Welcome Will Ector, our new Superintendent

Here is the official announcement from Board President Khoa Nguyen, welcoming Will Ector as the new Superintendent:

During the past month, the board reviewed 19 highly qualified candidates ranging from sitting superintendents to assistant superintendents all across California from right here in the bay area to southern California, to even the east coast. However, when reviewing the candidates, only one candidate unanimously ranked as a top candidate for all five board members.



This candidate comes to us from the Evergreen School District with 37 years of public education experience at the K-8 level, with the majority of his career spent entirely within the Evergreen School District.



Of those 37 years, 6 of those years he served as a middle school math and PE teacher, and for the past 29 years he served as an administrator in the capacity of assistant principal, principal, and most recently, as Director of Human Resources.



On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to congratulate and welcome the current Director of Human Resources at the Evergreen School District, Mr. Will Ector, where he also served 14 years on the Superintendent's Cabinet, to the Berryessa Union School District as the new incoming superintendent. Mr. Ector will assume office on Tuesday July 19 to replace Dr. Liebman upon his retirement on Thursday July 28.



Mr. Ector was hired with an unanimous approval of 5-0 from all five board members. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Ector, we all look forward to having your leadership here in Berryessa!

End of the School Year

Last night at our Board meeting, we recognized the 26 Berryessa district employees who are retiring this year. Between them, they represent about 650 years of service to students. It's hard to even imagine how many lives they have touched. It has been a tremendous pleasure getting to personally know many of the great retirees and they will be missed.

What makes the Berryessa community so great is the combination of wonderful families, amazing students, and dedicated employees. I love living in a community with such rich diversity and caring people.

Now that the year is coming to a close, I want to express my appreciation to all employees of the Berryessa School District, who go above and beyond on a regular basis. It has been a challenging year, and I know many of our certificated employees (teachers, counselors, etc) have been through a rough period of uncertainty, due to California's budget crisis. Fortunately, before the last day of school, we have been able to reinstate all employees that had been laid off in May. There are still uncertain times ahead, but it will be great to start the 2011-2012 school year with all of our current staff returning.

Thanks to everyone for all you do for the children of Berryessa. If you are a member of PTA, thanks for raising money and helping your schools do just a little extra. If you are a volunteer, thanks for making your school a better place. If you are a parent of one of the district's 8000 students, thanks for being positive role models in the community. If you are a district employee, thanks for making the school district a positive learning environment for our children.

Have a great summer. Rest, recharge, and get ready for even better things to come.

School District Librarian

Two years ago, the Berryessa School District hired a credentialed librarian. This was a great addition to the services we offer our students. Libraries are an important part of school curriculum and the learning process. We have wonderful media techs who staff each of our school libraries.

The district librarian works out of the District Office and supports and enriches the academic programs at all of our schools. Our librarian is a trained professional who helps the district implement library standards recently adopted by the State Board of Education.

The national recommendation is for there to be a credentialed librarian at each school. The State of California requires that any school district that provides library services has at least one credentialed librarian. While we cannot staff to the national recommendations, we are lucky to have our librarian on board.

While following the law on library operations is important, equally important are the skills that a credentialed librarian brings to a school district.

• Curricular support: Librarians bring an understanding of curriculum and instruction and how to integrate the library resources to support and expand learning for all students.
  


• Broad knowledge of supplementary materials to support the standards: Librarians are trained to provide assistance to teachers and students in the evaluation, selection, production and use of instructional materials.
  


• Understanding of how to better utilize the libraries: There are new models for library service in schools that are studied in library curriculum and our librarian provides an understanding of how to utilize these models to better our schools.
  


• Training on the integration of technology into the library to support curriculum.
  


• Professional development: Librarians are trained to support staff in becoming more knowledgeable and current on uses of library media services.
  


• Information literacy: An entire field of school library study is helping teach students to discern quality of information they are bombarded with online and elsewhere. As students move to high school, they need to be trained to think critically about information. A librarian can help develop that kind of curriculum.

Having a district librarian brings a trained professional to the table with the training and experience to support learning for students and bring our schools to the next level.

Coming to the End of the Tunnel?

Last week, Governor Brown released his May Revise of the 2011-2012 California budget. As a result of unexpected tax revenue, he has proposed providing an additional $3 billion to schools. This is excellent news, the kind that we have not received in many years.

Remember that Brown's January budget proposal would have kept school funding nearly flat, but relied on the extension of a number of taxes that otherwise expire this year. The $3 billion addition is on top of that level. It wouldn't be direct funding to schools, but would allow the state to cancel some of the deferrals that the state has used as a gimmick to balance their budget.

The latest proposal also relies on the extension of most of the taxes, and would therefore require the vote of some Republican legislators. However, there is reason to be optimistic that even if the taxes are not extended, schools will remain largely unscathed.

First, the remaining state deficit is $6 billion, rather than the $12 billion we were facing in January. Therefore, the schools' share of a "cuts-only" budget would now be about $3 billion. That would likely result in the reinstatement of the cancelled deferrals. While these deferrals would be a hardship for some school districts, Berryessa's budget can withstand this "hit."

Secondly, the increased tax revenue means that the minimum Proposition 98 guarantee has gone up since the beginning of the year. Since a majority of legislators have said they would vote against suspending Prop. 98, an all-cuts budget would still likely result in Brown's January school spending levels.

What does all this mean for Berryessa? If even the scenario that I described in the previous paragraph occurs, our district would be able to avoid most of the service cuts we have been wrestling with this spring. That is excellent news.

Tonight, the Board will be meeting to discuss the latest budget information and how to move forward. We must decide how big of a risk it would be to bring back all employees immediately, or whether we should wait a little longer to see how the budget negotiations play out in Sacramento.

Thanks go to parents, teachers, and other stakeholders, who have spent the past month lobbying for adquate education funding. It is clear that our cries have been heard. With the good news that we are receiving about the budget, it looks like we might finally be coming to the end of the tunnel.

UPDATE: The Board has decided to rescind the layoff notices and rehire all the teachers affected by the previous actions. In addition, the district will reinstate three middle school counseling positions, the three middle school assistant principals, the teachers advisors, and the program specialist. Other positions, including elementary music and PE teachers, the remaining counselor/social workers, and the district librarian, remain to be decided in June. Upshot for K-3 classrooms - class size will remain at about 24 students for 2011-2012.

Advocate for Our Schools

This week, the California Teachers Association is sponsoring a statewide Week of Action to call attention to the devastating effects budget cuts have had, and will continue to have, on California schools. Members of the community will join CTA to support solutions that protect schools from further cuts.

The Berryessa School District has been significantly impacted by budget cuts over the past 5 years, absorbing budget reductions of 11%. As a result, our students have fewer services available to them. The outcome has been larger class sizes, reduced library hours, reduced school support staff, fewer custodial resources, a slimmed down district office, fewer counselors, and 2 fewer school days, among other things.

None of these cuts has been good for the more than 8000 students our district educates. I commend the hard work of our teachers, administrators, and staff, who have rededicated themselves to doing more with less. Everybody who works in our district cares about the kids above all else.

The state’s ongoing budget crisis threatens to further erode the services we are able to provide. The budget picture is still murky, but will come into better focus next week after Governor Brown releases his revised budget proposal (often called the “May Revise”). Unfortunately, the California Senate Republican Caucus stated last week “that public education’s woes have nothing to do with a shortage of funds.” Therefore, it is important that we continue to make the case that schools cannot tolerate further cuts.

A state budget that is balanced by cuts alone is estimated to reduce our district’s budget by more than 5% on top of the cuts we have already endured. The outcome would be further increases in class size, an even shorter school year, and jeopardy of programs such as music, counseling, and libraries. The Berryessa School Board supports a balanced approach to the state budget that includes extending current revenue levels along with significant cuts.

Please contact your legislators and let them know that you support the balanced approach – one that fulfills our commitment to educate the next generation of Californians. Even more importantly, if you have friends or family in other parts of the state who are represented by Republican legislators, urge them to make the same plea. It will take two Republican votes in each house of the legislature to extend $10 billion of revenue sources that otherwise will expire this year. Part of Santa Clara County is represented by Senator Sam Blakeslee. He appears open to considering Governor Brown’s balanced solution. Contact his office and encourage him to do so.

Our children and California’s economy depend on education to succeed in the future. I hope that Berryessa schools will be able to continue providing a top-notch education for years to come.

School Climate and Expulsions

A very important role of school districts is to make sure that schools maintain a safe environment for students. A couple years ago, the Board asked that all schools include programs promoting school climate in their Site Plans. All schools now have concrete goals around creating positive learning environments.

One of the most unpleasant duties of the Board of Trustees is to make decisions about students who are caught committing expellable offenses. These include the possession or consumption of alcohol or drugs on campus, the possession of a weapon, such as a knife or gun, gang activity, or getting into fights.

The Board discusses these cases in closed session and usually must decide whether to expel the student from the district or suspend the expulsion so that the student has the chance to remain in one of our schools. In either case, the Board attaches a rehabilitation plan that the student must follow in order to remove the expulsion from their record or be readmitted to the district. When an expulsion is suspended, the student is usually moved to another school in the district and any further discipline referral can result in complete expulsion without further review.

Expelled students are referred to Santa Clara County's alternative school, which for middle school students on the East Side of the County is Stonegate School. Today, I visited Stonegate and got a tour of their program. Stonegate is a small facility with 3 classrooms, a "multi-purpose" room, and an office, located on the edge of the Stonegate Elementary School campus. The school has 3 teachers, an aide, a resource specialist, and a part-time principal and secretary. In addition, there is always a San Jose Police Officer on site as well as a counselor from California Youth Outreach.

In addition to teaching material from California's standards, Stonegate helps students focus on making positive choices with the ultimate goal of reintegrating students back into their home school districts. The school does a good job for its students considering its low budget.

I have always felt that our role as a school district is to do all we can to keep students in our schools and find ways to help them be successful. That is why support services such as counselors, school psychologists, and social workers are an important part of the school community. If we intervene with children who have issues outside of school or are acting out on campus, we can help them make better choices and avoid having to deal with expellable behavior. Not only is it better for the students to remain in their local school, but it is financially better for the district. When a student is referred to Stonegate School, we must pay the County for their education out of our general fund.

The Board must strike a delicate balance between serving all our students and ensuring campus safety. I will continue to support services that address behavioral issues and find ways to minimize the number of students in our district that must be expelled.

How Bad Will It Get?

As we head into May, there are still many questions to be answered for the 2011-2012 budget. And we have the crazy possibility that schools will be closed at this time next year.

Currently, we are building our budget around funding cuts of $350/student. However, if the all-cuts budget is adopted in Sacramento, with no new revenues, schools may be facing cuts of $5 billion, which would translate to over $800 per student. It is hard to even figure out how districts like ours would survive with such a steep drop in revenue.

As it is, the lower level of cuts would require increasing class size, shortening the school year by a few more days, and cutting some other district programs. If the higher level of cuts is implemented, more drastic approaches will have to occur.

State Senator Joe Simitian, an expert on education issues said, "Just take a minute to revisit this question: What does that mean for your district? I understand you think it is beyond comprehension. It cannot be beyond comprehension." Despite that admonition, I am not able to comprehend what we would have to do to balance our budget under that scenario.

The Superintendent of Fresno Unified School District, Mike Hanson, put it best, by saying that he has pulled rabbits out of hats before, investing in supplies, libraries and summer school programs by cutting elsewhere. However, he "can't find the hat now. There's no more rabbit. Let alone the hat."

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson says that would bankrupt more than 100 school districts and called it "almost unfathomable. It would be chaotic. It would be very costly."

Several programs would probably be eliminated by the state legislature in that event. Most relevant to us is the K-3 class size reduction program. It would mean that 30 students per class would once again become the norm. It is also possible that the state would speed up the 3-year phase-in of the law that moves the date for kindergarten eligibility from December to September.

Back to the length of the school year, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer last month suggested the school year might have to be cut by two months to achieve all the anticipated savings should Gov. Brown's tax extension fail. Although nobody has formally proposed such a drastic change, nobody can figure out what programs are left to cut that would realize the required savings.