With its 14 school sites having completed safety and academic
plans, its superintendent writing columns in the newspaper and
reporting one of the lowest district truancy rates, the Morgan Hill
Unified School District Board of Education seems to be on the right
track as it comes up for review as part of the Morgan Hill
Times
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Accountability in Community Leadership Project.
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Editor’s Note: The following story is part of series of articles that will appear regularly in the Morgan Hill Times as part of its Accountability in Community Leadership Project. The articles hope to hold school and city officials accountable to goals adopted by their organizations. This report reviews the first four measurements adopted by Morgan Hill trustees in July with April target dates.
Morgan Hill – With its 14 school sites having completed safety and academic plans, its superintendent writing columns in the newspaper and reporting one of the lowest district truancy rates, the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education seems to be on the right track as it comes up for review as part of the Morgan Hill Times “Accountability in Community Leadership Project.”
However, there’s one thorn in the side of its progress.
Trustees still have not settled a labor dispute with the 300-plus workers affiliated with the Service Employees International Union Local 251, which represents bus drivers, food service workers, clerks, classroom aides and maintenance workers.
The goals were adopted last July, and the board approved specific measurements for four broad goals. The Times asked Board President Peter Mandel to identify a projected completion date for the measurements.
Four of the measurements were projected to be completed in April: District office administrative staff will monitor the implementation of single school/safe school plans at all sites; maximize student attendance by communicating with parents quarterly and working with the police department on truancy; settle collective bargaining agreements in a timely fashion; and superintendent’s quarterly articles in the local newspaper.
“The district is committed to providing high quality education for all students,” Superintendent Alan Nishino said. “We will really make it a high priority to accomplish all our goals in a timely fashion.”
One of the measurements was to help all 14 school sites in the district implement or adopt safety plans and academic goals and objectives. The plans are two-part blueprints for each individual school site in the district containing both safety information for the site as well as information about the site’s goals and objectives and strategies for reaching them.
The plans have been presented to district officials and school trustees during school board meetings; all of the plans have been presented and approved. The plans list specific ways the sites will approve academically and how, as well as how the sites will react during an emergency.
Student services coordinator Bob Davis compiled a report on the district’s truancy rate, which was presented to the board during its March 27 meeting. The attendance rate from the beginning of school year in August through March is 94.3 percent, Davis told trustees. To improve attendance and curb truancy, the district also has an active School Attendance and Review Board (SARB) which is made up of representatives from the juvenile Probation Department, the Morgan Hill Police Department, Community Solutions, and district employees including school psychologists, principals and high school counselors. The board meets regularly to discuss truancy and attendance.
The third measurement the board is addressing is the collective bargaining agreements with the three employee groups, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers (MHFT) and the Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association (MHELA). This year, the board has set a goal that it will settle the agreements in “a timely fashion.” While the district has settled with MHELA and MHFT for the current year, the district is in mediation with SEIU. The third session of mediation is scheduled for April 27.
SEIU Local 251 is holding out for a 5 percent salary increase for the 2006-07 school year, as received by the other bargaining units. The district has offered 8 percent over two years, with the option of negotiating another pay raise next year.
The board has also said that as a part of a goal to improve communication, Nishino, as the district’s superintendent, will write quarterly columns to run in the Times. His second column appeared in the March 30 edition, thus technically meeting the expectations of the board.
“I’m pleased that the district has been able to continue to meet the goals it set for itself,” said Mandel. “It’s unfortunate that we have not been able to resolve all of the bargaining unit issues, but that process is continuing. We hopeful that it will be resolved as quickly as possible.”
The Times has created the accountability project to assist community leaders in fulfilling their responsibilities to the public. A report card is available on page 3 of this issue and online at www.morganhilltimes.com so the public can “grade” the trustees in the four areas listed in this story. The Times editorial board will also grade the trustees, and the trustees will grade themselves.
At the end of July, the Times editorial board, readers and trustees will again consider the progress of the district toward completion of its goals as three more measurements are due for completion.
