Nothing is free. We have public education. I wish Arleigh Kidd still blogged. I enjoyed our debates on Tim Keaney's blog. I always had to bring my A game because he knew the in's and out's of education that most regular people don't even think about.

Donna Prenta and Tim Keaney represented a view of public education that was extremely admirable in Simi Valley. Donna's views on special needs is needed desperately in the public realm.

Happy New Year!!!

It seems to me that "free public education" means "a system in which all children can attend free of charge." Yes, there are some caveats - question of illegal aliens, paid for by taxes, K-12 - but the basic definition works.

Though I agree with Bill Gates when he said that American high school is "obsolete." There are many possible avenues of change, and they ought to all be tested, from vouchers and charter schools to apprenticeships and home schooling.

Thanks for foregrounding these questions.

I would love to hear from parents who have children in public and private schools.

As a parent who helped fundraise at the school my children attended and district wide, it became very clear that the quality of our public schools largely depended up the ability to raise private funds to close funding gaps. In addition to teachers paying for school materials out of their own funds, schools depended upon parent fundraising. At my children's school -- we were the second or third leading school in fundraising -- we provided funds for paper, art materials, etc. One year, we replaced severely tattered stage curtains: students were unable to use the stage; assemblies were limited because of liability
concerns.

I am concerned that the quality of our public education are quite inequitable:
schools that test well are those whose parents have the ability to raise funds to supplement public funds.

While public schools are provided with state and federal funds to help with children from low-income families, those funds allow schools to help provide materials and services to help toward improving educational outcomes; however, the gap between basic and proficient & advanced is increasing. At the same time, ironically, excellence in schools and opportunities for the most prepared, gifted, and talented have been limited.

Why? Resources are allocated to developing materials that are narrowly defined by tests that, in turn, narrow learning environments.

These tests do little to challenge the most prepared and frustrate the less prepared because
they do not address different learning styles that engage students. Synaptic connections so that skills and learning might transfer ARE NEGLECTED.

Schools with parents who can fundraise so that more engaging materials (the arts, music, recreational sports, computers, yoga, theatre arts, and field trips) help create more enriching environments that connect meaningfully with their enriched family experiences.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

The world is flat.
Will the majority of our children
be pushed or jump off?
We are tethered to them.

Owen:

How do you define "vouchers" or "charter schools" as
public?

If we use "public" funds, does that make a school "public"?

What percentage of funds need to be
"public" for a school to be considered "public"?

I understand "public" to mean equity and access to schools. It seems that magnets, charters, vouchers, and appretinceship programs all need
to address these issues if they call themselves
"public education."

I also understand "public" to mean for the public good.

How do/should we define the "public good"?

It seems to me that Bill Gates philanthropy should guide us and not make us complacent, thinking that we are going to improve our schools through the generosity of other billionaires. It seems that all of us need to contribute, whether large or small, to improve our shools. It seems the best and most reliable way to do that is through our contributions to public funds -- I like to call them "taxes" -- with transparent and effective public oversight.

How many of us ask for records of income and spending at their respective local schools and districts? at their public and private schools?

A free and public education is essential in a free society; a society that values and embraces the the idea that an individual can rise to her true potential. And furthermore, and this is very important, every individual is equally entitled to this institution even if the desired outcomes are not. Public schools can't make everyone brilliant, but neither can private institutions.

Public education and education "reform" is like the weather; everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it.

When you hear people like Owen talk about vouchers, think "energy deregulation Enron style". Corporate America would love to plunder public education the same way Enron took advantage and ripped us off during "deregulation". Then they would hand us back an empty shell and say "woops". Public education has lead to America being the worlds number one super power in all senses of the word. Why screw with success?

I like how Owen takes Bill gates thought about schools needing to be changed, but doesn't go with what Mr. gates thinks the change should be.

It would be like Bush saying that Democrats want a change so he is going to escalate the war.

Can you please find out who the investers are for the for-profit charter school - Vista Real? Also, I have read that Tony Strickland was paid by Vista Real or one of its associated businesses to lobby for Vista Real to the Ventura County Board of Education. Is this true? And why did the Board of Education choose to override the superindentent(s) regarding Vista Real? Can you tell me who on the board voted to approve Vista Real? And lastly, can you touch a little bit on how Vista Real is doing? Dean Kunicki and Chris Valenzano really talked it up at a Ventura County Republican Central Committee meeting but I have heard reports that its performance is not so good. Can you please clarify?

Where is Vista Real at? Do they have a website? a

Chris Valenzano's 2004 campaign cost close to $30K with much of it funded by the Stricklands and Strickland supporters. Kunicki's recent campaign was apparently similarily overfunded by Strickland interests and underreported by Mr. Kunicki. I too would like to know more about Vista Real and its affiliated companies, Charter Resource Services and Desert Sands or something like that.

Who should be answering the questions? Is there a local reporter that has looked into it?

THE problem with education in America is that at some point in the not so distant past we were convinced to stop thinking of education as a national INVESTMENT and start referring to it as government SPENDING. That semantic bamboozle has allowed the world's greatest single asset to fall into disrepair.

To the Stricklands education is still an investment. They invest in candidates then later when pivotal votes come up they reap the rewards.

According to a Star article I pulled up, Tony Strickland was paid $20,000 to lobby for Vista Real while still in the legislature and he never told the County Board about this, even though he was testifying before them on behalf of Vista Real. Reports also say that Strickland was given a $7,000 campaign contribution from Vista Real and two weeks later Strickland gave his former aide Chris Valenzano a $7,000 campaign contribution. Valenzano then voted for Vista Real along with Matthews, Kunicki and Bates, only ML Peterson voted no. Kunicki was also appointed to the County Board at the request of the Strickland's, according to insiders. Kunicki was thrown off the Simi planning commission when it was revealed he was working for a developer. Vista Real is reportedly doing poorly and they do not reveal their investors names, even though these investors are paid with your tax dollars. Maybe ML can tell us if it is true that Tony Strickland took her out to lunch to lobby for Vista Real, but never told her that he was a paid lobbyist for them.

Click on the link for all the stats regarding Vista Real.

Your tax dollars are paying for at risk youth to have several appointments a week with a teacher, averaging weekly classroom time of 3 hours.

The students have no student support services, not even a water fountain available to them.

50% of all teachers for Vista REal are university interns.

The students are the most difficult of all students to educate and yet there are no student support services.

According to Chris Valenzano the students problems are because of bad parenting. Then again what is Valenzano's experieince as an educator.

Vanlenzano is an EMT with a very young child not in school yet. His background is working with the Stricklands as an aide. Of course the Strickland's are newbie parents as well.

It's funny how these people think they can preach to everyone else on how to parent when they have no proven track record.

Teachers average years teaching is 1.8 years. 83% of teachers have taught less than two years, none are credentialed in special education even though the students they teach have a record of failing school.

Re: Stricklands

First, I was never taken out by Mr. Strickland.
We exchanged phone calls re: me visiting the Antelope campus. I was unable to make a visit.
We also talked about tax policy and adequacy of education funding. I asked him about the Club For Growth.

That's it. The Stricklands have always been gracious. I have never received a dime from them, so I ask that this compliment be taking on face value. Our views diverge on several significant issues, but I would welcome the opportunity to find common ground on some specific areas.

On first impulse, I like Audra's idea of tax relief for first-time home buyers. I would like to know more about that.

If readers want to find more about the financial health of Vista Real, they may visit Tom Etchert in our VCOE Internal Business Services at tetchart@vcoe.org. He was our lead staff in reporting on the financial health of Vista Real to our Board.

Lot of this stuff just sounds like sour grapes.
It's disappointing.

When my fellow board members voted to approve the Charter, they did so to support innovation in education and to have better oversight control locally.

Re: 50% Interns: There are 6 full-time employees;
three are fully credentialed; three interns.

Mr. Kunicki is already on top of this and studying the quality of services and working with Vista Real in a cooperative manner. I have already asked him re: a couple of my concerns re: student enrollment and persistence of enrollment.

Do Dennert bloggers think it would be helpful if
VCOE put together some kind of public forum on charters, the laws that apply and the current state of charters in our region from multiple perspectives?

I supported The Ventura Charter School of Arts and Global Education.

What kind of charters do Dennert bloggers support?
Or do bloggers disapprove all charters?

Please, I ask that this not become a Strickland-bashing site.

How can we work through these varying points of view, when we are excluding a larger portion of voters and political activists?

Thank you ML for opening this discussion. For those who don't know the VCOE and the board ML serves on has limited contact with 'typical' public education. They approve/disapprove charters and run many special programs for mostly non-typical students. Their office also provides teacher training and support in a variety of subjects.

In western Ventura County you cannot mention education without the Stricklands. For some reason our do nothing Assembly person(s) feel the need to place minions on local school boards. This last election had the VCOE, CUSD and PVSD races have some coincedental association to the Strickland machine. Strange tha these districts, that may be ripe for charter activity, may have had some assistance from the "Tiger" and the Queen.

The reason a 'typical' district would not want a charter is that the money follows the child. The host district must provide a facility if there is a site open. With declining enrollment in Ventura County schools a charter creates more hadrship on the true pulic education district. Should a charter open and draw from the host then enrollment declines, another site becomes available, another charter opens and the cycle starts over until the host district is only providing administrative services.

There is also the issue of magnet or alternative schools that create problems. These schools draw from the entire district and create a boundry quagmire. It becomes difficult to maintain levels of enrollment and consistantly balance your teaching staff. There is also the issue of equity with these programs. Some sites find ways to weed out the less affluent in order to keep the high level of donations needed for these specialized programs.

If we are willing to allow the Charter school industry to creep public education then we may as well have a voucher system for parents to make the decision that is best for their child. As with public school or charters the money follows the child. Where is that different from Vouchers?

I am pleased with many charter schools but I am nervous of political activists creating for profit store front "schools".

Anyone care to address this bill:

AB 2797 School Districts: Allows for more money to stay with schools by providing additional conditions in which a waiver may be granted for fiscal penalties incurred as a result of a shortfall on instructional hours in schools.
Status: Committee hearing cancelled.

What assembly member wrote it? What types of schools would it of helped?

I know the second part sounds like i am inferring something, but I don't understand it.

Bill Gates proposed "smaller, more rigorous, more personal high schools." All of the various proposals I mentioned lead to this. Moreover, even if my proposals didn't coincide with Gates', it would still be entirely possible to agree with his evaluation of the current system. It is perfect possible for both Bush and the Democrats to agree that the war is going poorly, but to have different ideas on how to improve it.

California had an energy crisis because Gray Davis made some really bad decisions, not because of the fact of deregulation. I would contend that it is not public education alone that has led America to its superpower status. Moreover, from my travels around Europe, i can personally attest that our high schools are pretty pathetic. A typical European high school student could hands down win any academic contest versus a typical American student. It's our Higher Educational institutions that are the envy of the world. And most of them are private.

A reasonable definition of "public (K-12) school" would be one which has free enrollment, tuition being paid by the state.

Owen:

It's important to look at how public education is organized and funded in European countries. Not all are the same.

Our Higher Educational Institutions, whether public or private, are subsidized by our federal government through research grants. There is also
grants and loans for high achieving, low-income students.

The greatest expansion of our country's economy happened after WWII: GI's returning were granted generous government funding to go to college. It was government spending that allowed America to have the best armed forces in the world and eventually the best and most equitablly educated work force in the world.

How should we define "quality" when we speak of "public (K-12) school"? What should we expect and how much would that cost?

Thank you for responding even though you didn't have concrete answers to a couple of the questions I asked.

I think it is very important that taxpayers know who the investors are for Vista Real. Can you please find out? If it is any elected official(s), Ventura County citizens have the right to know.

I think it would be very helpful if the County Board of Education could assign a point person for all questions instead of being passed along to various people and departments.

So let's start with who are the investors, how much profit does Vista Real make and how well are the kids doing and how is this measured.

Katie:

I have asked those questions. Vista Real is a non-profit. I am still working on the answers to your questions. In an education environment in which so much private money is circulated through foundations, it is very hard to cull out what money is used as "upfront investment" and then repaid -- through individuals who are paid administrators and earn a salary from the charter. Those adminstrators are also free to donate money to whom or to whatever organization they want, and that includes political organizations.

There is no way to assign a staff "point person" for all the questions: that would be incredibly time consuming because Charters, and education itself,
is quite complicated: there are laws that govern finances, STAR reports, teacher credentialing, and curriculum, to just name a few; in addition, we have state and federal laws, some of which conflict, and require careful attention. We have experts in all these areas and they communicate with one another. I would love for our offices to have more money to hire more personnel to spread out the work and provide our staff with more opportunities for cross-training, but I believe, at this point, it is very difficult. Our staff does very high quality of work for the conditions under which they work.

I am your "point" person, and I am working on the questions. Please be patient: We are working on trying to increase ROP funding; we also are in the process of re-authorizing NCLB; and I made a committment during my campaign to focus on gang prevention and intervention.

We work more than 3 hours a week on our Board work!

Please note: I will be in Maine visiting my daughter at Colby from January 4 - January 8, 2007.

ML
Wrong, Vista Real is a for profit! They guaranteed investors a 10% return first year of operation. They are being run out of the Antelope Valley, so like any parasite they found a new host in VC! Also ML, when Tony Strickland told the VCBOE to vote for Vista Real did you know they had paid him $20,000 to lobby for them?

Thank you Machiavelli and ML.

I was also under the impression that Vista Real was a "for profit" school. I know that Vista Real, Desert Sands Charter High School and Charter Resource Services are intimately tied together and that Charter Resource Services contributes to the campaigns of Chris Valenzano (Ventura County Board of Education Member) and the Strickland's campaigns. Doesn't pass the sniff test and I'm glad to know you will be working on it.

Machiavelli - now why would Vista Real pay so much for Tony S. to lobby for them? Is there a way for me to confirm that Tony was indeed lobbying for them and received payment? It should be recorded with the California Sec. of State right? Maybe under TS Public Relations?

Well I didn't see any lobbying money for Tony Strickland with the Ca. Sec. of State. And I did see that Vista Real is a not for profit organization as is Desert Sands Charter High School. However, Charter Resource Services is for profit with Karin Sandnes being the CEO. I wonder if Karin Sandnes is related to Richard Sandnes of Mr. Stax Inc. (IHOP) fame? They both operate out of Valencia. Mr. Sandnes is a big Strickland supporter.

Katie,
I will never eat at IHOP again knowing they support the Strickland's! In terms of the $20,000 payment to Tony S. from Vista Real it was reported in the Star in an article written by Timm Herdt during the 06 primaries. The holding company for Vista Real is a for profit. If you call Dr. Charles Weis you can ask him if investors in Vista Real were promised 10% returns first year of operation since that was discussed the night they voted for Vista Real according to those I have spoken to who were there that night. They paid Tony S. $20,000 because they are making big bucks off of this charter school with the money coming from local school districts. Vista Real can then make big campaign contributions to politicians who will protect them. Also the $20,000 payment was recorded on Audra's FPPC form, not Tony's, you can verify that with Timm Herdt.

ML, thanks for answering questions on this blog. i find it refreshing when elected officials look for many different venues to talk issues with stake holders.

Thanks again.

Too many people in America are stuck in a conservative mindset afraid of change, especially on the Left. They want to preserve the status quo, and think that just pumping some more money into the old system will solve the problem. In many spheres, the ideas of the Right are far more "progressive," including education, economics, and the War on Terror.

As far as I understand, funding for private universities comes mostly from tuition and alumni, not the government. If that were the case, they would not be "private," but "public" universities. Yes, they do get some government money. Your definition, however, is akin to calling public schools private because students have to buy their own pencils and paper.

While I agree that supporting education for returning GIs was a great idea, it did not single-handed lead to American hegemony. Nor was it government spending alone that gave the US the best military in the world. Weapons are useless without people to use them, and a culture that values military service, sacrifice, and honor is what provides the backbone for our armed forces. Values, incidentally, that stopped being in fashion forty years ago.

"Quality" would be a measurement of how well our system is meeting the goals that we have set out. What are the goals of universal public education? Why do we have it? In Europe, the education system is mostly based on that of France, spread around the continent by Napoleon. The goal of which is to make "citizens." In fact, the Socialists (late 1800s) wanted universal schooling in the hopes that the government might reduce the role of the Catholic Church on society, and bring up a new generation of socialists. Far from an unbiased system meant to give facts, universal education was intended to be an indoctrination course. Is that what we want as well? It would seems that significant segments of the country would. Are there any alternatives? Is education necessarily indoctrination? If so, towards what should we orient it? These are fundamental questions that need to be answered in the public arena if we are ever to truly reform our system.

Do you know there a re for profit local schools Owen?

What does that have to do with anything I just said? Except that it is a well-needed innovation.

When Vista Real was being chartered, the initial investment background was covered. I, too, found the for-profit nature of Vista Real's initial investors opportunistic.

It is not uncommon to have parents and teachers who are beginning a charter to take out loans to begin the process. Those loans are repaid with interest.

That Vista Real's investors were not a bank or a government agency improper? Or is it that we did not like the people who were involved?

Opening new schools takes a tremendous investment and education is highly regulated, so the risk of failing is high.

Is it improper to expect a return on this kind of an investment?

The underlying premise for the criticism of Vista Real seems to be that the investors were not altruistic, enough.

From my understanding and observations, those who seek charters do so because they want a more entrepreneurial environment: parents, teachers, and administrators do not want the contraints of a bureaucratic district office or other larger organizational structures. Isn't that a good thing? Because the money is not being controlled by a "district" does that make it less "public"?

What are the benefits and harm of an entrepreneurial approach to education?

To my way of thinking, it is not a question of choosing between the "status quo" vs. "innovation." Like "risk" and "security," we need to be sensitive to when circumstances change or need to be stabilized.

How do we create an educational environment that allows all of us to stay aware and engaged to those circumstances and have the capacity to be responsive so that we serve our students well enough so they grow up to be engaged, prepared, productive, and healthy members of our communities?

Again, I go back to the teacher in the classroom. S/he needs the time and space to be innovative and responsive to the learning needs of the child and educational needs of his/her community.

To prepare our children well for the 2st century, what should a week in the life of a 21st century
teacher look like at the elementary level? middle school level? high school level?

Instead of creating magnet, trade, small, large, etc. schools, we had a vareity of great teachers teaching relevant classes, whether it be biophysics, furniture making, webcast, figure painting, jazz ensemble, late 20th century writers of the Americas, Shakespeare, film, etc. would we need all these new educational movements and reforms?

ML, can you please provide the names of the investors? I heard the question was asked at at least one of the meetings and the person was informed by the attorney or by Chris V. that the investor information was confidential and would not be revealed.

Since public dollars are being used, I would like to know who is profitting from it.

Katie,
It seems we already have the answer: Charter Resource Services.

Are you interested in the quallity of education students are provided or just chasing down evidence to use in a fight between CAPC and the VCRCC?

Is this really for the public good, or just fueling an internecine Republican fight?

On this Friday's agenda, VCBE will be discussing and taking action on creating a cooperative to purchase standard school supplies for all local school districts. This economy-of-scale will help reduce school costs.

It also reduces vendors profiting from public funding. Do you also want to know all the people who have invested in those private companies and who are thus making a profit from public funding?

My concern is that when we, or any other public agency, contracts with private vendors or when public funds are used for private profit, is the public receiving a service, benefit, and/or product that it could not receive in a better or more equitable manner if it were done "in house"?

What is the value added for our communities' educational goals for our children in the short- and long-term when we use private rather than public services?

It seems that in all areas of essential services and products, we allow private investors some margin to make a profit: hospitals, farming, housing, just to name three.

Shouldn't the focus be on if Vista Real is working? How do we measure that?

Do we really need to use a market-based approach to education to affect innovation?

What are the consequences to these essential services when profit is the driving force?

What should we do to have the proper balance between profit being an impetus for change and altruism?

I believe that education is already much too underfunded. I prefer to have our public funds be used to create great learning environments for teachers and students.

What is CAPC's vision for education?

I have asked you as a representative of the Ventura County Board of Education to provide the names of the private investors for Vista Real. I've also asked Chris V. for the same information. I have also asked for clarification regarding Tony Strickland's relationship with Vista Real and Charter Resource Services. Neither one of you have provided the information I have requested. Don't try to spin it into anything else and question those that do.

ML was the only Board Member to vote against Vista Real, now it sounds like you are defending them ML, WHY? Chuck Weis and his staff recommended against Vista Real, I'm told by those who were at the meeting that is was clear that they had lied, for example, they were supposed to show that specific teachers had said they wanted to work there, when the teachers were called they all claimed they had never said they wanted to work there and others could not even be reached! Also, has Vista Real received accredidation? Isn't it true that Ron Matthews said he would vote for Vista Real because the kids could pray and carry bibles? Is it also not true all the local Districts in VC came and spoke against Vista Real? Did you know that night when the vote was taken that Strickland had been paid $20,000 from Vista Real and that they had given Strickland a $7,000 campaign donation and that Strickland had then given Valenzano the identical $7,000 donation to help him get elected so he would vote for Vista Real? The people want to know!

CAPC does not have a policy on education, per se. It's interest is integrity and transparency in government, and getting the best representation possible.
One must always worry when an office-holder answers a direct question with lots of philosophical ramblings.

I am not trying to "defend" anyone. I am trying to work on real solutions to education problems. Frankly, there are funds being tossed around and misused in many sectors of public education. ACROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM.

I voted no. Many of the concerns you have re: payments and donations concern me as well and were part of my decision to vote against Vista Real.

At this point, that is no longer relevant.

MY FOCUS now is on the education being provided by Vista Real. It is not about defending or condemning fellow board members. It's about oversight of Vista Real and making sure that it is providing what at-risk students need to be academically successful. Where is the money going now? and is it for creating and maintaining educational soundness?

You are welcomed to attend Vista Real Charter High School Board of Directors' meeting on January 24, 2007 at 4:00 PM. It will be held on South A Street, Suite 3, in Oxnard, California, 93030.
You may also want to contact Cindy Tanner, Secretary of the Corporation, at ctanner@dschs.org or by phone at 661.272.1225.

I am on the state legislative committee for the CCBE and will ask about current legislation that is in the works re: for-profit charters in addition to current laws that apply. I will also be speaking with my assembly representative, Pedro Nava, and my State Senator, Tom McClintock. I imagine that Tom would be quite supportive of your concerns since he has been quite a vocal critic of redevelopment and the whole notion of public funds being used for private profit. That is your main concern, isn't it?

I will post and/or e-mail you info as I learn more.

Does CAPC have a record of its financial backers?
Are you willing to post them?

I am wondering what is your views re: Dr. Weis's campaign committee donating to Jack O'Connell's campaign? How about local district members donating to Dr. Weis and Mr. O'Connell in light of their responsibility for financial and educational oversight of local school districts? Does that strike you as a conflict of interest? Are those relationships "for-profit," as in for-political influence, and such? What is the difference between contributing for-influence and contributing to candidates and office holders who share one's particular political vision?

From these blogs, it seems that both the CAPC Republicans and the VCRCC dislike the "undue" influence of unions, both are free-market advocates, both feel most are being over-taxed.
The difference seems to be the issue of a Christian fundamentalist influence and an absolutist approach to politics. It really seems to me that both the moderate and conservative Republicans have more in common than not; it is a matter of style and in the area of a few social issues, a matter of degree.

When CAPC states that it seeks "the best representation possible," what does it base that on? How is "integrity" and "transparency" defined? There were actions taken by many of the candidates it endorsed who did not behave in a manner I would have defined as having "integrity."
Again, what kind of work is it doing to open up the records of local school districts? And to what end?

If the Richman cause for "unfunded liability" is an example of CAPC policy interests, I really do not see it much different from what conservative Republicans want. So, is it basically, one Republican clique upset at the "popularity" of another clique? Ego-a-Ego?

I think Democrats and Independents have much more to offer than the inter-party squabble happening.

CAPC is non-partisan, and includes many Democrats and DTS - all interested in the common definition of integrity and transparency in government.

ML,
So what is Vista Real's total API Score? Do they have accredidation? Why don't they serve special ed kids? How much money have local districts lost because of Vista Real? Why is the County Board taking local control away from Districts and approving these kind of Charters?

ML:

In July/August of 2005, I reviewed the staff report for Vista Real charter school and I sent a letter in opposition to State Superintendent Jack O'Connell as I believe it had just been approved.

First, the staff report had outlined that the teachers to start the charter school petition later admitted that the Vista Real Charter petition had been misrepresented to them. This should have been an indication right off the bat that something was wrong.

In my view, teachers should be heavily involved from the get-go in the formation of charter schools as statistics have shown since Clinton signed the Charter Schools Act, that charter schools improve public education when positioned in a complimentary fashion with local public schools.

Communities that understand that charter schools and public schools can "burden share" have reaped academic success for the better.

Second, the County school staff report outlined some gaping holes that no trustee who wants accountable and performance-based schools should have approved.

Here are some of the holes to think about:

1.Lack of attendance expectations and requirements.
2.Lack of a clear list of general academic skills and qualities important for an educated person.
3.Lack of a clear list of general non-academic skills and qualities important for an educated person.
4.Total lack of a framework for instructional design.
5.No description of instructional approaches and strategies including curriculum, teaching methods, materials, and technology.
6.Lack of a description of a basic learning environment.
7.Lack of discussion of how a chosen instructional approach will enable students to achieve objective specified in the charter and master academic content standard in core curriculum areas.
8.Proposal is inconsistent with school’s mission.
9.Lack of measurable outcomes.
10.Lack of response to pupil outcomes.
11.Lacks an affirmation that “benchmark” skills and specific classroom-level skills will be developed.

While you may believe that oversight is what is needed, if the general mission as outlined above is so low and weak, how would oversight vet out anything?

If expectations are so low, does oversight even matter?

I believe this charter school should have never been passed and instead money should have been focused around the mission of the county school board, which is to provide multiple school at-risk intervention programs throughout Ventura to aid local districts.

Instead, our county has been given a charter school without a mission, without content standards, without attendance standards, and without benchmarks for gauging success.

How possibly is that in the best interest of any student?

How would oversight of a policy car wreck be fixable?

I do not want want to get into who is to blame, but would prefer to focus our discussion on fixing this charter school to make it more responsive to the community. Can the County Board revoke a charter school or demand they up their standards and have a mission? I'm pretty sure they can.

Has their been any efforts to get teacher buy-in from the public schools?

I welcome your thoughts.

Scott: All that you outline in the staff report are the reasons why I voted against Vista Real. Now, my responsibility is to make sure those holes have been addressed. I am also open to learning what they might be doing that is not easily quantifiable or described with our current measures.

Machievelli:

The link will give you the API and special ed info you have asked for.

There is nothing preventing Districts from working to persuade students to attend their local districts instead of Vista Real. That control still remains with local districts.

There are countless high school students whose educational needs are not being met by what we currently offer.

What can we do to address more effectively the most pressing needs of our most at-risk youth?

The VCSBA (Ventura County School Board Association) will be hearing the work that has been done by a county-wide high school commission on "reinvigorating" high schools. This is a conversation that is happening on several levels, receiving national attention.

Doesn't this suggest to you that we -- that includes charters, local districts, and at the county, state, and federal levels -- are not meeting our students needs? In this context, is it really that surprising or are you, Machievelli, really that alarmed that charters are pushing its way into public education?

Machievelli, when you ask how much money Vista Real has taken from public schools, in what way do local districts' "own" students and the funds that educate them?

Again, if I may, I am very interested in learning from Dennert bloggers:

To prepare our children well for the 2st century, what should a week in the life of a 21st century
teacher look like at the elementary level? middle school level? high school level?

What resources and support do teachers need to be innovative and relevant to our children's educational needs?

Would you support re-agendizing this charter to plug the holes in this program? How many board members would it take to reagendize this issue?

What is the county superintendent's position on this matter? Can he agendize the matter?

I'd love to open this up to public discussion and review?

If every person gets a performance review, I'm not sure why Vista Real wouldn't?

It is clear a for profit diploma mill with a store front in a strip amll was created. The funding to get the ball rolling was laundered from one campaign or person to another.

ML Petersen as a good Democrat was against it. But since she is powerless to stop it, she doesn;t feel like investigating on the different types of shady things that have happened.

How is it that Tony Strickland doesn't have to answer if he was paid or not?

Why hasn't a local paper investigated?

Why did the County Board go against the will of every district.

ML start asking questions and taking names. These people are your coworkers and we know you are civil, but be aggressive.

I think education is still free. But some groups are looking to drain the public supply.

I believe there is a reason that local races are non-partisan. It is supposed to be all about the individual community and how we can assure that the individual needs of all citizens are met; not about the political machine. I understand that the further our representatives are distanced from their community their role changes and party affiliation is important at a state level.

When did the parties become so fearful that if they support an individual regardless of party affiliation for a local position, that they would live in dread that that person may seek a higher office that is partisan.

It seems ML that you talk about party politics way too much and not the quality of your programs. I rarely hear about the individual students that you serve. The County SChools is responsible for educating the most difficult and vulnerable of all students. Where is the passion and compassion, I find it highly missing.

I have heard your Board members be incredibly insensitive and ignorant and refer to students as "the severely handicapped" they are children they are a label.

Where is your outreach to the stakeholders and parents? It simply is not there. Where is the dicussion about transitional services for students coming out of the court schools or children with disabilities that have aged out the system. In Kunicki's interview with the Star he said you give them a "booklet" of resources that is outrageous! I never hear about your inter-agency collaborations, wrap around services, etc.

The needs of students that you serve is extremely individualized. Your Board does not represent the diversity of the students you serve, aside from you and your teaching experience.

I am extremely grateful that Dr. Weis is at the helm. He at least is a stakeholder who has a daughter with Down Syndrome.

Why is it that the Gateway Schools can not meet the needs of the students that you serve. Is the VCBOE admitting that they have failed in delivering excellence and therefore rely on outside sources to do their jobs for them.

correction to last comment; I have heard your Board members be incredibly insensitive and ignorant and refer to students as "the severely handicapped" they are children they are NOT a label.

Comments from your Board Members;

"You can tell the only reason "these" kids have problems (emotional disturbances) is because of their parents." Chris Valenzano

"What do you think we do, 95% of our job is to balance the budget." Marty Bates(I guess he believes it's not important to understand the programs, so you can make informed and intelligent decisions)

"It's amazing, the severely handicapped have grandparents fly from FL of MN to attend the graduation ceremonies." Dean Kunicki

"The most important thing to me is to make sure that our Board Members are "Born Again Christians." Ron Matthews

BTW I happen to be a "Born Again, baptized Christian" and have been since I was 17 as well as my husband and I am not ashamed of it.Donna Prenta

Donna:

I talk about party politics because I am interested in making sure that particular educational values and goals have an effective venue for action. Because so much of education policy is worked through the state legislature, and there and, quite actually, locally as well, political, social, and economic values are worked through the mechanism of party politics, it is important to be clear and transparent to community members my intentions and priorities. To do otherwise, I believe would be disingenuous.

There are community members who share your view re: party politics. I simply disagree.

Instead of discounting "partisan" discussion, is there a way that we might welcome -- I find it very stimulating and engaging -- and open up political discourse that includes Greens, Independents, Libertarians, etc.? To move in the other direction, in my view, leads to a making nice that doesn't help in creating the kind of genuine understanding that leads to effective and sustainable solutions.

I think that SELPA -- as you know Donna -- does an excellent job with our communities' special needs children.

I am not going to use the difficult lives of any one of our children in a public way to make a political point.

Because I didn't speak of my personal experiences or use the stories of these children during my political campaign, I ask that assumptions should not be made that I have not or do not have personal and close connections with those we serve.

It is my firm belief that education in general has learned much from all the research and work that has been done in special education.

I believe that ALL CHILDREN would benefit greatly from having INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PLANS that are provided special education students. That is tremendously expensive, but I think worth the investment.

All children have incredible potential, often left untapped. The financial resources used for special needs students are much greater than offered other students.

Is a child whose brain is wired to have facility with her/his small motor skills or to move easily and with grace or to think elegantly through mathematical formulas or to analyze the effecient use of energy or to empathize with others have
needs that are any less important than any other child's needs?

I do not think we have provided our schools the kind of resources needed to create an "excellent" system. I think there are examples of "excellence": extraordinary teachers, meticulous business managers, effective principals, etc., but we have much work to do to have "excellence" consistently and meaningfully throughout our school system that goes beyond PR or summary reports.

Our office's serve the children who have very difficult circumstances and greater challenges than most.

We have much work to do, and it is my intention to work to provide the resources for our teaching professionals and staff to continue to support their work and to continue to improve.

In terms of "excelllence": we are having a statewide, even a national, conversation grappling with that.

I think your criticism re: our Gateway programs unfair: I believe that it is one of the most underfunded programs in the state when considering the challenges of the students and the circumstances under which our teachers have had to work. And I have been working on that on a multiple levels.

For example, Gateway and Court teachers have been asked to have students make academic progress even when student enrollment in the Gateway programs are very unpredictable. Learning needs to be reinforced. When attendance is as eradict as it is allowed -- not by teachers but by the system -- it is difficult to make the kind of progress that is asked.

I have been speaking with Dr. Weis and his staff
for over three years to address this: Is it
really in the best interest for these students to have a system that is set up for "temporary housing" rather than making sure the areas -- academically, socially, emotionally, and psychologically -- in which there are deficiencies
are effectively undertaken?

Dr. Dritz found a program that effectively combined the social and academic needs of many of our Gateway students. That, in my view, was a huge step.

I am interesed in learning what is needed so that our teachers have the support from other professionals -- so that they have the time and resources -- so that they may effectively collaborate -- so that the whole child is educated.

I believe the academic, the innate intelligences of the student, the social, the emotional, the psychological, the physical, and the metaphysical all need to be addressed by a community of professionals so that our young adults in our Gateway and Court schools might develop into productive and healthy citizens.

We don't have nearly enough resources to have that happening right now.

Our staff is doing a herculean job -- and I respect that they have not become cynical in the process -- in working to meet our children's and communities' needs.

It is not only Dr. Weis.

It is all the countless teachers, adminstrators, staff, and volunteers who do the work with professionalism and patience every day without any fanfare or their names in the newspaper.

We need to do more. But that doesn't mean there is little being done.

ML,

I never said that the SELPA wasn't doing a great job. As you know I have volunteered for many years at the SELPA.

In my previous post I did not say you were not a stakeholder.

I disagree with you about the Gateway Schools. Vista Real essentially skimmed off the students that attended Gateway that were more likely to have better attendance. By removing these students from Gateway you left the students behind that were less likely to have higher attendance skewing the numbers.

Why is there no Gateway School in District IV? The VCBOE chose to close the school for budget reasons. Our students are forced to drive to Camarillo, where is District IV's Champion for our students. I hope this was not a preemptive move for the VCBOE justifying Vista Real opening another school in a strip mall in our area.

Throughout my campaign I did not criticize the County Schools only that District IV had a representative that was not bringing resources to our area. Other VCBOE Trustees have been successful in bringing a disproportiante amount to their District than ours.

I have nothing but respect for the staff that Dr. Weis has and I have worked with many of them in positive ways. I NEVER criticized the SELPA, I built them up and said that because they did such a great job I wanted to give back as a commuity service.

Not all Charters are created equal-Chime School actually has 20% Special Ed. Students, the average is 10%. This is the way Charters should work, there are no investors only volunteers that established this school, which is probably why student ADA is $8100. They save their money for programs as opposed to lobbying and campaign contributions. Follow the link to their website and read the article below if you would like to learn how a great charter can work.

It is extremely disappointing that some politicians spend their time finding loopholes to campaign finances and a means for making money from public funds using Charter schools such as Vista Real as a vessel for their personal gain.

CHIME Rings the School Bell for Each Individual Student
Every child is different. Every child is unique. What would you do if your child did not learn in the same way as most other children? What if you could not find a school that best served your child's needs? If you are like actress Laura San Giacomo, whose son has cerebral palsy, and other concerned parents in Woodland Hills, California, you might help to build a new school—one that nurtures all children and one where every student can, and does, learn. You might create a school like CHIME Charter Elementary School, where children learn together whether they are gifted, have age-specific knowledge and skills, or have disabilities.

Since its inception, California's "Community Honoring Inclusive Model Education" (CHIME) Institute has collaborated with local families, offering infant, toddler, preschool programs, and childcare to help families meet their children's needs. For 15 years, families benefited from these services, but they wanted more. Parents requested that CHIME extend its services, and, in 2001, with support from the community and parents like San Giacomo, CHIME Charter Elementary School opened its doors.

CHIME Elementary School serves 192 children in kindergarten through fifth grade who live in communities around California's San Fernando Valley. The student population is 49 percent Caucasian, 27 percent Hispanic, 13 percent American Indian and Asian, and 11 percent African American. Nearly 20 percent of these students have disabilities that range from mild to severe. Children come to CHIME with emotional and social needs, physical needs, and academic needs. As a charter school, CHIME provides free public education to students and admits them through a lottery system. As mandated by the school's charter, slots are saved for children with special needs.

To ensure a range of abilities, Principal Julie Fabrocini, who is also a part-time education instructor at California State University, states, " We send a huge message about diversity to our community and the public at large. Having so many different students in one building enriches the learning environment for all kids."

At CHIME, special education is seen as a service. Instead of taking children out of their regular classrooms to participate in speech and language therapy or other occupational services, students receive assistance from special educators and other paraprofessionals in their classrooms. Special educators spend one to two hours in each classroom, serving not only the students with disabilities, but all students who need assistance. It is not uncommon to see speech and language pathologists working with small groups of students in a classroom, practicing phonemic and phonological awareness skills, while the regular classroom teacher leads another small group in another language arts activity.

The school adheres to a co-teaching model where special educators plan lessons with regular classroom teachers. The first hour of every school day, before the building is bustling with students, is set aside for lesson planning. CHIME faculty view co-teaching as a layering technique for instruction that meets the children where they are, supporting each child in the unique way he or she learns best. One special educator and one to two paraprofessionals work alongside each classroom teacher, continuously engaging and supporting the students.

When the last bell rings and students are dismissed, the 15 CHIME teachers, special educators, related service providers, and paraprofessionals, meet for 25 minutes to "debrief" in their respective classrooms. With multiple people working in each grade, the debriefing time is valuable to discuss individual students' successes and challenges, both academically and behaviorally, that day. The debriefing discussions are used to shape instruction for the following day and support the co-teaching partnerships and teaming at the school.

A unique aspect of CHIME's regular curriculum is the required American Sign Language (ASL) class. Seen as "the official second language" of the school, ASL is taught to all CHIME students for about one hour per week. A certified ASL teacher, who is also deaf, instructs each class. Many CHIME teachers believe that students learn the structure of language more readily by participating in the sign language courses, and that ASL provides a solid foundation for literacy.

CHIME students have shown marked improvement on standardized achievement tests. In 2004, CHIME had a target of 8 points above its 2003 Academic Performance Index (API) number, (California's student achievement measure). The school exceeded that goal, reaching an astounding 77-point improvement. The state's current goal for schools to achieve or maintain is an API of 800; CHIME earned a 715. (2005-API-766, 2006-API-791)

In January, the California Charter Schools Association named CHIME the "Charter School of the Year." Last year, the U.S. Department of Education recognized CHIME as a national model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country. CHIME receives funding from the federal Charter Schools Program grant awarded to the California Department of Education by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement. The U. S. Department of Education's Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, John H. Hager, visited CHIME this year during National Charter Schools Week.

Excellent Charter School: Thanks for the link.
Not all charters are the same. This is all new, and I hope we are open to look at the benefits and the drawbacks of the charter movement; especially, its possible negative social and financial impact: in some areas, charters are intensifying community fragmentation; additionally, non-chartered public schools are losing money at a much faster rate than can be adjusted for, which creates multi-year budget strains that affects the quality of education for children in those public schools.

There will be more focus on charters this year throughout the state, and especially in Sacramento.

If Dennert bloggers are interested in keeping track of possible legislation affecting charters, an excellent resource is the Official California Legislation Information website at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/billinfo.html

You can subscribe to be kept informed on a bill you are interested in tracking. They will e-mail you updates when there is anything happening. This way, if you want to lobby your elected official, you will know when it will be most effective.

I am in the process of revising my website so I may continue to learn from the general public as we stay engaged in discussing education issues. It will also be a site where we can have access to relevant information relating to education, especially at the local level.

While the site (www.mlpetersonforkids.com) is not up-to-date -- and I am learning how to make the site relevant and engaging for the community -- I hope you will bookmark it for future use.

Thanks Brian for giving us this opportunity to exhange views and information.