Is the SAUSD scrambling to comply with School Improvement Grant mandates?

In March, the federal government sent representatives to three districts that received School Improvement Grants to see how the money was being spent. The visits revealed that many schools had not done what they promised, such as replacing principals or other staff, increasing instruction time for all students and providing time for teachers to collaborate on lesson plans and other improvement strategies, according to the Contra Costa Times.

I am hearing that the Santa Ana Unified School District is in very hot water for failing to “increase sufficient instruction time” for students in schools that received School Improvement Grants last year.

How much did our schools receive?  Click here for the answer, or see the figures below: 

• Saddleback High $1,972,228 Transformation
• Santa Ana High $1,972,228 Transformation
• Sierra Intermediate $1,811,515 Transformation
• Valley High $1,972,228 Transformation
• Willard Intermediate $1,811,515 Transformation
• Century High $1,972,228 Transformation

Santa Ana’s six schools were the only Orange County campuses out of 188 schools on the state’s “persistently low-achieving” list, according to CalWatchDog.

Reportedly the SAUSD is struggling to figure out how to add more classroom time.  Everything is on the table, including canceling Spring Break!

No word so far from the SAUSD.  They issued a press release, which they conveniently forgot to send to us, touting how their school administrators gathered this Monday to gear up for the new school year.  What do you want to bet that complying with SIG mandates was the topic of the day?

The irony is that the new SAUSD School Superintendent, Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, just came over from the federal Education Department.  She knows all about SIG and surely she knows what sort of hot water the SAUSD is in.  She may already be regretting taking the SAUSD job!

I should mention that some consultant got paid six figures by the SAUSD to make sure that they complied with the SIG mandates.  Needless to say, that was a waste of money.  This may go down as former SAUSD Superintendent Jane Russo’s biggest failure, of many…

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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