Burk, Colvin and Smith vote to spend $361/hr on Lawyer

At the March 26th Board meeting, the GPS board voted 3-2 to hire a lawyer at $361/hr instead of using a lawyer that has already been paid for through the Trust.

Watch the details below:

Attrition comparison - Gilbert vs Mesa

There was quite a bit of discussion at the last board meeting about attrition.

Below is a comparison of Mesa vs Gilbert Public Schools attrition.  Mesa has about twice the number of employees as Gilbert.

Additional data that says our GPS 2014 attrition data is abnormal and needs to be addressed.

Attrition Update - March 26 Board Meeting

Below are the update attrition numbers as well as my comments to the school board at the March 26th meeting.

Good evening, Board members, Dr. Rice, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening.  My name is Blake Sacha.

I am here again tonight to talk about attrition.  Unfortunately, no additional attrition information has been provided by the district since the last board meeting.  Therefore, I must again provide you with data which I have been able to gather.  In 2012, 211 certified employees resigned or retired.  In 2013, 264 certified resigned or retired.  This is an increase of 25%.  In the first three months of 2012 51 certified employees resigned or retired, in 2013 this number was 47 and in the first three months of 2014 91 certified employees have resigned or retired.  This is an increase of 94%.

I hope you will all agree that an increase in attrition of 94% is a significant problem with a multi-year impact on the education of our children.

I would ask you to take the following actions

1. Request an open letter from Dr. Kishimoto to all employees talking positively about the future – done by Dr. K
2. Discuss attrition at the next board meeting - review the complete data and have a constructive and open discussion
3. Remove all items from the board agenda other than budget approval and development of a hiring/retention plan until these items are complete
4. Request a review of a hiring plan at the next board meeting - provide teachers and the community with a Principal hiring time line – started by Dr. Rice
5. Conduct exit interviews to understand why teachers are leaving
6. Pull in the date to offer contracts to teachers – started by Dr. Rice

2^nd, I would like to address the police investigation as it relates to attrition.  Ms. Burk indicated at the last meeting that the information which she and Mr. Colvin released to the police was the result of public records requests which she submitted.  If so, that information was publically available information and therefore should be immediately released to fellow board members and the public.

Instead this information has been used to link attrition to this police investigation.  Sources released information to blog sites implying that the attrition is due to fears regarding the police investigation.  I can only speculate regarding these sources but Mr. Colvin and Ms. Burk appear to be the only ones with access to this information.

The result of these rumors, innuendo and potential libel are that the 94 people who have resigned or retired in 2014 have been cast under suspicion.

Who does this include:

• Wendy Peterson, who didn’t work in the district in 2011
• Jane Hecker, who was lauded by members of this board three weeks ago

This needs to stop and it needs to stop tonight with the release of all information that was or is public record.  I have submitted a public records request for information currently in the possession of Ms. Burk or Mr. Colvin pertaining to this investigation which is or was public record.

Will you agree to take these 6 actions regarding attrition?

Will you release these documents this evening?

Will you do what is best for students and teachers?

Our teachers are our schools - Please take action

Below is the email that I sent to our school board, town council, Superintendents and local media.  Please share if you support.

I found out after school today that 6 more teachers have resigned from Campo Verde High School either effective immediately or at the end of the year.

 

Currently available attrition data:

	2012	2013	2014	% inc
Certified Employees	211	264		25%
Certified Employees - 1st 3 months of the year	51	47	55*	15%

           * - through 2.5 months number is 45, I personally am aware of 10 teachers leaving, actual number is probably higher

 

Despite our differences, I believe we can all agree that this kind of attrition is bad for our students, bad for our teachers and bad for our community.

 

I would recommend the following actions:

1. An open letter from Dr. K to all employees talking positively about the future (everyone that I know who has met her has been impressed)
2. Discuss attrition at the March 25th board meeting - review the complete data and have a constructive and open discussion
3. Remove all items from the board agenda other than budget approval and development of a hiring/retention plan until these items are complete
4. Request a review of a hiring plan at the March 25th board meeting - provide teachers and the community with a Principal hiring time line
5. Conduct exit interviews to understand why teachers are leaving
6. Pull in the date to offer contracts to teachers

• Many other districts are offering contracts earlier.  Teachers that don't want to leave are doing so because they are concerned about not having a contract.  I know that we have significant budget concerns.  However, given the number of teachers leaving, I think it would be unlikely that this would cause the budget to over run.  I wouldn't favor it, but you could do this by subject area if necessary; offering contracts earlier to teachers in more difficult to fill areas.

 

I would ask you to seriously consider these suggestions.  We have a significant problem and it needs to be addressed quickly.  It will take many years to replace the lost experience, and we need to start now.

March 11, 2014 GPS School Board Meeting

I filmed tonight's special board meeting since there was no livestream.

A few questions to consider as you watch the video:
- Dr. Keegan's letter stated that the School District had not been contacted by the police.  What type of investigation can have been initiated without the police contacting the District?
- Why such a hurry to do this tonight in an emergency meeting with 1 board member unable to attend?
- Is it appropriate for individual board members to release information to the police and not share it with fellow board members?
- Claims have been made by others that this investigation is somehow responsible for the 25% increase in certified employee attrition.  Do you believe this?
- Will the Arizona Attorney General's office investigate complaints of Open Meeting Law and Conflict of interest violations in regards to the release of this information to the police prior to board action?

Dr. Keegan says Board Members were acting in an individual capacity in filing police report

A few updates regarding the police report discussed at the GPS Board Meeting on Tuesday night.

Board Ethics Policy - BCA

• Recognize that decisions should be made only after discussion at publicly held board meetings;
• Avoid being placed in a position of conflict of interest, and refrain from using their Board position for personal or partisan gain;
• Take no private action that will compromise the Board or administration, and respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged under applicable law;

Ms. Stacy Burk at the board meeting on Tuesday - "Open Meeting Law violations are very serious"

Boards members discussing whether or not filing a police report was discussed as a board.

Letter from Dr. Keegan in response to my Public Records request - "The records that have been provided to the Gilbert Police Department were from Board Members working in an individual capacity"

If potential criminal actions occurred, they should be followed up on and in the appropriate manner.

Has there been a violation of Board Policy or Open Meeting Law?  At this point you will have to make up your own mind.  When you do, please remember to speak out and vote!!

Gilbert vs. Mesa property taxes

During public comment at the March 4^th GPS board meeting a member of the public stated: “I could go across the freeway and live in Mesa and have my property taxes cut in half”.

I have provided the 2013 property taxes for both Gilbert and Mesa below from the Maricopa.gov site.

As you can see, property tax rates are nearly identical.

2013 TAX RATES - MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA

District                                 City                       Primary                Approx                  Secondary                                                                                          Rate                     Residential             Rate

                                                                                                     Primary

                                                                                                     Rate

Mesa #4 Unified                Gilbert                  7.8577                   5.9583                   4.6405

Mesa #4 Unified                Mesa                    7.8577                   5.9583                   4.3541

Gilbert #41 Unified            Gilbert                  7.4779                   5.7198                   4.7093

Gilbert #41 Unified            Mesa                    7.4779                   5.7198                   4.4229

                                                Primary                Secondary

Unified School Districts

Mesa #4                                    4.7751                   2.6671

Gilbert #41                                4.3953                   2.7359

CITIES AND TOWNS

Gilbert                                       0.0000                   1.1500

Mesa                                         0.0000                   0.8636

http://www.maricopa.gov/Finance/PDF/Tax/TaxRateBklt2013.pdf

Expect Less Gilbert

As a business executive for 28 years, I understand a few things about expectations and performance.  I believe that one of the best things that you can do to improve performance is to provide clear expectations that are above the current level of performance.  This is the purpose of the Common Core State Standards.

I have watched with great interest as several members of the Gilbert School Board have taken a stand against Common Core and several of our state legislators are supporting legislation to limit its implementation.

Why would anyone want our children and our teachers to expect less?

The pro and con arguments have been well publicized in other places.  So, I want to focus on one question - What specifically do you disagree with?

Common Core standards exist for Math and English Language Arts.  If you hear someone discussing concerns regarding Science or History, you will know that they have not even read the standards.

The standards don't tell teachers what or how to teach.  They do describe the competency that a student should have when they complete a particular grade level.  Below is an example of ELA Grade 2:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

I have provided the link to the standards below - please see for yourself.
http://www.corestandards.org/

How about it Ms. Burk, Mr. Colvin, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Farnsworth, Mr. Biggs and Mr. Petersen; can you provide a specific example of a standard that you disagree with?

If not, then please join me in supporting more than 83% of our teachers who believe that these standards will have a positive impact on students.

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