How depressing. The OC Weekly posted a number of articles featuring the worst Orange County elementary, middle and high schools. The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) dominated all three worst ten lists. Now we know why SAUSD Trustee Audrey Noji sent her son to a high school in Irvine.
Noji was of course reelected last year, after her fellow Trustee, John Palacio (who maintains a second home in Arizona and is only here in CA on a part time basis) endorsed her. Yes, he too was reelected.
Why do these Trustees keep getting elected? For one thing they are partisan Democrats and the usual blue suspects all endorsed them.
I jumped into the SAUSD School Board late, raised no money, did not send any campaign mail, and lost by only 1,400 votes. But I was the ONLY one to challenge these lame Trustees! All the other blue and red political types in town demurred. Unbelievable. I may have lost but I forced Palacio and Noji to raise and spend a ton of money.
I can only hope we will see a few good challengers this year. Trustees Rob Richardson, Roman Reyna and Jose Alfredo Hernandez are up for reelection. Let’s see how they explain the district’s continued low grad rates, high dropout rates and awful test results.
Richardson also should explain why he gave himself an undeserved raise at the County of Orange, where he is the Assistant CEO. He had that taken away recently and also lost his County paid car.
Richardson was supported by Assemblyman Jose Solorio last time he ran for office. Solorio shared a campaign office with him. And all the usual blue hacks supported him, even though he remains a Republican – and he personally made sure the Supervisors gutted Planned Parenthood’s funding after they funded one of his opponents last time he ran for the School Board.
Will anyone challenge these people? Remember that NONE of them have kids in the district – except maybe Hernandez. Richardson and Reyna have no kids and Palacio’s kids all graduated already. Shouldn’t a few parents be on our School Board?
I should note that not all our schools suck. Our fundamental schools are pretty good. My son Joey had the highest GPA in the district last year, as he graduated from Godinez Fundamental High School. He is now at UCLA on a partial scholarship. And my son Jacob is in the GATE program at Muir Fundamental Elementary. My son Jimmy is also now at Godinez and he is doing very well too. My daughter Becky graduated from Santa Ana High and got a degree from the prestigious Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and she is now a fashion designer at the Gap’s 1969 subsidiary. I am proud of all my kids who all have excelled at SAUSD schools.
But a lot of kids are not doing well and too many have fallen through the gaps. We need new leadership at the SAUSD! Let’s see if our new Superintendent, Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, can get things in order…
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Folks, this is what will happen when you do not listen to your parents, warning you about the evil of the rock 'n' roll, and self defeating subliminal satanic message.
Bumper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZzUvbTQHo&feature=related
You should run again, Art.
The lists that are hyperlinked in the above are from May of 2010...are there new ones for 2011/2012? Doubt it changed much, but who knows.
How much really does the school board have to do with the API scores? I would think that it has much more to do with the students, teachers, and parents. For example, is the Irvine school board that much better than the Santa Ana one? I know that they will set direction and provide leadership, but seems like there is so much more to it. Would the Irvine Board get the results they get if you swapped the students, teachers, and parents and left the Board and Structures (i.e. the school property)?
I would think that the school board should have some skin in the game by either by being parents of SAUSD school kids or at least have school age kids and defend them going to another district.
I think the results are always a year behind.
The school boards review and approve textbooks and have a direct hand in setting the direction of the school district, by setting budget priorities. They work closely with administration and are in a position to hold folks accountable.
To me the school board and the administration has seemed out of touch and without a clue for some time. For example, when I ran for the SAUSD School Board in 2010, I found out their website was not offered in other languages and made a stink about it. Only then did they put a Google translator widget on their site.
I agree that we need at least SOME parents on our board - particularly of school aged children who are enrolled in the district, like mine are.
I have made enemies in this blogesphere. Many, too stupid to realize it wasn't even me, allthe while they blather about "anonymous" comments and other surpurfolous bullshit. With or without me that waste continues today.
But, it is safe to say, and 100% accurate that the whole reason I began posting, entered the fray was this issue.
MY AGE OLD QUESTION REMAINS:
"Why would someone with NO CHILDREN in the Santa Ana Unified School District run for school board?"
There are but a few exeptions. None of those apply here, Noji has perhaps the best arguement, cemented by here lack of upward mobility (but that comes into question WHY??).
I have attended over 100 SAUSD meetings, Spoken to EVERYONE of the past 15 members personally. I have to question why a guy like Rob Richardson, who has never had kids is on the board.
Upward mobility is a good thing, but at the expense of children.
Why hasn't ANYONE ever asked Rob why he wants to continue to serve on the board. Rob does NOT take phone calls, he DOES NOT speak Spanish, he is as representitive of the student body as I am to the Chinese Dance Council.
Admin- The article that it refers to is from May 2010 on OC Weekly (i.e. the date that the article was written). Curious if there is a more current one or if your original article meant to reference an article that was a year and a half old.
I would think that someone who truly cares about kids and society could be a good asset to a school board. Some people are just drawn to education and wanting the best for others. I would not put speaking Spanish as a criteria though as there are plenty of great educators, leaders, and parents who do not speak Spanish who probably would do a great job as a trustee and lead appropriately. Hopefully someone has asked the question "why do you want to server" to them during election times and hopefully they have at least answered, albeit we may not like their political answer.
Again, I wonder if you were to trade just the school boards with a "successful" district such as Irvine, if the same results would be shown. My gut tells me it is much more than just the board. The board is one component, but I can certainly think that there are other higher influencing criteria for determining success- however it may be measured.
I will check to see if there are updated scores available. Thanks!
You are correct but the board is elected by the voters and the voters can hold the board accountable. We can't fire the SAUSD administrators and other staff.
Try this link: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2011/
And this one: http://star.cde.ca.gov/.
You're way off target. Why don't you put the blame where it really belongs -- the Teachers Union.
This Board has no REAL power -- that's with union management which has always been all about confiscating tax money for an already overpaid and underworked collection of lifers that can't be fired. If the schools "suck", who is the one, single group of people who could only be the most responsible? Since they can't be fired, there's no accountability -- they'll all be back next year to cause the same damage.
Your post also says nothing about students from non-English speaking households. Perhaps there are a few in Santa Ana? How much do these kids hold BACK the native English speakers and negatively affect test scores? These kids aren't ready to enter an AMERICAN school if they're not fluent in English, and there's no damn reason why the schools should be forced to compensate, especially to the disadvantage of those kids who ARE properly prepared, but are held back waiting for the others to catch up.
Good point re the union. They wouldn't even interview me last year.
The ESL issue is a real one. Ever since bilingual ed went out the door, the district has struggled to replace it with anything effective. It is one reason why so many kids end up dropping out.
That said, I learned English in Kindergarten and was winning spelling bees by the second grade. The difference? My mom. Now my kids are honor students - and my wife and I do all we can to support their education.
The simple answer to Kenlaysnotdead's question is that School Boards (and San Districts and Traffic Committees and Planning Commissions) are for politically ambitious people to test their viability for higher office.
It's ludicrous that this Board has no skin in the game (children in school), but I'll bet the unions have a great deal to say (and money to invest) in maintaining a friendly Board.
How transparent has the process been? Who's looked at who's supporting and funding these candidates? And is it legal to require a School Board member have a child enrolled in the District? If not, why not?
"We can’t fire the SAUSD administrators and other staff"....... Hmmmmmm
You could Art if you would join my Recall Party.
Do you think Councilwoman Alvarez would make a good boardmember? Does she have any Niños?
"Noji has perhaps the best arguement, cemented by here lack of upward mobility (but that comes into question WHY??)."
She gets to triple dip on her retirement and gets medical insurance for life. I guess that's a pretty good reason to stay. She would not have put her boy in a Santa Ana classroom for any reason.