********5-18-2012...I do hope that we are able to select a search firm for Supt. on our June 5th meeting.  With 20k+ students, a budget of $160+ million and about 1500 employees, this might be  someone with experience with a smaller district, where the Supt. handles everything themselves...no Asst. Supts. ...one person handles finance, HR, and Ed. Services.  HUSD has had this as a pattern.  Hire someone with broad experience.  In the past,  we hire small district Supt. They come to Hemet and grow in experience with more numbers than they have ever had before and.... they leave eventually  and go on to larger districts, or they come to us  old enought that we are their last district and they retire from us.   I hope we can find a different  search firm than those from the past. New search firms  bring contacts with NEW people and different recruitment patterns. That being said, the search firm needs to be just that....a search firm.  Encouraging employees from within, seeking outside   individuals who might not even have thought of joining us... not just application collectors from want ads they place. They might even help us  look at innovative solutions .  One innovation I thought of was 

Co-Superintendants.  One specializing in Ed Services and the other Business Services. Who knows whatever new solutions there could be.  I enjoy this blog as a place to try out ideas.  Sometimes I post, then upon reflection, come back and delete, and settle on a different  trend of thinking that fits best in the way I want to be as  a board member.  Thinking, asking questions and looking for better  solutions.

 5-15-2012***** I am very very pleased to report how productive the LONG closed session with just the board in attendance was.   In the coming days, our decisions will become apparent and you should see great movement to the stability that any large organization needs when leadership changes.  It was sad to see SO many of the friends I taught with retire.  In the future,  when teachers come, I will know very few....all of my long time associates will have retired. Bright spot of the evening were the proud thespians lobbying for the naming of the new HHS theatre.  As young thespians, they were most dramatic....loved it!!!   It's odd, tonight, I came home fully satisfied that I represented our district for it's betterment....the entire district.  I guess as I mature as a board member, you start getting that more global view. ***********5-14-2012....I found several  interesting quotes  that may fit our times here at HUSD.  " "Men/Women are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions.......than by money" Former US Attorney General Robert H. Jackson.  As HUSD struggles with the power vacuum left by the departure of the Supt., we need to remember that we are here for service to 20,000 children and not career or goal aspirations of any person, faction or clique.  As California's budget crisis grows, HUSD needs staff to remain stable with all personnel in the positions they are in  now and not jockeying to improve themselves or their loyalties. .  Our educational climate must be based on common effort to make our district the best we can with the limited money we have.   I have been saddened to be lobbied by numerous people  with "information"  that I discovered to  be hurtful to one side or another.  I always liked the quote attibuted  to Benjamin Franklin.  "We need to hang together....or we will most certainly hang separately."  In these budget times... Ben, yah made my day!!!!!!. .... 5-10-12...I have gone missing for a few weeks here since my mother died.  Lots of loose ends and just lost interest for a while and spent time at my cottage in Nova Scotia, Canada  to reflect. Tuesday I returned and attended the special school board  meeting last night.  In the closed session we voted on an interim supt. At the reopened  public session it was announced that Sally Cawthon was named interim by a vote of 5-2.  Of course now the search for a permanent replacement must begin.  In following the Stockton Record newspaper, Dr. Lowder will have his hands more than full there dealing with a 4-3 vote to hire him.  I do wonder if the $20k raise will be worth it in the long run?.....  3-20-12.... L-50....was a heartbreaking problem for me.  The funding for the State Funded Preschool has dried up/cut/eliminated/reduced....whatever lunacy is coming out of Sacramento.  I asked, but knew it was hopeless, to search our own budget for enought $$$ to continue this.  Unfortunately, the cost is in the $1 million range.  We have furlough days, and a "qualified" (in 2 years we "MAY" not be able to pay bills...read it to say "without the taxes passing in November") budget.  I voted NO, but knew that it was a symbolic gesture of support for the fine PreSchool staff who have been long time employees.  Of course the other members voted, as they should have, to accept that the loss of state funding, meant the end of this program.  The research is all there...preschools saves $$ by getting the poor children jumpstarted before they enter school competing against children who have had many advantages.  My first teaching job in 1967, was as a  HeadStart Teacher.  It worked then, it works now.  L-17 to L38 shows us spending in the range of $750k for NCLB after school tutoring with private "firms".  I surely wish we could re-employ the PreSchool staff as in- house, HUSD, tutors.  Warren Buffet, Bill Gates...why spend $Billions overseas or on failed NCLB schemes, when the money could be spent where it does the most good... here in America's heartland with preschool learning.  The only bright note for me was the USMC Cadet program at THS, and their informative air-rifle marksmanship  information program. If questions can be fully answered, I hope that they AND WVHS's Naval cadet program can utilize air-rifles as a part of their  training. I have been long intrigued with the Europeans skill in Olympic sports with skill and marksmanship competitions... The Winter Olympic event with x-c skiing and marksman ship is a fav of mine. ***********3-1-2012 An amazing quote from "The Week" magazine.  "...the internet is now a major driver of the growth of cognitive inequality. It makes dumb people dumber, and smart people smarter.  If you don't know how to use it, or have the background to ask the right questions, you'll end up with a head full of nonsense.  BUT, if you do know how to use it, it's an endless wealth of information." All I know is that if you have lost the directions for something you bought...it will be on line somewhere.  My 1960's Sears belt sander which was inoperative, the handbook online showed me how to repair it.  Works like a champ now.*********2-28-2012  Well, it has been a long time between meetings due to President's birthday recess.  In that time, not much in the inflammatory nature has come up  That's always good. Kudos to Hamilton High's Girl's Volleyball team which won the RCOE award for highest GPA...about a 3.8 combined. Also Hemet High's Girl's Soccer is moving up the CIF ladder.  Congrats ladies.   We will be having a meeting next week again on the 6th.  Curious what will come up.   On Friday, I think we have some RAA, Read Across America events, but so far haven't heard if the outlying schools are doing anything, so I may be going to a Valley school this year. Next week I will be taking the Reeves 90/90/90 training myself, so I will have the same knowledge that staff members are working from. My biggest concern is that this is to BUILD on the collaborative  training efforts that Dr. Pendley focused on.  If we don't use our past trainings to maximize the additional directions that the "Race to the Top" has pushed us toward, we will continue the introduce, train, and discard trends that so much of teacher inservice has seen in the past.  Dr. Wong, Madeline Hunter,...even Lee Cantor.. ...all names from the past, had great ideas.  We trained, we learned, but we never got to the long term implementation.  Instead we discarded them and  lurched off to a "new" direction that was in vogue or new administration wanted.  My dream is that we finally fully implement a direction of education, before we MODIFY it with new research.  Not discard, but modify to build on what we already have. ***********2-8-2012Really a quiet meeting.J-1 Transitional Kindergarten.....New Ed Code, has Nov. 1 as they new cutoff for enrollment instead of the current Dec 1.  I wish we could have funded this one on our own, BUT, since we are looking at no more than 130 total in our entire district,the practicality of doing a 2 year K experience for those missing the new cutoff was not so easy....say 5 classes total.  Spread out over our entire district, it would be hard to do.  I still salute the legislature for passing this.  The year after that, the cutoff  will be Oct. 1 and finally we will have a cutoff Sept 1 in 2015.  This is the best news I have heard from the legislature in YEARS!!!  On the calendar, I realized that the Sept 4, day after Labor Day was a loser from the get go....but I support it because it moves testing into MAY, which allows kids to be a month older in maturity.  I believe in maturity as a very cost effective tool to raise test scores.  Finally on J-3, I voted for the Reeves 90/90/90 because of it's going to help us as we go to the Common Core for our required national standards..  I do want to make sure that we unload what we are asking teachers to do that is NO LONGER NEEDED.... BEFORE we load new stuff on.  In March I am going to a training myself to make sure I can intelligently question problem areas of this and encourage what is good for our efforts at HUSD *********1-17-2012  GO BULLDOG VOLLEYBALL .  It was great meeting the team and seeing Dr. Shaw. The hot button cooled off a bit.  J-6, was tabled with neither option acceptable due to financial constraints and/or 3 weeks is too long for the k-8 break.  Staff was told to return on 2/7 with a calendar that is  approx. status quo to this year.  One thought, could HS be on a different calendar to fit their need?  Also, a problem I thought of is that with that calendar, the 140 day test window trigger would be right at spring break.   Secondly, J-3, the Reeves training, tabled until a district team and HTA delegation goes to see this program that is SUPPOSED to allow teachers to build what they will teach to a standard from the bottom up, rather than from the scripted lesson  top down. This is to come into the national standards that CA just adopted.  I had been totally opposed, but will reserve judgement until we have a collaborative thinking from this group. I do thank Sally Cawton for her 1:1 discussion with me about this.  I find I learn better from a give and take discussion than the ususal 5 minute, Board presentation.  Sorry bout that, it's just the way I process things.   My concern was that  some of the elements of this program were results from the early days of NCLB.  Kind of like Lake Wobegone where every child will be proficient or advanced.!!!  Went to Valle Vista where we saw a class working on MRI's JIJI in a LAB situation vs. the COW concept.  I believe that this is going to be the model that works rather than the  in the class, send a group back to the COW.  Like all things, I think it won't be as bad I I first thought (I still choke at the $1 million / 5year pricetag) nor as good as had been promised.  I do want to acknowledge  Idyllwild Teacher, Diane DiArcy, for putting together one of the most productive model letters to the board.  Equally pleasing was her 3 minute oral presentation that was collaborative in tone.   A model from the old school of lobbying. I remember Lloyd Roberts, a CTA lobbiest, telling me that lobbying in a positive way is the only way to go. Also he said that the most you can ever hope for is getting 60% of what you want.  Expecting 100%, all the time is never going to happen.   I also  agree, that the "no digs allowed" mode got my attention.  Same with emails.  On emails, kudos to Hamilton for having the most emails stating your concerns. In closing, is there any practicality, in the idea of a 3 week holiday break for  secondary  and 2 weeks for K-8? ( ****1-20-2012, bad idea, huge costs  involved and more problems with family  scheduling)           **********1-12-2012  I can tell when a hot button issue is up...the hits on this blog go WAY up.  HOT BUTTON...is the proposed school calendar.  .  First, thanks to the folks who wrote me in the contact section.  BUT, I knew nothing of this until I saw the article in the paper which was 4 days old by the time I saw it.  We don't have Enterprise home delivery out here, (in fact we have NO home delivery of the LA Times, Press Enterprise or   Temecula's  North County Journal.) so my mother saves the papers  for me.   I just thank the passionate citizens/taxpayers that tell me of their frustrations.  I listen and try to write back ASAP.  If I'm slow, it is  because my Ipad  for some reason won't open this site for my new message.  I have to wait till I get home to  use my  MAC.                ********1-4-2012  Last night's meeting marked a first for me.  There were more people in front, than there were in the audience.  The wonderful young lady who led the flag salute brought her parents and grandparents, which I am truly thankful for.  Otherwise we would have had more elected board members  (not even  counting the cabinet/Supt!!!) than citizens attending.  BUT,  They left after the salute, so the audience was reduced by about half. Congrats to  Mr.Alex  Ballard of WVHS, who came with his student giving the flag salute, when questioned, he confirmed that his wife has given birth to a happy healthy baby boy, who I hope will become a HUSD legacy and attend our schools and return as a teacher some day. Wouldn't it be neat if he would become principal of WVHS in say, 2046, and make his Dad pretty proud as a future board welcomes him to our district. Anyway, back to the thin citizen participation,  of those citizens, I believe all were HUSD employees. Not a single HTA,CSEA, rep,  or any employee group officers either.  In fact, not a single blue card to speak.  If there every was a night to "sneak" something through, 1-3-12, was definitely the night. I did absorb some criticism for not knowing all the names of vacant land parcels that we will be building schools on some time in the future...far future?.  But looking at the number of vacant foreclosed houses in Hemet, and unused school sites that already are built on, it might be a while before we build the schools any time soon on those vacant sites. The premeeting tour of Acacia was great.  I saw my old room, #501, is still as unglamorous as ever . But seeing the plans for the full facelift, modernization, is just wonderful.   Imagine, a real gym for the students to utilize.  Removal of portable classrooms that looked older than I am. I hope we can finish all the stages of the plan to full completion of this project.  Mrs. Jones shared that she graduated from 8th grade there in about 1961 I think, when it was Hemet Jr. High. It is good that we have board members who have the full history of our schools dating back generations.  Collective memories of a district are important.  ######## 12-7-2011 Pearl Harbor Day...Well, not much to report from the  meeting last night.  Bill Sanborn became president and Marilyn Forst moved in to be VP.  In fact I learned who was nominated  when I  first heard it in public session.  Yours truly stayed where he was before, so I think my prospects of moving up look pretty dim...LOL...ha...ha.   Statewide it seems that first and second year members I talked with, agreed that leadership change comes VERY slowly. On another note, I did attend one session at the CSBA...school boards convention...  that I believe could change the work environment very much for all in HUSD.  It was called IBB or "Interest Based Bargaining"  It is a program to change the cultural climate from a top-down adversarial and conventional labor -management situation to a participatory model that is collaboration centered and not combative win-lose oriented. The idea came long ago from Cal PERB (California Public Employees Relation Board) when they noticed that 96% of the unfair labor practice complaints were coming from 4% of the total organizations.  And 96% of the others generated only 4% of unfair labor practices. Of course, the real problem is "who goes first" issue.  The fear that if one side goes collaborative, the other side will remain adversarial and win even further gains at the expense of the side that really tried shared/collaborative leadership.  That will be the real obstacle until TRUST has been built to a high enough level to commit to being vulnerable with the hope that it is mutual.  I commented that this sounded more like a marriage than a labor agreement....duhhhh!  That's the point.  Solid labor agreements are mutually beneficial to all  sides that share mutual trust and want the best for the entire district... including themselves. Around us, people chatted that  many "old school" adversaries cling to the "My way or the highway"  concept.  Our table chatted  that the motto of this  style  is based on the phrase..."I'm doing what's best for children". which translates into"... there will be no further discussion, do it my way! The implied translation is..." I'm right...everyone else is wrong."   This is a way that the non-collaborative person puts down  the rest of the team.  It was interesting to say the least.*******12-5-2011.  I attended the CSBA (Ca School Board Assoc.) convention in San Diego, Dec 1st to 3rd.  National economy really shows.  Fewer  vendors selling products and fewer sessions per breakout period.  I did hear Sal Khan speak about Kahn  Academy.  The strength I see here is it is a  fabulous reteaching tool that can be used at home and viewed again and again. The refresher value is also stunning in its possibilities.  The weakness is a key concern that I have in  students  being focused  to a laptop for the first instruction of a skill area instead of a teacher.  Humans are social creatures and the interaction of that social setting is a very important part of learning.  Remember how much better Avatar was in a theatre surrounded by other people, than when you rented it and looked at it on your  wide screen at home alone or just your family?  I see great in importance to the human element  in child developement/learning.  There is much peripheral teaching that happens in human based instruction  that is NOT in the scripted content of a computer based learning programs.   I liked Kahn U-Tube presentations because they are not childish cartoon game based.  I see the need for an assortment of people teaching is  key element sustaining learner interest in this form of  knowledge transfer.   Mr. Khan says he is adding  many more  teachers other than himself for  that variety. I applaude this.   In his speech, I found Mr. Khan  himself distracting to my listening/learning  style.   He was so hyper active in body language, very rapid speech, and voice mannerisms,  I was exhausted when he finished. Maybe I need to view the speech again on the CSBA website or something to see  if it is there is  more information.  My point is, there are different learning styles which means we cannot plunge into one model only.  In a related vein,  Some company called "Reflexmath, got a hold of me, so I looked at what they had.  Cartoon games based instruction to learn your basic math facts.  Remember back to the early days of Mario Brothers/Frogger/Asteroids?  At some point the climate, character, noises became THE distraction that made you move on or lose interest or come to hate it.  Have you dated a person who had an annoying habit, mannerism, voice, laugh, snort, chortle, etc....that made you end the relationships because you focused on that to the point you missed the value of the PERSON you were dating?  I think we will find the ultimate answer is not 100% tech based ed OR human directed teaching as an exclusive option.  As always, there will be some midpoint. But key to this program.  You can use it for FREE!!!  Los Altos USD is preparing scoring and tracking programs.  I believe he said they were FREE also.  Anyway, the best session I went to will be discussed here  after the board meeting tomm.  ********11-14-11 ....I finally got to vote on something that will REALLY CHANGE the lives of some children.  The Transitional Kindergarten passed 7-0, so that those young 4 year olds will have an option for an  extra year in kindergarten.  First grade teachers have long struggled to help those children who by chance of their birthdate will always be 9-11 months younger than those they compete with.. While the extra year of kindergarten  won't be mandatory, parents have the option to choose it.   In Gladwell's book...Outliers or was it Freakanomics,  I don't remember now, birthdate and success have a huge effect in being a game changer for the older children. The January to April birthdate children have much greater life success than their Sept-Dec birthdate classmates.   Score one for the less mature children!!!.  Also, I hope we can eventually modify it so that the immature 5 year olds might have that option too.  My birthday is Dec. 3rd.  I know what it was like to be the youngest in your class and the struggle I had.  One year Algebra was impossible for me.  The next year it came easily.  Gee, could maturation be part of the picture here?  Kind of like that Mondavi wine commercial...."No wine before it's time."  Might be the same for children,   Number 2 was G-13, the adoption of the GIS book and class in Geographical Information Services.  My son, a professional engineer, uses GIS continually.  He was thrilled that HUSD is giving our students a headstart in GIS certification.  He has used it extensively in his latest $20 million dollar project in Oregon and is looking forward  to maybe getting to  hire  students from his alma mater with this skill.  Also a big thankyou to the Soboba Band for their $25k dollar donation to our district.  The money has been shared out to our schools.  Thankyou Soboba,  for sharing the proceeds from gaming for the good of our students.  ************11-1-11  Must admit that the agenda held few exciting moments.  I was pleased to vote yes on the building fee reduction for Camp Ronald McDonald for children with cancer.  Riverside County had classified the new parent's cabins as residential which is a much higher school fee than the commercial use that they actually are.  Great feeling to clear the red tape.   Wonderful organization.  BUT, best of all they give back to our community by  providing  HUSD with lender sleeping bags, pads, and packs for kids in need, so they can take part in Idyllwild's  Outdoor Leadership Program &  the  6th grade Joshua Tree campout.  Then in May, they provide all the tables and water containers for Idyllwild's 5 & 10k PE fundraiser  and have done so for many years.  I was going to vote No on the student teacher agreements (k-24), but changed my mind.  I had concerns about the quality of a 7 week student teaching experience. (see my opinion on this in the educational direction section)   Also, with test scores driving everything, do we want turn students over to a student teacher rather than their classroom teacher for maximum achievement? Just a thought.  Right or wrong?  Don't know, but curious.*********10-31-11 Be sure to remember that the meeting on Tue. nite is at Idyllwild School.  Usual time, but different place.  Might be fun to come up early and shop and walk around the community before you come to the meeting.  *****10-25-11 Long day at the district office, BUT very rewarding.  I came down to hear the K-8 principals of the outlying schools (Cottonwood, Hamilton K-8 and Idyllwild) make their presentations to the "Principal's Summit".  They clearly explained  how their schools were doing and from each of their presentations, the passion that has ignited the strong teamwork on your campuses.  Your teachers  believe in you and you believe in them. It shows.  Clearly a recipe for great outlying schools. As Area 2's board member, I wanted you to know that I care about how well each school is doing.  K-8 schools are amazingly hard to juggle the variety of demands that  students make,....crying first graders to very angry and hostile 8th graders.  The board salutes your flexibility and your efforts to grow a strong community- school bond that extends into the  towns  of Aguanga, Anza and Idyllwild.  I would like to extend my congratulations to Dave  Farkas, Carol Robilotta, and Matt Kramer.  First you should be proud of the progress that your school teams are making under your directions and how much I enjoyed hearing your presentations. Later the board met for their public self evaluation,..... which no public showed up for.  Oh well. In many ways this opened the door for frank discussion of ourselves and our working relationship with  staff. I even went to far as to hope we could have other meetings of this nature in the future.  Details to work out for sure. *****10-24-11 Extra  Board Meeting on Tue at 3:00.  Board Self Evaluation.  Then the next regular business meeting with be in Idyllwild on Nov. 1st.  ***********10-18-11MIND passed 6-1. I voted No.  Now I enjoyed seeing the program at Palmquist Elem in Oceanside.. Unfortunately the sales staff of MIND came to "answer questions" and it was really hard to talk to the children and teacher about implementation logistics.  I had arranged to return alone next week  to shadow a group of 5th graders and then talk with teachers about how it worked and HOW THEY MADE IT WORK within the constraints of their program, building and materials. Their implementation is MUCH different than our COWs.(This is an abbrebiation for Computers on Wheels.  Our district bought 7 computers and put them on a rolling cart for classes to use in small groups)  Oceanside's pilot school uses  2 computer labs in 2 connected  rooms, run by a paid tech person. They had 35 computers in each room  with a twice a week visit for a full 45 minute practice session.   There is little doubt that the content is good and apparently the majority of the  kids like it. But, this is only the second year it has been in place.  Will it wear well when a child has been in it for the K_8  duration that we have signed up for.?  When I tried to talk with children, the salesmen would interfere with that dialogue.  Sooooo... Why did I choose to vote NO.  Easy, ...implementation issues.  Are we happy with how well the  roll out of the COMPASS/Airese   program was  been going?  I am excited that we might have a redo startup with a computer person giving individual help for a period of time to insure mastery of the basic program opening and use.  How are we going to add this additional layer that requires 90 minutes of use on top of what is already required?  I don't know that answer.  I wish I could have had that in place before the vote. Also, the Oceanside school is only a one school pilot program and not a district wide implementation.  I understand that the Poway site is not elementary, but secondary.  Getting back to today's visit,  when I feel rushed and pressured by sales people, I have concerns that there may be hidden issues that we should become aware of and make sure they are corrected BEFORE we make a purchase that will have a 5 year cost of over  $ One Million dollars.   I tried. to answer the questions first and purchase   second.******UPDATE: To be fair, I need to stress,  if we keep the program the contract minimum period of  3 years and choose not to renew for whatever reason, the cost will be approx. $875k and not $1 Million. *************10-18-11  Thankyou for the many questions that you sent.  Finding out what the people who have to  use and manage these products has been eye opening to say the least.  I WILL strive to find out the answers and hopefully be able to disconnect myself from the group visitation...aka "The Dog and Pony Show"...and quietly sit in a 5th grade class and see how it works in real time.  If not, I will arrange to come back and do just that.  Again Thankyou for taking the time to contact me with your concerns.**********10-17-2011  Sorry for long absence. Technical glitz would not allow me to sign in and modify this page.  On the 18th, before the upcoming board meeting I am going to visit a school in Oceanside Unified that is using the "MIND Research" Math program.  At a cost that might total $3/4 million dollars over 3 years, I want to see how this will mesh into our math program.  Has implementation of Compass program gone smoothly enough to add another layer of computer based instruction?  I don't know yet, and expect to get input on this website (totally confidential and independent of HUSD servers) from people in the trenches in our district.  #1. Do you have room in your daily lesson planning to fit something additional in?   If NOT, what needs to be taken OUT to provide enough time to fit the MIND program in?  #2  Do you know what MIND is in the first place?   #3 How are you feeling about the COWs (Computors on Wheels) and is it making it easier to teach, or not?  I need input to make an informed opinion.  PS, thankyou to the funny person who sent a message describing a new educational program that Hemet Unified might purchase,  ...it was  called "Building Up Linear Learning"  When I put it into the usual teacher's  jargon generator lingo, you made me laugh.  I needed that!!!.8-19-2011 A friend emailed that Cottonwood is now in 2nd place API for our district behind the Weston Center Charter School.  I am still very proud of Cottonwood's achievement, which included excellent growth again,  considering the turmoil that has engulfed education these past months.  I have not seen our other overall and individual school results, but I assume that Supt/Staff should be presenting them at the next board meeting. (Which will be at Hamilton School on Sept 6th.  Please join us because I will be honoring a parent that I believe will be an inspiration to our community)  I will ask that the Test Scores  be ready for public inspection at that time, in fact I'm surprised we  haven't been briefed before they were given out at the administrator meetings.  Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing growth toward our goals at each of the schools.  We have had a record of strong growth in API for 5 years now, and I am positive we will continue this growth.*************************** 8-18-2011  Well a very short meeting this time.  Adjourned by 7:00.  I did bring up my concerns about the turnover at Hamilton.  Now that the dust is settled on the layoffs/rehired, I hope we can keep the involuntary transfers or "reluctant" rehires at Hamilton.  If they leave at the first opening comes up in the Valley, because they LIVE in the valley, the same merry-go-round will start again. We have to find a creative solution HUSD and HTA can live with.  Whatever is done, we MUST end the practice of temporary contracts being the norm for HUSD at the outlying schools.  As we all know, temp contract people are the first layed off and possibly never rehired.  Also, I am going to continue seeking more funds for canine drug patrols at our school.  I am not envisioning more of the "lockdown" situations, but more random "cruise through" patrols to cover more ground and be more visible to the students.***********************************  .8-13-2011  Discovered that my suggestion that we increase the spending on drug seeking canines didn't gain the traction I had hoped.   I had asked that we increase the contract amount from $6,000 to $18,000.  Currently the program has the dogs going to schools just once.  When I taught, we had the dog come to our elementary school for a nice informational time BUT k-5 schools are not the real drug problem schools.  I propose ending elementary "promotional" visits and  instead make at least 4 visits each year  to schools with 6th-12th grade.  More important they are RANDOM  visits.  They may be a week apart or 2 months apart.  It will not be known.   Random and unexpected visits are the most important.  If we are a district with a zero tolerance on student drug possession, this has proved to be a great  help in deterring bringing drugs to school in other districts  for use or sale in the first place.  I have personally been in a 8th grade class setting  when a uniformed person came with a canine that we could see from the windows. They did not even come to our room, BUT.....  requests to use the bathroom increased  and students who usually left their backpack in the room, took them as they left for their bathroom visits. Did I search the backpacks? No, I just wanted the drugs to be flushed away.   I, of course, spread the rumor that HUSD had a new program of  multiple random  dog visits at every school.  I believe it helped greatly. Unfortunately, that was the last time the dog came and the fear went away.  Parents & Taxpayers, I pledge to continue to fight for this cost effective effort to make our school safer and hopefully more drug free.  I just want the uncertainty of detection to help reduce those who might think of bringing drugs to school...make them think twice.************************************   8-10-2011  Call me the most surprised Board Member of them all!!!  I just found out that  we are calling all the teachers back 2 days early and classified the same. Then I read in the SF Chronicle , that the state is a half billion dollars behind on their projections for tax collections.  I'm starting to wonder about these things.  All Spring, we are so poor we need to lay off  teachers, now they are all back but 4 and that includes those laid of LAST year too. This is good that teachers have been rehired and get 2 more  days to get their rooms ready and listen to presentations during  meetings  led by their principal. When I taught, I needed those days and usually put in 2 or 3 extra volunteer days to get all the displays up, materials ready, lessons planned,... but  I sure wish we  had added CHILDREN days back first. One alarming comment in the SF Chronicle, was that if midyear cuts come because of lower than expected state tax receipts, state help on busing will be  ended.  I wonder if this will hurt our budget for student transportation or all the districts that contract with HUSD for bus services.  Sure hope they can pay their bills they owe us if those midyear cuts come.********************************** .7-21-2011.  Going over  new projected budget.  Congrats to Vince for numbering  pages 1-128  instead of the old way of 1 of 13; followed by another section  where another section would have a page in the middle of it called 4 of 7;  You get this picture, a budget that was hard to follow. I had requested that as an aid to taxpayers who want to look it over.  Thanks  to Pam Buckout too for some very good narrative explanations in the preface pages. Also she made  a good explanation presentation to the board as she made her oral report last meeting.  Now the messy part of tearing it up to match last years  budget  reports of the same budget items/pages  to see changes and note  changes that don't seem self explanatory....   Also I am surprised at the  big spike in readership of our web site this summer . Welcome to my homemade blog and I hope it adds to your understanding of HUSD.  Also, your emails come to me outside of the HUSD web network, so you can be assured that your comments will not be read by anyone but  myself.  And I do not forward anything you write.  I just delete it after I have read it to protect your identity........  Oh, finally, Hemet High has a new football coach that I am really pleased about.  Good job in screening and interviewing Dr. Shaw.   Board member Forst was on the panel and was impressed too....********************************* 7-19-2011 Today's meeting started with a closed session that began at 3:40.  Only Board members were present and I frankly listed many of the comments and concerns that you had forwarded to me in recent months on the evaluation of the Supt.  At this point I do not have the public information that will be presented at some point for the voters to see.  I think that some issues were well aired and attention was paid to these concerns.  We did meet the newly hired staff that replaced administrative staff that has moved to other districts.  I am looking forward to having more of a tradition of new staff being introduced at board meetings.**********************7-18-2011 First I would like to thank all of you readers who have sent me your ideas and concerns   a bout the direction our district is taking.  Community input is vital to building community support.  If a school board doesn't build multiple methods of public communication, they will not do the will of the voting public and taxpayers.  I will be attending the meeting on the 19th, as the board prepares to evaluate Dr. Lowder,s performance for the past year.  I flew in special for this meeting and will fly back out to  Oregon when the meeting is over.  Expensive meeting for me....$388 Alaska Airlines, $188 for Enterprise car rental, $35 parking in Portland.  Never realized how expensive serving would be.  BUT, I appreciate your support and comments of appreciation.  I don't hit many home runs, but I try and at least you have a board member that will listen to educational professionals on the front lines and hear your concerns.  Thanks.  I'll add to this on Wed, letting you know my feelings about the July meeting and the evaluation.  .......***************************6-8-2011  Now I understand that all but 8 of the released staff have been returned and we had enough money in catagorical funds to buy several thousand reconditioned laptops.  My mind is swirling with the rapid changes. Over 50% is due to the "Golden Hug" retirements. (pat myself on the back on that one).  Also further resignations, leave of absenses, moves of elementary to secondary, non-hiring of temporary contract teachers, etc. all came into play  The only thing that HAS NOT CHANGED IS THE REVOLVING DOOR AT HAMILTON SCHOOL.  Not only is it revolving, but faster than I have ever seen it.  Now is the time to make our outlying school a desirable place for a LONG career.  I have proposed that service at  Hamilton have a mid point preference listing on the layoff criteria.  Say # 6 or 7.  Let young and new teachers to our district know that service at a rural school will reward them with a safe job IF they have met rigorous expectations in instructional skills. .......Is there any community input for the performance evaluation of the Supt, thoughts about the directions our district is taking, any improvments that I should make myself as Area 2's School Board member?  Any groups interested in having me visit?  I have expressed interest in meeting with the tribal councils. in our local area.  I really enjoyed the Hamilton graduation.  In all, I shook 1,432 graduating seniors hands during ceremonies last week.  BEHAVIOR at the graduations was the best I have seen in YEARS. " Gone were the beach balls, tortillas, silly string..(except after the conclusion  the "reward" was silly string on the trail out of the bowl where cleanup was MUCH easier). Dr. Shaw, good show!!! *************************** .6-6-2011  At the Hemet Hight School Graduation, I heard the news myself that  approx.  29  teachers were being called back. They were notified the last day of school just hours before they were leaving the building.   I had not heard this was going to happen before.  So to answer several angry callers, I have no knowledge how this was made possible  and why the timing of this was at such a late time.  I am as surprised as you are.  My first thought was that in Sacramento, a budget deal had been finanlized. I haven't seen news of it yet, so I cannot answer any questions about it.   .........................6-3-2011  Graduation at WV & TahQ. HS last night.  Dr. Pendley was the key note speaker at Tahq. HS and gave an inspiring address. Past principal Sue Richardson added to the mellow memories of opening this beautiful site.   The usual 5:30 gale arrived right on time, sending gowns a flying, followed by a USMC helicopter gunship flyover, which I think was unplanned. A little unnerving anyway.   BUT from the stage, the field of vision...Mt. San Jacinto, the golden foothills, flags proudly extended in the wind and Mt. San Gorgonio.  What an AMAZING site for graduation.  West Valley was just as wonderful, but different.  The line moved faster, but the graduate pictures took longer so the board could talk (and be heard) to every graduate.  That brief delay let me talk and hear the dreams of the graduates before they left the stage area.  THIS is what the school board is all about.  Hemet High tonight.  Last night, I shook 803 graduate"s hands.!!!  6-1-2011  Great evening at the graduation at Hamilton High School.  I noticed during the video of the senior's future plans, only 2 had interest in education.  One teacher and one in school administration. An alarming comment made to me by a parent as I lamented the lack of future teachers in the graduates.  "I wouldn't waste my money sending my kid to college if they planned to be a teacher. I expect them to get a decent job and be able to pay back the loans to me and the banks."   Ooops, so much for a "Future Teacher's Club" at that school.....I think we are in for an interesting education as a school board member in this decade. 5-28-2010  Sunday on the Alaska/Horizon flight from Portland, someone had left a Bloomberg's Business Week in the seatback in front of me.  In it, they showed the alarming increase of retirements of  state government workers and teachers this year.  With the continual bashing of these employees, it is not surprising.  BUT, a bigger problem looms.  Previously, studies have continually showed that 1/3 of the entire teaching staff of most districts will retire in less than 10 years  With the  current layoffs, I think a "perfect storm" situation is building.  Young teachers are being layed off (and some will leave the teaching field),  AND about 1/2 of all new teachers leave the field in their first 5-7 years anyway, AND the poisonous climate that teachers face in the political realm, I have little doubt that WE ARE ENTERING AN ERA OF THE BIGGEST SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS OUR NATION HAS EVER SEEN BEGINNING IN  2017 to 2020. People do not enter fields where you will probably be layed off. Nor do the "best and brightest" enroll in classes to train to be a teacher, if the expectation is unemployment or partial employment.  THUS THE POOL OF TEACHERS IN TRAINING WILL SHRINK in the coming years. This will be the first sign of the "perfect storm"   Since it takes years to train  a quality teacher, I greatly fear the problems HUSD will have getting teachers in 6 to 8 years. Sadly, I have seen past shortages of teachers accelerate the "quickie" teacher training programs.  This is not what produces  the teaching force we need. More thoughts later. *********************5-18-2010  Congratulations to the retirees.  I am thrilled that the Golden Hug, which I had gotten behind and pushed vigorously for, help up our list of retirees from 3 to 20. I am proud that at least I did something right.  The pink auction paddle idea made a real impression on me just how many teachers, mostly elementary,  have been lost.  When  a speaker  read the list of how few teachers surrounding districts are RIF ing, made me think of why I left Juneau Alaska in 1973.  Plans were being promoted  to move the capitol to Willows AK, up by Anchorage.  The idea failed, but a VERY large number of young teachers left Juneau in the next few years including my teaching wife and myself. The fear of losing their homes and jobs dealt  Juneau SD a major blow in recruiting for years that followed   Once reputations are in place, they are very hard to change.    At a social gathering a couple of weeks ago,  I heard  a SJUSD teacher say how proud she was of  their district  laying off no one.  She said that she had tried to get on with HUSD previously, but didn't get the job.  How lucky she was to work at SJUSD was all she could talk about.  Most concerning to me as a board member was her statement,..."...all young teachers should consider that  SJUSD is no longer to be looked down upon as second rate compared to HUSD.  NOW SJUSD is the plum job site and Hemet is only worth going to if nothing else pans out.  I would be unemployed now if I had gotten the job I THOUGHT I wanted."   As a board member, I was saddened to see this reversal.  I am examining ALL financial projections looking for ways to prove  that we need to hire back sooner rather than later. Also,  I was  saddened to hear that surrounding districts, charters, and private schools  are interviewing our RIF ed people to cherry pick the best and brightest. *******************************************************    5-16-2011  I have missed the regular board meeting for the month of May during my travel to Nova Scotia. Hurricane damage to my little cottage had allowed quite a bit of water damage which needed to be repaired.  Of course I had 21 days of some kind of rain during my 25 day visit.  BUT.... I was not aware there was going to be a special meeting on the RIF ed teachers on the 10th.  Of course my vote would have not changed the outcome.  By a vote of 5-1, Ross Valenzuela  casting the lone no vote, the are laying off the teachers of our future. The only bright spot is that my idea of the "golden hug" health insurance help, convinced over 20 teachers to retire.  Aout half of them are on the current  report and more to come.  I understand that there a few more that want to wait until school is over before announcing.  I am thrilled that my efforts have possibly helped save the job of a RIF ed elementary teacher.  I fully expect to make sure that we hire back as many teachers as possible to avoid the announced goal of having  classes of well over 30 in elementary schools.  4-19-2011   Since my "Contact US" can be sent to me directly, I get some interesting tips and things to look into.  Thankyou for sharing with me.*************         4-13-2011. afternoon.   This morning I went down to the district office to attend the RIF hearings.  I collected the materials that each employee there had and they showed me how the process would go.  I tried to be encouraging and I just felt that it was important that at least one board member was in attendance to show our concern. Of great sadness to me personally was that 2 of my past 5th graders who are now teachers in our district are being RIF ed.  I will continue my efforts to make sure that we don't lose sight of our educational mission while we seek financial solutions.  4-13-2011.   I am sorry that I have let this blog lapse in importance on my "radar screen".  With the turmoil concerning the 1 in 5 Resolution, I got busy doing other things and focused elsewhere.  Now back to what is on my mind.  Today, I will go down to the DO and be with the RIFed teachers.  I know that I can do nothing, but I think it is VERY important that at least one board member comes for at least a portion of the proceedings to show the Board's concern for this awful happening. .  Also, for your reading, Google,   Duax v. Kern Community College Dist. (1987)  for the 5th Appellate District.  In 24 years since, has there been any more current litigation?   Apparently, this is the legal basis for the adoption of the 1 in 5 Resolution.  On the second time through,...all 9 pages of the brief..., I see that the standard discussed was 1 in 10 years, not our 1 in 5.  Does this make a difference, I will research it more. Remember, we also have another board meeting coming up this Tuesday. Seems funny to have 2 meetings, a week apart.  Thankyou for all the comments on my blog. I do read what you have to tell me and I track how many hits we get each day.  Funny, how they fall off  quickly is you do not post new information regularly.                                                                       Regular Board Meeting/Special Study of HAAAT.  I will review my notes and post more of what I think later today.                                                                            3-21-2011 Monday.  Have the special board meeting/study session about HAAAT alternative charter high school and the issues of closing it.  People are sending me many bits of information via this blog.(pg.3)  Thank you.  (PS, I'm not a jet fighter pilot. I did a "bucket list" thing a couple of weeks ago.  Rented 2 hours of flying time in a retired MIG jet trainer.  We flew to Palm Spring Air Musuem and represented the "Cold War" era aircraft.)                                                                                                      3-16-2011  Wednesday   Good board meeting last night.  A large and patient group of HAAAT supporters filled the first 6 rows in the board room to greet the board as they moved to the new expanded 90 minute closed session.  Following the closed session we heard from HAAAT parents, teachers and students. I enjoyed hearing them.  On Monday, Trustee Ross Valenzuela and I made a surprise visit to HAAAT to see the program in action.  It was SO refreshing to go see the students learning as they would ordinarily rather than the prepared pre-announced visit.  On Tuesday afternoon, I missed the board group's visit to Rancho Viejo Middle School.  I think I might need to drop in there and see what excellent learning that they have going on.  We also heard the 2nd Interim report with a power point/zeroxed report  from Vince and Pam in financial services.  I learned something interesting.  I knew about accounting in the calendar and fiscal year.  He pointed out that the restricted funds are reported in a Oct 1 to Sept 30 so you are putting 15 months of spending in.  A question I pondered, then the NEXT  report would then show a shrunken 9 months of spending.  I mean you can't keep having 15 month years without getting ahead of yourself.  I'll have to ask what kind of year this is called.  Makes it hard for a citizen taxpayer to figure out the budget to make sure the maximum dollars are going to their child/grandchild's education. I signed up to be at HAAAT for their graduation, Hamilton's Awards Assembly and of course Hamilton graduation the following day.  It will be a busy May 31st, June 1-2.   

3-8-2011 Tuesday..... Well what a night!  I attended the parent's meeting at the alternative school called HAAAT which is on the old High School site also known as Santa Fe.  I sat in the back because I was just coming from hauling some trash at home, and was in my jeans and SDSU hoodie sweatshirt and was sweaty and dirty.   I counted well over 300 people and listened as many parents supported their school and how well it had fit their child's needs.  I had to leave at 7:40, and on the way out a former student who is now a parent of a HAAAT student flagged me down.  Good conversation with approx 10-15 parents and students.  There is a strong support for their school.  Now I realize how the Hemet Elementary parents felt, PLUS in this case the school is being disbanded completely.  Parents, thank you for telling me your stories and your children's stories.  PB

2-28-2011.  As I prepare for the meeting on Tue, I still have a deep concern about the direction things are taking.  What good is it to have a  high "ending balance" but have schools that have large classes and so many alternative education programs gone?  Is this what parents want?  Is this best for children?  I plan to monitor the second budget report just as closely as I did the first one.  I have 16 places that I am watching. I wish I had a parent who was knowledgeable in Municipal Finance help me double check and make sure every dollar is spent wisely. School Boards have an obligation to SPEND prudently!!!!!  In my municipal finance class years ago at Chapman University, the teacher made a point, .."...an overly high ending balance means that you did not serve your community very well."  I will keep this as my focus.   Paul   (Thankyou for the many people who contact me on page 3 of this blog.  I read them all)

+++++++Please use the "contact us" page to do just that.  I will keep this website for that purpose.++++++++