Devin Vodicka visits more VUSD school sites in a month than previous superintendent did in five years

Our new VUSD superintendent seems to be starting off in whirl wind of activity visiting campuses all over the district-- some sits more than once, tweeting positive posts about teachers, meeting with Vista civic and business leaders. Wow!

He seems to care about the full extend of his job as superintendent unlike our previous disaster, Joyce Bales who only seemed to relate to numbers.

Imagine a superintendent tweeting something good about a teacher. Never could have happened under Bales. (Did she seem a little autism spectral disorder-ish to any one else?)

When does Vodicka find time to sleep? I remember being young and full of energy but nothing like the energy, drive and vigor of this new superintendent even on my best day in my twenties. How long can he keep it up? I mean any good superintendent would be trying to do what Vodicka is doing (except the really exceptional tweeting) but not at such a phenomenal rate. This guy so far looks like a sprinter in a marathon. (Hopefully he is part Kenyan and can sprint the whole way.)

I have read and heard nothing but good stuff about Superintendent Vodicka so far. We seemed to have gotten a great hire. Congrats to the school board on their pick. Even Jim Gibson voted for him only, of course, after he and his group of malcontents first whined about how the other mean trustees should wait until November to hire a superintendent. What good hires would be available seven months after prime superintendent hiring time? Silly Jim.

Also should be noted that the Gibson Gang posters on North County Times complained about the "outrageous salary" that Vodicka was given (see my July 17th post) of 229K, never mentioning that Joyce Bales salary was 270K plus a 12K car allowance.* For that salary she had to be ordered to visit school sites by the school board because she spent so much time hidden in her office at the district office. (Even when ordered to make regular visits, I am told she merely checked in with the site office at the schools and then left immediately.)  So for a tax payer savings of 41K, we get an actual superintendent who does the job he was hired to do in an outstanding professional energetic way and Gang Gibson still finds a way to complain but what else to expect from the gang?
But who wants to dwell on the negative.

So far this Devin Vodicka is a breath of badly needed fresh air for the parents, students and staff of VUSD. Let's hope the good stuff from Vodicka continues. So far the honeymoon is grand.

*"Her (Bales)compensation package was about $270,000 annually, including a $12,000 annual car allowance."  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/13/vista-unified-announces-new-superintendent/?print&page=all

Diane Ravitch blog--my new favorite education blog

Diane Ravitch is fighting for public education in America like a fierce tiger mama protecting her own. After decades of employment in a "think tank" dedicated to trashing teachers and public education, she had a 'road to Damascus' moment. She realized that the folks she worked for were only about enriching themselves and cared not a fig for the destruction they wrought on one of America's greatest success stories--K-12 public education.

Here is her post from today:

Denial as a Reform Strategy

August 21, 2012 //

7

Reformers constantly deny any evidence that contradicts their narrative.

They insist that our public schools are failing, despite the clear evidence in the national assessments that test scores have never been higher for every group tested.

They insist that merit pay is necessary, even though it has never “worked,” in any sense of the word, not in raising test scores or in making teaching more attractive as a profession.

They insist that charters are better than public schools, even though study after study shows this is not true.

They insist that vouchers will “save” poor children, even though this has not happened in any of the districts that have vouchers (Milwaukee, Cleveland, D.C.).

Their goal is privatization.


Their goal is to push schools into a market-system despite any evidence that such a system makes any sense for anyone except those selling stuff to schools or wanting to take over schools and make a profit by cutting costs (teachers).

They are deniers.

This reader sees the denial strategy as part of a larger pattern:

They will not stop denying it [the evidence about charters], and they will continue to get promotion and protection from both silent support from fundraising and legislative action groups, and open PR/policy forwarded by elected officials. Truth is moot or arbitrary to them, and once light is shed on one false narrative (see “cake walk”, “shock and awe”, “shared sacrifice”, “lavish salaries…) they scurry for the shadows to gnaw away at another spot.

    Right now the narrative is that public schools are the burden fueling the poverty cycle, as opposed to the truth-that the poverty cycle burdens families and students, hampering academic success. The genius of the jokers driving the reform agenda is they have turned the struggling classes upon each other, fully intending to further dis-empower them all economically, and politically. Siphoning of the easiest to educate; protecting their own in gated communities and private schools others will never see; cementing a caste system that will entitle some to the education and knowledge they can afford, relegating the rest to street vendor markets or tech-support phone banks.

http://dianeravitch.net/

Strike Fears Ended! VUSD and VTA come to a tenative agreement

The Vista Unified School District website is announcing that after 13 hours of negotiations a Tentative Agreement has  been reached. This agreement for all intents and purposes means an end to chances of a strike or other work actions by the school teachers. Of course T.A.s have to be ratified by the Vista Teachers Association membership, agreed to by the majority of VUSD school board members and reviewed by the County Office of Education, but all of those steps usually are more or less pro forma.

Congrats and a big thanks to the VTA Bargaining Team for their many, many long hours of work while the rest of us enjoyed summer vacation.

Read more at the VUSD website home page :  http://www.vusd.k12.ca.us/Pages/default.aspx 
which says:

"Vista Unified School District (VUSD) and the Vista Teacher’s Association (VTA) reached a tentative agreement at 10:32pm on Friday, August 3^rd, 2012 after roughly thirteen hours of mediated negotiations.  Next steps will include ratification of the agreement by VTA, review by the County Office of Education, and approval from the VUSD School Board on August 16^th.  The tentative agreement is for 2012-13 and 2013-14.  Details of the agreement will be released soon."

or Superintendent Devin Vodicka's twitter account which is also on the VUSD splash page and says:

dvodicka After 13 hours of mediated negotiations, VUSD and VTA sign Tentative Agreement for 2012-13 and 2013-14.

My Favorite Educational Blog On-Line--Seattle Education

Best site for a teacher's perspective of the disaster that has become American public education as directed by billionaire bullies without consciences, Bill Gates and Eli Broad--http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/


Today's topic how the collosally arrogant and egotistical monster, Bill Gates is completely wrong with the 'facts' he uses to justify his viscious assault on innocent public school teachers and their students entitled "Bill Gates needs to get his facts straight on test scores."