The Best Show in Town

By Robert E. Jensen
The Desert Independent

February 16, 2010

BLYTHE, Calif – “How I wish that developing a school budget were as simple as working out one’s own personal finances,” stated PVUSD Supt. Dr. Yul Whitney. Furtive glances and slight smiles were detected in the audience as those “in the know” reflected on the irony of the statement and source.

The evening could be described as a no-news night at the Palo Verde USD Board of Trustees meeting this past week with the exception of the fascination of watching the Board politicos and personalities jockey for penny-power plays. The most fascinating was watching the “Lion in Winter” – the sage and experienced Supt. Norm Guith of Desert Center play with the impetuous new cub on the block, Dr. Yul Whitney of PVUSD. The first sparring of the evening appeared when Dr. Whitney made a startling interruption of Dr. Guith’s questioning of PVHS Principal Marrio Walker as to his feelings regarding the Race to the Top during his Title One presentation.

“He doesn’t know anything.”- interjected a strident Dr. Whitney. “There was a state meeting yesterday that Russ Frank will be presenting on at the next Board Meeting. As such, he does not have the latest information.” Patronizing and defensive, Dr. Whitney allayed Dr. Guith’s further inquiry into the implications of President Obama’s educational foray in regards to the High School.

This would be only the first of several conflicts between the two Superintendents during Tuesday’s meeting. Otherwise, the audience – composed of tired and wan educators and classified staff – came to hear of the latest round of budget cuts planned for approval. There was little grumbling but rather quiet acceptance that this next year, the teaching staff would be expected to do more – what with the new report card formats, DAIT recommendations, class size waivers, et. al. – and, with possible furlough days, be paid less. Others – particularly employees of the CDC – appeared with joyless mien as decisions tonight could again mean the difference between life and poverty.

The Action Item for the closure of the Child Development Center came up prior to discussion of the cost saving measures that would be recommended by Dr. Whitney, and – as such – Dr. Guith moved that this item be voted on only after the full plate of possible budget reductions had been approved.

The dreaded possibilities of the truncation of High School Athletics and closing Blythe Middle School were hardly mentioned as proposed. For the most part, the recommendations went along with the wishes of the Budget Advisory Group what with five-day furloughs and “sweepings” of certain Tier III funds. Dr. Whitney stated to the assembled Board that he had what could be considered the “4:45” proposal as it came to his mind only 15 minutes prior to the Open Meeting. In this proposal, he moved that PVTA, the Teamsters and CSEA agree not just to one year of furloughs, but a multi-year agreement. He was also adamant about keeping the academic “Coaches” for neophyte teachers on the table for the next year. This brought about some more haggling with Dr. Guith as to the propriety of placing the costs of maintaining these “Coaches” into consideration for cuts as well.

To that effect, Dr. Guith asked visiting DAIT presenter Lynette Thomas for her opinion of the “Coaches” and, while Dr. Thomas could not speak for RCOE, she stated that it was her personal opinion that these Teachers on Assignment were crucial for DAIT to succeed. With that, Dr. Guith conjectured that – in that case – DAIT funds could be drawn on to pay for the program for the next year and moved that the Academic Coaches be added for consideration for cuts. There was some obstreperousness regarding the motion, but the experienced Dr. Guith reminded the Board that he knew Robert’s Rules of Order and asked for the Question. With that, Dr. Guith and John Ulmer were in the minority as the motion to consider cutting the “Coaches” was defeated by a 3-2 vote.

Then came the presentation by Suzi Kuykendall as to the financial logic behind closing the Child Development Center effective July 1. Several reasons were given – from aides that had transferred from Head Start with salaries too high to cover, the new competition from Escuela De La Raza’s own CDC, the preying on new applicants from the Don Kuykendall Center at PVCC, etc. etc. It was stated that there was a full 36 students enrolled at this time, but there have been no new applicants to date for next year. The majority of the students would be moving on to Head Start and there is the chance that there will not be enough to maintain the same level of services. Both Dr. Guith and John Ulmer showed skepticism and the motion – again – was tabled until the rest of the budget could be resolved at the next board meeting. As the expected losses from operating the CDC for the next year would approach $80,000, one would remind three members of the board that if they were able to find $78,000 to send Son of Jensen packing back in June, they can find a similar amount to keep this young and at-risk population in school.

All this, hopefully, will be resolved by the February 23d meeting once Dr. Whitney has had a chance to negotiate with all three unions regarding multi-year furlough days.

Previously, in Open Hearing, parent Cindy Logan complained to the Board of the effect the new-and-improved standards-based assessment report cards were having on her 2nd grade daughter. She reported that her student has been depressed since received her first Trimester grades in December as she does not test well. She is able to do the work, does well on regular quizzes and other measures, and spends time on her homework. However, she has come to the conclusion that she may as well join her classmates in not doing her homework “because it doesn’t count anyways.” Parent/Coach Chris Peters also came to the podium with similar concerns. Later in the evening, Capt. Carney requested that a presentation be made on the progress of this innovation at the next Board Meeting as he has heard stories of kids doing from 2-5 hours of work at night and getting discouraged because the assignments are not being counted towards the final grades. Dr. Stier informed the Board he would be happy to do so.

Garth Underwood brought forward his wish to discuss the possibility of enforcing a “Closed Campus” policy at the High School. To this, Dr. Guith, who admitted he is “old but experienced” in this matter asked the Board not to even waste their time in discussing the proposition. There have been moves in prior decades to make for a closed campus but the community and staff have never accepted the concept. The first attempt was the fall opening of school in 1976. Francis “Ted” Arneson was the Principal, Tony Reale was the Vice Principal. They had 6" steel posts placed along the east end of the parking lot on the south side of the school. A large chain was strung between the posts. Then, someone let the kids in and out of the parking lot by lowering the chain. That lasted one day. One the morning of the second day of school when they arrived, they found all of the steel posts had been pulled out of the ground by an enterprising student with a four-wheel drive and a log chain and they were never replaced. So much for the locked parking lot concept. They also tried identification stickers, etc. but to no avail. Michael Gilmore defended a closed campus a decade ago with a study that the Cafeteria was unable to accommodate all the High School students, the need to travel off campus for PVCC courses, ROP welding and carpentry classes down the road as well as the need to triple the supervisory staff in order to keep them in place.

The final note of the night was discussion by John Ulmer and Dr. Guith of the need to backtrack on Dr. Whitney’s schedule of only one Board meeting a month. Mr. Ulmer stated that - with the budget crisis - the Board needs to meet as often as possible and that the Student/Employees of the Month need only be presented at the primary meeting. Serious business and discussion could be taken up more readily on the second meeting of the month.

This, also, will be placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting to be held on March 9, 2010. However, the Special Meeting to discuss budget cuts and possible layoffs – with the promise of being an even better show - will be held at a to-be-announced time on February 23rd.