voiceofsandiego.org: Letters... More in Favor of Decentralizing the Schools

Thursday, April 30, 2009 | I am the parent of three elementary school children who attend Torrey Pines Elementary School. I have also been a teacher in the SDUSD for fifteen years. I am very much in favor of decentralizing the schools in the San Diego City Schools. In this time of budget deficit, this idea makes the most sense. I have seen an incredible amount of waste in the last fifteen years and I am tired of a district that hinders the teaching and learning in the classroom. The district offices should be scaled back to a bare bones operation and employ only those people that are absolutely necessary to do paperwork, etc.

I was a teacher when Bersin's people told the elementary schools to put away the brand new literacy adoption and forbade its use in the classroom. I was a teacher that piloted math programs for upper elementary school students in the late 90's. I cannot tell you the shock that the math teachers experienced when the district adopted the Quest math series. I could not find one person who gave this math book a positive evaluation. All of the teachers thought that somebody was paid in a back room deal. Quest was so bad, that my school spent its own money on a program to teach math in its stead.

Now we have a district that spends millions and millions on more testing. We don't have any idea how much the benchmark tests, reading tests, and data directory are really costing this district. There is an entire department devoted to testing. There are people in the math, science and literacy departments writing more tests. My fourth grade students spend more than a month of school on testing! The literacy department wrote units of instruction and benchmark tests that are a joke. There are multiple errors and the units are completely ridiculous. Why are we spending this much money rewriting literacy units and math units when the teacher's editions have been purchased? Why are we spending so much money employing people to write these tests and units? Teachers spend hours in meetings analyzing data from the benchmark tests and filling out paperwork. How much did the data directory cost? Teachers have access to the current information on students that they have not had in their classroom for five or six years! As the parent of three students in this district, I am shocked by the disregard for student privacy. I have no reason to know the test scores, class schedule, and address of students that I haven't had in six years. Why haven't parents been informed about all of the personal information that is on data directory?

The district mandates that all of the teachers must attend certain trainings. These trainings are a horrible waste of time and cost millions of dollars in visiting teachers and lost instruction time. The district mandated a new report card, but nobody can figure out how to enter grades for a two year class that loops science and social studies curriculum.

Mr. Barrera is correct in saying that decentralizing the power to individual school sites would save money and benefit schools. Schools already have a governance team made up of parents, teachers, community members, and site administrators. Currently, the governance team does not make significant decisions regarding curriculum, text books and tests. The governance team is voluntary and would not be likely to adopt inappropriate texts, teacher training, and tests. The governance team would most likely have the children's best interest in mind when making decisions because the students are their own children.

I believe that Mr. DeBeck is correct in saying that the district is broken. I am hoping that instead of attempting to secede from the district, he votes to decentralize power now and give individual schools the ability to truly govern and make decisions that are best for the students. All schools are not alike and all students are not alike. Please give the individual school sites the power that charter schools enjoy without requiring that the schools go charter.

I so agree with DeBeck! Our second child graduates this year; I'll be so happy to be done with the San Diego public school system! The minute the "power" was taken out of the classroom and given to "management" off-site the education of all children went down hill and has not recovered. For 18 years all I've heard is that the schools need more money to be better and every single year I've had to give more money to the school personally. The school district should have been split up decades ago! The curriculum has been watered down for years, the math programs are rediculous, and the "gate" program is a joke. Give the "power" back to the teacher and back to the school site and education in San Diego will get better. Good Luck.

Posted by nelson | reply to this comment
April 30, 2009 11:26 am

Im replying to the article. Im a fourth grade teacher at a VERY low performing school in SDUSD. Ive been thinking the same exact thoughts for the last five years! Parents and teachers have absolutely no input on curriculum, trainings, or district assessments. I grew so frustrated that I now teach reading using the state adopted materials. The district's literacy dept. has one person writing everything! Ridiculous. I now consider myself a rogue teacher defying marching orders. I have integrity. I work for parents of children who need to learn to read and write! How do I get away with being insubordinate? My principal has turned a blind eye to me. Why? My test scores at the end of the year are fabulous! I openly share my contempt yet most are afraid to stand up for whatisright.

Posted by Anon | reply to this comment
May 26, 2009 3:05 pm

Monika, I loved your letter, it gives a glimpse of what it is like to be a teacher in SDUSD. This multiple testing that you write about is all about money and very little to do with students progress. The money goes to the test making company's,and the tests are required because the politicians and administrators can show something to the public and say," see we are making progress' It is baffling me as to why we need so many tests other then it is a money making scheme. Public education should be a contract between the student, the teacher. and the parent. Learning takes place in the classroom, always has always will, until the public recognizes this fact the course of public education will be in question.A well prepared student, a competent teacher and involved parent are the formula for success.

Posted by zollner | reply to this comment
April 30, 2009 3:53 pm

Frankly, I am willing to try anything to improve schools-- except throw more money down a black hole diminshing returns. Certainly politics and political correctness have taken a toll on education. I'm beginning to think that diplomas in semi-literacy will go on eternally, churning out kids who forever will be cheated of what education brings to human beings. Recently, I re-read George Washington's Farewell Adress. You know, I don't think most students today could read it. What a tragedy.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
May 2, 2009 9:03 am

Zollner is right. The politics of the Southern Sup is all about money to consultants. How much was paid in the last year? Money that could be used in Monika's class is sent to the Sups buddies at testing companies and others. Look and see how much to find the answer. Follow the money.

Posted by the secretary | reply to this comment
May 4, 2009 7:20 pm

About a month ago, School Board Member John Lee Evans put a motion on the School Board Meeting agenda to enact a moratorium on District testing through the rest of this school year. Not one teacher spoke in favor of the motion. On the contrary, several teachers spoke against the testing moratorium. Teachers said the benchmark tests were beneficial to their students, students did not feel burdened taking them and teachers liked the instant feedback and reporting that the benchmark testing offers. Consequently, Evans' motion failed. Excessive testing is a bogus issue that the teacher's union is using to turn the public against the District. The teacher's union already has inordinate power in our school district and they perceive decentralization as a strategy to weaken the administration and give them more power.

Posted by Lomita | reply to this comment
May 21, 2009 6:22 am

The teacher's union represents the teachers. What is really ironic? The teacher's unions also do what is best for kids.Why? The teacher's unions are the teachers. Reminds me of what my pastor used to say. "We, yes, we are the church. Not me, not you, but we.We all have a responsibility. " The teacher's unions as well (as any unions that represent the workers of that union) are vilified as the corruption in public schools. There are teachers who dissent their union.Ever wondered where those few teachers representing the district's proposals come from?Perhaps society needs to stop blaming teachers and to their unions, and again start asking, " And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. " We are all part of that "village!"

Posted by Robin | reply to this comment
May 23, 2009 10:28 am

There's plenty of education money just ask the San Diego School Board. How else can they justify eliminating 85% of the construction population (non union contractors) from working on San Diego Schools with our Prop S money? Their proposed implementation of a union only Project Stabilization Agreement will result in the majority of San Diego's contractors not bidding / working on our schools. Perhaps SDUSD board president Shelia Jackson could tell us how a group of business people can be discriminated against because of their unwillingness to join an association (union) yet anyone can get an education in these same schools regardless of their immigration status? I guess the only opportunity for non union contractors according to the San Diego School Board is the ability to help pay back the bonds. I wonder who the next group deemed unfit to work on San Diego Schools will be, YOU?

Posted by PMP | reply to this comment
April 30, 2009 5:47 pm

Wow! A teacher who knows that there is Too Much Testing! Thank you for validating my thoughts on that topic. Never mind the waste of time on teacher trainings...I know those are a waste of time. This just reinforces all the reasons why my youngest child is not a part of this system.

Posted by Kelly Donivan | reply to this comment
April 30, 2009 8:08 pm

Who at the District is pushing for standardized testing? I thought it was state and federally mandated.

Posted by Mike | reply to this comment
May 1, 2009 7:41 am

The district needs to be split in more than 2 or 3 pieces. Big school districts are proven failures all over the country. Every school district should be too small for the big raiding political interests to care. I want them locally controlled by the people they affect. San Diego is already in effect decentralizing, because the new developments in the north city are being attached to existing small districts such as Del Mar, Rancho Penasquitos, Solana Beach and San Dieguito. I don't know why new schools are allowed to leave the city system, but I know it improves property values so the developers and homeowners both would have pushed for it. My experience with SDSU so far is that most teachers are like Monika, and if we just give them resources and parental involvement they do a phenomenal job without over-testing.

Posted by Paul | reply to this comment
May 1, 2009 8:38 am

Hey PMP where did you read that non-union workers could not work on Prop. S projects? The board put in place language that would insure that workers on Prop. S projects have access to apprenticeship programs, and good health benefits. It just so happens unions ensure those things, but non-union contractors can participate in Prop. S; all they have to do is treat their workers better. The Board's stance usually excludes cheap contractors that hire workers at depressed wages from south of the border and pocket higher profit margins.

Posted by Adam | reply to this comment
May 3, 2009 5:46 pm

Adam, are you a union shill--tell us which one? Non-union workers,(85% of construction workers here are non-union) will not be able to work on Prop S projects under the PLA currently being negotiated in secret. Non-union Contractors will only be able to hire workers out of the halls, which means they will have NO control over their own employees. In order to be hired from the hall, a worker will have to pay union dues, AND he will never be able to recover that money. The issue of fair wages, benefits and apprenticeships are a no more than the unions big wind. State School work requires prevailing wages to be paid, contractors provide their workers benefits and for example, the ABC has one of the best apprenticeship programs in the State. The real issue is that the starving union bosses want more for themselves.

Posted by Linda Tegarden | reply to this comment
May 4, 2009 1:48 pm

Hello Adam, I'm happy you asked. The California Prevailing Wage Act insures that field hourly workers are paid a set amount per hour, a union only Project Stabilization Agreement DOES NOT. Under the Union only agreement local non union apprentices are NOT allowed to work on San Diego Schools. Funny you mention workers from south of the border when a UNION drywall contractor was recently caught employing over 50 illegal aliens on a job at Camp Pendleton. Many non union contractors have employee benefit plans that are superior to union plans, their retirement benefits are 100% vested so the workers aren't ripped off if they choose to work somewhere else. Single employees aren't gouged by paying inflated health premiums to subsidize people with dependants. The local hiring clause is a joke, the only thing the agreement does is empty out union halls in LA & Northern California. Look it up.

Posted by PMP | reply to this comment
May 5, 2009 7:48 am

Too much testing of students in the public schools? Why know where each kid stands in reading and math and what specific remedies may be required? Too much administrative oversight of teachers who are best left to "do their own thing?" Take a look at the Los Angeles Times' Page One investigation yesterday analyzing the years-long byzantine process by which incompetent teachers are seldom disciplined and almost never dismissed. (California teachers are tenured after two years; in other states, it's three years.) Too much (after-hours) teacher-training, as if teachers alone never need professional growth? Big school district needs to be divided so that there can be district-only elections of limited-vision board members? Decentralize the schools and let each one run its own show, with an overburdened principal hamstrung by teachers' union rules and school site governance teams dominated by teachers, not parents? These are problems, not solutions.

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
May 4, 2009 8:27 am

Your entire argument is based on the false premise that standardized tests are the most accurate measurement of student capability or teacher effectiveness. Standardized tests were never intended to be used for teacher evaluation; they were intended to be used to drive instruction. If they are to be kept, the way in which they are implemented and used needs to be revamped completely. Besides, how many of you take standardized tests at work? What we need to do is stop The Big Lie that everyone needs to be prepared to attend UC Berkeley. We need more Career/Technical Education. We need more students prepared for the work force.

Posted by UCResident | reply to this comment
May 5, 2009 7:28 am

The Big Lie is keeping us awash in PhDs that don't produce anything real and having so few plumbers that they make $80,000 a year. Now they want SDUSD graduation requirements to match UCs. This tells all people not cut out for UC that they don't matter.

Posted by Bonnie | reply to this comment
May 5, 2009 7:29 pm

1) Don't misconstrue: I never said tests should be used for teacher evaluation. I have never seen a proposal for teacher evaluation based on student performance that seems practical, fair or reasonable. 2) But testing is essential because test results tell principals, teachers and parents where each kid has strengths and where he/she requires better or different instruction to get up to speed. Then remediation is supposed to happen so there is improvement! 3) Teachers' unions have launched an offensive against testing as a political tactic designed to derail "performance pay" based on test results -- or any effort to demand better-qualified teachers. Unions are meant to protect their dues-paying workers. 4) We need national leadership to provide a radical overhaul of public education -- beginning with increased and stable funding for a drastically different system than the one we are mired in at present.

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
May 6, 2009 9:08 am

Yes, no federal control.

Posted by Bonnie | reply to this comment
May 6, 2009 11:45 am

Could you please provide evidence of how teacher's and their unions are using this as a political tactic? Please provide your sources because I believe you have no evidence to back up your statements, but I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

Posted by Robin | reply to this comment
May 23, 2009 10:54 am

6/17/09 I don't have "evidence." That is my opinion based on long observation of the struggle and the increasing sophistication and militancy of teachers' unions to protect their status quo. Rather than just argue against calls for teacher "accountability" based on student achievement, the teachers unions (and their elected School Board members) argue against testing -- a likely tool for making such judgments and a notion that may have more resonance with worried parents and the public. Tests thus become the bete noir, not the idea of holding teachers accountable for their work. To support my opinion, I can offer what I heard on the news today: the State Legislature, pressed to pass a budget soon, is considering dropping California's High School Exit Exam (which is geared to an 8th grade level.) I'd bet this bad idea comes from the huge and powerful California Teachers Association lobby in Sacramento.

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
June 17, 2009 9:43 pm

Are you referring to the 51% teacher ratio to 49% other that is "suggested" by the teacher's union? Hmmm, Does that mean that if one has shared decision making (Site Gov. Team SGT) in a hospital that the ratio should be higher in "other" than in doctors? I wonder how much better your medical coverage would be if 51% of doctors were allowed to make medical diagnosis on your health instead of management and insurance agencies? Isn't it better to have the doctor make those decision concerning people's health? Is it any different in education?

Posted by Robin | reply to this comment
May 23, 2009 10:59 am

SDUSD is already a failed district. Even if your kid is in good schools today there is no guarantee they will be good next year. San Diegans are already voting with their feet.

Posted by Sassy | reply to this comment
May 5, 2009 10:29 am

Decentralizing, when are we going to address the problem instead of the symptom? The California Teachers Association just dropped $6 million to help pass Proposition 1A & B. Add this to the $1million two hundred and fifty thousand they spent on the gay marriage initiative and the over $1 million fighting tenure reform and you're just under $10 million. Teachers, you may not be the problem but your union sure is. How many teachers facing the loss of their jobs could be employed using the recent political donations? Did you teachers know where your hard earned dues were going? Do you agree with paying to support gay marriage? Do you care? Maybe education does need more funding but the message being sent out by the CTA is "we'll throw money anywhere we want because we can always go back to the well (CA Tax payers)" It's YOUR UNION!

Posted by PMP | reply to this comment
May 5, 2009 11:43 am

Decentralizing schools sounds attractive, however, it doesn't address all that is wrong with the public school system. What about the sweeping changes that occur each time a new superintendent is brought in? This is a demoralizing process that seems to affect everyone from the central office right down to the school sites. Hirings, firings, reorganizations, it gets old. It's no wonder that our district can't focus on the work of educating children, everyone is worried about the politics and job security. What about the layers and layers of staff, offices, departments, CIOs, SIOs, managers, and directors? What about the weak administrators who look the other way to weak, unethical, immoral, unprofessional, and ineffective teachers? What about the union that protects the weak teachers? What about district leadership that looks the other way to weak administrators? Decentralizing schools will not fix everything!

Posted by DeeDee | reply to this comment
May 31, 2009 6:54 pm

There is no quick fix. The whole system is a joke. Nothing is free, including education. Pull out of no child left behind and ignore all federal mandates. Massively reduce income/property taxes and have the schools charge tuition like any private school. I'm tired of paying for other people's children and their free ride through the supposedly free public school system. It isn't free for me and I don't even have kids!

Posted by shawn1874 | reply to this comment
July 11, 2009 7:57 pm

Do you live in California, have you ever hear of Prop 13? If so your fortunate. Do you plan to retire? Have you ever collected unemployment? Should I pay for your heath care? I would guess 2/3. Consider your (our) future,

Posted by Buzzy Trent | reply to this comment
August 28, 2009 12:37 am

Decentralization is a valuable tool to improve district schools, however the kind I propose does not give each school separate power. The decentralization I suggested includes the idea that all schools that send kids to the same high school (clusters) have a cluster budget and a way to give parents in the cluster a say in the way that those funds are used. It is counter productive to allow each school autonomy, because sharing resources between schools is uncommon. Sharing nurses, counselors and specialty teachers in the arts are perfect examples of how a cluster could insure continuity for community educational priorities. Dividing the district in parts is not the only solution, but I used that proposal to cover many problems that seem to reoccur in the years I have been on the board.

Posted by John de Beck SD Board of Ed. | reply to this comment
August 31, 2009 10:27 am

Great discussions. I am glad people are talking issues. I did say the SDCS system of electing board members is flawed. It can be dominated by special interests (any kind). I do believe high schools and their feeder schools are the best way to be sure that local control is moderated by community interests .I oppose single school decision making, because the entire cluster of schools feeding a high school should understand and support a coordinated plan to educate their children. Semi- autonomous clusters can make choices for specific cluster needs, and one school would not be able to decide to start a new foreign language program (or similar initiative) without being sure that the program was carried on to proficiency. I am also not sure that a savior superintendent exists!

Posted by John de Beck | reply to this comment
August 31, 2009 10:37 am

More in Favor of Decentralizing the Schools

By Monika Gardner, Golden Hill