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SBE Wrap-up Trustees Assigned to Two Monterey County Districts; SBE Seats Formerly Held by Lopez, Belisle Now Vacant
In action taken last Thursday afternoon (after last week’s edition of EdBrief went into distribution), the State Board of Education (SBE) unanimously moved to assign state-appointed trustees to work with two Monterey County school districts. SBE president Ted Mitchell had recently visited the Alisal Union and Greenfield Union school districts, following up on presentations to the SBE by representatives of those districts in January describing the considerable challenges faced by the two districts (which are both in Program Improvement under federal No Child Left Behind standards). The specific mission of the state appointed trustee was not specifically defined by the SBE, but the SBE made it clear that the trustee would be working with the districts to improve student achievement. Mitchell said that in Greenfield, “The amount of time and energy spent negotiating the adults' interactions between the board and the senior management was distracting administrators.” Of the Alisal district, Mitchell said that there has been a “culture of intimidation” involving factions competing for majority control of the school board. Mitchell added that he did not feel the “culture of intimidation” was coming from district administrators. Alisal Union, in the vicinity of Salinas, has about 7,500 students. Greenfield Union, located further to the south, has about 8.411 students. Both districts have a substantial number of students who are English Learners, including some who speak the Oaxacan language (rather than Spanish). The California Department of Education, the SBE and SBE staff will immediately begin a process of consultation with the Alisal and Greenfield communities to determine the appropriate scope of authority for the trustee, identify a pool of qualified candidates, and develop milestones and a timeline for the trustees’ work. After the SBE meeting, Mitchell issued the following statement regarding the Board’s action to assign Corrective Action 3 and Corrective Action 6 to the two districts: “The Board has the responsibility to intervene when districts demonstrate their continued inability to increase student achievement and to prepare students for success in higher education and careers,” Mitchell said. “Alisal and Greenfield have been among the State’s lowest performing districts for too long and need more assistance to help build their capacity to increase student achievement. The action taken today will allow the Board to begin the process of engaging stakeholders, including local community members to help these districts align their goals to increase student outcomes.” The last time the SBE assigned a trustee to work with a school district on student achievement was March 2008, when a state trustee was assigned to the Coachella Valley Unified School District. Last week’s meeting of the SBE barely drew a quorum. At times, when one of the SBE members would briefly leave the dais, the SBE’s legal counsel would remind Mitchell that a vote could not be held until that trustee had returned. There are currently two open seats on the SBE, formerly held by SBE members Rae Belisle and Jorge Lopez, both appointed in March 2009, but never confirmed by the California Senate. In February, Lopez resigned, citing family reasons. And on March 5, Governor Schwarzenegger quietly withdrew the Belisle nomination, which had been opposed by the Association of California School Administrators and other stakeholder groups. Mike Naple of the Governor’s Press Office indicated that it’s not presently clear when the Governor will move to fill the vacancies. Editor’s Note: Jeff Hudson is the editor of EdBrief and an award-winning education reporter and writer in print, radio and television media. |
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