Upcoming Monday Board Meeting: More “Celebrations,” Revised 2013-2014 Calendar, Shortened Summer School, Summer Fluff-Four-Day-Work-Week for Administrators, Non-Transparent Curriculum Committee Proposal and Proposed Staffing that Affects Class Size; What is the True Status of the District?

As we reviewed the upcoming board agenda for the Monday 2/10 BOE Meeting at Oak School at 7pm, we were once again struck by the lack of status reports offered by Dr. Schuster and her hand-picked administration. As has been the case for months, Schuster and her administrative foot soldiers (Schneider, Russell, Benaitis, Igoe) will be sitting in front of their computer screens during the course of the board meeting with little to no contribution or participation regarding the effectiveness and status of Learning for All, Special Education, or Testing and Assessment. By the way, it is common for Superintendents and Board Presidents to jointly decide on the meeting agenda, which probably means Marty Turek is actually approving the topics on the agenda recommended by Schuster. Truth be told: we see President Turek working on behalf of the administration rather than to represent and work for those he was elected to represent. We see this same pattern reflected in the participation of Mike Nelson (from afar) and Gary Clarin (recently elected and self-appointed administrative cheerleader).  May we remind these board members they were elected to represent and serve their constituents, not to promote the whims, spins, and tactics of Dr. Schuster and her administration.

Here are our immediate concerns:

1. Dr. Schuster’s report (click to open report) consists of “celebrations” instead of offering a summary on how and where the district is heading. We congratulate Oak School for its nomination to apply for the blue ribbon award, however, there are 9 schools in this district, 4 blue ribbon winners in their midst, that have pressing curriculum issues that must be addressed right now. Parents need and want data and solid information on how the curriculum changes Dr. Schuster has mandated have affected our children. Mentioning a presentation by Dr. Ginsburg and her upcoming Lunch and Learn get together is hardly providing a comprehensive update to parents, especially after the instruction middle school students has been greatly impacted. Where is this discussion item?  (Considering that two of the last three Lunch and Learns have been cancelled and registered attendance extremely poor, perhaps it is time for Dr. Schuster to offer a real Town Hall meeting, open to all –- registered and unregistered participants – at which she and the board will have to answer questions on the spot.)
2. The MAP test was given in mid January, yet no formal summary of results has been given by Dr. Schuster, Kurt Schneider, Kevin Russell or Dawn Benaitis. We have been contacted by parents who are concerned that the MAP scores for their children have gone down from Fall to Winter.  Test results should be communicated immediately; parents want and deserve this. Note: It appears Kevin Russell will be giving a presentation on MAP test results on 2/20 in yet another controlled setting with no opportunity for questions. This session is listed on the district homepage, but why isn’t Russell providing the test interpretation information at the board meeting where the board members can ask questions and discuss the results? And shouldn’t Dawn Benaitis, who was hired to be the assessment director, be providing a comprehensive report and presentation of the MAP results? What is she really getting paid to do as an assessment director?
3. Class size is an important issue in the face of the Learning for All plan. It is obvious that the Learning for All plan cannot be effectively managed with class sizes are large as they are in most cases across the district. How is the administration handling class size? Is their recommendation reasonable?
4. One positive, and yet concerning note: Dr. Moon and the newly hired consultant Dr. Friedman will apparently be presenting reports on the Learning for All (formerly the Advanced Learning Plan) at the next BOE meeting on Monday 2/24. Should be interesting to hear their take on the state of learning and differentiation in the district.  Our concern is that they will have only spent one day visiting classrooms across the district before they present their "report" to the BOE that same night.  How thorough and thoughtful can their report actually be if they do not spend more time in the classrooms, meeting with teachers, or even talking to parents about how the plan has impacted students? Also, what is the purpose of Dr. Friedman's involvement?  She is a

More Transparency and Respect towards community members needed from the Board of Education

Let's talk about the current D181 Board of Education.

1.  Board Member responsibilities:  We would suggest that all board members take the time to read and understand their powers and duties as defined in Board Policies 2:010, 2:020, 2:080 and 2:110.  In the past there has been a lot of criticism by the Administration that certain board members are over-reaching.  The reality is, however, that there are 16 defined duties in Board Policy 2:020 alone, all of which require oversight and action by the board.

2.  The new board members and officers:  A new board convened on May 6, 2013.  New members Jill Vorobiev, Mridu Garg and Gary Clarin joined the two year veterans, Michael Nelson, Brendan Heneghan, Marty Turek and Glenn Yaeger.  Immediately following the swearing in of new members, a reorganization meeting was held and board officers were elected for a one year term.  Turek was elected to replace Nelson as president, Vorobiev replaced Yaeger as vice-president, and Garg replaced out-going Sarah Lewensohn as secretary.  What was striking about this reorganization, was that it was obvious that the elections had been pre-arranged and most of the board members knew who was going to be elected for president and vice-president.