TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

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TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:26 pm

The board meeting this evening is being presented in two parts. Part one covers the "Budget and LCAP Workshop" which was held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Part two will cover the regular board meeting which begins at 6:00 p.m. So, here are some highlights from the Budget and LCAP Workshop.

1. LCAP stands for Local Control and Accountability Plan and is a new way of organizing state funding of public schools. Much of the workshop was devoted to explaining these changes, while at the same time outlining specific budgetary issues to be dealt with by the local district over the next couple years. Superintendent Olney presented the entire workshop. Audience members (all employees of the district) were provided with a summary packet. If Mr. Olney approves, I'll post the summary packet on the school website (http://www.trona.k12.ca.us) probably on the Community page.

2. Interesting Facts: Approximately 50% of the district's income comes from royalties. Approximately 64% of the budget is paid as salaries to personnel, which is low compared to most districts where the figure is likely to be about 85%. Enrollment has declined 30% in the last five years from 350 students in 2008/2009 to 244 in 2013/2014. Revenues exceeded expenditures each of the last three years. Seventy-three percent of the students attending TJUSD qualify as low income and this qualifies the district for $176K in supplemental/concentration grant revenue for the 2014/2015 school year. Fiscal year 2013/2014 has the highest ending fund balance of any year in the last ten years with an amount of over $8.5M.

3. ADA calculation is changing to reflect the yearly cost of educating students at different grade levels:
K-3 $7014 per student
4-6 $7119 per student
7-8 $7331 per student
9-12 $8494 per student

4. Upcoming Financial Challenges: Several curriculum (textbook) adoptions, facilities (including $750k for gym roof repairs), increased contributions to STRS (teacher retirement system).

5. Currently $475K of royalty is applied to projected budget. Mr. Olney proposed to increase this to $750K. Also reserve for economic uncertainty will be increased by same amount. This adjustment is proposed since it more accurately reflects current spending patterns. As some of you will recall, FCMAT recommended that royalties not be used to pay for ongoing costs and so only $475K has been budgeted based on previous year royalty income. No year in the past ten years has dipped below $800K and so upping the amount to $750K seems reasonable.

6. The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) consists of three sections: Stakeholder Engagement, Goals and Progress Indicators, and Actions, Services, and Expenditures. Priorities include teacher assignments and credentials, implementation of state standards, parent involvement, pupil achievement and engagement, school climate, course access, etc. Basically the LCAP is a comprehensive plan for ensuring that school districts meet all their obligations and fulfill their obligations in a very thorough and conscientious manner. Goals include:
a) All students will be prepared for success in college and career.
b) All students in need... will achieve high, rigorous standards.
c) All students will develop skills necessary to be productive members of the community.
d) All students will have access to modern and technologically advanced classrooms.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:55 pm

Part Two: The regular board meeting began just after six and was over in less than a half hour. There aren't many highlights, but here are a few items of special interest:

1) Mr. Olney stated that he expects to receive bids from companies for the installation of the new wireless network soon. It is hoped that the network will be up and running early during the 2014/2015 school year.

2) Two custodians were hired with the board approving this action item with a 5-0 vote.

3) There was minimal discussion of most of the other items and everything that was up for vote was approved unanimously.

4) Special Meeting - Thursday, June 19th at 3:30 p.m.

5) July Regular Meeting Rescheduled: July 21st which is a Monday. Be sure to check the school website (http://trona.k12.ca.us) for meeting announcements and that sort of thing.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby wildrose » Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:57 am

blackturtle.us wrote:3. ADA calculation is changing to reflect the yearly cost of educating students at different grade levels:
K-3 $7014 per student
4-6 $7119 per student
7-8 $7331 per student
9-12 $8494 per student

I like this increasing funding scale. Not only does it acknowledge the fact that more and more costly materials and equipment are needed to educate older students, but it also provides incentive for schools to work harder to keep teenagers from dropping out. A lot of kids lose interest in school during their high school years and there's plenty that schools can do to keep kids engaged in the educational process.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby desertrat » Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:58 am

Cyberbullying 2.0: New Apps Allow Tormentors to Post Anonymously
This may literally be the dumbest news report I've ever seen. First of all, mean comments are no big deal and kids should be taught that such comments are nothing to worry about. It just takes a little rational discussion and the problem evaporates. Instead we have fake experts and security companies raking in big bucks in an attempt to deal with the imaginary problem. At one point a fake expert says that living in a world where people can make mean comments anonymously is like living in the mind of a psychopath. That may win the dumbest comment of the century award and is just so incredibly stupid at so many levels. At another point in this news report we learn that a high school went to the expense of putting up an electronic fence in order to keep an app called YikYak from being used on campus. Again and again we hear anonymity demonized as a big part of the make-believe problem. This propaganda blitz against anonymity is quite troubling. Anonymity is good. It allows people to express unpopular opinions. Sometimes people abuse anonymity in trivial ways, but no big deal. So what!!! Anonymity scares big corporations and big government because it allows citizens to slip the rug out from under them. That's why we see a news report (propaganda piece) like this.
:curse:

(Also posted to Regulating the Internet topic. This involves schools and technology and so it seemed appropriate in both this and that thread.)
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby wildrose » Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:13 am

DesertRat: I couldn't agree more! Instead of effectively dealing with the problem as you suggest, they exacerbate the problem and make a mountain out of a molehill. The bigger problem is that this teaches kids to over-dramatize every little thing that makes them uncomfortable. They begin to expect everyone to be nice to them and to always greet them cheerfully and when anyone does anything less they somehow feel slighted or like the person is hostile. Pretty soon laws are enacted requiring that everyone behave in a prescribed way. As for what you say about anonymity, I could not agree more. Anonymity, as you say, allows people to express unpopular beliefs without fear of retribution and that is absolutely essential if we are to regain our status as a free society.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby cactuspete » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:37 am

DesertRat and WildRose: Agreed. This is just another scheme to bilk schools out of funds by convincing the public that bullying is an issue that they should care about. As a result schools pay for crappy programs to deal with the perceived problem and taxpayer funds are wasted as usual. Anything to make a buck even if it means making a mountain out of molehill. The waste of money is bad, but the unintended consequences and collateral damage are tragic: Kids develop a mindset that sets them up for bigger problems in the future. Whoever said that "Greed is good" was extremely short-sighted!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby cactuspete » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:40 am

Eeww! School serves snail in salad :ack:
On the lighter side we have an incident which happened earlier this year at a school in Hawaii. Nothing wrong with a little extra protein!
:funny:
Officials at a high school on Hawaii's Big Island say they're increasing the level of food inspection at its cafeteria. Why? Because a student found a snail in his lunch. The student found the snail on a salad served at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria. Principal Wilfred Murakami said the salad ingredients were washed properly by cafeteria staff. "We drain it, strain it in a colander and go ahead and turn it into a salad," he said. "And in this particular case, one of the snails was lodged in one of the leaves."

LINK: http://tweentribune.com/tween56/eeww-school-serves-snail-salad
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Jun 19, 2014 3:44 pm

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
June 19, 2014

This was a short meeting, lasting approximately forty minutes. Here are the items that were discussed:

1) TCEA Contract Negotiations - The Sunshine Letter from the Trona Classified Employees Association was presented to the board. The following items will be discussed during negotiations: Wages, Holidays, Vacation, Association Rights, Organizational Security, and Health and Welfare.

2) After about ten minutes of discussion, the board voted (4-0, Sprouse absent) to approve the 2014-2015 Budget.

3) LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) approved with no discussion. It was pretty thoroughly discussed at the meeting last week.

4) Bid for Wireless Network Installation. This item was discussed at some length. Competing bids were reviewed and the recommendation from Superintendent Olney was to accept a bid from a company called Vector. If the company is contacted right away installation work can begin soon enough for work to be complete before the first day of school. The total cost of the project is $366K, but it is likely that not all the materials spec'd out will be installed and so the actual cost of installation may be significantly lower. In any case, the school will essentially have a brand new high-throughput wireless network once installation is complete. The board voted (4-0) to hire Vector.

Next Meeting: Monday, July 21st at 6 p.m. (closed session at 5 p.m.)
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby cactuspete » Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:05 am

Lone Pine School Board President sees “district take-over” :upset:
Looks like things are getting a little rough up in Lone Pine. The county is concerned, but the school board denies that the district is in trouble. Is it the case that the county is over-stepping or is Lone Pine really in trouble? This news article does a good job at staying neutral as to the actual answer to that question.
McAteer maintains that there is a legal dispute over the Coso tax money, that Lone Pine is deficit spending, and that there is a contentious Board. He said, “Maybe they don’t know they are in trouble. There is no interest in taking over the District.” He said his goal is to get through a difficult situation. Said McAteer, “We wanted to come in, help, and leave.”

LINK: http://www.sierrawave.net/30697/lone-pine-school-board-president-sees-district-take-over/
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 12, 2014

Postby panamint_patty » Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:00 am

School summer break doesn't work for kids
Sounds like this guy is either pushing for mandatory summer school for everyone or else he's talking about some kind of year around schedule so that there aren't any really long breaks.
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