The Desert IndependentTM

Serving Blythe, California & the Desert Regions of the Southwest

“Dime A Dozen” Time Again

Meeting of the Palo Verde Unified School District

By Robert E. Jensen
The Desert Independent

June 26, 2010

BLYTHE, Calif – Two Board members were absent from the past meeting of the Palo Verde Unified School District as Dr. Guith had to attend to a sick family member and Mr. Underwood was held over at work. As such, the two subjects of the current recall effort, Robin Wellman and Jim Carney, held sway in a spare quorum as only Mr. Ulmer was present to defy any motions regarding educators.

One such motion was the “new” School Improvement Grant. This federal grant could bring in monies to bring the PV High School up to par. The only problem is that it affects the teachers adversely by making yearly test scores a significant part of their evaluations, providing incentive monies for improvements that won’t be available to other sites and eradicating tenure protections by demanding the removal of educators who are unable to get test scores up. This would appear to be yet another “put the cart before the horse” initiative by Jim Carney in that there was only a hastily-convened meeting for the High School folks to get the Palo Verde Teacher’s Association approval only hours prior to the last convocation of Trustees – hardly earnest collaboration.

Dr. Yul Whitney argued vociferously that – while the end date for submission is up in the air – there may well be only a “window of opportunity” to apply of but a few days once the state gets it’s affairs in order. Thus, he advocated that the grant be approved by the board regardless of the feelings of the educators. Trustee Jim Carney “dittoed” that notion as the next Board meeting would not be held until July 20th and it would be more convenient for the Board to give prior approval so as not to have to bother with a Special Meeting on the matter. Mr. Ulmer demurred as he felt that the teachers needed to work things out and give it their blessing first. “It’s a small town and we can always have a Special Meeting,” he said.

Bob Bilek, Personnel Director, was asked if there had been any movement on any conversations on the issue and he stated that talks were ongoing and will be scheduled throughout the summer.

Willy Krebbers, new Palo Verde Teachers Association (PVTA) President, took issue with the inclination that there was ongoing collaboration with the teachers and stated:

PVTA cannot endorse the SIG application with an MOU of support as to intent to bargain, for the very culture of our school is suspect when without agreement our High School teachers are now doing benchmark assessments every three weeks and not one thing has changed in terms of a community of learners, no rationale as to expectations of parents, no equitable placement of students, no statement of school culture that enforces expectations with consequences such as, if you do not attend school you are no longer welcome, we have succumbed to the lowest common denominator ADA and nothing else matters. This may be a real indicator as to why no High School teacher teams were at the DAIT week preparing scope and depth guidelines.

To read the entirety of Mr. Krebber’s statement please click HERE.

Mrs. Koivisto, Principal of Margaret White Elementary School, gave a report on the week-long workshop attended by a number of elementary teachers that refocused efforts on the Common Assessments, District Benchmarks, the creation of “Power Standards” and revising the Standards-Based Report Cards. She stated that everyone involved was indeed “involved, excited, happy” and otherwise Pleased as Punch to overhaul these much criticized, time-consuming and undecipherable report cards.

Only one thing was missing from the workshops, however – the parents.

Over 400 voting parents had signed a petition requesting the Board revoke these report cards as they were difficult to understand, there was no provision for “rounding-up,” homework wasn’t “counted” and it was in violation of Board Policy. At the time of testing, numerous parents were “opting-out” their students from taking the STAR tests in protest. Ruth Brown Elementary especially was in tough shape as a reportedly more than 5% of the student population was “opting-out,” making the school as a whole inviolate. Numerous parents were invited to the District Office and schmoozed into allowing their kids to again undergo the rigors of filling in the bubble sheets. Public and private assurances were made by Dr. Whitney to the effect that, when the District meets to revise the way it works, parents would be invited and opinions valued.

Once again, the disconnect with the community from Dr. Whitney is glaring. None of the 400 petitioners was made aware of, much less invited, to the colloquium of teachers where these assessments and report cards were debated. Neither advertisements nor flyers inviting the community to at least attend to place their opinions were let out.

In other matters, Dr. Whitney made his singular choice for the new Twin Palms Principal and Child Welfare Attendance Officer known to the Board and audience. Coming from the Apple Valley Unified School District where she served as Coordinator of Student Services is a Ms. Maria Okpara. Picks for Jacob (PSOJ) Jensen’s position as Coordinator of Special Services and Budget Tsarina’s job were made but these individuals were not introduced nor announced as they were not present.

Ms. Richardson gave a report on the Budgets for the next three years and stated that PVUSD would be in the “clear” for 2010-11 but will be plunging into red ink for the next two school years unless something drastic happens. One of her recommendations was to “freeze” replacing any vacant positions until absolutely necessary – a notion that already overcrowded teachers will surely appreciate. Others were to actually hold summer budget sessions as stated in the Third Interim Report and make sure to keep $2,200,000 in cash on hand daily as this is what is needed for monthly payrolls. This was to be Tsarina Richardson’s last public appearance and the Board recognized her for her efforts as she has resigned to join Dr. Wendell Alan Jensen as Asst. Superintendant of Business Affairs in Val Verde Unified School District.

The next regular scheduled Board meeting will not be held until July 20th with the Public Session convening at 6:00 in the Palo Verde District Offices.

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