VUSD had to find a way to house more students. There was no other choice.
Lucky for VUSD students someone in district admin came across the idea of YRE which was far superior to double sessions. In YRE students were given the same amount of minutes as in a 180 day school year but in double sessions the number of minutes would have been less, not to mention having sleepy students in the classroom for the first session starting at 6AM would have impacted learning. Not to mention the exhaustion students would have in the afternoon sessions ending as late as 7PM
Had our ANTI friends supported either of those two bonds, they would have passed easily. Instead they campaigned against both of them. Our ANTI friends force on the rest of us the Sophie's choice between YRE or double sessions. Passage of either Prop K or Prop L would have meant there would never have been a need to consider either alternative.
The ANTIs caused the problem of lack of classroom space, then they blame the consequences of the problem they created on the teachers. So typical of our ANTI friends not to have any shame about the problems they have caused and worse to blame those very problems on innocent bystanders. To think the ANTI movement got its start in churches. Their behavior and their sense of responsibility is the far from Christ like.
The idea for a Year Round Education plan as a solution to the overcrowding after the failure of the two bonds,came from the district administration not teachers. The district admin was desparately seeking a solution for the overcrowding problem that the ANTIs caused by not supporting our school bonds.
I was a member of the VTA Executive Board at the time the district admin came up with the YRE idea. I distinctly remember the very first mention of year round education or a tract system. Pete McHugh, then assistant superintendent of VUSD, took me aside after a meeting between VUSD and VTA leadership. He asked me what I thought of the idea of 163 day school year with the same number of minutes of instruction as a 180 day year. I asked how that would help and he explained that the district could get 50% more students into the same space with a three track system.(I know at first consideration one our of three tracts off at a time seems like it should make room for 33.3% but trust me the math works, YRE allowed for 50% more use of existing classroom space). He assured me it would get 50% more in and would work, other districts had done it already and the state would approve it.
(Pete McHugh wondered how I thought membership would like the idea. He really was wondering if I could sell the idea. Because of the change in working conditions YRE would have to be approved by a majority vote of the entire VTA membership--check that maybe it was just the Representative Assembly that had to vote for it. Darn, I cannot remember. I think it was just the Rep Assembly. I need to go to the VTA office and check the old minutes of the meetings. Anyway Pete was interested in my reaction and what I might say to membership about this YRE idea that district admin was floating.)
I told Pete, it sounded great to me. A slightly longer teaching day in order to teach two months and have one month off, who could be against that? The VTA approved the idea, whether full membership vote or Rep Assembly again I am not sure right now.
YRE was instituted and continued in our district until the VTA and good folks of VUSD finally passed Prop O in 2002 and built new school providing new classroom space to handle the 50% extra students we crammed into our schools by going to YRE. Obviously without a bond passing, there never would have been space in our schools to end YRE so everyone who helped pass Prop O helped to end YRE. Those who did not help with the bond did nothing to end YRE.
I never saw any of our ANTI friends helping to pass the 2002 bond. I never saw either Jim Gibson or Dr. Stephen Guffanti helping in the bond office stuffing envelops or going out to walk precincts. They never even bothered to write a letter to the editor in support of the bond. In fact Guffanti wrote a Community Forum in October of 2001 opposing a new school bond.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/10/09/export20388.txt
Trustee opposes Vista school bond Monday, October 8, 2001 10:00 PM PDT ∞
Stephen Guffanti Commentary
Guffanti also abstained from setting a date for a vote for the school bond without explanation. At the same meeting Gibson tried to delay the vote by asking for "more study" of what everyone including the City Council of Vista knew to be a desperate overcrowding problem in VUSD schools.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/02/10/export2810.txt
District bond committee gets direction Friday, February 9, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff Writer
At the previous board meeting ANTI darlings, VUSD board members, Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti voted to delay the bond that would eventually pass and get rid of year round education.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/01/19/export1213.txt
School board to hire bond consultant Thursday, January 18, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff writer
Three days before Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti said the school board was moving too fast and they opposed hiring a consultant to prepare for getting a school bond passed. A school bond whose major state purpose was to end year round education by building schools.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/01/17/export1019.txt
New bond issue pondered Tuesday, January 16, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff Writer
Current School Board member, Carol Herrera, on the other hand, was the single most important person in getting Prop O passed. She was working on it for ten and twelve hour days every single day for months. Without her the bond would not have passed and we would still have year round education. Her wonderful work on the bond lead directly to her election to the school board in November of 2002. Do our ANTI friends thank her? No they revile her as an ex nun who broke her vows and got married. They also have mocked her as "the flying nun". Our ANTI friends do not believe in civil discourse.
Yet the very folks who caused the over crowding problem and did nothing to solve it now blame the innocent for the very sins caused by their own actions. Sadly this is typical of our the angry ANTIs and their reactions to those who favor FACT based public education.
VTA did not bring the idea to VUSD. No one on the Executive Board of the VTA had ever heard of the idea before. The VUSD was forced to bring the idea to the VTA and ask for a change in the contract because the two school bonds were defeated by our ANTI friends. Yet our ANTI friends re-write history and blame the VTA for a problem they themselves caused. A problem they did nothing to try to help solve.
Here is the latest incredible re-write of history by our truth impaired ANTI friend, NCTimes blogger,Roxy.
Roxy said on: February 17, 2010, 9:40 am
Wasn’t the track system another sweet heart deal orchestrated and pumped by the VTA? Another brainwashing disgraceful act to deny students the FULL benefits of an education. Fully supported by CDE in which the FEDS came in and GOTCHA VUSD!!!!!!
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
What? Is this bizarro backwards land logic? We all know that the VUSD was forced into the year around schedule after our ANTI friends TWICE "defeated" school bonds to build much needed new schools.
Our ANTI friends were able to circumvent the will of the majority voters by convincing barely more than one third of the VUSD voters to vote no on Prop K and then Prop L. At the time California State law required a two thirds super majority for school bond passage. Had either Prop K or L passed there would have been no need for Year aRound Education(YRE). The bonds would have provided funds for building additional schools and providing needed classrooms for our students thus ending any need to discuss alternatives like YRE. The only other choice was double sessions where half the students came in the morning and the other half came in the afternoons.
At the time none of us in the VTA leadership had heard of YRE. We expected double sessions to be instituted when the second bond failed. The school district literally had no more room in the parking lots for temporary buildings to house our over crowded elementary and middle school students. After the failures of Prop K and Prop L., VUSD had to find a way to house more students. There was no other choice.
Lucky for VUSD students someone in district admin came across the idea of YRE which was far superior to double sessions. In YRE students were given the same amount of minutes as in a 180 day school year but in double sessions the number of minutes would have been less, not to mention having sleepy students in the classroom for the first session starting at 6AM would have impacted learning. Not to mention the exhaustion students would have in the afternoon sessions ending as late as 7PM
Had our ANTI friends supported either of those two bonds, they would have passed easily. Instead they campaigned against both of them. Our ANTI friends force on the rest of us the Sophie's choice between YRE or double sessions. Passage of either Prop K or Prop L would have meant there would never have been a need to consider either alternative.
The ANTIs caused the problem of lack of classroom space, then they blame the consequences of the problem they created on the teachers. So typical of our ANTI friends not to have any shame about the problems they have caused and worse to blame those very problems on innocent bystanders. To think the ANTI movement got its start in churches. Their behavior and their sense of responsibility is the far from Christ like.
The idea for a Year Round Education plan as a solution to the overcrowding after the failure of the two bonds,came from the district administration not teachers. The district admin was desparately seeking a solution for the overcrowding problem that the ANTIs caused by not supporting our school bonds.
I was a member of the VTA Executive Board at the time the district admin came up with the YRE idea. I distinctly remember the very first mention of year round education or a tract system. Pete McHugh, then assistant superintendent of VUSD, took me aside after a meeting between VUSD and VTA leadership. He asked me what I thought of the idea of 163 day school year with the same number of minutes of instruction as a 180 day year. I asked how that would help and he explained that the district could get 50% more students into the same space with a three track system.(I know at first consideration one our of three tracts off at a time seems like it should make room for 33.3% but trust me the math works, YRE allowed for 50% more use of existing classroom space). He assured me it would get 50% more in and would work, other districts had done it already and the state would approve it.
(Pete McHugh wondered how I thought membership would like the idea. He really was wondering if I could sell the idea. Because of the change in working conditions YRE would have to be approved by a majority vote of the entire VTA membership--check that maybe it was just the Representative Assembly that had to vote for it. Darn, I cannot remember. I think it was just the Rep Assembly. I need to go to the VTA office and check the old minutes of the meetings. Anyway Pete was interested in my reaction and what I might say to membership about this YRE idea that district admin was floating.)
I told Pete, it sounded great to me. A slightly longer teaching day in order to teach two months and have one month off, who could be against that? The VTA approved the idea, whether full membership vote or Rep Assembly again I am not sure right now.
YRE was instituted and continued in our district until the VTA and good folks of VUSD finally passed Prop O in 2002 and built new school providing new classroom space to handle the 50% extra students we crammed into our schools by going to YRE. Obviously without a bond passing, there never would have been space in our schools to end YRE so everyone who helped pass Prop O helped to end YRE. Those who did not help with the bond did nothing to end YRE.
I never saw any of our ANTI friends helping to pass the 2002 bond. I never saw either Jim Gibson or Dr. Stephen Guffanti helping in the bond office stuffing envelops or going out to walk precincts. They never even bothered to write a letter to the editor in support of the bond. In fact Guffanti wrote a Community Forum in October of 2001 opposing a new school bond.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/10/09/export20388.txt
Trustee opposes Vista school bond Monday, October 8, 2001 10:00 PM PDT ∞
Stephen Guffanti Commentary
Guffanti also abstained from setting a date for a vote for the school bond without explanation. At the same meeting Gibson tried to delay the vote by asking for "more study" of what everyone including the City Council of Vista knew to be a desperate overcrowding problem in VUSD schools.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/02/10/export2810.txt
District bond committee gets direction Friday, February 9, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff Writer
At the previous board meeting ANTI darlings, VUSD board members, Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti voted to delay the bond that would eventually pass and get rid of year round education.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/01/19/export1213.txt
School board to hire bond consultant Thursday, January 18, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff writer
Three days before Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti said the school board was moving too fast and they opposed hiring a consultant to prepare for getting a school bond passed. A school bond whose major state purpose was to end year round education by building schools.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2001/01/17/export1019.txt
New bond issue pondered Tuesday, January 16, 2001 10:00 PM PST ∞
HARRY BROOKS North County Times Staff Writer
Current School Board member, Carol Herrera, on the other hand, was the single most important person in getting Prop O passed. She was working on it for ten and twelve hour days every single day for months. Without her the bond would not have passed and we would still have year round education. Her wonderful work on the bond lead directly to her election to the school board in November of 2002. Do our ANTI friends thank her? No they revile her as an ex nun who broke her vows and got married. They also have mocked her as "the flying nun". Our ANTI friends do not believe in civil discourse.
Yet the very folks who caused the over crowding problem and did nothing to solve it now blame the innocent for the very sins caused by their own actions. Sadly this is typical of our the angry ANTIs and their reactions to those who favor FACT based public education.
VTA did not bring the idea to VUSD. No one on the Executive Board of the VTA had ever heard of the idea before. The VUSD was forced to bring the idea to the VTA and ask for a change in the contract because the two school bonds were defeated by our ANTI friends. Yet our ANTI friends re-write history and blame the VTA for a problem they themselves caused. A problem they did nothing to try to help solve.
Here is the latest incredible re-write of history by our truth impaired ANTI friend, NCTimes blogger,Roxy.
Roxy said on: February 17, 2010, 9:40 am
Wasn’t the track system another sweet heart deal orchestrated and pumped by the VTA? Another brainwashing disgraceful act to deny students the FULL benefits of an education. Fully supported by CDE in which the FEDS came in and GOTCHA VUSD!!!!!!
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
ANTIs in their own words--Vista Watchdog 1
Our anti public education faction here in VUSD are so wild and so weird and so very truth challenged that I think it is important for me to post on this site some of their writings. No one would believe me if I just described them. Today I will feature Vista Watchdog 1 a frequent ANTI poster at the North County Times. In the past months he has asserted among other wild claims that VUSD teachers get 250K a year! that he hosts frequent invitation only meetings at his home with Dr. Joyce Bales, Dr. Stephen Guffanti and Dr. Jim Gibson among others in attendance.
Here are his posts today. Remember as you read them he is one of our friends who is strongly in support of the recall of Jaka, Chunka and Lily. As you read you will get a sense of what the recall is all about.
Vista Watchdog1 said on: February 16, 2010, 7:52 pm
Thank you unlaxx! If I have to tighten my belt, why not the teachers? I recall only too well how this nation pulled together in my early years as a teen, and then when Pearl was hit we pulled together again and tightened already too skinny belts; willing to sacrifice our very lives to ensure that our brothers, sisters, and children would have a chance to grow up free! Education is critical to the continued freedom of this nation, but NOT at the expense of the nation itself! If the quality of the education were what it once was, then I'd have no problem giving these teachers whatever they demanded. Of course, if the quality of education were what it once was, then the economy would not be busted, nor would this country be rapidly approaching the very forces of Socialism, Fascism, and Communism so many of my dear friends died fighting against! Unions are nothing more than an arm of the very thing this country so detests: Centralized Control by Elites! They have out lived their usefulness and are an enigma that is antithetical to all that we American's hold dear! It is time to bust the Unions and send the packing back to the Socialist Society from which they were born! The teachers can stay, but their Unions must GO!
Vista Watchdog1 said on: February 17, 2010, 6:59 am
mad dad, I never needed a Union to protect me or to fight for my wages. None of my employees needed Unions, nor any my children or grandchildren. All of us would be considered middle class. Granted, I built my business from the ground up and probably worked harder than most of my employees. But, all I've seen of every industry represented by Unions is disaster: unfunded pensions, constant wage disputes, and ultimate failure of the industry due to workers who fail to give their best while expecting the employer to provide for their every want and need. Remember; if you didn’t earn it, it’s NOT yours! There are no free lunches except those from the Communist Party, and then you’re better off getting something to eat on the Black Market!
Here are his posts today. Remember as you read them he is one of our friends who is strongly in support of the recall of Jaka, Chunka and Lily. As you read you will get a sense of what the recall is all about.
Vista Watchdog1 said on: February 16, 2010, 7:52 pm
Thank you unlaxx! If I have to tighten my belt, why not the teachers? I recall only too well how this nation pulled together in my early years as a teen, and then when Pearl was hit we pulled together again and tightened already too skinny belts; willing to sacrifice our very lives to ensure that our brothers, sisters, and children would have a chance to grow up free! Education is critical to the continued freedom of this nation, but NOT at the expense of the nation itself! If the quality of the education were what it once was, then I'd have no problem giving these teachers whatever they demanded. Of course, if the quality of education were what it once was, then the economy would not be busted, nor would this country be rapidly approaching the very forces of Socialism, Fascism, and Communism so many of my dear friends died fighting against! Unions are nothing more than an arm of the very thing this country so detests: Centralized Control by Elites! They have out lived their usefulness and are an enigma that is antithetical to all that we American's hold dear! It is time to bust the Unions and send the packing back to the Socialist Society from which they were born! The teachers can stay, but their Unions must GO!
Vista Watchdog1 said on: February 17, 2010, 6:59 am
mad dad, I never needed a Union to protect me or to fight for my wages. None of my employees needed Unions, nor any my children or grandchildren. All of us would be considered middle class. Granted, I built my business from the ground up and probably worked harder than most of my employees. But, all I've seen of every industry represented by Unions is disaster: unfunded pensions, constant wage disputes, and ultimate failure of the industry due to workers who fail to give their best while expecting the employer to provide for their every want and need. Remember; if you didn’t earn it, it’s NOT yours! There are no free lunches except those from the Communist Party, and then you’re better off getting something to eat on the Black Market!
Six Reasons why the Kawano site was better than the Melrose site
Here is a comparison of the two sites, the cheap Kawano site that the thrifty board members favored for building Mission Vista High School and the inferior secondary site that VUSD was forced to take when Gibson and Guffanti refused to support the cheap Kawano site. (California state law required a SUPER majority of four out of five school board trustees for the purchase of the Kawano property.The super majority rule allowed Gibson and Guffanti to block the purchase of the Kawano site)
(1)Kawano was cheap-- one million dollars estimated cost, compared to 18 million for the secondary Melrose site.
(2)Kawano was zoned agricultural making it less expensive land than the zoned for housing Melrose site.
(3)Kawano was level and fully graded so no expensive grading was required. Melrose was hilly and needed millions extra in site preparation and grading that Kawano did not need.
(4)Kawano was inside the boundary of the City of Vista which historically has cooperated with VUSD. The Melrose site was inside Oceanside City limits. The Oceanside City Council zoned the site for housing costing VUSD more. The O'side Council added onerous grading and intersection improvement requirements adding millions more. In fact Oside city council was down right hostile to having VUSD build a high school for the third of their city's students that are inside VUSD boundaries.
(5)The Kawano site purchase would have allowed construction of the third high school to begin in the summer of 2002 and be completed as early as the fall of 2005 instead of beginning five years later in the spring of 2007 at the Melrose site and not being done until the fall of 2010.
(6)Not being able to use the Kawano site cost our VUSD high school students five more years stuck in two terribly overcrowded high schools.
(1)Kawano was cheap-- one million dollars estimated cost, compared to 18 million for the secondary Melrose site.
(2)Kawano was zoned agricultural making it less expensive land than the zoned for housing Melrose site.
(3)Kawano was level and fully graded so no expensive grading was required. Melrose was hilly and needed millions extra in site preparation and grading that Kawano did not need.
(4)Kawano was inside the boundary of the City of Vista which historically has cooperated with VUSD. The Melrose site was inside Oceanside City limits. The Oceanside City Council zoned the site for housing costing VUSD more. The O'side Council added onerous grading and intersection improvement requirements adding millions more. In fact Oside city council was down right hostile to having VUSD build a high school for the third of their city's students that are inside VUSD boundaries.
(5)The Kawano site purchase would have allowed construction of the third high school to begin in the summer of 2002 and be completed as early as the fall of 2005 instead of beginning five years later in the spring of 2007 at the Melrose site and not being done until the fall of 2010.
(6)Not being able to use the Kawano site cost our VUSD high school students five more years stuck in two terribly overcrowded high schools.
David Hubbard was against the Kawano site! say our truth challenged ANTI friends
One of our ANTI friends who usually is honest was not today. JustTheFacts feel into the same pattern of dishonest posting as our ANTI friends Roxy, Vista Watchdog 1, Dorothy, Plain Truth and others. I am saddened by this development
JustTheFacts is almost always on the wrong side politically but in the past he has tried to stay truthful. However today he incorrectly asserted that David Hubbard was against the purchasing the cheap level Kawano site. The Kawano site would have saved VUSD taxpayers somewhere around 50 million dollars in construction costs on Mission Vista High School. The assertion that David Hubbard the greatest proponent of building the third high school was against the cheap level Kawano site is silly on the face of it. But JustTheFacts repeated it anyway. Apparently he got this incorrect informaintion from other ANTIs most notably Vista Watch Dog 1 who has made this same false claim previously. VWdog's posts have shown that he has no moral qualms whatsoever in making things up. But until today JustTheFacts did not engage in such behavior.
Perhaps because ANTI supported board members Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti actually did obstruct building the new high school the ANTIs think that their claim that other reasonable board members did as well has credibility.
I maintain that neither Gibson or Guffanti actions as school board members showed that either one had any urgency about opening the third high school. They had no reason to care whether a new high school was opened or not. Neither of them have any of their own children attending any of our fine VUSD schools. Most of their supporters also did not have children in our schools. So the delay of five years and the increased cost of fifty million dollars in the cost of Mission Vista High School did not cost either Gibson or Guffanti anything in their own homes or politically from their anti public education supporters.
Listed at the end of my reply to ANTI blogger JustTheFacts are six reasons why Kawano site was far superior to the Melrose site that taxpayers of VUSD had to settle for. Remember neither Gibson or Guffanti would allow themselves to be the legally required fourth of five board members to support acquiring the Kawano property. Even though our two ANTI board members (Gibson and Guffanti) were in the minority, California state law required a SUPER majority to purchase the Kawano land. This supper majority requirement allowed Gibson and Guffanti with their obstructionist tactics to hold the school board and the taxpayers of VUSD hostage.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
My response to JustTheFacts incorrect assertion about David Hubbard not supporting purchase of the Kawano site:
JustTheFacts is now for the first time truth challenged with one of his posts—the one at 8:42am.
I knew he has been a bit blind in his defense of the obstructionists--Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti. He has on a number of occasions tried to rational their inexcusable lack of consideration for tax payer money. However today is the first time I have read one of his post that is factually in error. His post today comes either from ignorance or something worse at 8:42am when he incorrectly asserts: "Kawano was completely unsuitable and Hubbard wouldn't have supported it either"
As this entire community knows David Hubbard would have loved the chance at Kawano as he said over and over and over again. He was the driving force to get the third high school built. Without his strong support their might never have been a third high school at all. He was quoted in this newspaper:
DAVID HUBBARD: "That is the best site (Kawano) we have identified and nothing has even come close," he (Hubbard) said. "I know the people that live out there don't want the high schools, but I do want what is best for all the students. I'll take the heat."
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_675be210-95ff-5b76-bda0-4f74980ce7aa.html
It is important for the voters in VUSD to know who is trying to be accurate with their posts and who is intentionally trying to mislead the voting public. Please, I urge anyone who has any question about which group of nctimes bloggers is truthful and which group is not, to read the article at the above URL.
There is no question that the newspaper reporter who wrote it understood that Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti alone were responsible for not allowing the taxpayers of VUSD access to the cheap level Kawano site.
The quote from David Hubbard also puts to rest JustTheFacts spin that the Kawano site was unsuitable.
Here is a comparison of the two sites, the cheap Kawano site that the thrifty board members favored and the inferior secondary site that VUSD was forced to take when Gibson and Guffanti refused to support the cheap Kawano site.
(1)Kawano was cheap-- one million dollars estimated cost, compared to 18 million for the secondary Melrose site.
(2)Kawano was zoned agricultural making it less expensive land than the zoned for housing Melrose site.
(3)Kawano was level and fully graded so no expensive grading was required. Melrose was hilly and needed millions extra in site preparation and grading that Kawano did not need.
(4)Kawano was inside the boundary of the City of Vista which historically has cooperated with VUSD. The Melrose site was inside Oceanside City limits. The Oceanside City Council zoned the site for housing costing VUSD more. The O'side Council added onerous grading and intersection improvement requirements adding millions more. In fact Oside city council was down right hostile to having VUSD build a high school for the third of their city's students that are inside VUSD boundaries.
(5)The Kawano site purchase would have allowed construction of the third high school to begin in the summer of 2002 and be completed as early as the fall of 2005 instead of beginning five years later in the spring of 2007 at the Melrose site and not being done until the fall of 2010.
(6)Not being able to use the Kawano site cost our VUSD high school students five more years stuck in two terribly overcrowded high schools.
JustTheFacts is almost always on the wrong side politically but in the past he has tried to stay truthful. However today he incorrectly asserted that David Hubbard was against the purchasing the cheap level Kawano site. The Kawano site would have saved VUSD taxpayers somewhere around 50 million dollars in construction costs on Mission Vista High School. The assertion that David Hubbard the greatest proponent of building the third high school was against the cheap level Kawano site is silly on the face of it. But JustTheFacts repeated it anyway. Apparently he got this incorrect informaintion from other ANTIs most notably Vista Watch Dog 1 who has made this same false claim previously. VWdog's posts have shown that he has no moral qualms whatsoever in making things up. But until today JustTheFacts did not engage in such behavior.
Perhaps because ANTI supported board members Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti actually did obstruct building the new high school the ANTIs think that their claim that other reasonable board members did as well has credibility.
I maintain that neither Gibson or Guffanti actions as school board members showed that either one had any urgency about opening the third high school. They had no reason to care whether a new high school was opened or not. Neither of them have any of their own children attending any of our fine VUSD schools. Most of their supporters also did not have children in our schools. So the delay of five years and the increased cost of fifty million dollars in the cost of Mission Vista High School did not cost either Gibson or Guffanti anything in their own homes or politically from their anti public education supporters.
Listed at the end of my reply to ANTI blogger JustTheFacts are six reasons why Kawano site was far superior to the Melrose site that taxpayers of VUSD had to settle for. Remember neither Gibson or Guffanti would allow themselves to be the legally required fourth of five board members to support acquiring the Kawano property. Even though our two ANTI board members (Gibson and Guffanti) were in the minority, California state law required a SUPER majority to purchase the Kawano land. This supper majority requirement allowed Gibson and Guffanti with their obstructionist tactics to hold the school board and the taxpayers of VUSD hostage.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
My response to JustTheFacts incorrect assertion about David Hubbard not supporting purchase of the Kawano site:
JustTheFacts is now for the first time truth challenged with one of his posts—the one at 8:42am.
I knew he has been a bit blind in his defense of the obstructionists--Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti. He has on a number of occasions tried to rational their inexcusable lack of consideration for tax payer money. However today is the first time I have read one of his post that is factually in error. His post today comes either from ignorance or something worse at 8:42am when he incorrectly asserts: "Kawano was completely unsuitable and Hubbard wouldn't have supported it either"
As this entire community knows David Hubbard would have loved the chance at Kawano as he said over and over and over again. He was the driving force to get the third high school built. Without his strong support their might never have been a third high school at all. He was quoted in this newspaper:
DAVID HUBBARD: "That is the best site (Kawano) we have identified and nothing has even come close," he (Hubbard) said. "I know the people that live out there don't want the high schools, but I do want what is best for all the students. I'll take the heat."
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_675be210-95ff-5b76-bda0-4f74980ce7aa.html
It is important for the voters in VUSD to know who is trying to be accurate with their posts and who is intentionally trying to mislead the voting public. Please, I urge anyone who has any question about which group of nctimes bloggers is truthful and which group is not, to read the article at the above URL.
There is no question that the newspaper reporter who wrote it understood that Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti alone were responsible for not allowing the taxpayers of VUSD access to the cheap level Kawano site.
The quote from David Hubbard also puts to rest JustTheFacts spin that the Kawano site was unsuitable.
Here is a comparison of the two sites, the cheap Kawano site that the thrifty board members favored and the inferior secondary site that VUSD was forced to take when Gibson and Guffanti refused to support the cheap Kawano site.
(1)Kawano was cheap-- one million dollars estimated cost, compared to 18 million for the secondary Melrose site.
(2)Kawano was zoned agricultural making it less expensive land than the zoned for housing Melrose site.
(3)Kawano was level and fully graded so no expensive grading was required. Melrose was hilly and needed millions extra in site preparation and grading that Kawano did not need.
(4)Kawano was inside the boundary of the City of Vista which historically has cooperated with VUSD. The Melrose site was inside Oceanside City limits. The Oceanside City Council zoned the site for housing costing VUSD more. The O'side Council added onerous grading and intersection improvement requirements adding millions more. In fact Oside city council was down right hostile to having VUSD build a high school for the third of their city's students that are inside VUSD boundaries.
(5)The Kawano site purchase would have allowed construction of the third high school to begin in the summer of 2002 and be completed as early as the fall of 2005 instead of beginning five years later in the spring of 2007 at the Melrose site and not being done until the fall of 2010.
(6)Not being able to use the Kawano site cost our VUSD high school students five more years stuck in two terribly overcrowded high schools.
The Kawano site was contaminated by chemicals declares VWdog, infamous ANTI
Vista Watchdog 1 wrote on February 17, 2010, 7:08 posted a libelous comment regarding Jay Kawano's property. Falsely saying it was heavily pesticide contaminated thus lowering the value of the land for Mr. Kawano. I hope Mr. Kawano asks the NCTimes for the name of VWDog 1 and files a court action against him for libel and potential loss of revenue when he sells the land.
As VWdog1 is well aware, VUSD conducted a test for agricultural pesticides at the Kawano site and the site passed. There was no contamination. This testing was done in the summer of 2002. The nctimes ran an article about it.
Next VWdog 1 brings up the sewer extension. Tee Hee. Really VWdog do you think a sewer extension would have cost the extra tens of millions the expensive, hilly, ungraded Melrose site (63 acres) cost over the cheap level Kawano site (50+ acres)? You are so funny.
As to the Stacco site, I believe you are referring to the site that required a nature corridor through the middle of the land thus making it unattractive for building a third high school. Of course I am not sure as you never identify where this Stacco site is that you write about. How about a location?
As you can read in my previous post your heroes, Gibson and Guffanti, certainly did not consider your mythical Stacco site. As late as 2007 G and G were still pining for the teeny itsy, bitsy 18 acre Lincoln Middle site rejected by the state of California in 2005. They were not interested in your mythical Stacco site or the full sized Kawano site (50+acres) or even the full sized Melrose site (63 acres).
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_4de53f08-d8d4-5606-8189-3a7ee6a484f6.html
As VWdog1 is well aware, VUSD conducted a test for agricultural pesticides at the Kawano site and the site passed. There was no contamination. This testing was done in the summer of 2002. The nctimes ran an article about it.
Next VWdog 1 brings up the sewer extension. Tee Hee. Really VWdog do you think a sewer extension would have cost the extra tens of millions the expensive, hilly, ungraded Melrose site (63 acres) cost over the cheap level Kawano site (50+ acres)? You are so funny.
As to the Stacco site, I believe you are referring to the site that required a nature corridor through the middle of the land thus making it unattractive for building a third high school. Of course I am not sure as you never identify where this Stacco site is that you write about. How about a location?
As you can read in my previous post your heroes, Gibson and Guffanti, certainly did not consider your mythical Stacco site. As late as 2007 G and G were still pining for the teeny itsy, bitsy 18 acre Lincoln Middle site rejected by the state of California in 2005. They were not interested in your mythical Stacco site or the full sized Kawano site (50+acres) or even the full sized Melrose site (63 acres).
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_4de53f08-d8d4-5606-8189-3a7ee6a484f6.html
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sticknrotorman wins the most hate filled ANTI comment of the evening
Our hate filled and wildly angry ANTI friends seem to need hate to survive the way, normal people need air or water. Don't believe me. Read the "ANTI award winning hate comment of the evening, (February 15th) below in red.
Remember our ANTI friends like Sticknrotorman are the ones who want to recall three of the four rational school board members, so they can be replaced with board members in philosophical agreement with the likes of Jim Gibson. Gibson, whose four children were educated in private schools, is part of a movement that wants to end all public education in America. That is what the recall is about. Ending public education in Vista.
Read more at their organizational website, Citizens for Excellence in Education where you will find out that public school teachers are responsible for the 'spiritual rape' of our students.
http://www.nace-cee.org/ceestrategy.htm
Now for the comments you get from our ANTI friends who actually believe that the slanderous garbage printed at the CEE website about public schools and public school teachers:
Sticknrotorman said on: February 15, 2010, 8:50 pm
I saw a sign the sniveling crybabies of the VTA erected that said “Graveyard of Public Education.” Well, VTA Members, for once we agree! The Vista Unified School District is absolutely the graveyard of public education; I have seen your student’s test scores.
Vista teachers are failures in by every possible measure, failing test scores, dropout rates, for any possible way to measure success; you get an “F”.
I hope each of the 167 or so served with a layoff notice actually is laid off, I hope the rest of you get a substantial salary reduction. Your union has collectively bargained you out of a job. The tipping point has been reached whereby the citizen’s are not going to pony up more tax dollars to support your over inflated salary, benefits packages.
Don’t like it? Leave! I will hold the door for you and ensure it does not hit you on your way out.
Read his comments at the North County Times comment section here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
Remember our ANTI friends like Sticknrotorman are the ones who want to recall three of the four rational school board members, so they can be replaced with board members in philosophical agreement with the likes of Jim Gibson. Gibson, whose four children were educated in private schools, is part of a movement that wants to end all public education in America. That is what the recall is about. Ending public education in Vista.
Read more at their organizational website, Citizens for Excellence in Education where you will find out that public school teachers are responsible for the 'spiritual rape' of our students.
http://www.nace-cee.org/ceestrategy.htm
Now for the comments you get from our ANTI friends who actually believe that the slanderous garbage printed at the CEE website about public schools and public school teachers:
Sticknrotorman said on: February 15, 2010, 8:50 pm
I saw a sign the sniveling crybabies of the VTA erected that said “Graveyard of Public Education.” Well, VTA Members, for once we agree! The Vista Unified School District is absolutely the graveyard of public education; I have seen your student’s test scores.
Vista teachers are failures in by every possible measure, failing test scores, dropout rates, for any possible way to measure success; you get an “F”.
I hope each of the 167 or so served with a layoff notice actually is laid off, I hope the rest of you get a substantial salary reduction. Your union has collectively bargained you out of a job. The tipping point has been reached whereby the citizen’s are not going to pony up more tax dollars to support your over inflated salary, benefits packages.
Don’t like it? Leave! I will hold the door for you and ensure it does not hit you on your way out.
Read his comments at the North County Times comment section here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html?mode=comments
Over eight hundred teachers showed support for negotiations today
Over eight hundred VUSD school teachers took time out of their holiday weekend to come to the district office and show support for fair bargaining today, February 15, 2010. Many were hoping that perhaps a hundred of so teachers might come, but we were all overwhelmed by the huge turn out of well over 800 teachers. Many teachers were dressed in black.
Joan Baez songs were sung accompanied by a guitar player and a drummer. Great enthusiasm was shown by all. District bargaining members (Bale's lackeys) came early today before the teachers arrived and hid inside during the show of support.
Styrofoam tombstones were cut out and spray painted gray. Each tombstone had the name of something that teachers do for free on their own time that will be lost if the Joyce Bales cutbacks and her attempts to gain total personal control of all power to transfer teachers who complain about her mandates. She also demands an end of the last vestiges of site based decision making. Neither one has anything to do with saving the district money, but both have a lot to do with Bales acquiring more personal power. Personal power is what life seems to be about for Joyce Bales.
Some of the traditional activities that teachers do for free without pay that may be lost are: The Blue/Gray Dance, the Spring Arts Festival and (more to be added here later)
The teacher's bargaining team was able to walk through the crowd and see how we in the district support the efforts of our hard working bargaining team.
Bargaining is a long process. It is tiring. A teacher who is on the bargaining team has to be away from their classroom but still make lesson plans and deal with problems there all while trying to deal with Bales' one sided demands. So it must have been very gratifying for them to see so much support coming from their colleagues.
How wonderful! So many dedicated teachers showed up to support our fine teacher's bargaining team in their difficult contract negotiations. Thanks to all who came.
Congrats to VTA leadership for organizing the event and a hero of the day award to each and every teacher who came.
Read about the massive show of support here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html
Joan Baez songs were sung accompanied by a guitar player and a drummer. Great enthusiasm was shown by all. District bargaining members (Bale's lackeys) came early today before the teachers arrived and hid inside during the show of support.
Styrofoam tombstones were cut out and spray painted gray. Each tombstone had the name of something that teachers do for free on their own time that will be lost if the Joyce Bales cutbacks and her attempts to gain total personal control of all power to transfer teachers who complain about her mandates. She also demands an end of the last vestiges of site based decision making. Neither one has anything to do with saving the district money, but both have a lot to do with Bales acquiring more personal power. Personal power is what life seems to be about for Joyce Bales.
Some of the traditional activities that teachers do for free without pay that may be lost are: The Blue/Gray Dance, the Spring Arts Festival and (more to be added here later)
The teacher's bargaining team was able to walk through the crowd and see how we in the district support the efforts of our hard working bargaining team.
Bargaining is a long process. It is tiring. A teacher who is on the bargaining team has to be away from their classroom but still make lesson plans and deal with problems there all while trying to deal with Bales' one sided demands. So it must have been very gratifying for them to see so much support coming from their colleagues.
How wonderful! So many dedicated teachers showed up to support our fine teacher's bargaining team in their difficult contract negotiations. Thanks to all who came.
Congrats to VTA leadership for organizing the event and a hero of the day award to each and every teacher who came.
Read about the massive show of support here:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_b2a39fd6-a2d2-54e4-a042-22c3d319df47.html
Would Joyce Bales deliberately tank teacher negotiations in hopes of helping the Recall?
One has to wonder if Dr. Joyce Bales is deliberately trying to create a ill will in the teacher contract negotiations in hopes that enough strife can be generated to gain community support for the current recall. This recall if successful will eliminate VUSD school board members that have voted against her. I know such an idea sounds a bit paranoid. After all what school superintendent would want labor strife in her district? It seems like it would be more trouble than it is worth.
In Bales case she has a documented history of getting rid of school board members when they disagree with her. (see below, the article from the Pueblo newspaper). We know she was angry that LindaMood Bell reading program was temporarily suspended, would that have made her angry enough to try to get rid of our school board members who were in favor of spending a bit less on LMB? What was here role in the organizing and filing of the Recall petitions against three school board members, if any? Prominent ANTI blogger Vista Watchdog 1 has said that there have been many meetings at his house with Jim Gibson, Dr. Joyce Bales, and Dr. Stephen Guffanti in attendance.
Joyce Bales actions in the negotiations also seem to lend support to the idea that she is purposely trying to antagonize the teachers of the district. When she called for a 5% cut in pay for VUSD teachers next year at last December's bargaining session, she refused to consider taking such a pay cut herself. When her proposal for the permanent 2% pay cut plus another 3% cut in days paid was brought by the district bargaining team to the teachers bargaining team. the teacher's team asked if she would take the pay cuts too. The district team members thought that would be no problem, they would just have to go and check with her. A few minutes later they returned looking like beaten dogs with their tales between their legs, they were sorry to inform the teachers bargaining team that no, Dr. Joyce Bales would not take the same pay cut she was demanding of the teachers.
Bales has also demanded that the 2% pay cut be permanent and not be temporary until funding is restored. She has demanded the right to move any teacher at any time to any other school or position in the district solely at her say so with no hearings or reason given. VTA leaders are rightly concerned that she would use willy nilly transfers of leaders as a way of silencing an opposition from VTA leaders. She also wants to get rid of all vestiges of site based decision making at schools in the district. Not only does she not want any opposition from board members or VTA leaders, she seems to be determined to take all site powers away from site administration as well. Why is she afraid of school principals making decisions for their own sites?
As we all now know, Dr. Joyce Bales only agreed to take the same pay cut when the teachers organized and came to a school board meeting and publicly embarrassed her about her lack of reciprocity in pay cuts. Only after that public embarrassment did she grudgingly agree to take the same percentage pay cut as the teachers.
NOTE: The cut she took is still far less than most teachers, because she has far more discretionary income to spend after her costs for food and shelter are paid. A 5% cut to her pay will be tenths of one percent of a cut in her discretionary income while for a beginning teacher a 5% cut could eliminate all discretionary income and eat into funds needed for food and shelter.
Read below how Joyce Bales got rid of three different school board members that opposed her policies in Pueblo in less than two years. In Pueblo she used Greg Sinn, a employee of the Pueblo school district as her political muscle. (After she got the job with VUSD, she brought Greg Sinn in as a "grant writer". A VUSD job in which he was rumored to do nothing but rubber stamp other folks grant proposals).
For a time she had two school board members who opposed her in Pueblo and three members who always voted in her favor. A recall campaign was organized against the two that she did not like (Sound familar?). Enough signatures were obtained to run a recall election against only one of the members that Bales opposed. That member was recalled and replaced with a supposedly pro-Bales school board member.
However later the replacement member decided he did not like Bales either. When he no longer voted with Bales, a campaign of whispers and innuendo was conducted against him. Since he was finishing out the term of the board member who was recalled, he was up for election in only a few months. The campaign of whispers was successful and he was not re-elected for a full four year term. A new school board member that supported Bales was voted in to replace the replacement who had the nerve to vote against Bales.
The last remaining school board member (Christine Pacheco-Koveleski) that opposed Bales was also removed from the school board. That final school board member had taken a job in the east and was commuting between her job and her home in Pueblo which probably meant she should have resigned on her own. Maybe she would have, but Bales took it upon herself to prove this one remaining voice of opposition should be removed. Bales as superintendent of the Pueblo Colorado school system ACTIVELY participated in trying to prove that her last remaining opponent was violating residency rules. Hardly appropriate conduct for a superintendent. Bales proved successful and finally forced out this last Pueblo board member who had the nerve to vote against her and to criticized some of Bales actions.
In less than two years, Bales had remove all opposition from her school board. She had five lackeys who would agree with any position she took, on a school board made up of only five members.
Joyce Bales does not take kindly to opposition. She has gotten rid of school board members before that she did not like using recall and other means. Is it any wonder that many of us in the community are asking what role does Joyce Bales have in the recall against the three members of our school board who opposed her on LindaMood Bell?
In Colorado, Bales was ACTIVELY involved in removing the final board member who did not support her. Bales actually TAPED CONVERSATIONS between herself and her final target and used those taped conversations against the last school board member.
All VUSD school personnel school remember: DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ON SCHOOL PHONES ABOUT POLITICS!! OR ABOUT BALES LEADERSHIP. BALES HAS ACCESS TO ALL PHONE CONVERSATIONS ON VISTA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT PHONES!!! We know that Bales is willing to use all means necessary to achieve her ends, be careful out there. All conversations on school phones are recorded with our current phone system. The conversations can be accessed at any time by Bales or one of her henchmen.
Published: Friday September 16, 2005
School board member: staffer sent to check claim of new residence
By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A day after a news story appeared listing what Christine Pacheco-Koveleski said was her new Pueblo residence, School District 60’s community relations director appeared on the apartment doorstep.
Greg Sinn acknowledged that he went to the apartment in a fourplex at 616 W. 10th St. Thursday morning. He said he had been sent by Superintendent Joyce Bales to hand-deliver a letter presented to the school board Tuesday night by local citizen Arnie Carlsen, calling for Pacheco-Koveleski to resign or for the board to declare her seat vacant.
Bales said she wanted to make sure Pacheco-Koveleski, who did not attend this week's meeting, had a copy of the letter. In the letter, Carlsen, who led an unsuccessful attempt to recall Pacheco-Koveleski last year, said that since she had sold her home at 2225 N. Greenwood St. and has a home in Spotsylvania, Va., where she also works for Rappahannock Legal Services, she no longer was a resident of the district.
Pacheco-Koveleski said that she had sent an e-mail to Geri Patrone, the board's secretary, asking to have the letter sent to her law office at 612 W. 10th St., not to the apartment.
Sinn said after knocking on apartment No. 1 and finding it wasn't hers, he went to apartment No. 2 and Pacheco-Koveleski's son answered the door.
Sinn said he recognized her son and asked if his mother lived there. "He said, 'No,’ ” Sinn said. "Then he said, ‘Did you want me to give her a message? She's not here right now.' ”
An angry Pacheco-Koveleski said in a phone interview later in the day that she was very upset by the incident.
"I find it very inappropriate," she said. "I actually became very concerned. I've been on the board for six years and I've never had any staff member show up at my house. I wanted to know what was so dire that he would show up at my personal home. I consider it to be very unprofessional."
Sinn said that was not the case.
"I've probably delivered stuff to her house five or six times at her former residence," he said.
Pacheco-Koveleski said her son told her Sinn was not holding any papers and did not offer to leave anything.
Sinn said he had the letter in his back pocket.
"He was being the investigator since the address was in the newspaper," she said.
Pacheco-Koveleski phoned both Sinn and Bales to complain. Sinn, who said he was in a district foundation meeting when she called, said he saved the voice mail message.
The message on his phone, which he said was from Pacheco-Koveleski, asked: "Since when do you show up at my house? I think I might have to talk about that at the next board meeting."
She also implied he was ignoring the call and said, "Get yourself some huevos, as we say in Spanish."
Bales also taped her conversation during which the voice she said was Pacheco- Koveleski's also complained about Sinn's visit.
During their conversation, Bales asked, "Are you in Pueblo right now?" to which the answer was, "That's none of your business."
Sinn said later in the day, Pacheco-Koveleski left a message with his assistant questioning why he'd come to her apartment and saying she would get a restraining order against him if she had to.
©1996-2008The Pueblo Chieftain Online
In Bales case she has a documented history of getting rid of school board members when they disagree with her. (see below, the article from the Pueblo newspaper). We know she was angry that LindaMood Bell reading program was temporarily suspended, would that have made her angry enough to try to get rid of our school board members who were in favor of spending a bit less on LMB? What was here role in the organizing and filing of the Recall petitions against three school board members, if any? Prominent ANTI blogger Vista Watchdog 1 has said that there have been many meetings at his house with Jim Gibson, Dr. Joyce Bales, and Dr. Stephen Guffanti in attendance.
Joyce Bales actions in the negotiations also seem to lend support to the idea that she is purposely trying to antagonize the teachers of the district. When she called for a 5% cut in pay for VUSD teachers next year at last December's bargaining session, she refused to consider taking such a pay cut herself. When her proposal for the permanent 2% pay cut plus another 3% cut in days paid was brought by the district bargaining team to the teachers bargaining team. the teacher's team asked if she would take the pay cuts too. The district team members thought that would be no problem, they would just have to go and check with her. A few minutes later they returned looking like beaten dogs with their tales between their legs, they were sorry to inform the teachers bargaining team that no, Dr. Joyce Bales would not take the same pay cut she was demanding of the teachers.
Bales has also demanded that the 2% pay cut be permanent and not be temporary until funding is restored. She has demanded the right to move any teacher at any time to any other school or position in the district solely at her say so with no hearings or reason given. VTA leaders are rightly concerned that she would use willy nilly transfers of leaders as a way of silencing an opposition from VTA leaders. She also wants to get rid of all vestiges of site based decision making at schools in the district. Not only does she not want any opposition from board members or VTA leaders, she seems to be determined to take all site powers away from site administration as well. Why is she afraid of school principals making decisions for their own sites?
As we all now know, Dr. Joyce Bales only agreed to take the same pay cut when the teachers organized and came to a school board meeting and publicly embarrassed her about her lack of reciprocity in pay cuts. Only after that public embarrassment did she grudgingly agree to take the same percentage pay cut as the teachers.
NOTE: The cut she took is still far less than most teachers, because she has far more discretionary income to spend after her costs for food and shelter are paid. A 5% cut to her pay will be tenths of one percent of a cut in her discretionary income while for a beginning teacher a 5% cut could eliminate all discretionary income and eat into funds needed for food and shelter.
Read below how Joyce Bales got rid of three different school board members that opposed her policies in Pueblo in less than two years. In Pueblo she used Greg Sinn, a employee of the Pueblo school district as her political muscle. (After she got the job with VUSD, she brought Greg Sinn in as a "grant writer". A VUSD job in which he was rumored to do nothing but rubber stamp other folks grant proposals).
For a time she had two school board members who opposed her in Pueblo and three members who always voted in her favor. A recall campaign was organized against the two that she did not like (Sound familar?). Enough signatures were obtained to run a recall election against only one of the members that Bales opposed. That member was recalled and replaced with a supposedly pro-Bales school board member.
However later the replacement member decided he did not like Bales either. When he no longer voted with Bales, a campaign of whispers and innuendo was conducted against him. Since he was finishing out the term of the board member who was recalled, he was up for election in only a few months. The campaign of whispers was successful and he was not re-elected for a full four year term. A new school board member that supported Bales was voted in to replace the replacement who had the nerve to vote against Bales.
The last remaining school board member (Christine Pacheco-Koveleski) that opposed Bales was also removed from the school board. That final school board member had taken a job in the east and was commuting between her job and her home in Pueblo which probably meant she should have resigned on her own. Maybe she would have, but Bales took it upon herself to prove this one remaining voice of opposition should be removed. Bales as superintendent of the Pueblo Colorado school system ACTIVELY participated in trying to prove that her last remaining opponent was violating residency rules. Hardly appropriate conduct for a superintendent. Bales proved successful and finally forced out this last Pueblo board member who had the nerve to vote against her and to criticized some of Bales actions.
In less than two years, Bales had remove all opposition from her school board. She had five lackeys who would agree with any position she took, on a school board made up of only five members.
Joyce Bales does not take kindly to opposition. She has gotten rid of school board members before that she did not like using recall and other means. Is it any wonder that many of us in the community are asking what role does Joyce Bales have in the recall against the three members of our school board who opposed her on LindaMood Bell?
In Colorado, Bales was ACTIVELY involved in removing the final board member who did not support her. Bales actually TAPED CONVERSATIONS between herself and her final target and used those taped conversations against the last school board member.
All VUSD school personnel school remember: DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ON SCHOOL PHONES ABOUT POLITICS!! OR ABOUT BALES LEADERSHIP. BALES HAS ACCESS TO ALL PHONE CONVERSATIONS ON VISTA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT PHONES!!! We know that Bales is willing to use all means necessary to achieve her ends, be careful out there. All conversations on school phones are recorded with our current phone system. The conversations can be accessed at any time by Bales or one of her henchmen.
Published: Friday September 16, 2005
School board member: staffer sent to check claim of new residence
By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A day after a news story appeared listing what Christine Pacheco-Koveleski said was her new Pueblo residence, School District 60’s community relations director appeared on the apartment doorstep.
Greg Sinn acknowledged that he went to the apartment in a fourplex at 616 W. 10th St. Thursday morning. He said he had been sent by Superintendent Joyce Bales to hand-deliver a letter presented to the school board Tuesday night by local citizen Arnie Carlsen, calling for Pacheco-Koveleski to resign or for the board to declare her seat vacant.
Bales said she wanted to make sure Pacheco-Koveleski, who did not attend this week's meeting, had a copy of the letter. In the letter, Carlsen, who led an unsuccessful attempt to recall Pacheco-Koveleski last year, said that since she had sold her home at 2225 N. Greenwood St. and has a home in Spotsylvania, Va., where she also works for Rappahannock Legal Services, she no longer was a resident of the district.
Pacheco-Koveleski said that she had sent an e-mail to Geri Patrone, the board's secretary, asking to have the letter sent to her law office at 612 W. 10th St., not to the apartment.
Sinn said after knocking on apartment No. 1 and finding it wasn't hers, he went to apartment No. 2 and Pacheco-Koveleski's son answered the door.
Sinn said he recognized her son and asked if his mother lived there. "He said, 'No,’ ” Sinn said. "Then he said, ‘Did you want me to give her a message? She's not here right now.' ”
An angry Pacheco-Koveleski said in a phone interview later in the day that she was very upset by the incident.
"I find it very inappropriate," she said. "I actually became very concerned. I've been on the board for six years and I've never had any staff member show up at my house. I wanted to know what was so dire that he would show up at my personal home. I consider it to be very unprofessional."
Sinn said that was not the case.
"I've probably delivered stuff to her house five or six times at her former residence," he said.
Pacheco-Koveleski said her son told her Sinn was not holding any papers and did not offer to leave anything.
Sinn said he had the letter in his back pocket.
"He was being the investigator since the address was in the newspaper," she said.
Pacheco-Koveleski phoned both Sinn and Bales to complain. Sinn, who said he was in a district foundation meeting when she called, said he saved the voice mail message.
The message on his phone, which he said was from Pacheco-Koveleski, asked: "Since when do you show up at my house? I think I might have to talk about that at the next board meeting."
She also implied he was ignoring the call and said, "Get yourself some huevos, as we say in Spanish."
Bales also taped her conversation during which the voice she said was Pacheco- Koveleski's also complained about Sinn's visit.
During their conversation, Bales asked, "Are you in Pueblo right now?" to which the answer was, "That's none of your business."
Sinn said later in the day, Pacheco-Koveleski left a message with his assistant questioning why he'd come to her apartment and saying she would get a restraining order against him if she had to.
©1996-2008The Pueblo Chieftain Online
Jim Gibson's children were harassed by union thugs, Guffanti charges
Our old ANTI friend, Dr. Stephen Guffanti was allowed to publish inflammatory charges against school teachers in our district. The charges were contained in a sour grape Community Forum Guffanti wrote decrying his election loss in November 2008. Guffanti's inflammatory charge claimed that school teachers harassed and intimidated Jim Gibson's wife and children.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_f2cc26d6-7dfc-5583-8aa2-74d07fd92b74.html?mode=story
I know it is silly on its face. Yet the biased editorial fact checker at the North County Times allowed these inflammatory charges to be published without checking to see if they were in fact backed up by any evidence. No surprise there. Any time any one no matter their knowledge level wants to publish something derogatory about unions and the middle class wages and health benefits they bring, the NCTimes editors publish it on the editorial page. The folks who run the NCTimes just hate paying workers a living wage or providing benefits for them.
Back to harassing Jim's children. Ridiculous. At the time he was quoted in the paper as saying the ill advised picketing of his home was, "entertaining."* He made no mention to the reporter about anything rude happening to his children. A reasonable person would wonder why Jim Gibson would not mention to the reporter anything about his children and spouse being harassed at the time it happened. This would have been just the kind of news that the North County Times is most happy to publish. Jim has never been shy before or since with hurling accusations against the good teachers of VUSD, so why didn't he mention this terrible harassment by those terrible VUSD teachers at the time this harassment supposedly happened?
*http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2002/10/02/export19603.txt
I personally have heard Jim make things up that were not true. In the late 1990's (1998?), I happened to attend a Republican women's meeting at the Shadowridge Country Club. It was shortly before a school board election where Letha McWey was one candidate. I was there as one of her supporters. Jim Gibson also a VUSD school board candidate was invited to speak to the group. (Letha who was a registered Republican was NOT allowed to speak even though she asked to).
Now Jim is a rousing speaker. He tells great stories of his uphill struggle against the terrible teachers of VUSD. One of his stories at this meeting concerned an incident at a school board meeting the previous week that I had also attended. He fabricated a tale of rowdy teachers and harassment that did not happen. I was there. Yet the Republican Women's group ate it up. They applauded wildly for his courage. It seems Jimmy has found that if he makes up the right kind of story, he gets attention and Jimmy really likes attention (think Carrie Prejean).
I have good reason to suspect that his tales of his spouse and children being harassed is another made up story. This is not to say that I do not strongly condemn any harassment of children or spouses of even ANTI board members like Jim Gibson. If I see it, I will call anyone out for it. But I have pretty good reasons to suspect that Jim and his group of ANTIs just made the whole thing up.
(1) he is quoted AT THE TIME as ONLY saying the picketing at house was entertaining and ineffective. AT THE TIME he said nothing to the reporter about harassment.
(2) He made no report to the sheriff's office. He made no report to VUSD. Both should have been notificed if harassment of children by emplyees of VUSD really happened. In fact AT THE TIME he did not mention harassment at all. Only years later did the tale of picketing at his home morph into a story about harassment of his spouse and children.
(3) I personally have heard him make things up (see above).
Here is how I answered those charges of harassment in Guffanti's Forum:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_f2cc26d6-7dfc-5583-8aa2-74d07fd92b74.html?mode=comments
con no more (that's me) said on: February 10, 2010, 9:59 am
Dr. Guffanti makes three specific accusations against members of the Vista Teachers association using inflammatory language 'little children' 'screaming' " threatening' 'yelled' if there was any truth to any of these charges it would be the basis for filing charges of assault especially when 'little children' are involved.
Let's ask the question Judge Judy asks when one side brings up inflammatory charges against the other, "Did you call the police?". Well, did Jim call the local peace officers? Did he make a complaint? No and no. I wonder why?
Could it be because the ANTI urban myths about abusive teachers was not created until LONG after the ill advised picketing occurred? In fact what did Jim Gibson say at the time? In an article for the North County Times, from October 1, 2002 entitled "Teachers Launch Public Campaign on Contract Dispute" NCTimes reporter Michael J. Williams wrote the following, "Gibson said he found the picketing to be "entertaining," but questioned its effectiveness."*
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2002/10/02/export19603.txt
Gee, why didn't Gibson say anything AT THE TIME of the picketing about the supposed harassment of his children? He has never previously hesitated for a moment to say vilify teachers or the VTA. Why didn't he this time?
Could it be because NOTHING happened? Could the stories of his children being harassed have been created for political reasons at a much later time?
It is important to also note that there were NOT hundreds of teachers at his home NOR even dozens, according to the article there were exactly nine. That's right nine middle aged women and men who have dedicated their lives to helping children.
Also should be noted that according to the article the leader of this picketing was Keith Grauman. I was not there but I know Keith. He is a very soft spoken man, probably the gentlest, least combative person I have know in my life. He is a very committed Christian who is active in his Evangelical church. To accuse a man of his character of organizing an event that harasses children would be laughable if it were not so slanderous.
*NOTE: The above URL no longer works as the NCTimes archives passed about 2004 seem to be broken. However anyone who would like to read the full text of the article can contact me at my blog, www.vistaschools.blogspot.com, and I will happily email you the entire article
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_f2cc26d6-7dfc-5583-8aa2-74d07fd92b74.html?mode=story
I know it is silly on its face. Yet the biased editorial fact checker at the North County Times allowed these inflammatory charges to be published without checking to see if they were in fact backed up by any evidence. No surprise there. Any time any one no matter their knowledge level wants to publish something derogatory about unions and the middle class wages and health benefits they bring, the NCTimes editors publish it on the editorial page. The folks who run the NCTimes just hate paying workers a living wage or providing benefits for them.
Back to harassing Jim's children. Ridiculous. At the time he was quoted in the paper as saying the ill advised picketing of his home was, "entertaining."* He made no mention to the reporter about anything rude happening to his children. A reasonable person would wonder why Jim Gibson would not mention to the reporter anything about his children and spouse being harassed at the time it happened. This would have been just the kind of news that the North County Times is most happy to publish. Jim has never been shy before or since with hurling accusations against the good teachers of VUSD, so why didn't he mention this terrible harassment by those terrible VUSD teachers at the time this harassment supposedly happened?
*http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2002/10/02/export19603.txt
I personally have heard Jim make things up that were not true. In the late 1990's (1998?), I happened to attend a Republican women's meeting at the Shadowridge Country Club. It was shortly before a school board election where Letha McWey was one candidate. I was there as one of her supporters. Jim Gibson also a VUSD school board candidate was invited to speak to the group. (Letha who was a registered Republican was NOT allowed to speak even though she asked to).
Now Jim is a rousing speaker. He tells great stories of his uphill struggle against the terrible teachers of VUSD. One of his stories at this meeting concerned an incident at a school board meeting the previous week that I had also attended. He fabricated a tale of rowdy teachers and harassment that did not happen. I was there. Yet the Republican Women's group ate it up. They applauded wildly for his courage. It seems Jimmy has found that if he makes up the right kind of story, he gets attention and Jimmy really likes attention (think Carrie Prejean).
I have good reason to suspect that his tales of his spouse and children being harassed is another made up story. This is not to say that I do not strongly condemn any harassment of children or spouses of even ANTI board members like Jim Gibson. If I see it, I will call anyone out for it. But I have pretty good reasons to suspect that Jim and his group of ANTIs just made the whole thing up.
(1) he is quoted AT THE TIME as ONLY saying the picketing at house was entertaining and ineffective. AT THE TIME he said nothing to the reporter about harassment.
(2) He made no report to the sheriff's office. He made no report to VUSD. Both should have been notificed if harassment of children by emplyees of VUSD really happened. In fact AT THE TIME he did not mention harassment at all. Only years later did the tale of picketing at his home morph into a story about harassment of his spouse and children.
(3) I personally have heard him make things up (see above).
Here is how I answered those charges of harassment in Guffanti's Forum:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_f2cc26d6-7dfc-5583-8aa2-74d07fd92b74.html?mode=comments
con no more (that's me) said on: February 10, 2010, 9:59 am
Dr. Guffanti makes three specific accusations against members of the Vista Teachers association using inflammatory language 'little children' 'screaming' " threatening' 'yelled' if there was any truth to any of these charges it would be the basis for filing charges of assault especially when 'little children' are involved.
Let's ask the question Judge Judy asks when one side brings up inflammatory charges against the other, "Did you call the police?". Well, did Jim call the local peace officers? Did he make a complaint? No and no. I wonder why?
Could it be because the ANTI urban myths about abusive teachers was not created until LONG after the ill advised picketing occurred? In fact what did Jim Gibson say at the time? In an article for the North County Times, from October 1, 2002 entitled "Teachers Launch Public Campaign on Contract Dispute" NCTimes reporter Michael J. Williams wrote the following, "Gibson said he found the picketing to be "entertaining," but questioned its effectiveness."*
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2002/10/02/export19603.txt
Gee, why didn't Gibson say anything AT THE TIME of the picketing about the supposed harassment of his children? He has never previously hesitated for a moment to say vilify teachers or the VTA. Why didn't he this time?
Could it be because NOTHING happened? Could the stories of his children being harassed have been created for political reasons at a much later time?
It is important to also note that there were NOT hundreds of teachers at his home NOR even dozens, according to the article there were exactly nine. That's right nine middle aged women and men who have dedicated their lives to helping children.
Also should be noted that according to the article the leader of this picketing was Keith Grauman. I was not there but I know Keith. He is a very soft spoken man, probably the gentlest, least combative person I have know in my life. He is a very committed Christian who is active in his Evangelical church. To accuse a man of his character of organizing an event that harasses children would be laughable if it were not so slanderous.
*NOTE: The above URL no longer works as the NCTimes archives passed about 2004 seem to be broken. However anyone who would like to read the full text of the article can contact me at my blog, www.vistaschools.blogspot.com, and I will happily email you the entire article
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Should we WiFi VUSD buses, too?
February 12, 2010
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall
By SAM DILLON
VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.
Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.
“It’s made a big difference,” said J. J. Johnson, the bus’s driver. “Boys aren’t hitting each other, girls are busy, and there’s not so much jumping around.”
On this morning, John O’Connell, a junior at Empire High School here, is pecking feverishly at his MacBook, touching up an essay on World War I for his American history class. Across the aisle, 16-year-old Jennifer Renner e-mails her friend Patrick to meet her at the bus park in half an hour. Kyle Letarte, a sophomore, peers at his screen, awaiting acknowledgment from a teacher that he has just turned in his biology homework, electronically.
“Got it, thanks,” comes the reply from Michael Frank, Kyle’s teacher.
Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet Mobile, says it has sold them to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, D.C.
Karen Cator, director of education technologyat the federal Department of Education, said the buses were part of a wider effort to use technology to extend learning beyond classroom walls and the six-hour school day. The Vail District, with 18 schools and 10,000 students, is sprawled across 425 square miles of subdivision, mesquite and mountain ridges southeast of Tucson. Many parents work at local Raytheon and I.B.M. plants. Others are ranchers.
The district has taken technological initiatives before. In 2005, it inaugurated Empire High as a digital school, with the district issuing students laptops instead of textbooks, and more than 100 built-in wireless access points offering a powerful Internet signal in every classroom and even on the football field.
“We have enough wireless to make your fillings hurt,” says Matt Federoff, the district’s chief information officer.
District officials got the idea for wiring the bus during occasional drives on school business to Phoenix, two hours each way, when they realized that if they doubled up, one person could drive and the other could work using a laptop and a wireless card. They wondered if Internet access on a school bus would increase students’ academic productivity, too.
But the idea for the Internet Bus really took shape in the fall, when Mr. Federoff was at home, baby on his lap, and saw an advertisement in an electronics catalog offering a “Wi-Fi hotspot in your car.”
“I thought, what if you could put that in a bus?” he said. The router cost $200, and came with a $60 a month Internet service contract. An early test came in December, when bus No. 92 carried the boys’ varsity soccer team to a tournament nearly four hours away. The ride began at 4 a.m., so many players and coaches slept en route. But between games, with the bus in a parking lot adjacent to the soccer field, players and coaches sat with laptops, fielding e-mail messages and doing homework — basically turning the bus into a Wi-Fi cafe, said Cody Bingham, the bus driver for the trip.
Mariah Nunes, a sophomore who is a team manager, said she researched an essay on bicycle safety.
“I used my laptop for pretty much the whole ride,” Mariah said. “It was quieter than it normally would have been. Everybody was pumped about the games, and there were some rowdy boys. But the coach said, ‘Let’s all be quiet and do some homework.’ And it wasn’t too different from study hall.”
Ms. Bingham recalled, “That was the quietest ride I’ve ever had with high schoolers.”
Since then, district officials have been delighted to see the amount of homework getting done, morning and evening, as Mr. Johnson picks up and drops off students along the highway that climbs from Vail through the Santa Rita mountains to Sonoita. The drive takes about 70 minutes each way.
One recent afternoon, with a wintry rain pelting the bus, 18-year-old Jeanette Roelke used her laptop to finish and send in an assignment on tax policy for her American government class.
Students were not just doing homework, of course. Even though Dylan Powell, a freshman, had vowed to devote the ride home to an algebra assignment, he instead called up a digital keyboard using GarageBand, a music-making program, and spent the next half-hour with earphones on, pretending to be a rock star, banging on the keys of his laptop and swaying back and forth in his seat.
Two seats to the rear, Jerod Reyes, another freshman, was playing SAS, an online shooting game in which players fire a machine gun at attacking zombies.
Vail’s superintendent, Calvin Baker, says he knew from the start that some students would play computer games.
“That’s a whole lot better than having them bugging each other,” Mr. Baker said.
A ride through mountains on a drizzly afternoon can be unpredictable, even on the Internet Bus. Through the windows on the left, inky clouds suddenly parted above a ridge, revealing an arc of incandescent color.
“Dude, there’s a rainbow!” shouted Morghan Sonderer, a ninth grader.
A dozen students looked up from their laptops and cellphones, abandoning technology to stare in wonder at the eastern sky.
“It’s following us!” Morghan exclaimed.
“We’re being stalked by a rainbow!” Jerod said.
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall
By SAM DILLON
VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.
Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.
“It’s made a big difference,” said J. J. Johnson, the bus’s driver. “Boys aren’t hitting each other, girls are busy, and there’s not so much jumping around.”
On this morning, John O’Connell, a junior at Empire High School here, is pecking feverishly at his MacBook, touching up an essay on World War I for his American history class. Across the aisle, 16-year-old Jennifer Renner e-mails her friend Patrick to meet her at the bus park in half an hour. Kyle Letarte, a sophomore, peers at his screen, awaiting acknowledgment from a teacher that he has just turned in his biology homework, electronically.
“Got it, thanks,” comes the reply from Michael Frank, Kyle’s teacher.
Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet Mobile, says it has sold them to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, D.C.
Karen Cator, director of education technologyat the federal Department of Education, said the buses were part of a wider effort to use technology to extend learning beyond classroom walls and the six-hour school day. The Vail District, with 18 schools and 10,000 students, is sprawled across 425 square miles of subdivision, mesquite and mountain ridges southeast of Tucson. Many parents work at local Raytheon and I.B.M. plants. Others are ranchers.
The district has taken technological initiatives before. In 2005, it inaugurated Empire High as a digital school, with the district issuing students laptops instead of textbooks, and more than 100 built-in wireless access points offering a powerful Internet signal in every classroom and even on the football field.
“We have enough wireless to make your fillings hurt,” says Matt Federoff, the district’s chief information officer.
District officials got the idea for wiring the bus during occasional drives on school business to Phoenix, two hours each way, when they realized that if they doubled up, one person could drive and the other could work using a laptop and a wireless card. They wondered if Internet access on a school bus would increase students’ academic productivity, too.
But the idea for the Internet Bus really took shape in the fall, when Mr. Federoff was at home, baby on his lap, and saw an advertisement in an electronics catalog offering a “Wi-Fi hotspot in your car.”
“I thought, what if you could put that in a bus?” he said. The router cost $200, and came with a $60 a month Internet service contract. An early test came in December, when bus No. 92 carried the boys’ varsity soccer team to a tournament nearly four hours away. The ride began at 4 a.m., so many players and coaches slept en route. But between games, with the bus in a parking lot adjacent to the soccer field, players and coaches sat with laptops, fielding e-mail messages and doing homework — basically turning the bus into a Wi-Fi cafe, said Cody Bingham, the bus driver for the trip.
Mariah Nunes, a sophomore who is a team manager, said she researched an essay on bicycle safety.
“I used my laptop for pretty much the whole ride,” Mariah said. “It was quieter than it normally would have been. Everybody was pumped about the games, and there were some rowdy boys. But the coach said, ‘Let’s all be quiet and do some homework.’ And it wasn’t too different from study hall.”
Ms. Bingham recalled, “That was the quietest ride I’ve ever had with high schoolers.”
Since then, district officials have been delighted to see the amount of homework getting done, morning and evening, as Mr. Johnson picks up and drops off students along the highway that climbs from Vail through the Santa Rita mountains to Sonoita. The drive takes about 70 minutes each way.
One recent afternoon, with a wintry rain pelting the bus, 18-year-old Jeanette Roelke used her laptop to finish and send in an assignment on tax policy for her American government class.
Students were not just doing homework, of course. Even though Dylan Powell, a freshman, had vowed to devote the ride home to an algebra assignment, he instead called up a digital keyboard using GarageBand, a music-making program, and spent the next half-hour with earphones on, pretending to be a rock star, banging on the keys of his laptop and swaying back and forth in his seat.
Two seats to the rear, Jerod Reyes, another freshman, was playing SAS, an online shooting game in which players fire a machine gun at attacking zombies.
Vail’s superintendent, Calvin Baker, says he knew from the start that some students would play computer games.
“That’s a whole lot better than having them bugging each other,” Mr. Baker said.
A ride through mountains on a drizzly afternoon can be unpredictable, even on the Internet Bus. Through the windows on the left, inky clouds suddenly parted above a ridge, revealing an arc of incandescent color.
“Dude, there’s a rainbow!” shouted Morghan Sonderer, a ninth grader.
A dozen students looked up from their laptops and cellphones, abandoning technology to stare in wonder at the eastern sky.
“It’s following us!” Morghan exclaimed.
“We’re being stalked by a rainbow!” Jerod said.
Teachers and school board members don't care about wasting taxpayer money according to ANTIs
Our ANTI friends like to accuse VUSD teachers and the four PRO education school board members--Jaka, Herrera, Chunka and Lily of wasting taxpayer money. Not only are they wrong as teachers and the four thrifty school board members are extremely careful with taxpayer money but the greatest waste of VUSD taxpayer funds in history was caused by ANTI supported school board members, Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti. They cost VUSD taxpayers close to fifty million dollars.
Here is my response to Vista Watchdog 1, one of our most notorious ANTI bloggers.
con no more (that's me) said on: February 11, 2010, 1:10 pm
For VWdog and others worried about wasting taxpayer money, the biggest waste of taxpayer money was the increase in cost of our third high school from a projected cost of between 50 and 54 million in 2002 to 100 million today.
Think how much taxpayer money would have been saved if Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti decided to be, the required by state law, fourth board member to support the purchase of the cheap, level, Kawano property in 2002 or 2003. That property was identified by the VUSD search team as the best 50 plus acre site left in our district. There is no question that the high school would have cost far less than 100 million if the taxpayers had been allowed access to the Kawano site by either Gibson or Guffanti.
Grading alone at the hilly, ungraded, current site (Melrose) cost many many million more.
Jim Gibson ran a campaign against the cheap, level, Kawano site. Remember in 2002 his signs that said, STOP the 10,000 care megaschool? He was referring to the cheap level Kawano site but he never told tax payers how much more they would have to pay for a secondary site.
Jim Gibson has been no fiscal conservative on our school board. In the matter of finding a site for the third high school, his actions seem to indicate that he did not care one bit about wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.
Here is my response to Vista Watchdog 1, one of our most notorious ANTI bloggers.
con no more (that's me) said on: February 11, 2010, 1:10 pm
For VWdog and others worried about wasting taxpayer money, the biggest waste of taxpayer money was the increase in cost of our third high school from a projected cost of between 50 and 54 million in 2002 to 100 million today.
Think how much taxpayer money would have been saved if Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti decided to be, the required by state law, fourth board member to support the purchase of the cheap, level, Kawano property in 2002 or 2003. That property was identified by the VUSD search team as the best 50 plus acre site left in our district. There is no question that the high school would have cost far less than 100 million if the taxpayers had been allowed access to the Kawano site by either Gibson or Guffanti.
Grading alone at the hilly, ungraded, current site (Melrose) cost many many million more.
Jim Gibson ran a campaign against the cheap, level, Kawano site. Remember in 2002 his signs that said, STOP the 10,000 care megaschool? He was referring to the cheap level Kawano site but he never told tax payers how much more they would have to pay for a secondary site.
Jim Gibson has been no fiscal conservative on our school board. In the matter of finding a site for the third high school, his actions seem to indicate that he did not care one bit about wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.
Teaching is full time pay for part time work according to ANTIs
Our ANTI friends are fond of telling us how easy our jobs are. They seem to really envy us. Yet they never seem to want to come get a job as a teacher. I wonder why. Below is the latest ANTI blast at the overpayment of those lazy school teachers in VUSD. In this case it is a public school hater and prominent ANTI blogger who calls himself, unlaxx that posted.
unlaxx said on: February 11, 2010, 4:53 pm
The salary figures being tossed around here are quoted as if they're annual pay.
Teaching is a part-time job, less than 8 hours / day and 185 days which works out to around 8-1/2 months / year.
Civil servant jobs have never been hard to staff because you have to be a complete idiot to get fired, and you can coast through your employment years knowing you'll be getting a pension.
con no more (that's me) said on: February 11, 2010, 9:22 pm
Hey Unlaxx if it is so easy why don't you come on down to your local VUSD school and volunteer to help or better yet get yourself hired as a substitute teacher. You must have two years of college, right? You could qualify easy with your vast knowledge. You are not afraid are you?
I have found that most of our ANTI friends are secretly terrified of being in charge of a birthday party of six or seven kids at their homes let alone a classroom full of thirty children. Certainly you are not one of those are you Unlaxx. I bet you would have a very interesting day as a substitute. Don't you like adventure, Unlaxx? Well come on down.
You may found what I know after more than 25 years in California public education. I never met a K-12 teacher who works "less than 8 hours a day" that you say they work in your 4:58 pm post.
My VUSD elementary teaching spouse works from 7:00am until at least 4;30pm every single school day then grades papers in the evenings and on weekends. She works far more hours in a year than any eight hour a day employee of any traditional job that ends when the shift ends. The work of teaching starts in August and does not end until the after cleaning up the room after the last day of school.
I have worked as a third grade teacher, a sixth grade teacher, a middle school teacher and high school teacher. In none of those jobs did work only an eight hour day nor did I know of any one else who did either.
Perhaps Unlaxx, you could come to one of our schools and show us how to teach for six and a half hours then lesson plan, grade papers, fill out forms, run off handouts, record test grades, attend useless mandatory meetings, etc in less than eight hours. After all from your tone you must be an expert. Who else could be so certain as you sound?
Where have I heard there are only two kinds of people with your kind of certainty, there are the experts and then there are the ? what was the word for other kind of person? I think it started with an 'i'.
unlaxx said on: February 11, 2010, 4:53 pm
The salary figures being tossed around here are quoted as if they're annual pay.
Teaching is a part-time job, less than 8 hours / day and 185 days which works out to around 8-1/2 months / year.
Civil servant jobs have never been hard to staff because you have to be a complete idiot to get fired, and you can coast through your employment years knowing you'll be getting a pension.
con no more (that's me) said on: February 11, 2010, 9:22 pm
Hey Unlaxx if it is so easy why don't you come on down to your local VUSD school and volunteer to help or better yet get yourself hired as a substitute teacher. You must have two years of college, right? You could qualify easy with your vast knowledge. You are not afraid are you?
I have found that most of our ANTI friends are secretly terrified of being in charge of a birthday party of six or seven kids at their homes let alone a classroom full of thirty children. Certainly you are not one of those are you Unlaxx. I bet you would have a very interesting day as a substitute. Don't you like adventure, Unlaxx? Well come on down.
You may found what I know after more than 25 years in California public education. I never met a K-12 teacher who works "less than 8 hours a day" that you say they work in your 4:58 pm post.
My VUSD elementary teaching spouse works from 7:00am until at least 4;30pm every single school day then grades papers in the evenings and on weekends. She works far more hours in a year than any eight hour a day employee of any traditional job that ends when the shift ends. The work of teaching starts in August and does not end until the after cleaning up the room after the last day of school.
I have worked as a third grade teacher, a sixth grade teacher, a middle school teacher and high school teacher. In none of those jobs did work only an eight hour day nor did I know of any one else who did either.
Perhaps Unlaxx, you could come to one of our schools and show us how to teach for six and a half hours then lesson plan, grade papers, fill out forms, run off handouts, record test grades, attend useless mandatory meetings, etc in less than eight hours. After all from your tone you must be an expert. Who else could be so certain as you sound?
Where have I heard there are only two kinds of people with your kind of certainty, there are the experts and then there are the ? what was the word for other kind of person? I think it started with an 'i'.
LAUSD may cut school year by six days next year
Our VUSD ANTI friends like to pretend that only VUSD has financial problems. Of course that is not true.
The state of California provides on average 60% of the funds for local districts.
In the rural school district where I was superintendent/teacher, the percentage was more than 90%. Less than 10% was from local sources.
So obviously every school district in California is in trouble not just VUSD.
Here is what LAUSD school board is discussing to reduce expenses due to projected state cut backs for next year:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd13-2010feb13,0,3318048.story
L.A. Unified may cut school year by 6 days
Supt. Ramon Cortines says the action would save $90 million and 5,000 jobs.
By Jason Song and Howard Blume
February 13, 2010
Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines proposed Friday cutting six days from the school year to help reduce an estimated $640-million deficit and avoid the need for widespread layoffs in the nation's second-largest school system.
The move, announced by news release Friday evening, would save the district $90 million and could spare up to 5,000 jobs, Cortines said. The alternative to this drastic action, he said, would be to let the district go bankrupt.
"Do I think [this] is good education policy? No," he said. "But we are in a real crisis."
Cortines has repeatedly said that he did not want to shorten the school year. This is the first time in recent history that a Los Angeles school superintendent has made such a suggestion.
Five of the affected days would be classroom days and the sixth would be a noninstructional day.
Union leaders would have to agree to the move. Nonunion employees, including senior district staff, have been ordered to take four furlough days by May, and Cortines criticized groups that have not been willing to make concessions.
"I'm tired of the selfish attitudes of some," he said.
Four labor groups have already decided to accept the furlough days, but the teachers and administrators unions have balked so far.
A.J. Duffy, president of the teachers union, said that a one-time shortening of the school year was preferable to a permanent pay cut and that he was willing to "sit down at the table" to discuss taking six days off the school year. "Nobody denies we're in a fiscal crisis," he said.
The state of California provides on average 60% of the funds for local districts.
In the rural school district where I was superintendent/teacher, the percentage was more than 90%. Less than 10% was from local sources.
So obviously every school district in California is in trouble not just VUSD.
Here is what LAUSD school board is discussing to reduce expenses due to projected state cut backs for next year:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd13-2010feb13,0,3318048.story
L.A. Unified may cut school year by 6 days
Supt. Ramon Cortines says the action would save $90 million and 5,000 jobs.
By Jason Song and Howard Blume
February 13, 2010
Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines proposed Friday cutting six days from the school year to help reduce an estimated $640-million deficit and avoid the need for widespread layoffs in the nation's second-largest school system.
The move, announced by news release Friday evening, would save the district $90 million and could spare up to 5,000 jobs, Cortines said. The alternative to this drastic action, he said, would be to let the district go bankrupt.
"Do I think [this] is good education policy? No," he said. "But we are in a real crisis."
Cortines has repeatedly said that he did not want to shorten the school year. This is the first time in recent history that a Los Angeles school superintendent has made such a suggestion.
Five of the affected days would be classroom days and the sixth would be a noninstructional day.
Union leaders would have to agree to the move. Nonunion employees, including senior district staff, have been ordered to take four furlough days by May, and Cortines criticized groups that have not been willing to make concessions.
"I'm tired of the selfish attitudes of some," he said.
Four labor groups have already decided to accept the furlough days, but the teachers and administrators unions have balked so far.
A.J. Duffy, president of the teachers union, said that a one-time shortening of the school year was preferable to a permanent pay cut and that he was willing to "sit down at the table" to discuss taking six days off the school year. "Nobody denies we're in a fiscal crisis," he said.
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