Monday, May 17, 2010

Dear Faculty, Staff, Parents and Students,

            There are several Good Things to share about last week.  First, I would like to congratulate Ms. Sanchez and Mr. Trejo on the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Sebastian.   Baby Sebastian weighed 8lbs, 8oz at birth, based on his first picture baby Sebastian looks strong and healthy. Second, I would like to congratulate Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Salazar, and our MESA students for competing in the Solar Cup Competition this past weekend.  I would also like to congratulate Mr. Mike Flores who has received special recognition from the California Interscholastic Federation for his work in leading an exceptional high school athletic program.  Mr. Flores is known throughout the district for his love of athletics and for supporting athletic programs which create student athletes who excel both in the classroom and on the field.  The next bit of good news is that  we received the School Improvement Grant (SIG).  The purpose of this grant is to provide a bridge program for incoming freshmen.  These funds will provide us an opportunity to offer Math and English summer classes to our incoming freshmen.  We have not yet received notification of the exact dollar amount, which was granted to our school, but we expect that figure by the end of month.  I would like to thank Ms. Lisa Alva and Mr. Marty Romero for writing and submitting the grant.  As soon as we are informed of the grant allocation, Ms. Alva and Mr. Romero will be meeting with Small School representatives to begin to plan bridge programs for each small school.  Finally, I would like to thank the teachers who invited me to their homerooms to speak to students about the importance of CST testing.  I enjoyed meeting with students and sharing the importance of setting personal goals for obtaining better CST scores.  During one of these homeroom meetings, I came across the scores of a freshmen student who is currently ADVANCED in all 4 core content areas [English, Math, Science, and Social Studies].  Unfortunately, I was unable to meet Rafael Huipe, a student in Mr. Penuela’s homeroom because he was on the MESA Solar Cup field trip.  My intention is to go back to Mr. Penuela’s homeroom and personally congratulate Rafael for his outstanding academic achievements. 

            I spent much of last week talking to teachers who had several questions about the teacher displacements.  The issue of teacher displacements has been the primary topic of discussion at several meetings last week.  I have provided detailed information to assistant principals, our UTLA Chapter Chair, and Small School Transition Team members regarding RHS staffing and teacher displacements.  My hope is that these individuals will have the needed information to answer any faculty questions about teacher displacements.  More importantly, I or an administrative designee, has personally met with every teacher who is being displaced to explain the reason for the displacement and offer options for obtaining a teaching position at Esteban Torres.  Additionally, there have been several teachers who have visited my office before school, during their conference periods and after-school to inquire about their colleagues’ displacements.  I have scheduled a voluntary faculty meeting on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. in the library to provide a staffing update and answer any questions teachers may have. 

            My hope is that the following update on teacher displacements will shed more light on this very difficult situation.  First, I would like to remind everyone that as a QEIA school we are held accountable for meeting class size reduction targets in the core academic areas (English, Math, Science and Social Studies).  Our staffing in these content areas is based on meeting mandatory targets and core teachers should expect the following class sizes.

            As you internalize these numbers it becomes obvious that meeting these targets adversely impacts staffing in all subjects outside of the core.   Additionally, we all have to keep in mind that we are losing approximately 450 students to Esteban Torres.  Teacher displacements are inevitable.  Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to change the fact that 450 of our students now live in the Esteban Torres attendance boundary and that these students, along with some of our teachers, will have to go to the new school.  The table on the following page provides the most current staffing information by departments. 

            The table above provides a comprehensive look at staffing for the next school year. I would like to highlight the displacements.  We currently stand to displace 1 English teacher, 1.5 ESL teachers, 3 physical education teachers, 3 world language teachers, and 2 computer science teachers.  This is total of 10.5 teachers.  As previously outlined in the table above the .5 is represented by Mr. Casagran who is currently teaching part time.  In essence we are truly displacing 11 current faculty members.  At our last faculty meeting, Personnel Specialist Ezequiel Gonzalez informed us that a loss of 450 students would translate into a loss of 14 faculty members.  This year as in the previous year, the priority of the budget development process was teaching positions.  Similar to last year, we are using all budgets including per pupil dollars, Title One, Bilingual funds, QEIA and stimulus to purchase teaching positions.  We leveraged all possible resources to decrease the possible displacements of 14 teachers to the actual displacements of 11 teachers.  As a result we funded 3 additional positions.

            It is also very important to note that changes in department staffing are not done arbitrarily, but rather these decisions are based on what students need to meet graduation requirements and A-G requirements.  Academic counselors have been preprogramming students to give us an estimate of the number of sections needed in each department.  An analysis of our incoming freshmen has also taken place to determine the number of sections and faculty needed.  We calculated the number of sections we need in English based on our projected enrollment and we found that we were over staffed by 5 positions.  QEIA class size reduction targets and the number of students needing a second English intervention class were also taken into consideration.  The loss of 5 English positions translated in only 1 displacement because 3 English teachers are voluntarily transferring to E. Torres.  We are also funding 1 complex-wide APEX (on-line course program) teacher who will come from the English Department.  The 1.5 ESL teacher displacements are due to declining enrollment in ESL which can be considered a good thing.  Dr. Ibarra and ESL teachers have worked extremely hard at reclassifying English Language Learners.  Additionally, we are seeing a significant decrease in the number of ESL students coming from our feeder schools. The displacements in physical education and world language are primarily due to the loss of 450 students to E. Torres and our mandate to meet class size reduction targets in the core content areas.  Finally the displacements in computer science were also based on a loss of 450 students to E. Torres.  Currently, Design Team 1 – 5 all have their own computer science teacher.  Our ability to fund these positions was a luxury for us this year, thanks to our QEIA grant.  I call it a luxury because we only had enough students to fill four sections for some of these teachers.   Therefore currently 3 of the 5 computer science teachers teach only four classes.  These teachers have one prep period and an additional period off to help Design Teams with technological needs.  The loss of 450 students to E. Torres would significantly decrease the already low number of sections needed for Intro to Computer and Computer Science classes.  Additionally, we have 6 ROP teachers who are certified to teach a variety of computer courses.  These teachers have the credentials and certifications required to provide our students the computer courses they need. These ROP instructors are certified to offer an advanced sequence of courses, which provides our students the opportunity to graduate from high school with multiple pathways: a high school diploma, A-G course completion and certification.  Consequently, there was no way to justify the need for 1 computer science teacher in each small school. 

            As previously stated, I understand the huge concern over all of our displacements.  The teachers we are displacing have been committed members of our Rough Rider family for a number of years.  We also have to contend with the possibility of losing our Japanese program and the possibility that class size in our P.E. classes will increase.  I also completely understand what an impact the loss of Mr. Salazar and Mr. Casas has on Design Teams 3 and 5, respectively.  These are both teachers who are leaders within their design teams and have both been written into their small school narratives.  I would like to reiterate that all displacements were based on school seniority.  I have heard some feedback that we did not follow the appropriate process as the faculty should have voted on whether they wanted to determine displacements based on entire school department seniority or small school department seniority.  I would like to clear up the confusion by stating that we used entire school department seniority to determine displacements.  Our current Design Teams do NOT have approved RFP’s (Request for Proposal) and therefore contractually they can NOT be considered approved SLC’s.  As a result we could not use the guidelines stipulated in the UTLA contract for SLC seniority.  Additionally, I would like to say that in my opinion this is the fairest way of determining seniority.  Next year as each Design Team evolves into a small school, seniority will be based within each small school.    I encourage you to attend Tuesday’s voluntary Faculty Meeting so you can gain a better understanding of the staffing decisions and have an opportunity to ask questions and voice your concerns.

            Our Special Education Department, which is staffed externally by the Special Education Unit, is also experiencing declining enrollment and a loss of positions.  We are displacing 5 Special Day Class teachers, 1 Resource Specialist Program teacher, and 1 Mentally Retarded-Mild teacher.  A cohort of Special Education teachers is currently developing a plan to meet the needs of our students with disabilities.

            I would like to launch this week’s letter with good news, an important request and a personal struggle.  The good news is that although some VAPA teachers and ROP teachers are aligned to small schools, we are currently developing a way for all our students to have unlimited access to all of these elective course offerings.  The important request is that you continue to motivate our students to do their very best on the CST’s.  I know this is a very difficult request in light of all the changes within our school community.  Let’s ensure that we transmit positive energy to our students during these next two weeks of testing.  Please continue to use your words and actions to motivate and inspire our students.  Finally, please keep my family in your thoughts as this past weekend my cousin Ramon Larios (28) passed away unexpectedly.  His passing has forced me to slow down, reflect, and put things into perspective.  Time is precious so make sure to spend some of it with your families.     

Good luck with CST testing!

Reminders:

• Students will receive a special prize for having perfect attendance during testing!
• Due to the change in the school year calendar (furlough days) the district moved up the 15 week grading period. Consequently, grades are due on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 & verifications rosters are due on Thursday, May 20, 2010.  

IMPORTANT EVENTS FOR THE WEEK:

     MON 5/17 – CST’S English – Special Bell Schedule

     TUES 5/18 – Voluntary Faculty Meeting [3:15 p.m. in the Library], ELAC 6:00pm

     WED 5/19 – CST’S Math – Special Bell Schedule, Spec. Ed. Meeting 3:15 (PCR)

     THURS 5/20 – 10^th Grade NCLB Test – Period 3 (Gym) – Regular Bell Schedule

     FRI 5/21 – CST Make-up’s & College/Career Fair

Sincerely,

Sofia Freire, Ed.D.