Our children's safety is always a priority

For obvious reasons, the safety of the children in our schools is always on the minds of parents and staff. They want to know what we are doing to make sure our students are safe after they are dropped off in the morning. Many California schools represent a significant challenge due to the layout of our campuses. When schools were built in California, they took advantage of our great weather and were built in wide open campuses, with many classrooms leading to the outside rather than into a central building that can be easily secured.

With everything that is in the news these days, we have put some thought into how to make our campuses more secure and how to provide an environment conducive to learning. The investment enabled by Bond Measure L has allowed us to add some features to our campuses. For example, we have made sure that all of our elementary schools are completely enclosed by fencing that is at least 6 feet tall. Access is limited to one main gate during the day, so that any visitors to our schools must stop in the office first before going anywhere else. It is important to be able to keep track of who is coming and going while students are at school. 

This year, we installed security cameras at each of our 13 schools. We have also installed simple lock-down devices on the inside of each classroom door, so that teachers can easily and quickly secure their classroom in case of an emergency. 

A couple years ago, I helped BUSD secure a grant to buy and install Automated External Defibrillators at each of our district sites, including the District Office, Central Kitchen, and Maintenance Yard. Our staff has been trained in their use, in case anybody is the victim of sudden cardiac arrest. We also have added a second district nurse to make sure we are able to adequately care for our 7000 students.

The social and emotional well-being of students is important to maintaining a safe learning environment. Therefore, we have invested in social workers at each of our 13 schools. Along with our counseling staff, these valuable employees are able to work with students who are a behavioral risk, which reduces incidents that lead to unsafe interaction between students. We have also put in place an anonymous reporting service at our middle schools so our students can report bullying and other 

I am very proud of all the enhancements we have put in place during my tenure on the Board to keep our students safe and secure. I will continue to make the safety of our students a priority.

Rezoning at the Flea Market

As everyone in Berryessa knows, BART is coming and will terminate (for now) next to the current Berryessa Flea Market. In order to take advantage of this transit hub, the Flea Market is being converted to new housing developments, starting at the north end of the parking lot.

When new housing developments are built, school districts are guaranteed a developer's fee to cover the cost of dealing with the impacts of the new neighborhoods. About 8 years ago, the district negotiated a deal with the Flea Market to take ownership of a parcel of land in lieu of the $6 million developer fees that would have otherwise been due. The land was to be used for a possible new school if demographics dictated the need. 

Recently, the district has concluded that the new housing is not generating the number of new students that had been anticipated. At the same time, the district is experiencing a rapid decline in the number of students living here. This is true across the entire county, due to the high cost of housing and a decline in the birth rates since the recession. The upshot for Berryessa is that our district, which had about 8300 students when I joined the board, is anticipated to serve just over 7000 students next year. As a result, there is plenty of capacity at our current school sites for the small number of new students that the housing at the Flea Market will generate.

Last year, the district entered into a new agreement to sell our land back to the developer so they can build additional housing units there. The land is valued at about $14 million. That money will help the district modernize our existing sites and make sure there is capacity at Vinci Park Elementary School for any new students that arrive due to the new housing developments west of 680.

In order for the deal to be finalized, the City of San Jose must rezone the parcel. There is a community meeting being held on the subject tonight (March 16) at 6:00 at Vinci Park Elementary School. The district and other interested parties will give testimony in order to convince the city to approve the rezoning.

Here are the main points:

1) Our demographer predicts that the Flea Market will only generate 6 students per 100 housing units. The overall district population is declining by over 100 students per year and is more than 1000 students below where it was a decade ago.

2) The property the district owns at the Flea Market is too small for a typical suburban school, which means a school built there would have to be multi-story. That would cost more money. The district currently has no money set aside to build a new school, which could cost $30 million or more.

3) Selling the land back to the Flea Market developers could net the district $14 million, which would allow for expansion at Vinci Park Elementary School if necessary to accommodate an influx of new students. Vinci Park could potentially be turned into a K-8 campus.

4) The school location at the Flea Market isn't an ideal place for a school, with traffic flow issues, close proximity to train tracks, and high density housing surrounding it. 

Please let our City Council member, Manh Nguyen, know that the land transfer is a good deal for Berryessa School District and our entire community, and ask him to support rezoning the property.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative

On October 22, 2015, Trustee Thelma Boac gave an excellent presentation about the origins and goals of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Since there is much confusion about CCSS, I thought it would be great to reproduce the key points of her presentation here. Thanks Thelma!

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The common core  is a state-led initiative effort. It is not part of No Child Left Behind or any other federal initiative. The federal government played no role in the development of the initiative.
In fact, the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Act forbids the federal government from intervening in school curriculum development.

State adoption of Common Core State Standards is in no way mandatory. States began the work to create clear consistent standards well before the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and even before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act blueprint was adopted.

In 2008-2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided $35M to a consortium of two non-governmental associations - the National Governors Associations and Council of Chief State School Officers Associations - for the purpose of developing and implementing a new education system in the United States. They called this The Common Core State Standards Initiative and published the plan in December of 2009. State leaders including governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states and two territories and the District of Columbia came together and decided to develop common college and career ready standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.

The process included defining expectations for what every child should know and be able to do when they graduate from high school. The group set to work creating content standards for grades K-12 aligned with these expectations. States relied on workgroups of educators, representatives of higher education, and other experts to write the standards with significant input from the public in 2009 and 2010.  After this process, states appointed a validation committee to review the final standards. Final standards were published in 2010 and available for each state to review, consider, and voluntarily adopt.

The Common Core State Standards are internationally benchmarked—meaning standards from top performing countries played a significant role in the development of the math and English Language arts/literacy standards.

The Common Core State Standards are important for the following reasons:

• High Standards are consistent across states.
• Standards are aligned to the expectations of colleges, workforce, training programs and employers.
• CCSS promotes equity by ensuring all students are well prepared to collaborate and compete with their peers in the U.S. and abroad.
• Unlike the previous standards, which varied from state to state, this enables collaboration among states.

It is important to note that Common Core is not a curriculum—it is a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed.  Local teachers and administrators will decide how the standards are to be met.  Teachers will continue to devise lesson plans and tailor instructions to the individual needs of students.

Common Core is and will remain a state-led effort and individual states will drive its implementation. There are no data collection requirements for states adopting the standards.  Any data collected as a result of assessments are up to the discretion of each state. The standards are designed to build upon the most advanced current thinking about preparing all students for success in college, career and life.

Common core standards recognize that both content and skills are important. 

Berryessa School District is committed to the complete implementation of Common Core State Standards and heavily focused on professional development required to ensure that teachers have the tools they need to apply these standards in their classrooms.

Give budgetary control back to school boards

One of Governor Brown's main philosophies related to school funding is giving control and accountability to local school boards when it comes to budgetary decisions.  That is why last year's action to potentially cap local district reserves was so surprising. There is a bill in the legislature to modify the reserve limit. In the Aug. 27 Mercury News, I encouraged the state legislature to pass the legislation:

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As a school board member for nine years, I have pushed hard to spend every available resource on services for students. That includes fairly compensating our employees for the tremendous work they do every day.

We have an obligation to make sure that our spending is sustainable beyond the current year. Using one-time money, as Jan Frydendahl (Letter, Aug. 25) suggests, to provide employee salaries can put districts in a bind in future years. Negotiations and spending plans are driven by three-year budgets in order to guarantee a healthy reserve is maintained three years into the future.

Many school districts only survived the last recession by spending down reserves that were responsibly saved during stable times. The state must return budgetary control to local school boards by passing SB 799, which will allow school districts to do long-term planning as they prepare their budgets.

David Cohen
Trustee, Berryessa Union School District

Optimism Abounds as New School Year Approaches

Too many times in the past, I had written blog posts decrying the poor state of school funding in California, which required that we make tough choices as a school district and cut crucial programs. Fortunately, the economy has been improving for the past few years. Governor Brown and the legislature have shown a strong commitment to investing in public education. So I am optimistic that funding for schools will continue to grow as long as the economy remains healthy. (It is important to keep in mind that another recession could occur and that Prop. 30 is expiring over the next two years, so the state's continued general fund growth is not certain.)

California was 48th in the nation in per-pupil funding just a couple of years ago. It looks like we have moved up closer to the average. Average shouldn't be good enough - as the home of the 7th largest economy in the world, we should be in the top ranks of funding for schools. And while funding has grown significantly since the nadir of the Great Recession, being back at 2007 funding levels means that we haven't seen any growth in nearly a decade. The Governor's Local Control Funding Formula set a target for school funding that won't be reached until after 2020, even at projected funding growth rates.

Having said all that, this past year has finally put us in a position to invest in Berryessa Schools again. We are strategically adding services and restoring cuts, and there have been some exciting changes put in place for the upcoming school year. 

I am very pleased that we have made social emotional well being of our students a key element of our Strategic Plan. Last year, we invested in having a full time social worker at each of our middle schools. But success in this area starts with our elementary school students. So this year, we are funding 3 full time social workers for our elementary schools, which means that the baseline level of support at each of our 10 elementary schools is 1 1/2 days per week. We are also adding two part time English Language teachers to enhance service to our EL students.

As we add more and more technology at our school sites, there is a greater need for somebody at each site to manage and maintain the computers that our students use. We have added funding this year so that each site will have a Technology Champion on the staff. 

It has been nearly two decades since we have invested district money in new materials for our school libraries. This year, we have set aside $5000 for each school to buy new books and other instructional materials.

Other cuts that have stretched our staff are being reversed. All school clerks are now back to the number of hours they had before the recession. And this year, we are adding a new custodian, although we are still several positions below where we were in 2008.

Finally, I am very pleased that our growing resources have allowed us to provide financial rewards to our dedicated employees. They sacrificed so much during the difficult years. Over the past two school years, we have negotiated increase an increase in total compensation for each employee of about 12%. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of paying our employees, but we are closer to the target than we have been in a long time.

The district is working hard to be ready for the start of the school year. We look forward to seeing all the students back on campus on Monday, August 24.

Common Core Integrated Math

This year the Berryessa School District completes our transition to Common Core instructional standards.  I have previously written about these new standards and the new tests that come along with it.  However, this is the year that middle school math takes the plunge.

Common Core standards rely less on students memorizing math facts and more on gaining a deeper understanding of the concepts behind formulas and calculations.  In the traditional mathematics model, students might have done well on tests because they learned the mechanics of math, but they didn't build a strong foundation for applying math to real life problems in the future.  This is the reason that many students, even those who do well in math class, claim to "hate math" and are less likely to pursue careers in science and technology.

Common core math will build that foundational understanding of mathematical concepts.  At the middle and high school level, this means going away from the traditional sequence of math instruction.  No longer will students take algebra, followed by geometry and algebra II.  All of these subjects will be covered at various levels of complexity each year.  And the curriculum is taught in a more interactive way.  Students learn better when they learn in groups, do more hands-on projects, and teach each other.  That is the way Common Core math will be taught in our middle schools.

Our district, in conjunction with the East Side Alliance, is transitioning to this new math approach.  This is the final year during which some 8th grade students will have the option to take geometry so that they can complete pre-calculus courses by the end of 10th grade.  The East Side Union High School District will be offering Algebra II next year to incoming 9th graders who take geometry this year.  Starting next year, students will be able to accelerate in the Common Core Curriculum so that those who are eligible can take High School Integrated Math II (10th grade level) in 9th grade.

Common Core integrated math is an exciting new approach to math instruction and will provide students with a strong foundation for 21st century careers.

Our Local Control Accountability Plan

For the 2013-2014 school year, California took bold action to change the way funds are allocated to school districts.  The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) provides a baseline level of funding and allocates additional money above baseline for targeted disadvantaged students.  

In addition to changing the formula for funding, the new model provides flexibility to local school boards to tailor services to the local needs of students in their districts.  Rather than proscribe the way the supplemental money is spent, as traditionally done through categorical programs, districts are to develop programs that work best for their students' needs. 

In order to remain accountable to the local needs of students and the community, all California school districts are required to develop a Local Control Accountability Plan, which must be adopted by the Board of Trustees by July 1.  As part of the process, districts are required to seek community input into their accountability plans.  The Berryessa School District has been soliciting input from stakeholders over the past few months.  Meetings have been held with community groups, parents, teachers, classified staff, students, and the Board of Trustees.  In addition, over 700 surveys were collected both online and on paper forms.

The LCAP will be finalized using a template developed by the State Board of Education.  The draft plan will be presented at a public hearing on Tuesday, June 3.  Members of the community are invited to come at 7:00 to hear about the draft plan and provide input.  After this final round of public comment is incorporated into the plan, the Board of Trustees will approve the final LCAP at the June 17 Board meeting and the plan will be submitted to the County Office of Education.

Key themes that emerged from the stakeholder engagement period include the importance of thoughtful implementation of Common Core Standards, a focus on social emotional skills and mental health, expanded science education, parent education and involvement, expanded electives and enrichment programs, increased access to technology, and professional development for staff and parents.  As a result, the district, during the 2014-15 school year, intends to invest in school social workers, instructional coaches focused on science, technology, and English learners, a new math initiative, additional special education classes, anti-bullying programs, advanced learner programs, professional development for all staff, and a Parent University.

Please join us on Tuesday, June 3 to learn more about the district's LCAP and to provide your input.  The plan draft can be viewed here.

The Importance of Transparency

Politics is about the free and open discussion of ideas.  While much of the focus is often on disagreement, a healthy community should welcome varying views about the best path to get to our shared common goals.  But when there are disagreements over process or even the end point, it is particularly important that ideas are shared openly and fairly.

In the 2012 election cycle, there was a shadow group from Arizona that dumped millions of dollars into California's political cycle in order to defeat Proposition 30 and support Proposition 32.  They created the group in order to hide who was really funding their political activities.  California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) stepped up and sued them for not publicly disclosing their funding sources and filing the appropriate reports.  Fortunately, California law is clear and the group was found in violation. 

Currently in Berryessa, there is a small group of people who are intent on undermining the district's attempt to raise revenue the Board and District believe is desperately needed to bring our facilities up to 21st century standards, ensure a safe and secure learning environment, and offer modern technology to our students.  There is nothing wrong with legitimate debate about whether or not the district needs the community to provide this investment and the best way to structure any bonds.  However, this group of individuals began leaving leaflets on cars in front of schools and placing ads in local newspapers without any identifying information.

The materials contain unknown group names such as "Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education" and "Coalition Advisory Committee on Fiscal Reform."  State campaign law says that such groups must file paperwork with the state so that interested parties can find out who is funding them, if they are advocating for or against ballot measures or candidates.  

When no such paperwork was found, I filed a private complaint with the FPPC to try to shed light on these groups.  The FPPC has informed me that the anonymous nature of these groups' activities would be a violation of California election law once there is an actual ballot measure placed on the ballot.  Since the Board has not yet decided whether to place a bond measure on the ballot, there is no transparency required by any groups campaigning against the district.  They encouraged me to refile my complaint once the district takes action to place a bond on the ballot, if anonymous political activity continues.

While there may not yet be any violation of the letter of the law, there is no question that the spirit of the law has not been met in this case.  I will continue to advocate for transparency in all political activity in our community.  I welcome all public discussion of the issues surrounding the district's need for a bond measure, but the public should know who is behind all sides of the debate.

Kevin Costello Explains Why Berryessa Needs a New Bond

At this week's Board Meeting, community member and retired teacher/counselor Kevin Costello gave an impassioned speech about the district's need for a bond measure.  He ran out of time to complete the entire message, so I am posting it in its entirety here.  Thanks Kevin for always being there for the students of Berryessa. 

"I have been serving the district continuously since 1975 as a teacher, counselor, and now a community member.  I am currently serving on the Measure W oversight committee and the steering committee for the new bond measure.  When I retired, Jack Owens said he had one more gift for me after he gave me the bell...  He gave me a ream of paper representing all the grievances I filed against the district.  If the district was doing something wrong I was there to challenge the status quo and when it is doing something right I'm there to stand by her and that's why I'm here tonight.

"I support your efforts to pass a new bond to improve the infrastructure of our aging schools and bring more security and upgrades to enhance the learning of our children.  When I transferred to Morrill in 1991 I found that the school was in poor shape...  Original carpets still there from 1972, all the classrooms were in need of paint.  The water from all the spickets ran a rusty color.  There was no gym so no home games as the indoor basketball court was in the multi-use room and too small.  We'd get hand me down furniture from companies that went belly up for our library and offices.  

"Then, a couple of years later my wife transferred over to Morrill from Vinci Park with her principal and a couple of others.  Now my wife was a new teacher mentor and so when the new teachers came at the beginning of each new school year well we'd jump in and paint their classrooms with an off-white color of hope.  (One year we got 6 new teachers so I got pretty good with a paint roller.) The principal asked me to build a couple of walls in the library to make a computer lab.  Did I mention that the roof leaked for a number of years on those worn out old brown carpets?   

"Finally the district decided to have a measure G for infrastructure improvement so I got on the committee and was hopeful that finally we would get some needed improvements.  But dog gone it if some community members were opposed to improving our schools for this reason or that.  Well a couple more years passed and the district tried for another bond Measure B and it passed but it cost the community an extra 2 million dollars.  But at least we'd get some needed improvements.  And we did!  We got all fixed up, a new gym, new carpet, fresh paint, heating and air conditioning that worked, and a new roof.  One year our API shot up 64 points!

"Let's fast forward now to 2014 deja vu.  Same players trying to sabotage your efforts to make the schools safer and ensure the future of our children and improve the quality of our community.  

"When I was a counselor a key component was confidentiality.  But you know there is another side to that coin.  Do you know what it is?  It's the duty to warn.  And that's why I'm here tonight.  Look at the private schools Challenger, Merryhill, Milpitas Christian.  All fenced.  Since the Sandy Hook tragedy of Dec. 2012 (14 months ago) there have been another 28 school shootings.

"And in every community they all said "how could this happen here?"  Could it happen here?  It already has.  Do you know you Al Joseph Deguzman is?  He went to Morrill but is best known for being the De Anza bomber.  Even though he was stopped it already happened here.  Do we really have a choice in making our schools safer today?

"Opposition to the new bond will only support the vandals, the thieves, the arsonists, and the intruders that prey upon our open school campuses.  This past year 6 cars were broken into at Noble, a homeless man was using the bathroom at Cherrywood, park users were using the bathroom at Majestic Way and at Summerdale there was an intruder.  

"I would like to invite anyone who is opposed to this new bond measure to sit down with me and the Superintendent and have a few cups of tea.  I'd like to share with them some of the stories I have of protecting our campus at Morrill for 20 years.  I'll tell them about the intruders I've dealt with.  The vandalism I've seen.  I'll tell them about the arsonist I helped apprehend and a number of graffiti cases I solved. 

"I'm tired of our schools being sitting ducks.  Tired of our teachers getting their cars ripped off while they are teaching our children, tired of having our trees cut down, our classrooms, burned, our roof tops the campsites of the homeless, our metal stair railings stolen in the middle of the night.  I'm tired of the graffiti that our children must see after a long weekend or school break.  I'm tired of homeless men panhandling parents in our parking lots as they drop students off, I'm tired of the lame excuses used by intruders when they speak to the police about why they were on our campuses.  Book 'em Dano.  There should be a no tolerance law for intruders so they spend at least one night in jail thinking about their poor judgement.  

"The times we live in dictate adding a blanket of security to our schools and providing what's needed to ensure our students can compete with the rest of the global community.  

"Finally, there are community watchdogs and puppy dogs.  

"Watchdogs
 - Sit and listen to the pack for long periods of time
 - Respected by the pack and usually win elections easily
 - Keen observers with one eye always fixed on the big picture
 - Know the culture of their community
 - When they act it's decisive
 - They engage in oversight as a matter of routine

"Puppy Dogs
 - Come late and leave early
 - Nip at the watchdogs to gain attention
 -  Usually have a singular focus
 - Don't know the whole culture of their community
 - When they do act it is usually rebuked
 - Find fault with oversight but never serve on oversight committees

"I hope this community appreciates the great watchdogs they have, and I hope that the community comes together and wises up about the culture that preys on our schools, and I hope the community acts in a decisive way to build up our schools and our community.  We can do this and we should do this.  

So community wake up, wise up, and stand up for our schools and support this needed Bond Measure."

Stragetic Plan

After several years of talking about developing a long-term strategic plan for the Berryessa School District, the Board held a one-day retreat in early December to put together a plan with three-year goals for the district.  The retreat included a broad cross section of community members and district employees.  We spent the day brainstorming about the strengths and weaknesses of the district, developing three-year goals and then working in small teams to create a 6-month action plan. 

The Board officially approved the Strategic Plan at our Jan. 21 meeting and the goals have been disseminated out to the school sites so that everyone is aware of the primary objectives for the district.  Each month, the Board will receive a report on progress toward the 6-month objectives and the entire Strategic Planning group will reconvene in May to review the results, adjust the goals, and develop the next action plan.

The first exciting outcome from the retreat was a modernization of the district's Mission Statement.  We continue to focus on developing lifelong learners, but the statement now includes a nod to the 21st century and the global nature of our society.  We are proud to live in as diverse a community as Berryessa, which is a microcosm for the entire world.  All our students need to be prepared not just for college and career, but to be contributing members of an ever shrinking world.  Therefore, our new Mission Statement reads:

Berryessa Union School District provides all students the skills to become lifelong learners and successful 21st century global citizens.

We formulated 5 key 3-year goals for the district, which I hope you agree capture key things that will make our district successful in achieving our mission and improving the educational outcomes for the students we serve.  The five goals are:

1. Ensure a safe learning environment
2. Enhance proficiency in the 4 C's: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity
3. Enhance technology
4. Provide professional development for all staff
5. Increase parent and community involvement and education

Each of these broad goals is supported by a 6-month action plan to get the district on its way to being successful.  The full strategic plan with the action plans is posted on the district website.  These plans include detailed timelines and names of those responsible for implementation.  I look forward to regular reports from the district on how well each of these plans is being implemented.

Local Control Accountability Plan Testimony

California Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature took bold action in 2013 to change the way funds are allocated to school districts.  The so-called Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) allocates additional money above baseline for targeted disadvantaged students.  One of the exciting things about the new funding model is that it provides flexibility to local school boards to tailor services to the local needs of students in their districts.  Rather than proscribe the way the supplemental money is spent, as traditionally done through categorical programs, districts are supposed to be able develop district- and school-wide programs that work best for their students' needs.  School boards will then be accountable for the success of their programs.

The legislation left it up to the State Board of Education (SBE) to develop spending regulations to guide districts through the process of creating a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).  The Berryessa Union School District is sending out surveys and holding constituent meetings to gather input as we develop the LCAP for the 2014-15 school year.  As the SBE develops the regulations, they are under lots of pressure to put restrictions on the ways districts can spend their money.  This may end up taking much of the local control back from school boards.  

Next week, SBE is holding a hearing to gather input on the spending regulations.  Since I am unable to be in Sacramento on Thursday, I sent the following letter to SBE today in place of providing personal testimony.

January 9, 2014

President Michael Kirst and Members
California State Board of Education
1430 N. Steet, #5111
Sacramento, CA  95814

Re: January Meeting Agenda Items 20 & 21: Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)

Dear President Kirst and Members of the State Board of Education:

As a member of the Berryessa School Board, I am very excited about the promise of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).  The flexibility afforded districts to spend resources as they see fit allows local priorities to be met and makes the board more accountable to local stakeholders.  Our district takes very seriously the requirements that LCFF planning needs requires a focus on equity and transparency.  We held a discussion at our December Board meeting to discuss plans for developing a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) that meets the needs of our very diverse district.  

The process is beginning right away, with meetings being held at school sites and with other stakeholder groups in the district, to make sure that the plan reflects the needs of our students and families.  We will be surveying parents and members of the community and involving all constituents in the process.

One of the best parts of the spending regulations as proposed is that they allow districts to decide how best to serve their own students.  Districts will be held accountable for results without being proscribed on how to spend added resources.  In addition, LCFF allows for the development of both district- and school-wide programs and services.  Both are important in promoting student achievement and success.  There are many different educational models that can achieve good educational outcomes, and it should be left to local districts to decide the best way to allocate the money to achieve those outcomes.  

Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my comments with you and for your thoughtful approach to developing the spending regulations that govern the implementation of LCFF.  

Sincerely,
David Cohen
Trustee, Berryessa Union School District

Common Core is Here!

If you have a school-age student, you may have noticed that education strategies have changed a little bit this year.  Teachers in the Berryessa School District are embracing the transition to the new Common Core standards.  These standards have been adopted by 45 states in order to allow for consistency no matter where families move during their children's school years.  

The main purpose of Common Core is to help students become college and career ready by being "robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers."  The standards stress critical thinking and promote a conceptual understanding of math and language arts material.  That is why the standards in math, for example, ask for more than learning and repeating techniques, but also the ability to explain why techniques and methods apply to different kinds of problems.  

Common Core standards stress Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking.  When I visit classrooms, I see students working on group projects and utilizing team learning.  I see teachers drilling down to make sure students truly understand the context of what they are learning.  In the long run, this kind of learning will better prepare our future adults to be successful in whatever endeavors they choose.

Changing standards will require a new way of evaluating student performance.  Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, students will take computer based assessments that are able to adjust the level of the questions on the fly, depending on how students perform during the test.  This will allow a more accurate and thorough evaluation.  

Implementing these new Smarter Balanced Assessments requires a robust technology infrastructure since tests will no longer be done using #2 pencils, but will instead require a computer for each student.  The State of California has decided that this year should focus on preparing students for the new testing next year.  Therefore, the state has suspended STAR testing for the current school year.  Schools will pilot the Smarter Balanced Assessment instead. 

There are many resources available online to learn more about Common Core standards.  The Curriculum Corner offers a simple summary of Common Core Standards.  The California Department of Education website provides an overview of Common Core and details of the state standards.  And you can take a pilot Common Core test on your own computer at Smarter Balanced's site.

Time to Invest in District's Infrastructure

The schools in the Berryessa School District are all more than 35 years old, and a few are more than 50 years old.  As a result, our students spend their days in outdated facilities.  Some of our school libraries are too small and some schools don't have a true stage for performances.  The electrical systems are unable to handle modern demands.  In some cases, fuses blow when more than 2 computers are plugged in at the same time.  Our plumbing needs an overhaul.

Other key pieces of the infrastructure are beginning to fail.  Last year, Sierramont Middle School's boiler shut down during the coldest part of winter, and the district had to spend nearly $200,000 for temporary and permanent fixes.  Last week, the power went out in a portion of Vinci Park Elementary School for an hour.  There are leaky roofs in the district office.  The district's central kitchen is small and the lack of modern equipment limits the kinds of meals we can serve in our school cafeterias.

Our maintenance team does a great job keeping things working, but a time comes when major upgrades are in order.  In addition, the maintenance yard is so old that it isn't a safe place to work.

The integration of 21st century technology into our schools requires modernization of the electrical systems and internet backbone and new models on how to structure classroom learning.  We started the process of upgrading our internet infrastructure a few years ago, and used a series of bonds and loans to finance it.

Becoming more energy independent will save the district money from our general fund.  Installing solar can reduce our monthly energy bill, freeing up resources to pay for critical classroom needs, as well as ensure that our salaries are competitive with other districts in Santa Clara County.

Addressing all of these needs will require the community to invest in our schools.  That is why the School Board is considering placing a bond on the ballot in 2014.  Polls show that we have strong support from the community to address all of the things I outlined above.  Anyone who cares about educating our children and has been watching the state of California school support knows that this investment is necessary.

Bond money could not be used to augment our general fund, as the money would be earmarked for facilities upgrades and additions.  Given all the unfunded needs in our classrooms, we have not been able to set aside the money needed to make these upgrades.  The modest parcel tax that property owners pay in the district augments our classroom funding, but is unavailable for infrastructure spending.

There is a misperception floating around that because we are a declining enrollment district, we don't need to invest in our schools.  While our district has gotten smaller by about 200 students, that is no reason to deny the 7,800 who remain the best possible facilities so that they can become a key part of the 21st century economy.  And the large amount of development occurring in Berryessa, particularly at the flea market, means that it is likely we will be serving even more students in another decade.

It is time to make important infrastructure investments in our schools.  Our Berryessa children deserve nothing less.

Science Camp and Other School Activities

There has been a lot of confusion reigning since AB 1575 was adopted this year, codifying into California's Education Code the rules governing how schools collect fees from students.  The rules were required after a lawsuit (Jane Doe and Jason Roe v. The State of California) found that California was illegally allowing students to be denied opportunities in school based on their ability to pay fees.  The lawsuit reaffirmed the principle that public schools must afford an equal opportunity for all students to participate in anything related to the educational mission.

A great summary of the issues raised by AB 1575 can be found in an EdSource report written in March of this year.  Many school districts reacted with abundant caution earlier this year when evaluating how to proceed with various programs that cost money and that couldn't easily be covered out the districts' general funds.  For example, how will schools pay for all the supplies needed by students in the classroom, musical instruments needed for band, uniforms for PE and sports, and enrichment trips by clubs and music programs?  There was some temptation to cancel programs rather than risk being on the hook for all the money that used to be collected from students.

One thing has always been clear.  It is still ok to ask those participating in school activities to make donations and raise money to help fund them.  But is it ever ok to simply charge people to participate?

A management advisory published by the California Department of Education helps clarify this questions, providing a list of 20 things for which a district CAN charge, including Science Camp and Field Trips.  It is ok to charge students for their participation in these activities, as long as no student is denied participation if they are unable to pay.  Therefore, it will still be necessary to raise money in order to cover the students who will not be able to cover their own costs.  (Anyone who would like to make a donation to their neighborhood school in order to cover  those students who can't afford to pay, please visit the school office and ask them how.)

One of the most memorable activities for 5th graders in the Berryessa School District is Science Camp.  Each of our schools sends 5th graders for a week at one of the local outdoor science camps.  Most schools attend Walden West in the beautiful redwood forest above Saratoga.  As our elementary schools prepare for this year's trip, they can continue to charge students as they have in the past. 

It is very important that our students continue to be afforded the educational opportunities of music, PE, science, and field trips as part of a well-rounded school program.  I will continue to work with the Board of Trustees and district administration to make sure that we find a way to continue to offer all of these programs.

Celebrating our Students and Preparing for the Future

It is always wonderful to spend the second week of June celebrating the promotion of our 5th graders to middle school and our 8th graders to high school.  They have such pride as they walk across the stage to collect their certificates, knowing that they have much to look forward to in life.  Their futures are even brighter now that Governor Brown and the California legislature have agreed on a budget that finally treats education as a top priority.

Last week's state budget includes an exciting new method for funding K-12 schools in California.  The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) gives local school districts more flexibility on how money is spent and allocates higher levels of funding for school districts with large numbers of disadvantaged students, including English-language learners, foster youth, and those from low-income households.  The final budget includes a higher base grant than the Governor had proposed in May, and helps get schools on track to recover to pre-recession funding levels.  The budget also includes $4 billion to pay back deferrals owed to school districts, along with $1.25 billion in one-time funding to support the implementation of Common Core standards, which schools must implement in 2014. 

What does all this mean for the Berryessa School District?  We are still waiting to get the final numbers, but this week the Board approved a budget that includes income that is more than $2.5 million above the level from 2012-2013.  Once all the additional funding added this month by the legislature is taken into account, there could be another $1 million in income for our district.  

The budget is good news, and means that we can begin to rebuild the programs that have been cut to the bone over the past decade.  The Board will reconvene on July 16 to review (with our new Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal Services) the updated budget numbers and begin to discuss our priorities for adding services that are so desperately needed in our schools.

One thing is clear.  Our teachers must get a raise so that they can be adequately compensated for the tremendous work they do and so that our district can remain competitive with others in our region.  I am confident that we will find a way to provide a salary increase for all our staff in the coming year.  I also look forward to having discussions on making sure we have adequate support in the following areas: counseling services; in-school suspension programs in our middle schools; campus security; custodial and maintenance support; library services; and modern information technology.

I am very pleased that we took a modest but important step this week to improve customer service in our school offices by instructing the district to add an hour of time to our school clerks.  It is our secretaries and clerks that serve as the public face of our schools, manage all school data, deal with children and parents who come into the office, and help students who are injured or sick.  Our schools have been understaffed for that past few years as a result of our need to very conservatively manage our district's budget.

I hope everyone enjoys their summer.  The Board will be hard at work to make sure the district is prepared to provide the best education possible in the coming school year.