Blog Entries - Julie's Board Blog
The San Diego Unified School District Board Meeting was held last night, October 13. I do my best to follow along and capture information relevant to our Longfellow community. This blog is an attempt to keep our community up-to-date on Board happenings and decisions. It is not meant to provide full details of the meetings. Readers can find more information on the SDUSD website Board Dos found at http://www.boarddocs.com/ca/sandi/board.nsf.
- The Deputy Superintendent Dr. Morrison (his last meeting) reported that the District enrollment has declined this year. A lengthy discussion ensued about what happened to surplus teachers from last year and how the District is handling increasing class sizes. Parents from schools with larger class ratios would like to get together so that they can have a louder voice. Vice President Barrera reminded everyone that the parents need to have a loud voice in Sacramento. He stated that Sacramento legislators from Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa voted to decrease education funding. Member DeBeck ended the conversation stating that class size is a workload issue, not an achievement issue. There has been no proof that changing a class size by 1-2 students affects the students' achievements. However, decreasing class size adds millions of dollars to the budget.
- SDSU has changed the enrollment standards to make all applicants follow the same standard. Previously, the local area (i.e. San Diego Unified students) had lower acceptance standards. Member Evans introduced a resolution in support of restoring access to local students. Passed 5-0. From what I could tell, there is no action for the Board to take.
- Food Stamp Initiative presentation. VP Barrera had started the initiative last December to give students and families an easier access to receive food stamp benefits from SD County. The idea is that children are fed so they perform better at school.
- 2009 Accountability Progress Report. Some of you may know that the SDUSD entered the PI (Performance Improvement) as outlined by the Federal No Child Left Behind law. The District's overall test scores have improved, but certain sub-groups did not make targets. The NCLB performance requirement re increasing each year making it more difficult for schools to meet targets. Being a PI school means at least 10% of Title 1 monies must be used for Professional Development which equals to about $4.5 million in the 09/10 school year. Overall, San Diego Unified spends about $8-9 million this year. Dr. Morrison pointed out that the District used to spend about $45 million per year. He stated that the schools are not getting worse; the subgroups are not performing up to NCLB standards. The administrators are closely examining successful schools to find out what they did to make targets last year. For more details on the progress report, check out the dos at http://www.boarddocs.com/ca/sandi/Board.nsf/Public?OpenFrameSet.
The meeting continued on for another 1 1/2 hours, but since I was watching on the DVR, the recording had stopped and it was my bedtime!
Until next time, have a nice day!
Julie Moore
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