Local school trustees need to do a better job supervising the
Morgan Hill Unified School District, according to members of the
public who graded them throughout the month of April as part of the
newspaper’s Accountability in Community Leadership Project.
Morgan Hill – Local school trustees need to do a better job supervising the Morgan Hill Unified School District, according to members of the public who graded them throughout the month of April as part of the newspaper’s Accountability in Community Leadership Project.
Morgan Hill Times readers and local residents who participated in the project gave the school district lower than average grades on their first installment of goals for the year.
The project is designed to assist elected community leaders, including trustees and Morgan Hill City Council members, in staying on track by reporting their goals and their rate of success in achieving them during the time period they set to do so.
To obtain the grades, the Times published a report card which ran in the newspaper, the Times Web site and which was distributed at several community events seeking grades for how well trustees have done with their first batch of measurements under their four main goals of student achievement, fiscal responsibility, value, respect and support district employees and district and board communication.
More than 100 report cards were completed by community members. To obtain a cross section of grades Times Editor Sheila Sanchez made the report cards available at a variety of local events, including the Chamber of Commerce’s Health and Fitness Fair. She distributed them throughout the downtown. She said that though the report card distribution was not scientific, it was an opportunity to collect public opinion.
Measures
The measurements trustees were graded on included items trustees said would be completed in April:
n District office administrative staff will monitor the implementation of school safety plans at all sites.
n Maximize student attendance by communicating with parents quarterly and working with the police department on truancy.
n Settle collective bargaining agreements in a timely fashion.
n Superintendent Alan Nishino’s quarterly articles in the newspaper .
Grades from the community were averaged together. Trustees received a “C-” on the first measurement, a “D+” on the second, a “C” on the third and a “D-” on the last.
From the Times Editorial Board, trustees received a “B-” on the first, a “D+” on the second, a “B-” on the third and a “D” on the last.
Trustees who graded themselves posted an “A, B, A, A; a B, B, B, F; a B, B, B, F; C-, C, I, F, respectively for the four goals.
Trustees respond
School Board President Peter Mandel declined to grade himself as requested by the newspaper.
“My personal opinion is that I don’t believe it is appropriate for an elected official to grade him or herself,” Mandel wrote in an e-mail to Sanchez. “It’s rather presumptuous. The voters, the community, should be evaluating us, and they do when they appear at board meetings and when they go to the voting booth. Finally, the board, as a whole, did do a self-evaluation about a month ago in a public session when we spent a whole day looking at how the Board operates, its priorities, and its procedures. So we do assess ourselves in a manner that I believe is more appropriate than a report card.”
Trustees Kathy Sullivan and Julia Hover-Smoot also did not provide grades for themselves and their performance in the four areas.
“I read your paper cover to cover … so I am very aware of the report card page. I have resisted the urge to go and fill in what I am sure would be a glowing grade from me to me. Without seeing the results I am sure some of the groups that are in negotiation with us might not have the same restraints. So I will keep that in mind when I read the results,” wrote Sullivan in an e-mail to Sanchez after a grade request. “I am sure it will be amusing to read no matter what.”
Times Editorial Board member David Cohen said in an e-mail that he thought trustees should be willing to grade themselves.
“The trustees could certainly look at their goals and indicate whether they have been accomplished, what percentage of accomplishment they have achieved and what are the goals they need to work harder on,” he wrote. “I don’t think that’s asking for too much. This is about accountability, and the desire to shun the request is indicative of a desire to be held accountable only at election time.”
Trustees Don Moody, Shelle Thomas, Bart Fisher and Mike Hickey offered grades and opinions about themselves as trustees.
Moody said he was unhappy with the district’s collective bargaining.
“I’m not at liberty to say much about our negotiations with SEIU because we are in mediation,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I do however wish that I could have done more to have resolved our issues internally. We are spending more time with our teachers and classified employees in mediation. Negotiations used to be resolved by open communication within our own district. I hope to work towards returning to that means of problem solving.”
Thomas said she thinks the superintendent needs to write more than four articles for the newspaper per year.
“The paper offers a valuable avenue to connect with our community. It is another means to share what is happening in the district and public education. The community should not have to wait for a quarterly article to gain insight into what is taking place in the schools and district direction. Communication is a board goal,” Thomas wrote in an e-mail.
Fisher said he is pleased with the work the schools have done on the single school/safe school plans.
“The schools and their site councils deserve an A+ for the energy and thoughtfulness they put in to their plans,” he wrote in an e-mail. “This (B-) is my grade for me in terms of not following up in seeing how we could improve interactions around the creation and communication of these plans to the board for next year.”
Community comments
Some community members wrote comments on their report cards.
A local teacher wrote about Nishino, “He cares more about promoting himself than serving the needs of our students. His administration has been a disaster for MHUSD employees. I care less about the words he writes and more about the actions he takes.”
Another comment from a community member: “The board chose a superintendent who seems to see the district employees, both teachers and classified, as the enemy. This has created hostile contract negotiations, as well as a general disregard for the needs and professional opinions of the MHUSD staff. It is no wonder that so many individuals are seeking employment in other districts.”Â
Next measures
Next up for trustees are goals with July target dates. Under the student achievement goal the trustees will be evaluated on:
n Based on multiple measures, students will achieve or exceed grade-level benchmarks (California Standards tests, California High School Exit Exam, California English Learners Development Test, etc.) on an annual basis.
n Each of 15 site principals will review, analyze and use all MHUSD multiple assessment data for their English-language learners to monitor progress and plan next steps for English language acquisition, academic achievement and progress by the end of the first quarter.”
Under their goal to value, respect and support employees, the next measure for trustees to oversee is: “Attend a minimum of four recruitment activities” which falls under the responsibility of Assistant Superintendent Jay Totter.
