Monthly Archives: November 2009

Proposition would make parents the only people who could choose curriculum

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 25, 2009 | 0 Comments
Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today that the proponent of a new initiative has been cleared to begin collecting signatures on a measure that would prohibit public schools from establishing educational curriculum. Here’s the attorney general’s official title and summary of the measure: PROHIBITS PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM ESTABLISHING EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM.  INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Changes [...]
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DA: No charges in Morales incident with Mendez-Kuan

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 24, 2009 | 0 Comments
There’s still the possibility of a recall election to remove Jose Morales from the SUSD board. But he no longer has to worry about the Nov. 1 incident in which he was accused of interfering with campaign worker Cecilia Mendez-Kuan as she circulated petitions calling for his recall. San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau, a [...]
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SUSD SARB hearing part of Channel 6 documentary

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 24, 2009 | 0 Comments
It’s been about two years since a Johns Hopkins researcher dropped the tag of “dropout factory” on Franklin, Stagg and Edison high schools. Months later, state statistics cited SUSD for having a staggering four-year dropout rate of 54.2 percent. And then, through a combination of hard work and improved bookkeeping, SUSD stunningly lowered its dropout [...]
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On the Stagg budget forum, electives, SLCs and Success For All

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 20, 2009 | 0 Comments
The turnout at Stagg last night was much better than that at Franklin the night before. I’d guess about 60 people were in the Stagg auditorium at one time or another and it lasted about 90 minutes, as opposed to 40 minutes the night before at Franklin. There’ll be more about the forums in the paper [...]
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Petitions submitted for Morales recall

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 19, 2009 | 0 Comments
The proponents of SUSD Trustee Jose Morales’ recall beat a Thursday afternoon deadline and submitted 2,411 signatures to the Registrar of Voters about 40 minutes ago. The trio of opponents dropping off the signatures included Anthony Silva, whom Morales defeated in last year’s election. The Registrar of Voters has 30 business days to validate the signatures. [...]
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Small turnout for SUSD’s first public budget forum

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 18, 2009 | 0 Comments
Tonight, SUSD held the first of four public forums on the district’s budget situation. SUSD is expecting funding cuts from the state to result in 2010-11 budget cuts of at least $20.1 million. The forum was at Franklin High. According to district officials, parents and caregivers received several phone messages in advance of the meeting. Yet [...]
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Raising funds for science camp

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 18, 2009 | 0 Comments
A crowd of third- through sixth-graders packed the cafeteria at Elmwood Elementary this morning for the kickoff of a countywide effort to raise funds to send children to science camp. Between now and April, students at numerous schools around San Joaquin County will be selling raffle tickets at $5 a pop. The grand prize, to [...]
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SUSD Live — 8:03 p.m.

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 17, 2009 | 0 Comments
Jason Willis says the district has about $10 million in reserves. It used to be $25 million but the district used a big chunk this year. The district is required to keep at least 6.7 million in reserve. CSEA’s Marilyn Brown said she was concerned that cuts would be at the expense of classified workers. Interim [...]
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SUSD Live — 7:32 p.m.

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 17, 2009 | 0 Comments
STA President Anne McCaughey questioned some of Jason Willis’ data. She said the average teacher makes about $55,000, not $63,000, and that when veteran teachers retire, it lowers the average salary further. “The implication is that teachers are eating up all the money,” she said. “I think that’s very misleading.”
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SUSD Live — 7:13 p.m.

By Roger Phillips | Published: November 17, 2009 | 0 Comments
CFO Jason Willis is leading an informational session on the budget for the board. California leads the U.S. with 6.2 million students, and its teachers have the highest average salary in the U.S. at $63,640. California, however, spends only $7,571 per student, 47th in the U.S. It has 92 students per staff member, 50th in the [...]
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