A vote for Bellus and Brimhall is a vote for lies and censorship

At the October 28^th Gilbert school board meeting, the ultra-conservative majority voter 3-2 to censor the district’s current biology textbook.

Apparently it didn’t matter that:

•  The textbook has been used in the district since 2006 without incident
• The textbook is used by many other schools in the state including Benjamin Franklin charter
• The district superintendent informed the board that the textbook complied with Arizona law
• Chris Kotterman Deputy Director Arizona Department of Education informed the board that the textbook satisfied ARS 15-716
• The board’s own attorney informed the board that the textbook complied with Arizona law

At the most recent candidate forum, each of the candidates were asked if they would support censorship of any books currently in use in the district.  All of the candidates including Ron Bellus and Dawn Brimhall indicated that they WOULD NOT.  And yet, these candidates were celebrating the censorship decision after the board meeting.

A vote for Bellus and Brimhall is a vote for more of the same: ideology over education.  Please do your research and vote for candidates that support public education not tear it down.

Attrition comparison with surrounding districts

In the opinion section of today's Arizona Republic, a letter writer claims that teachers are leaving Gilbert in equal or near-equal proportions to other districts.

In fact, the data shows that this is decidedly FALSE!

Retirement + Resignation numbers for certified employees are available from the BoardDocs sites of the Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler School Districts.  The data for Higley is not currently available on-line.

The total number of certified employees for 2014 is available from the Arizona Department of Education

As you can see, the % attrition in Gilbert is significantly higher than surrounding districts.

Hopefully with a new Superintendent and a school board election in November, we can turn this around!

Attrition Update - End of July

As of the end of July, 328 certified employees have resigned or retired from the district in 2014.  This is more than 13% of the total certified staff and an annualized turnover rate of almost 25%.
Please be informed and vote in November, the future of our District depends of YOU!

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice

Tonight at our school board meeting, the board majority:

1 - Repeatedly utilized Robert's Rules of Order as an excuse to limit discussion.

2 - Reinstated a teacher who had previously resigned while on a performance plan, concluding that additional follow up on performance concerns was not necessary.

3 - Refused to re-hire another teacher, concluding that additional follow up on performance concerns was necessary.

4 - Continued to expend time and effort to dismantle an English curriculum which has raised test scores and repeatedly been given high marks in 3 separate feedback surveys of teachers, students and parents.

Yes, I got carried away with my applause during the meeting.  However, I refuse to accept that these actions by the board majority are right, moral or in the best interest of educating our children.

The blog title is a quote from Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech as the 1964 Republican Presidential candidate.

Attrition Update - End of June

Well, we finally cross over the 300 number.  As of the end of June, 301 certified employees have left the district in 2014.  According to the department of education, GPS had 2564 certified employees for the 2013-14 school year.  This means that almost 12% of our teachers have left the district this year!

Please remember this when you vote in November.

Is Ron Bellus anti-business?

At the school board candidate forum on Thursday night, Ron Bellus indicated his opposition to Arizona College and Career Ready Standards.

Businesses and Business organizations across the state have come out in favor of the standards including:

• Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce
• Arizona Business and Education Coalition
• Southern Arizona Leadership Council
• Arizona Public Engagement Taskforce

Here are a few interesting links as well:

• Graduatepreparedaz
• AzEdNews

Is Ron Bellus anti-business?  It will be up to you to decide and vote accordingly in November.

Fact check - Andy Biggs and % school funding

During the mid-May school board meeting, Julie Smith went to great length to defend Andy Biggs and public school funding.  She claimed that public school funding has been flat at 41% of the total state budget for more than a decade.

The azleg.gov numbers tell a different story.  The red text is mine, everything else is straight from the then and now comparison published on the site.

Also, I am not sure but suspect that the percentage of the K-12 money going to district public schools has declined by more than the illustrated 5% due to shifts in money to charter schools and empowerment scholarships.

Whether you think this is good or bad is your own opinion, however, please get the facts straight!