School Board Election Issues

Collect feedback from parents and students,
especially at the High School level
The goal: Implement and refine an annual system for administrators to gather anonymous student and parent feedback, by teacher and course, on classroom instruction, homework assignments, assessment preparation and graded assessment review.

This is a goal I have proposed for many years.  It still has not received enough votes to be adopted.  The survey would be run by administrators, collected annually, and ask questions by teacher, and by course.

If you support this and are speaking with an incumbent candidate, ask why they haven’t voted to support this?  If a challenger, how would they vote?  An incumbent might say we do many surveys.  The District has done STEP surveys (new High School schedule) and assessment surveys recently.  None of these are annual surveys, by teacher, and by course.  These surveys don’t meet the routine need for data.

Or, an incumbent might say this has to be negotiated with the union.  No, we do not need to ask the union for permission to run a survey and must not start down that road.  When negotiating, school board trainers tell us to negotiate only those items which must be negotiated.  Other management issues need to be prioritized and handled by the District.  The District administrators can always ask for suggestions, but do not need to negotiate or delegate the tasks.

Checks and balances
Goal:  Implement legally appropriate processes to address under performing staff members and provide an annual summary to Governing Board of evaluation data (including numbers falling into each of the three overall evaluation categories) and an analysis of effectiveness.

I’m looking for data on the number of total evaluations, the number of satisfactory, needs improvement and unsatisfactory.  If all teachers receive satisfactory evaluations year after year, I would say the system is not working.

This goal has taken years to pass, but did pass about three months ago, just in time for the election.  I don’t expect to see the data until next year.  All five board members voted Yes with almost no discussion.  Ask incumbents why it took them so long to vote Yes.  Ask challengers if they would support receiving this data on an annual basis.

Standardized test data as part of teacher evaluation
It appears from the standardized test data that students in certain subjects, such as Geometry and Algebra II, are falling behind prior year test scores.  (If students scored advanced or proficient in math in the prior year, then we see they are falling behind when the overall scoring is lower in the following years.)  The decline in math scores at the High School has been going on for years.  Although the Board does not receive data by teacher, this data appears to include classes taught by tenured teachers.  What goals or policies would the candidate support to help the District improve student outcomes?

Possible answers include:

• We have a new High School principal with a background in teaching and coaching math.  Important follow-on question: have we given her the tools to motivate tenured teachers?
• We need to negotiate the teacher contract to remove the restriction on the use of test data for evaluation purposes.  That way the changes in student test data can be used as part of the evaluation process.
• Most charter schools don’t have the restriction on the use of test data for evaluation purposes.  We need to research the charter option.

Tenure protects under performing teachers
Tenure protects under performing K-12 teachers.  Ask candidates how the Board can support the District in firing under performing tenured teachers that refuse to improve, or are unable to sustain improvement?

Considerations:

• Some teachers need coaching to improve.  When they receive the coaching, but don’t improve, or don’t sustain the improvement, we need to release them.
• The Board needs to be diligent in requiring documentation be put in teacher files so that the District builds a history.  A long-term under performing teacher may have little or nothing in the file under the current system.  One of challenges to authentic evaluation:  most under performing teachers are on their best behavior when an administrator is in the room.
• When the District has “encouraged” tenure teachers into retirement or caused them to leave the District, it is usually because parents have documented the problems and given the administration the information needed.
• When the District has encouraged teachers out of the system, the cost has been ridiculously high.  Due process is crucial, but this is unacceptable.After five years on the School Board, my opinion is the due process is difficult to implement.  It depends heavily on parents and students to document and follow through on the paperwork.  While these parents may be thanked, they also risk being labeled “problem parents.”  If Charter schools have more flexibility, we need to research the options.

Seniority clause for new assignments
The current contract says that, all things being equal, when there is desirable opening for a teaching position, the senior teacher in the District with the correct credential will have first priority.  Does the school board candidate agree that is the best approach, and if not, what should be done about it?  (There is no good answers to this other than negotiate to change the contract or go to a charter format without this type of restriction.)

Seniority clause for lay-offs
When the District is forced to do lay-offs due to budget cuts or declining enrollment, the most junior teachers are laid off first.  The result is that some great teachers may be let go while some mediocre or poor teachers are retained.  What is the solution?  (Once again, no easy answers to this.)

Teacher contract requires that parents contact the teacher first
The LCUSD teacher contract requires parents to meet with the teacher first before going to the principal.  If the parent goes to the principal first, the principal must tell the parent to go talk to the teacher.  (Depending on the issue, the principal may check with the teacher on the issue.)  I agree that if a parent needs a child moved to the front third of the class to improve concentration, extra help with material, etc., the parent needs to see the teacher first.

I disagree that the parent needs to see the teacher first when there is a class-wide issue.  Why should I, as a parent, go in and talk to the teacher about the fact that the tests don’t match the current textbook/curriculum.  (Yes we have an assessment policy, but who is enforcing it and what is the enforcement process?  As a board member, I have had multiple reports of a few teachers with tests that do not match current textbook or curriculum.  The assessment policy has had a positive impact and there has been significant progress, but it has not solved all the problems.)

How can a board member improve this “requirement to see the teacher first for class-wide issues?”  (The District can negotiate to change the contract or go to a charter organization without this type of restriction.)

Wrap up comment:
If incumbents say they are in favor of serious reform, go back to the data collection mentioned in the first two items.  Why has it taken them so long to vote for evaluation data?  Why haven’t they voted for customer satisfaction data?  Are there other votes that convince us these candidates are serious about reform?