FOR Schools concerns

Here are the concerns stated at the first meeting.

As stakeholders in RDJUSD, the top 5 concerns for the schools and the district were in order of importance:

1) WASC accreditation of RVHS

2) Safety/Health/Cleanliness of RVHS and Riverview

3) Adequate Books for students at RVHS

4) Technology use by staff and updating staff with inservices
How will incorporate technology into education
How students will get the technology education they deserve

5) Communication from the schools to stakeholders with focus on:

• replying to parental phone calls and e-mails in a timely manner
• District server issues
• Ongoing website updates of school sites and district office site
• Lockers at RVHS with regards to maintenance and increasing the quality of the locker for the students
• Recruitment plan to obtain quality teachers
• Retention plan for quality teachers

Other concerns:

Lack of ADA compliant bathrooms at Riverview and minmal number of bathrooms at RVHS

Use of locker room bathrooms at RVHS related to PE staff

Water shut off at RVHS

Overall plan and direction for the Rio Vista and Isleton schools

CTE grants for the Communication/Art Building F and the Proposed Ag building

Beautification of RVHS

Coordination of volunteer program with the District Office to help fix up the schools

Proposed Solutions:

FOR Schools proposed having a resource site that could ID community members who have certain skills that could be used to help fix up the schools. Mr Hennes reminded the group that there are unions involved and a process must be followed.

Mr Hennes stated the District's proposed solutions for:

1)Books--

• Hire a District textbook coordinator
• Have inventory so the district knows exactly what books they have and how many at each site
• Have a collation process
• Promote across the board texts for all schools using a centralized system

2) Improved Communication:

There are high expectations for site administrators to communicate with parents

3) Hire full time Tech person by end of school year

4) There is a proposed ongoing maintenance evaluation for the sites to focus on needed improvements

5) A WASC consultant has been hired for RVHS and since Mr Lake is out on Workman's Comp there is an interim Principal hired for RVHS

6) SMART boards will soon be able to be used and Mr Hubbell is in charge of that

7) The District Office is currently unsure about how much technology the teachers' need to learn

Mission Statement

Here are the mission statement drafts for FOR Schools:

1) FOR Schools is a community based group dedicated to the promotion of quality education through collaboration and communication with all involved stakeholders of RDJUSD.

2) FOR Schools is a group of community supporters dedicated to the overall improvement and promotion of quality education in our local schools.

Please add your comments and send in your suggested revisions in a different color. See the T above for text color changes.

FOR Schools to meet with Mr. Bush

Hello all,
I was the only parent who was able to make it to the meeting with Mr. Harold Bush - the WASC Consultant.
He would like to meet with our group on Wednesday, October 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Media Center/Library.
Any and all parents who volunteered to be in each of the focus groups need to attend and other FOR Schools members this is a good time to learn more about our group's number one priority.
See you there,
Sarah Donnelly

Meeting with WASC Consultant Scheduled

Hello,

As I stated in last nights meeting, the school has contacted us in regards to meeting with the consultant (Mr Bush) in order to find out what we as parents can and need to do to help with the WASC report in hopes of helping the school to acheive the goal of receiving the accreditation. There is a sense of urgency in this matter and Mr. Bush will be on the school campus on MONDAY OCT 20th @ 9AM to meet with various people to discuss a plan of action. We are first on the list and will be meeting with Mr. Bush @ 9AM. I realize this is both a dificult time for most to attend due to work and other obligations and for that I am sorry. But for any and all who can be there, please join us so we can have a firm grasp and understanding on what needs to be done. Please pass this info on to ANYONE who is interested in helping the cause! I will keep everyone updated on what happens at that meeting. Additionally I will see if it would be possible for the consultant to attend our next scheduled F.O.R. Schools meeting.

WASC Parents Meeting with Mr. Bush
MONDAY OCT 20th @ 9AM at RIO VISTA HIGH SCHOOL.

Thank You all,
Toni Mazer

Proposed Meeting Agenda

Hi Everyone,

I’m providing our tentative agenda items. If there appears to be any major omissions, please forward your requested add-ons to me and they will either be added to this list or compiled to be brought up at an upcoming meeting since we don’t want any one meeting to bite off more than we can chew. Keep in mind item 5(a) below will specifically be a time to add new items to our list of concerns. This draft agenda is designed to give you an idea what to expect at the upcoming district stakeholders’ meeting and any items that do not fit in the agenda below, please forward them to me.

Proposed agenda items are:
1. Intro of Moderators, guests, meeting ground rules
Jonathan Mazer, Julie Kelly, and Roxanne Donnelly
2. WASC Update – Toni Mazer
3. Blog Update and Demo – Sarah Donnelly
4. Reapportionment Update – Bill Mortimore
5. Group Brainstorm:
a. Identify a specific list of concerns (kept to safety items, WASC items, other important issues)
b. Prioritize
c. Proposed solutions
6. Name our group
7. Mission Statement – Roxanne Donnelly
8. Request volunteer moderator(s) for next meeting
9. Q and A with attending District Staff – written questions to staff read by moderators
10. Set date / location for next meeting

Only with your continued interest and dedication to our community schools can we hope to make a difference!
Jonathan

First Meeting Success

NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, 10/15/2008, at 7:00 PM
The Poppy House
15 Poppy House Road
Rio Vista, CA 94571

I wanted to take a second to thank everyone for a surprisingly positive meeting! I started off with a ton of respect for those of you who have been deeply involved for the last few years. I can honestly say; however, I have even more respect with how positive everyone stayed throughout the meeting.

For those of you who made it, thank you! For those of you that life got in the way, we understand and encourage you to come to the next meeting! You didn’t miss enough that you’re too far behind.

The following conclusions were reached in a calm, cool (once the fans were turned on) and collected manner:
1. The current Board of Trustees seems to have opened up recently for the better.
2. Mr. Hennes is suspected of being responsible for item 1 and the involved parents look forward to working with him.
3. We’ve identified no one of us is or wants to be a Trustee and we must appreciate those who have stepped up to take that thankless job…
4. As a result, we must do our best to work cooperatively with each other, the school administration, and the Board of Trustees.
5. Julie Kelly stepped forward to try to meet with Marilyn Riley and Lee Williams to get us all together. We need to all be on the same page, on the same team, and in the same room.
6. Sarah Donnelly has volunteered to set up a blog and hopes to have it available for display at our next meeting. This blog will eliminate the need for the chain e-mails (like this one) and will allow subscribers to receive notifications of upcoming meetings, etc, outside the regular discussions.
7. The River Delta Unified School District may not have met the requirements of Elections Code 22000(a) requiring Reapportionment every 10 years, after each federal decennial census – but this takes a back seat to the in-progress WASC concerns. Bill Mortimore will look into this once we’ve tackled the WASC challenges.
8. Several parents have initiated Williams Act reports. These reports open up eligibility to resources (funding) to fix concerns and apparently do not get held against the school or the district. Who knew? (…Roxanne Donnelly knew!)
9. We will make sure we specifically invite the Rio Vista city council candidates to attend the next meeting.

If you were afraid to come to a meeting full of whining and complaining, fear not! We are focusing on solutions! I encourage everyone to attend our next meeting and bring a friend or two. Hey, if you don’t like it, you can always duck out early. We offer a full refund if you’re not satisfied.

Thanks,
Jonathan & Toni Mazer