Dec. 14th Board Meeting Summary

December 16, 2011

In Board Watch Blog

On Wednesday, the Board of Education lasted  into the early morning hours.  They dealt with several important issues including attendance boundaries, mutual matching, budget information, approving a new meeting structure, and adopting a new Theory of Action.

Additionally, the Board was presented with petitions to recall 5 of the seven members (those who voted to close schools) by a community group upset with the process.  Click here to see the group present their petitions.

The Superintendent Smith's report contained three items of interest:
1. Howard Elementary:  Principal Howard of Howard Elementary described her school's exit from program improvement.  Click here to see Ms. Howard speak.
2. Transitioning Families: Denise Saddler presented the results of the outreach efforts to the families from the closed schools who will be transitioning to other schools.  This included that 98% of all affected families have been contacted directly.  Click here to see her presentation.
3. Mutual Matching: Tony Smith and Brigitte Marshall, updated the board about their efforts to help establish a mutual matching process for teacher placement in which both teachers and school communities have a say in teacher placement.

• Click here to see the draft presentation for mutual matching.
  
• Click here to see Associate Supt. Marshall's Presentation
  
• Watch Marva McInnis, Emily Sacks, Benjie Achtenberg, Leo Fuchs, and Carmelita Reyes speak in support of continuing the conversation around the proposal.

• Watch Betty Olson-Jones and Kei Swenson speak in opposition.

Grade Level Change - Greenleaf and Sankofa Elementary Schools
The Board passed resolutions to change Greenleaf Elementary and Sankofa Elementary Schools from a K-5 to K-8 schools.  Greenleaf and Sankofa will add one grade level per year, starting in the Fall of 2012, until each reach PreK-8 school by 2014-15.

Theory of Action
The Board briefly discussed and passed a Theory of Action document that was developed to co-exist with the District's strategic plan and guide Board and District policies.

• For more on last week's study session, check out GO's Board summary here.

Change in Board Meetings:
The Board passed a resolution to suspend the committee structure.  They will instead keep their current meeting schedule and the add study sessions.  They will re-evaluate this policy in June.

Charter Schools:
The Board approved the petition to renew CivicCorp and KIPP Charter schools.

• Civicorps Corpsmember Academy
• Kipp Bridge Charter School

Additionally, the Board also held a public hearing for the renewal of:

• Oakland Unity High School

Public Hearing:  First Reading of the School Attendance Boundaries
policy
The Board asked questions of David Montes D'Oca regarding his process for creating a set of options proposed.  For those interested, the video of this section starts at marker 5:07 and runs until 5:38.  The Board is set to adopt new boundaries at the January 11th meeting.  At that point District staff will present a recommended option. 

Budget Priorities
The Board passed a resolution which directs the Superintendent to achieve the following in the 2012-13 budget:

1. Establish McClymonds High School as a high-performing anchor public education institution in West Oakland, as demonstrated by increased student enrollment (600 by the start of the 2015-2016 school year); increased student retention from year-to-year; increased graduation rate; and full offering of A-G and Advanced Placement courses; and
2. Maintain stable certificated and classified staffing levels at all schools; and
3. Establish strategic and operational performance objectives tied to proposed Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget allocations for Central Office departments and divisions, commencing with Leadership, Curriculum, & Instruction, Human Resources, Police Services, and Financial Services.

Director's Spearman and Kakishiba explained that McClymonds was selected to emphasize secondary education and in order to level playing field because it has been very under resourced by comparison to other high schools.

For context, last year's budget priorities were:

• Increased employee compensation
• Increased teacher retention
• Decrease the structural deficit

Supt. Smith reminded the Board that they directed the district to embed last year's priorities into the district's strategic plan.  Thus, they will remain priorities. 

First Interim Financial Report
The Board listened to the First Interim Financial Report for authorization for submission to the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools.  According to presentation, the District is projected to have a fund balance of $33 million, down from $45 million at the time of budget adoption.   The General Fund unrestricted revenues decreased by $6.2 million because of (a) $7.1 million in revenue sources ($6.1 million due to mid-year state cuts), (b) loss of other revenue sources accounting for $1.7 million and (c) a $2.6 million increase in the transfers from Adult Ed for the early retirement program.

Right now they are projecting a revenue reduction of $189 per student.  According to the state the cut may only be $13 per student.  The district will not know which it will be for certain until January.  Therefore they will maintain the prediction of an $189 cut.

The Ending Fund balance is comprised of :

• 12.6 million for the anticipated per pupil cuts.
• 7.5 for audit findings
• 12.9 million for state deferred payments

Currently the district does not have a structural deficit (spending more that you receive) as long as it is able to "flex" the adult education funds.

School-Based Management and Budgeting
The Board passed a resolution to establish a Special Committee on School-Based Management and Budgeting.  The committee would present a recommendation for Board Policy by the second board meeting in March 2012.  It would be comprised of Directors Spearman, Kaishiba, and Dobbins.  Director Kakishiba noted that the committee would be in part linked to the commitment in the theory of action around site-based management.

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Tags: Attendance Boundaries, Budget, Charter Schools, mutual Matching, recall, school closure, school portfolio management, Teacher Effectiveness, theory of action