Monthly Archives: January 2010

Tuesday’s SUSD budget meeting will be held at Franklin High (agenda below)

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
SUSD’s board meets the next four Tuesdays. The big issue will be the $28.5 million in budget cuts. Anticipating that there will be a great amount of public interest, the next three meetings will be held in high school auditoriums. Tuesday’s meeting will be at Franklin. The Feb. 9 meeting will be at Chavez. The Feb. 16 [...]
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How the Castillo recall might play into the search for SUSD’s next superintendent

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
SUSD’s Superintendent Search Committee — well, two-thirds of it because Sal Ramirez and Beverly Fitch McCarthy were there and Jose Morales wasn’t — met Thursday afternoon at the district office. It was a largely uneventful meeting. Gary Dei Rossi of the San Joaquin County Office of Education presented an updated time line for how the [...]
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SUSD details its proposed central office cuts

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 27, 2010 | 0 Comments
The administration unveiled its budget cutting proposal Monday. You can read all about it here or see the whole thing here. The second-biggest cost saving according to the proposal would come through “Reduction of Central Office expenses.” The district says it has identified $4,539,453 in savings. Here is a detailed list, provided by the district, of [...]
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SUSD Live — Dual-immersion program approved at Pittman

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
Sal Ramirez expressed concern over how the proposed dual-immersion magnet at Pittman would affect the Spanish magnet at Valenzuela. Assistant superintendent of elementary education Kirk Nicholas says there is no connection between Valenzuela and the Pittman proposal and that with 25,000 K-8 students in the district there is room for both. Pittman Principal Adrienne Machado: “Dual-immersion [...]
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SUSD Live — Board meetings will move to the high schools

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
The board is considering moving the four February board meetings to the comprehensive high schools. The district says it will cost $2,700 a meeting to hold the meetings at the remote venues. But it would allow for larger audiences at the meetings that will determine what SUSD cuts from its budget. Vaczovsky said sound equipment would [...]
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SUSD Live — Recall

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
Marie Nakamura said the board has to call an election tonight, but if it doesn’t, it’s in the Registrar of Voters’ hands. Bill Ross has an amendment. He said he spoke with Registrar Austin Erdman. According to Ross, the proponents of the Castillo recall are OK with waiting until June 8 for the recall. So Ross [...]
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SUSD Live — Going a bit deeper on class-size reduction

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
There was much talk tonight about the possibility of dramatically increased class sizes at the K-3 level in SUSD in 2010-11. Intuitively, it makes sense to keep classes small: The fewer students there are in a class, the more attention each student receives, and the better they will do. Right? Researchers have indeed found a [...]
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SUSD Live — Public comment

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
Anne McCaughey: “I chose my outfit for tonight on purpose (black and yellow). I was in kindergarten during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Black and yellow meant civil defense. Children ducked and covered. I’m here tonight for the civil defense of public education, which is under attack. There are not $28 million that can reasonably be [...]
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SUSD Live — TV or not TV

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
On televising meetings, Clem Lee said there have been “very limited conversations” with Comcast. He said Comcast has no interest in taping meetings but is interested in broadcasting meetings. Lee said costs have to be explored. Sal Ramirez suggested streaming the meetings live on the Internet. “It’s one of those things simple in concept. The logistics are [...]
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SUSD Live — Budget presentation

By Roger Phillips | Published: January 26, 2010 | 0 Comments
Vaczovsky says the proposed cuts are the “least onerous” options. He said the district is “past fat, muscle and gristle. We are down to amputation.” “We heard very clearly that sports are important for the students in this community. So we took that off the list.” “We’re hearing from our sources in Sacramento, ‘Brace yourself, folks, because [...]
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