Full Day Kindergarten?

Tonight at (my first) Board meeting, we discussed the desire to offer full day kindergarten. There are some challenges to doing this, not the least of which is financial. The biggest costs are facilities and staff. At the same time, we know that parents really want this option, so we want to see how we might be able to do this.

We've asked the administration to explore a possible public-private partnership. the concept is that the district would offer a half-day program, but would partner directly with a private party to offer the "afternoon" part of the program. The first part is pretty simple- it's what we already do. The second part is basically enrolling a student in a private program where the district rents the space, but doesn't directly manage the program. It would be up to the private party to supply the second half of the day.

This all implies that there would be cost to the parents, which is essentially unavoidable in the current environment. However, that would hopefully be a modest cost.

I want to stress that this is in the investigation phase. However, it was interesting enough that we're willing to look at it and see what we might be able to do. More details will be available at the Jan 11 Board meeting. I can't make any promises whatsoever. However, I'm excited that we're trying to see what we can do.

More than just "Book learning"

There was an interesting article in Time Magazine last week about the current generation of children and how parents play a different role than in the past. The thrust of the article was "let kids make mistakes, because that's how they learn". At a micro level we can think about kids learning to be responsible by suffering the consequences of forgetting their homework.

I chose to focus on a different subtext to the article, though. There are interesting comments about the ability of new college graduates to be true leaders, to experiment, and not be afraid to fail. This is critical to their success as adults, and this skill is learned as a child.

Have a read of the article and please let me know how you think we're doing with this aspect of raising the next generation.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395,00.html

Victory in the Courts

This past week, the Santa County Superior Courts handed down a ruling on the most recent lawsuit brought against LASD by the Bullis Charter School. The courts agreed with LASD on virtually every part of the suit. Specifically:

• Upheld the District decision not to provide space for 7th grade for 2009-2010, given that BCS had publicly said they wouldn’t offer the 7th grade in this year
  
• Upheld the District’s space calculations for classroom and non-classroom space
  
• Supported the district’s position that “space” is only one aspect of the “reasonably equivalent” test, and that the test allows for some flexibility in how it is implemented
  

On the question of the Gardner Bullis campus, the court made the following observation:

"It appears to the Court from the record presented and the history of disputes between the parties that some of the Charter School's supporters are motivated by a strongly held yet entirely unjustified sense of superior entitlement to the Gardner Bullis Elementary School site, likely stemming from deep resentment over the closure of the former Bullis-Purissima Elementary School. This position undermines the Charter School's credibility, as despite occasional remarks to the contrary it repeatedly (and unconvincingly) suggests that the only possible outcome which would fully satisfy the goals of the Charter Schools Act would be for it to be given the Gardner Bullis Elementary School site." (page 26)

I’ve attached the Court’s ruling for those who would like to read through it. There is also an excellent article posted on the Town Crier’s website.
Pretty much the entire ruling was in favor of the district, save for a small point about share space. I’m not exactly surprised, though, at the court’s admonishment to the district to work better with the Charter School. The judge observed that we have a responsibility to work well with BCS, and “not adopt a reflexively adversarial position”.

I’m thrilled with the outcome of this suit. From the beginning, I’ve been frustrated with the use of litigation to deal with this issue, and the courts were very clear about their thoughts on this topic as well. “To the extent that [BCS] cannot reconcile themselves to the policy decisions made by elected bodies such as a school district board their energies might be better directed at the ballot box than the courthouse.”

Wow! Elected...

Last night I was elected to the Board of Trustees for the Los Altos School District. I must say, this isn't really the path I expected when I started doing all of this, but I'm grateful for the support of so many people. The district has a lot of challenges in front of it, but I'm confident that we'll continue to excel, both academically, and in our goal to inspire lifelong learning in our students.

I would be a complete clod if I didn't thank some people for this. First, thanks to the voters for the trust and faith they're placing in me. I'll do my very best. To the many friends who have hosted parties, distributed lawn signs, emailed, spoken to their friends, and generally propelled this effort forward: I can't thank you enough. To my family, who has already given up a lot of time, and who will be giving up even more over the next four years. My daughters have had a front row seat to both a fabulous lesson in civics, and also to the power of community support and involvement.

I intend to continue to blog here about district events. Please know that this blog reflects my personal opinions, and is not the official policy of the LASD Board of Trustees. I invite comments from the community on the topics that are most important to you, and I look forward to serving on the Board of Trustees.

PTA Discussion about Suspensions

Tonight at the Almond PTA forum, I was asked a question about a statement I made to the Board last year regarding the district's suspension policy.

In the spirit of being open, at the PTA meeting I volunteered to make public my correspondence with the Board on this matter. I discussed this topic with my wife, and upon reflection, I'd prefer not to post the full text becuase it involves both my daughter's school record as well as that of another student. In the age of the internet, once something is "out there", it's out there forever.

However, I also want to respect what I said in the meeting. I don't have anything to hide on this topic. Therefore, if anyone is interested to read the correspondence, please contact me (mailto:doug@smith4lasd.com) and I'll be pleased to meet with you to allow you to read a printed copy of the entire document, minus the name of the other student, of course.

The crux of my concern was best summarized by this paragraph, taken from my first contact with the district on this topic:

The state guidelines specifically say that suspension should not be used for a first offense unless the student presents a severe threat to other students. No reasonable person could interpret what occurred as a serious intent to physically harm another student. In fact, the state guidelines say that suspension is appropriate for a first offense only in the case of firearms, knives, selling of controlled substances, sexual assault, or possession of explosives. I believe we are all in agreement that none of those circumstances is present in this case.

I think that Mark Goines' comments on the topic this evening reflected a desire for more flexibility in the policy, which is consistent with my own views. We need to make sure our educators and adminstration have a range of options and exercise good judgement within that range. Again, I'm happy to meet with people and explain this in further detail should you be so inclined.