Hello everyone:
I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but I feel that it is very important for the families at Torrey Hills to get a clear picture of what will be taking place at the DMUSD Board meeting tomorrow evening – MAY 28. The meeting will begin at 5:45pm at Del Mar Hills. The board packet was posted yesterday afternoon (http://www.dmusd.org/district/webpages/openwebpage.aspx?subcategoryID=147 – you'll need to scroll through to see each agenda item in detail) and there is some important information to share in advance of Wednesday's meeting.
First, and most important, the packet states that the Fiscal Impact of instituting the Spanish Program (at Del Mar Heights) on the budget is "unknown". The packet states that Del Mar Heights will self-fund the purchase of curriculum materials (no information on the cost of such materials), and that the County of Office of Education will supply unspecified additional training at no charge. The packet further states that "the hiring of two bilingual teachers may/may not increase staffing costs", and further notes that "All eligible DMUSD teachers were asked of their interest to teach in this program and declined at this time."
With respect to the extra 0.5 enrichment slot allocated to the Heights, the packet states "that enrichment staffing would increase at the Heights, regardless of the Spanish Program, due to necessary grade level configurations at the upper grades." I have no idea what this means, and there's no explanation -- At the last board meeting, the additional 0.5 enrichment teacher was expressly tied to adoption of the Spanish program and reflected as such in the packet. Thus, the only projected cost outlined in our letter that the District claims to have addressed is the $30 to $40K for curriculum materials. In fact, it now appears definite that 2 teachers would have to be hired at a cost of $142K at a minimum, and the extra enrichment staffing seems to be an additional cost as well. The packet also states that, as of May 21, a total of 20 students had applied to be included in the program from outside the Heights attendance area.
Second, District staff has revised the projected deficit for 2008-09 to be $1 million -- down from the $1.5 million projected at the Budget Workshop, but still huge. For the current year, the District is projecting a deficit of $1.2 million.
Third is the nightmare that we've all been dreading. Presumably as a means of dealing with the deficit, the District has outlined three options for reducing the number of enrichment specialists allocated to each school for 2008-09. Under all of these options, almost every school would lose positions from their current baseline, as set forth below (please note the Del Mar Heights numbers):
- Ashley Falls --
Loss of 0.5 under Option 1; Loss of 1.0 under Options 2 and 3. - Carmel Del Mar --
Loss of 0.5 under Option 1; Loss of 1.0 under Options 2 and 3. - Del Mar Heights --
Gain of 0.25 under Option 1; No gain or loss under Option 2; Loss of 0.25 under Option 3. - Del Mar Hills --
Loss of 0.25 under Option 1; Loss of 0.5 under Option 2; Loss of 0.75 under Option 3. - Ocean Air (assumes current baseline of 4, which I'm not certain of) --
Loss of 0.25 under Option 1; Loss of 0.5 under Option 2; Loss of 0.75 under Option 3. - Sage Canyon --
No gain or loss under Option 1; Loss of 0.5 under Option 2; Loss of 0.75 under Option 3. - Sycamore Ridge --
No gain or loss under Option 1; Loss of 0.5 under Options 2 and 3. - Torrey Hills --
No gain or loss under Option 1; Loss of 0.5 under Options 2 and 3.
What all of this seems to mean is that absolutely nothing has changed, except that maybe the consequences of the current financial situation is even more dire than we thought. There is a tremendous value from teaching foreign language in our schools -- The question is, at what cost? Does it make any sense to put our existing enrichment programs in jeopardy to institute a new program primarily for the benefit of one school, the costs of which have not even been determined. To that end, the statement that Del Mar Heights principal Wendy Wardlow made to the school board at its January meeting when presenting the Spanish program, which has been transcribed, verbatim, from the audio file on the District's website. These are Wendy's exact words in describing the criteria for implementing the program that she and her team came up with:
"Lastly, we want to make sure that this program is fiscally conservative and that it is sustainable over time. I said this time and time again -- it would just be shameful if we enthusiastically with, you know, all good intent jumped into something and it cost lots of money. We went out, kind of way out thinking we could just consistently raise money, raise money, raise money and then stumbled. It just would not be good. So we're taking a small step into this because we want to make it a step that will not have a negative impact on our District, on our parents, and we're not having to go back and just constantly ask for money. And want to make sure that it's sustainable and we can build it."
Clearly, this program has failed to meet even Wendy's criteria, given that the costs remain significant and not quantified. If there were ways to implement this in a manner that would not increase the deficit, and would allow all of the schools to maintain their existing programs, then the program should be supported. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. It is very important that we get as many people as we can to attend the Board meeting on Wednesday, and to encourage those who cannot attend to send emails to the Board, to express this view.
Please show your support for our school and the other schools in Carmel Valley. The Board needs to know that the families east of I-5 are concerned with what they are doing.
Best regards,
Jennifer McCroskey
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