ALERT: LWIP pro-charter clique trying to fire beloved kindergarden teacher

The Administrative Council (AC) running our Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) have unilaterally decided to fire Krista Augustaitus the kindergarden teacher who has been in the program longer than many of our children. In fact, Krista has effectively been serving as the primary kindergarden teacher for as long as I've been here, two years, with far less than full-time pay. In the email attached below sent to us LWIP parents on June 16th the AC unilaterally announced its decision to fire Krista without any discussion among the parents and teaching staff. Sound familiar? This same clique also made the expensive and ultimately defeated decision to try to ramrod through a charter petition to turn our program into their own private school. They are still at it.

The problem is that the AC doesn't have any power to hire and fire despite what they claim in the email. According to what I was told by Principal Laura Shain one of the reasons the AC is exempt from the California Brown Act which mandates strict rules about transparency in government is that the AC cannot hire and fire. Someone needs to inform the AC. 

We hear a lot of jargon about "heart center" education from some of the LWIP parents, especially those on the AC. Even in this email we are told that "it is in the best interest of the LWIP children and for the longer-term viability of our program." Krista is a single parent with 3 children, one of whom is in the program. How is firing her in the best interest of her son or her family? How "heart centered" is it to give her no warning that she would be out of a job. Isn't it hypocritical to protest our dear Mr. Kobabe's being laid off without any explanation but then a few weeks later also fire Krista without cause? 

The way the AC is treating Krista is a foreshadowing of how they would be treating the rest of the teaching staff had the charter petition not been utterly defeated. The teaching staff would have been totally at their mercy without tenure, seniority, and collective bargaining rights.

Power has corrupted those on the AC and they should resign immediately. We are still waiting for them to issue personal apologies to the entire District community for their charter folly that is estimated to cost the District about $59,000 in excess legal expenses and stirred up a hornets nest of animosity within and towards our program. Now they think they are the District upon themselves. Time for them to go.

The Board of Trustees will be voting whether to lay off Krista this Monday morning, July 2 at 8 am. Help us stand up for our teachers and be there to say No.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	LWIP: IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Date:	Sat, 16 Jun 2012 10:57:49 -0700
From:	Greg Brown/Jen Rousseau <jengreg2000@gmail.com>

Dear Parents, 

The LWIP Administrative Council, Faculty and the Lagunitas School District Administration have been reviewing configurations for our program for next year. Currently our configuration plan is: a full time Kindergarten teacher (Kindergarten teachers cannot be hired as part-time teachers.  Our full time K teacher will support the grades in the afternoons), Dorothy in class 1/2 and a .6 teacher for class 3/4/5.

At the June 12^th board meeting, the board voted unanimously to allow our program to have the flexibility to use program-raised funds to augment the .6 certificated teacher position to a full-time position for one year.   This means that our program will use parent-raised funds to supplement .4 of the salary for that teacher. We are very pleased with this decision, which will enable greater enrollment and further stabilization of our program.

We feel very strongly that next year's 3/4/5 class needs a full-time teacher in order to have a successful educational experience.  It is also more likely that we will attract a quality teacher by offering that person a full-time position.

We have been looking at the budget and the fundraising we have been able to achieve and what this .4 will cost our program. The cost to our program is nearly the same as what we pay to support the current Kindergarten aide (Krista's) position.  We have just been approved to hire an amazing, experienced full-time Kindergarten teacher for next year and will therefore no longer need the same level of aide support in the Kindergarten.  We now need to use those funds to ensure that the 3/4/5 is supported with a full-time teacher.

We do not have enough in our parent fundraising to support both the .4 and the current Kindergarten aide position.  We are sad to have to make this decision, but we believe, considering the circumstances,  it is in the best interest of the LWIP children and for the longer-term viability of our program.

We have spoken with Krista about this and will continue to have conversations about how she might still be involved in our program.  No matter what decisions are made about this difficult situation, we will be sure to honor Krista’s amazing dedication to our program and love for our children.

We want the parents to be informed of these latest developments.  Please contact us with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

the LWIP AC

lwipquestions@gmail.com

Charter school petition cost the District about $59k in legal fees

At the June 20th Board of Trustees meeting the administration reported an updated figure for legal expenses to the District that totals a whopping $71,219.24. $59,349.22 of that total was attributed just to legal expenses related to the charter school petition. A small unspecified part of that is attributed to my still incomplete California Public Records Act (PRA) request. I have not yet received any emails from Trustee Richard Sloan who, as I reported in an earlier posting, has refused to turn over his email communications about the charter petition. PRA's are part of our state Right to Know laws. Compliance with the law can get expensive when Trustees refuse to cooperate and when there is a large volume of communications, notes, memos, and reports that must be reviewed by legal counsel before they are released.

At the meeting Trustee Santa Cruz Bohman warned anyone who is considering making a PRA to think about the costs. Perhaps that was for my benefit since I was present in the room. Nevertheless, this was a curious statement from an elected official who turned in only a single email. It's hard to believe that was the extent of her email communications about the charter petition especially when she was CC'ed on numerous other emails that her fellow Trustees turned over from their own District and personal email accounts. One can only hope that Ms. Bohman is complying with the PRA. After all, I confronted this same issue last summer when she neglected to turn over emails I already had in my possession.  

The take home lesson here is that the LWIP charter petitioners must acknowledge the huge financial and non-monetary expense they have caused to the District from their flawed and ultimately defeated charter school plan. Their folly has essentially cost the District the equivalent of a full-time teacher's salary.

Unfortunately, no one is acknowledging responsibility. Nothing has changed in LWIP since the same clique is still running the Administrative Council and even just hired our two new teachers. Not only did they neglect to announce that the hiring committee was forming to solicit volunteers but to add insult to injury even announced one of the hires to the entire Valley on the SGV email list a few days ago before they bothered to inform us LWIP parents. The AC is running our program as if it were their own private school. Democracy is still hollow shell in LWIP and things must change soon.

Board votes down bond measure and approves pay raises

This morning the Board of Trustees voted 4-1 against putting an unpolished bond measure on the November ballot. Thankfully, they also gave final approval to the first teacher and staff salary increase in several years.

With the mid-1990s bond measure still unpaid the Board shifted it position after the staff admitted that, due to the huge expensive time suck that was the defeated charter school petition, they had not had the time to do the necessary background work to adequately prepare the Board to move forward with the $5 million bond. It showed. The Board didn't have an analysis of how well the money from the current bond measure has been spent, how much the District taxpayers still owe, and even how much the $5 million measure being considered would cost over the projected 25-30 years it would take to be repaid.

Trustee Santa Cruz-Bohman went from being in the minority to the majority with a well articulated critique of the bond measure. One of the issues she noted is that the consultants advising the District only make money from the bond measure being approved. Amy Prescott pointed out that they stand to make about $60,000 for each bond sale. It should also be asked if they will also finance the campaign to pass the bond and recruit campaign donations from Wall Street bond investors who stand to profit from their sale as well. A recent investigation by the Denver Post found widespread corruption in school bond sales in Colorado in which consultants were doing just that. If we do put this measure on the ballot the District should prohibit such donations from interest parties.

By my preliminary calculations, it would have been costly. Over 25 years at a 5% interest rate it would have cost the District an extra $1.25 million and at 8% it would be an extra $5 million. As Superintendent Larry Enos noted this morning, local governments are borrowing more to fill in the gaps from state cuts. But the big picture is that it costs far more to borrow in future dollars than it does to tax in today's dollars because taxes are interest free. It is much cheaper and more effective for the District to find a way to generate local tax and fee revenue that would restore the inequity in the share of our local tax burden. This is much preferred over saddling us with repaying Wall Street for loaning us money at exorbitant interest for another generation. Last Fall I wrote on this blog about several ways to do just that and how much we could expect to raise here and here. Some of my ideas would allow us to shift the burden to tourists and those buying homes and property in the Valley rather than existing taxpayers.

The good news is that the most critical repairs to the roof of the Montessori classrooms and the walkway coverings can be funded by existing money the District already has for deferred maintenance. By January 2012 this reserve fund amount is expected to be about $560,000 and is available for just this purpose. Note that this money comes from taxes not borrowing.

The Board also gave its final approval to new contracts for staff, teachers and administrators which includes a tiny but much appreciated raise. Teachers and staff have gone several years without any pay increases which means that with inflation they have seen a pay cut. They will both receive a retroactive 2.35% pay increase for 2011-12 and a 1% increase for the following year and keep their current health benefits.

For those of you who followed the Board election last November you might recall that I made these two issues and teacher and staff lay-offs central to my campaign. Sometimes you can win by losing. I may have lost the election but we've had more success by putting the issues of the bond measure and staff and teacher pay front and center. It should also be noted that no teachers were pink slipped this year. This is another lesson in the power of an organized and articulate community to reverse lay-offs and cutbacks in critical public services.

Crucial questions about the proposed bond issue

Last night the Board of Trustees asked the administration to return at a soon to be announced special board meeting to consider a prioritized list of projects to be funded by the proposed 25-30 year $5 million bond measure. The measure is slated for the November 2012 ballot. The board was definitely split last night and after a lengthy discussion asked to continue the discussion.

There is no doubt that many of these projects are extremely worthy and a few need to be done soon. However, there are several questions that still need to be closely considered before taking such an expensive step to put this issue before the voters with the November election coming up fast.

First, what happened with the still ongoing bond measure? The District still has 3 more years to pay off its current 20 year bond passed in 1995. It is unclear how much the District taxpayers still owe for that one. The District has not prepared an analysis of how much that bond measure raised, spent and cost with interest. What happened with the money? How was it used? Were the projects completed satisfactorily? Did the projects that taxpayers were told needed to be done actually got done?

In order to successfully sell another bond measure the District needs to demonstrate that it successfully and effectively used the money from the last one.

Second, how much will this $5 million bond actually cost over the 25-30 year period? Even though interest rates and construction costs are very low right now is borrowing the money going to end up costing taxpayers even more than raising it in today's dollars from tax and fee revenues? When the consultant presented the results of his poll several months ago he said that he didn't ask any questions about whether voters would support other sources of funding for these projects. Shouldn't the District be asking this question before proceeding to put a bond on the ballot?

What is the most financially prudent way to raise the money for these much needed projects?

Finally, with Governor Brown's critically needed tax measure (and a less effective competing measure) on the ballot in November are we risking voter backlash by also asking them to improve another bond measure? The consultant didn't ask this question in his poll either.

There is no disputing how critically important these projects are and that they would bring much needed employment to the Valley but the District still needs to address these issues before it proceeds with another bond measure.

Afterall, if the bond measure fails to get its 55% threshold to pass it will blow an opportunity to raise this money for a time to come. It shouldn't rush its decision. There will be a governor's race on the 2014 ballot that will have a high turnout making passage also more likely. And in the meantime, maybe it can begin to find the funds to fix the most urgent problems.

Update on the parent's fight to save their schools in Oakland

Yesterday I wrote about how 5 Oakland public elementary schools are slated to be closed and hat parents and students will be engaging in a sit-in at one to save it. Today KALW's incredible Cross Currents program documented that these same public schools are being closed after more than a decade of  record number of charter schools being opened thereby draining the Oakland Unified School District of critical funds. In fact, OUSD now has 34 charter schools (thanks to then Mayor Jerry Brown's pro-charter agenda and the state take-over of the district between 2003-09) out of 135 total schools. At last, OUSD is finally starting to reject resource draining charter petitions. The tide is starting to turn against charter schools and we are, once again, out in front in our widespread rejection of the hopefully dead and buried charter petition.

Oakland parents, teachers and students will sit-in at their elementary school this Friday to save it from closure

Parents, teachers, and students and local Oakland residents are calling for help to stop the closure of 5 neighborhood public elementary schools. I marched to Lakeview Elementary in late February and I can attest that the community there is as organized as we have been to defend our beloved school and urgently need our help. Let me know if anyone is planning to help and has room in their car. It is only a 40 minute drive from the Valley.

At the end of this school year, the Oakland Unified School District plans to close 5 public elementary schools and hand children's school buildings over to private charter schools and district administration offices.  Hundreds of the displaced students have been placed by the district in elementary schools that are 10 miles away, and the school district has offered no guarantee that transportation will be provided for families. In response...

Oakland Parents and Teachers Are Sitting-in to Keep Neighborhood Schools Open!

    

We Need Your Support!!!

On June 15th, after the last day of school, Oakland parents and teachers will sit-in at Lakeview Elementary demanding that the district keep all neighborhood schools open. The district has not listened to lawsuits, pleas from parents and teachers, or protests. We know the money exists, but still they insist on closing flatland schools serving predominantly black and brown children. We say no more excuses! We’re keeping the schools open the last way left to us, by sitting-in. But we cannot do this alone. We need your support! Demand the district and the politicians give us full funding for quality education in neighborhood public schools. Join the fight for our kids’ futures!

Support the People's School for Public Education:

1. Show up to support the sit-in at Lakeview Elementary - 746 Grand Avenue (across from the farmer's market, at the Grand Ave 580 exit)
   • Friday 6/15 @ 1:00pm - Community Speakout & BBQ
   • Friday 6/15 @ 4:00pm - Rally to Kick-Off Sit-In
   • Saturday 6/16 @ 2:00pm - People's School Solidarity Rally
   • Every Night starting Friday @ 9:00 – Solidarity Watch
2. Join our work committees to organize for this action - Emaileducation4the99@gmail.com toget involved!
3. On Monday, the 18th, we will be starting a free, week-long social justice summer program for our kids - Emaileducation4the99@gmail.com for more info and to enroll your child
4. Spread the word - Tell your friends and family!

We demand:

• Don’t Close the 5 Schools! Keep All Neighborhood Schools Open! Children’s Needs Before Administration’s!
• Stop Attacks on Teachers and School Workers! Teacher Conditions=Student Conditions.
• Refuse to Pay the Unjust State Debt!
• Fully Fund Quality Public Education for All Students!

Learn more about Oakland's school closures:

• Speaking out against school closures: Oakland’s Santa Fe Elementary 
• School Closures: District Calls for a Time-Out on Its 25-School Hit List
• ROB ROOKE: School Board Says It’s Closing Time At Maxwell Park 

Contact us at:education4the99@gmail.comandeducation4the99.wordpress.com.

Alert: CA Senate Education Committee to vote this Wednesday morning to close a loophole in charter law

This Wednesday June 13th the Senate Education Committee will be voting on AB 1172 (sponsored by Assemblyman Mendoza) which passed the Assembly last January 30th by a vote of 45 to 28. This bill would add a crucially needed sixth criteria by which a district may vote to deny a charter petition. This criteria would allow a district to deny a charter if it would have a demonstrable negative fiscal impact on the district. We know firsthand that despite the staff analysis that the charter would drain the District of $464,000 over 3 years the Board of Trustees was prohibited by section 47605 of the California Education Code from considering this fiscal impact. AB 1172 would close this huge loophole that forces school districts to approve charter schools they know will drain them of much needed tax revenue.

For this reasons we can expect the charter industrial complex to be lining up to stall, gut or kill this bill. It is urgent that those of us who care to avoid the threat of a charter school being imposed on other districts to contact our state Senator Mark Leno (916-651-4003 and 415-479-6612) to ask him to testify in support of AB1172 this Wednesday. You may also send emails to all the members of the Senate Education Committee asking them to vote in favor of AB1172. If you cannot write all 10 members at least write the chair Senator Lowenthal. Be sure to tell them about how our district faced a threat from a charter petition that would have drained our district of money when you call and email them.