School-Homing?

The Onion reports:

Deputy Education Secretary Anthony W. Miller said that many parents who school-home find U.S. households to be frightening, overwhelming environments for their children, and feel that they are just not conducive to producing well-rounded members of society.

Thousands of mothers and fathers polled in the study also believe that those running American homes cannot be trusted to keep their kids safe.

"Every year more parents are finding that their homes are not equipped to instill the right values in their children," Miller said. "When it comes to important life skills such as proper nutrition, safe sex, and even basic socialization, a growing number of mothers and fathers think it's better to rely on educators to guide and nurture their kids."

According to the report, children raised at home were less likely to receive individual adult attention, and were often subjected to ineffective and wildly inconsistent disciplinary measures. The study also found that many parents expressed concerns that, when at home, their children were being teased and bullied by those older than themselves.

ouch.

8) SELL SURPLUS ASSETS!

If we aren't using it, sell it.

The Lancaster School district owns old busses that don't run. The district owns tax-foreclosure real estate. We own old furniture. See the piles behind Pleasant Run and Dallas Avenue.

Auction it all off. The cash, at any amount however small, is more useful than the headaches of keeping track of odds and ends of little properties.

The board should direct the superintendent and facilities management branch to prepare a complete list of all capital/ major properties assets. The report should indicate acquisition cost, current value, most recent annual maintenance cost, (if any) and most recent income generated. The board should then decide which if any such properties can be retained. All others should be listed with county auction agencies for disposition sale.

Procedes should be dedicated to rebuilding the cash reserves -- fund balance.

More spork news WO # 21039

Given a question "Is it legal to charge students on free and reduced lunch .25cent s for a spork, kecthup and ice... ?"
http://twitpic.com/1c7b9q

We now have a reply

From xx@TexasAgriculture.gov>To: jeff.melcher@att.net
Good Morning Mr. Melcher,I just spoke to Thresa Horton Food Service employee in Lancaster school district, the district's policy is if a student wants extra kecthup(given up to three) they are sold at the price of three for 25 cents, there is no charge for a extra spork. There is a charge to teachers if they want to buy extra sporks for their class. Please feel free to contact me at 512 463-1xxx if you have any futher questions.

Work Order No.: 21039
Date Entered: 3/31/2010 5:17:18 PM (GMT-5:00) Central Daylight Time

Type: COMPLIANCE

Before I lose track completely...

Here's a recap of suggestions that I believe would make the Lancaster School Board operate more effectively.

1) MEET 2nd MONDAYS!

2) QUARTERLY REPORTING!

3) FOLLOW UP!

4) TRANSCRIBE CLOSED MEETINGS!

5) USE PRE-PAID SERVICES!

6) PARTNER WITH THE CITY!

7) OPEN ENROLL LOCAL STUDENTS!

7) OPEN ENROLL LOCAL STUDENTS!

Students resident in Lancaster itself should not be restricted by elementary school "attendance zones".

Any student from neighboring communities may choose to enroll in any Lancaster ISD campus. Make this policy for locally resident students as well.

Each campus in LISD has unique strengths. Houston Elementary has the newest facility. West Main, the most experienced teaching staff. Pleasant Run has it's wonderful International Baccalaurete program. Lancaster Elementary has the biggest athletic / recreational space. At present, a student is enrolled in a Lancaster school not by choice but by accident of residence. By allowing parents and student freedom to choose among the various schools, all the campuses would benefit from the health competition.

Move learning online?

Katherine Mangu-Ward writes in the Washington Post:

Since the Internet hit the big time in the mid-1990s, Amazon and eBay have changed the way we shop, Google has revolutionized the way we find information, Facebook has superseded other ways to keep track of friends and iTunes has altered how we consume music. But kids remain stuck in analog schools.

How should this change -- if it should at all?

Sixty Five Percent -- ish.

The Texas Education Agency has proposed changes to the Financial Accountability Rating System, (FIRST) last week. Changes included deletion of the two indicators related to the 65% instructional expenditure requirement for school districts The proposed changes will apply beginning with the financial data reported for fiscal year 2008-2009 (when ratings are released on or about June 2010). The comment period for the proposed changes will end April 26, 2010.

Oh my, is this disappointing. Many of us have been pleased to see top level support for the notion that a supermajority of the money spent in schools out to be spent in SCHOOLS, not stadiums, administration buildings, and luxury resort hotels or conference centers.

If I'm lucky enough to earn a seat on the Lancaster board, I'll be working to get the budgets set to the 65% rule, whether the FIRST scores improve for the effort, or not.

Robert's Rules are Great

These are NOT officially part of the rules. There might be trustees who believe they are...

A Bill of Rights for Robert's Rules

by Samuel Ellenport


1. Point of Personal Outrage - A participant who becomes upset shall have the right to interrupt the speaker without recognition from the Chair. The interruption must be at a volume at least 20 decibels higher that required for normal conversation

2. Point of Irrelevant Interjection - Irrespective of the motion on the floor, a participant shall have the right to monopolize the meeting for not less than five minutes as he or she expostulates upon a point that is irrelevant. ...

More here

TEA to improve, simplify education rules

Less is more. In the effort to better enforce the rules, there is a critical sub-effort to better evaluate the results and effectiveness of those rules --- and revise or eliminate the rules that don[t help.

I'd think this would be a good opportunity for local boards to push back against unfunded mandates and micromanagerial intrusions.

TEA today article:

Government officials are experts at adding but they rarely know how to subtract. Law and regulations are constantly added but rarely do they eliminate or reduce any. Commissioner of Education Robert Scott thinks it is time for this to change.

That is why he announced that the Texas Education Agency will be reviewing all education regulations known as commis­sioner rules. These cover a wide range of topics, such as charter school operations, teacher incentive programs, financial account­ability ratings systems, various pilot programs and much more. The review will also examine how TEA implemented the rules.

“I am convening a series of stakeholder meetings so I can gather direct feedback from those affected most. I want to know what rules are obsolete or burdensome or just aren’t needed any­more,” Scott said.

State sunset law requires that any rule be reviewed every four years. This formal process will continue, but Scott wants to conduct an informal review this year. “If there are changes or updates that need to be made and that I have the authority to make, I will do so. If those changes require legislative approval, I will present a list of potential changes to the Texas Legislature for review when it next convenes in January 2011,” Scott said.

Please take a look at the commissioner rules located at http:// ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/home/ and provide your thoughts on how we can improve and simplify our regulations. You can send feedback to commissioner@tea.state.tx.us.

6) PARTNER WITH THE CITY!

The Lancaster Independent School District and City of Lancaster have common interests in developing neighborhoods, streets, sidewalks and parks.

However, the shared goals and objectives have not resulted in shared committees to plan or encourage such development. Each is operating independently, or at best in private, undocumented, meetings between the city manager and school superintendent. Instead, the board president and the council's mayor should appoint formal committees who will jointly study community issues. The committees will present recommendations to both governing bodies. In public. If approved these strategic plans and policies then become a shared background as particular issues arise, and are perhaps negotiated, in the course of normal business.

Sidewalks? How will they support children walking to and from school? Drainage? Can a neighborhood and school share a detention feature? Utilities? Do the city codes on underground lines make sense for a school site?

Cooperation can make both entities more productive.

5) USE PRE-PAID SERVICES!

The Lancaster school board must choose free (or pre-paid) services, when available, rather than buying new additional service.

In particular, the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) offers free services, including general legal advice, to member boards. It is a waste of money and time to direct routine procedural questions to the lawyers on retainer. (It's better than guessing about legal matters -- and guessing wrong. But free good advice is cheaper than free BAD advice.) Similarly the Education Service Center in Richardson ("Region Ten") is taxpayer supported and offers many of the services now solicitied by bid to commercial agencies. It must become the policy and practice of the Lancaster board to exhaust use of free and already contracted support before seeking expensive new help.

Or I think so, anyway. What do you think?

4) TRANSCRIBE CLOSED MEETINGS!

Audiotape board executive sessions, transcribe the discussion, and archive the records as directed by law.

Executive sessions now last too long and too little is accomplished. Much of the delay and inefficiency arises from trustees disputing what been previously discussed. A record of established agreements will help trustees avoid re-fighting old battles and carrying on historic grudges. The school district's legal advisors admit such recordings are legal, although there may be some legal risk, in a lawsuit, to having recordings subject to "discovery". In practice the risk of public embarrassment should lead to more efficient, professional, conduct by all trustees during these closed sessions.

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/pdfs/publicinfo_hb.pdf

Tweet me!

@JM4LISD

We could have a short chat. How to improve the school district -- Your Ideas?

3) FOLLOW UP!

Establish as board policy and standard procedure that all "ACTION" items approved by the board be assigned a "follow up" date within one year.

Too often a new program is pitched to the board, approved, and financially supported -- never to be mentioned again. A scheduled appointment for reporting results will help ensure those results.

Along those lines -- a year-long organizing calendar, showing all the upcoming items the board intends to discuss. Don't let deadlines like the budget or the public hearings sneak up and bite the board by surprise.

Another day, another proposal.

Note that these are proposals that any board member could have proposed. Could have brought an idea to a vote, at least (if not passed.) The question is not whether these are great ideas. The question is, why hasn't a trustee managed to try.

Politicians often promise "leadership". Right now, I'd settle for decent management.

What TEA would cut

from Texas school programs:Here are some of the $135.5 million in cuts the Texas Education Agency has proposed for fiscal 2011:

Texas High School Initiative programs: $15 million

Teacher Mentoring Program: $16.6 million

Middle school physical education and fitness: $10 million

Science Lab Grant Program: $25 million

Textbooks and kindergarten materials: $10 million

Life Skills Program for Student Parents: $10.1 million

TEA administration: $5 million

Texas Principal Leadership Program: $4.4 million

Source: Texas Education Agency

All districts are going to have to comb thru their budgets with a very sharp eye. Do you suppose our current board is up to the job?

2) QUARTERLY REPORTING!

Another proposal for making the Lancaster School board more effective -- and more directly engaged with the people who CAN help the schools: the campus improvement committees.

Schedule quarterly status reports by campus committees directly to the board.

State law directs principals and superintendents to work with teachers, parents, and community leaders to form "campus improvement committees". These committes now submit annual "campus improvement plans" to the board -- which are filed and forgotten. A routine, scheduled presentation to the board on the progress of the campus toward specific goals will ensure admin effort and funding are directed toward those goals.

Now, the board should NOT attempt to have all eight campus committees present at the same time. The Annual end-of-year report, on the entire district, counts as one -- but that leaves 3 interim quarterly reports per campus. Three reports for 8 campuses means 24 reports - over 12 months is two such reports per meeting. The natural competition between the campuses to have something good to say -- to outshine the others -- will also drive improvements.

You get what you measure. Let's measure frequent IMPROVEMENTS.

1) MEET 2nd MONDAYS!

Re-schedule regular meetings for the 2nd Monday, instead of 1st Monday.

The finance office consistantly struggles to reconcile district books to bank statements. But the trustees have limited visibility into the problem --because their monthly meeting is over before the statements arrive. Shifting back by just one week puts reconciliation and financial reporting periods three weeks AHEAD of present practice, and allows the board to react more quickly to problems.

So, my hat's in the ring. Or my toe's in the water. Or both.

I've been using this site to sound off about how to improve schools for several years now, on and off. Now I'd like to hear from voters, parents, and taxpayers in Lancaster. You tell me ...

I'm running for office so that you have a choice. If the incumbent continued in office without a campaign, you would have no opportunity to voice your views. I value your opinion. I’d like to hear what you, representing your neighborhood, want for our kids and our schools.

Do you think I'd be an asset to the board? I have analytical skills -- see my posts about rising vs falling test scores, and local finances. I can read and interpret financial reports, and I know when something in them just doesn't "smell right". I'm already spending hours (way too many hours, for an audience member) attending every school board meeting. I've been an active volunteer on district committees -- mostly finance, but including a teacher retention team for the strategic planning effort.

Does this offer you ideas about what you and I together can accomplish for our schools?

Please participate. This year, the voters have only one campaign going on. Without a challenger, the incumbents would just continue in position. And whatever has happened in the past would continue to happen. By offering you a choice, I offer you a voice. Raise your voice, Lancaster. I'm listening.

How to fix schools --

Video lessons from Oakland and Cleveland:

Results based budgeting? Would that work here?