The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) has finally settled on a new Superintendent, hiring a guy in his 60’s, Dr. Rick Miller, away from the smaller Riverside Unified School District.
So what do we know about Miller? According to his official bio, he only worked at the Riverside Unified School District since 2009. How long before he ditches the SAUSD – after forty years in education he is surely going to spike his pension at our expense! Keep in mind the fact that he ditched the Oxnard School District after only four years too, according to his LinkedIn Page. And he only lasted two years at the Kelseyville Unified School District!
He is fixated on bringing digital technology into the classroom, according to the Press Enterprise. You can see more evidence of Miller’s tech fixation on his Twitter Page, where he also admits to being a fan of Meg Whitman (ugh!).
Perhaps Miller is not keeping up with the news? “More than 300 students at three Los Angeles Unified high schools bypassed security measures to access unauthorized websites on their new district-issued iPads, prompting an immediate ban on taking the tablet computers home, officials said today,” according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
The Los Angeles Unified School District approved spending $30 million in bond revenue to buy iPads for students and faculty at 47 schools. The remaining campuses are expected to have the tablets by this time next year — in time for the implementation of new English and math standards that rely on technology for student assessments.
How soon before Miller is pushing for another tech bond here in Santa Ana? I bet most 8th graders can already run circles around this guy. He entered college in 1966 – a year before I was born! But it won’t be long, I am sure, before he is clamoring to raise our taxes in the name of tech.
But we all learned without pads, didn’t we? My oldest son earned the highest GPA in the SAUSD a couple years ago and he is now at UCLA. Sure, we equipped him with computers but he learned the traditional way and even taught himself to play two musical instruments – and he played in the Godinez Fundamental High School jazz band.
There are already reports that the new Common Core curriculum is a total failure and kids in the 4th grade are getting lost in math class. How is tech going to fix that disaster?
Here are a few links where you can see what Miller has to say about education:
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Did the SAUSD hired the right guy? WHy are you asking that? Is it because he is NOT Hispanico????
Not at all. My concerns are exactly as I outlined in my post:
1. He has a history of quitting school districts within two to four years.
2. He is coming to us at the end of his career - which will likely spike his pension and leave our taxpayers on the hook for that.
3. He is a big promoter of tech in the schools and I am afraid that a) he will try to advance yet another bond measure (property tax hike) to pay for that and b) we are already seeing in Los Angeles that kids can and will jailbreak their pads so they can goof off. Where is the learning in that?
That is why I think the SAUSD may well have hired the wrong guy for the job. Time will tell I suppose.
I think they made th wrong choice- especially since parents held him liable for the concerns regarding bullying at riverside campus schools.
I was being sarcastic in my prior comment. I agree with you. He is like new city manager Cavazos....No loyalty to any place except his pension hiking.....This is why Santa Ana is so messed up. Our city government is not very bright. (they think they are...)
Very astute observations...
you are going of tangent... lame blog
Lame comment if anything. Why don't you tell us what the tangent should be then?
If the Santa Ana USD admin was looking for someone who would allow them to maintain their gravy train, not object to their shady financial practices, and continue to allow them to take advantage of the taxpayers of the district, then the "right guy" was hired.
While with RUSD Miller chaperoned a huge facilities bond measure which has been squandered away with terrible construction and huge overruns (just like in Santa Ana USD).