March 21st, 2009

Greetings all,

First of all I want to apologize for not finishing responding to everyone's email messages, but I hope to get to it today. I want to reiterate my support for the appreciation for all that have contacted me regarding the events of this week, both positive and otherwise.

I also want to express my support to the administration on account of the initial decision and the current position related to the principals. The events of last Tuesday were not unexpected, except for the scope.

In these matters it is always difficult to discern where the line for employment law is and where it is not. The respective parties are able to discuss anything they want, but we are bound in what we can and can not say. I know that this is frustrating to many community members, but I think if we put it in terms of what we would want our own employers to be able to divulge then it becomes a little easier to understand, if not any more palatable. My practice has often been to remain as far from that line as possible in efforts to protect all parties involved.

That said I will try and relay some of my concerns from the perspective of a community member (which is what I am when I am not serving with 2 other Board members). I find it concerning that in all the outrage and action that we taken on Tuesday nobody stopped to look at the status of the respective schools and instead chose to focus on the "great people" involved. I have never doubted the scope or the influence that our building administrators have and their ability to generate love and appreciation from those they serve. Unfortunately I have seen declining scores over the last couple of years and that concerns me.

Recently when administrative personnel were explaining the current financial position of the school District, the meeting was allowed to dissolve into accusations and attacks about the administrative personnel and others while the building leadership stood by and let it happen. That concerns me.

In the same meeting as the topic transformed from budgets to building focus some teachers indicated that they will not work to make the incoming International Baccalaureate (IB) a success and will in fact work against it. This is a program that has raised one of our lowest performing elementary schools to the top of the heap. This is a program that allows its graduates to go into colleges in Colorado and throughout the world as sophomores. This is a program that the District is investing 10's of thousands of dollars and to hear that the building personnel are not only not on board but are working against it is concerns me.

If the trade off must be between accountability and popularity, I will choose accountability.

Many have asked about the meeting that is taking place regarding many of the concerned citizens in the area. I want to lend my support to such activities. I hope that many great items for growth come out of it. I am not afraid of citizens getting together to discuss their frustrations and concerns. I must admit that I do find it interesting, but not surprising, that the person who has told me on 3 different occasions over my 18 months on the Board that "people are talking recall of the Board" is the one positioning himself has solely a concerned citizen "with no ax to grind". While I could easily make the case that these are the tactics of a bully, I will instead focus on the fact that I believe he is truly concerned with the District and what he perceives to be the problem. As it relates to recall, I state for the record that I will not be bullied by those accusations. In the end that is how the system is set up and I am grateful for it. Because if I am really that out of touch with the constituents that I serve then there needs to be accountability and I do not fear it. Either my ideas are validated, or I get my time with my family back. Very Covey if I am being asked.

That said I do hope that if it comes to these actions that we can wait until the general election in November to save the money that it would take to accomplish such action, but I also understand if those that are concerned can not wait that long.

Finally, I want to address the statement that has been thrown about by the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, Mr. Daniel Domenech. Recognize that the real surprise to his statement would have been if he had suggested that cutting School Administrators was a good choice. Recently the State of Colorado indicated that because of the current financial circumstance the state finds itself in, they intend to TAKE BACK $37/ student from operating revenues. In D-49 that equates to $600,000 from the current year's budget (a budget year that is 75% complete). Other District have chosen to take different actions as they plan next year's budgets. Harrison is laying off 80 people (40 of them teachers). Peyton is discussing closing a middle school. Douglas County has told all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year teachers that they will not be renewed. At this point we have not increased class size, we have not reduced supplies, nor have we done anything that the students should see directly. These actions obviously result in certain losses of efficiency, but it is difficult to keep an administrator when some salaries keep 2-3 teachers in the classroom. Is this penny wise and pound foolish? Maybe, but right now I am concerned about the pennies.

On another note in efforts to make the District more "transparent" in the near future the hires and transfers that the the Board approves will be available in the posted meeting minutes (thanks to Jackie Vialpando for indicating that this was a possibility). Until recently I thought that this would be one of those things that I can not legally do, especially when I think of the paper that I need to sign for my bank to make sure that I work where I do and make what I make. Fortunately we had someone point out that since it is public funds, that there is more leniency. I wish that I could say that I was smart enough to come up with this, but it was a community member who asked. Similar to the decision to place the District check register online (thanks primarily to Tammy Harold for requesting this). These are great opportunities when the members of our community talk with us rather than about us.

Unfortunately this is the second post that I have crafted, but my son "fixed" my first one so I hope that this one is as useful as it seemed that first one would have been. If there are questions that I can answer I would love to do so.

Please feel free to contact me and I will do what I can.

Thanks

Kent