It's not the bad press that's the problem: (Updated)

The WSJ editorializes on the racial tensions in MG schools:

Their numbers, thankfully, are small.

But the ugly, distorted message they bring is hard to escape, despite the smallness of their group, and the smallness of their thinking.

School officials and other authorities in and around Monona are concerned about the emergence of a gang at Monona Grove High School that apparently is intent on fueling racial tension and furthering hate-mongering among teenagers

This follows up on a related news story from several days ago:

MONONA - With racial tension continuing in the Monona Grove School District, middle and high school officials are cracking down on students displaying symbols of a youth gang espousing racist ideas.

Its clear that we have a problem in our schools. I can't speak directly to the scope of the issue, and I have no reason to doubt the reports that it is a small number of problem students involved. But that doesn't minimize the seriousness of the issue: it only takes a few to create an intimidating environment. I believe that we should have zero tolerance for racially motivated harassment, threats or violence, or any activity that creates a threatening or intimidating environment. All our students have a right to attend school in a positive, supportive environment conducive to learning.

I have already asked that the board be presented with an analysis of the situation, including a review of actions we have taken and most importantly our measures of success.

Update: District Diversity coordinator Charlie Ellis comments on the issue here in the most recent Herald-Independent.

What’s to be done? First, acknowledge the problem. Second, begin consulting with those law enforcement resources that have factual and authentic information about the gang. Third, begin an awareness program apprising the community of the problem. Fourth, utilize school resources such as pupil services staff and other staff who understand and relate to minority and cultural issues: openly listen to and assist victims of racial harassment in learning effective strategies to handle race baiting as well as reporting it. Finally, the same staff should be employed to provide interventions and counseling to members or potential members of the gang.

The Sunday WSJ lead editorial advocates for cooperative ventures and mergers among Wisconsin local governmental units to improve services and decrease costs. I'm wouldn't advocate for merging thg MG school district, but I do think we should seriously investigate cooperative arrangements for some services. Neighboring districts are all in a same financial boat, and cooperative arrangements might make it possible to do a better job delivering services, lowering costs or both.

Enter the Local Government Institute with a February report detailing the processes of local government cooperation and a discussion of several case studies.

A comment on comments...

It would help me if people would use more specific language in the comments when expressing opinion - for example:

"In my opinion X's vote on issue A indicates to me that X cares more about A than B. "

Is a perfectly justifiable statement, while

"X cares more about A than B".

is considerably less so.

Opinions are OK, and I want to hear them. Just try to explicitly identify them as such, and they should be based on evidence where ever appropriate.

Knocking on doors...

I've had a rewarding time out knocking on doors all day-- something I haven't had time to do enough this year. I've received many terrific comments and good questions and its a great way to really understand what the citizens of the district think. Plus it was a great day for a good walk and to admire the signs of spring sprouting all over.

To everyone who took a minute to talk to me, thanks a lot!

Final (this year!) Recommendation.

This is the final administrative recommendation for the budget cuts. Two lists have been sent to the board, they include $773,500 in cuts, plus an additional list of items to be cut should the board choose not to consolidate Maywood and Winnequah for a savings of $259,000.

Recommendation:

Staffing reductions per class size guidelines policy (3 FTE) $165,000
Staffing reductions of 2.0 FTE Paraprofessional per class staffing needs $66,000
Special Education: Reduce Occupational Therapy Staff by .4 FTE $14,000
Special Education: Reduce Speech & Language by .3 FTE $10,000
District Administrator’s Office Budget $32,000
Building Budgets/Department Budgets – decrease by 5% $25,000
Increase student fees by 5% $10,000

Elementary Related Arts: Increase the instructional minutes that define FTE workload for Related Arts from 1280 to 1350 minutes of weekly instruction $17,500

Class Size: Change class size suggested ranges Middle School/High School $80,000

Reduce Maintenance/Custodial Overtime $20,000

Class Size: Increase High School Class Size to 26 $105,000

Reduce Staffing in 6-8 Music programs by 1 FTE $55,000

Reduce Athletic Budgets across middle and high school by 5% $23,000

Diversity Coordinator: Change to non-administrative position $10,000

Outsource Custodial Staff: 4 of 12 positions outsourced $116,000


SUBTOTAL $773,500

Additional Cuts without the Maywood/Winnequah Consolidation:

Extend walk area to 2 mile maximum $35,000

IMC Paraprofessionals – Eliminate all (4 FTE) IMC paraprofessionals (CG, TP, GD & HS) $132,000

Elementary Related Arts: Reduce instructional minutes per week (Art, Music, PE) grades 3-5 and K-2 (Art only) $91,000

Elementary Assistant Principal- Reduce to 40% at Maywood $22,000

These last 3 items are of grave concern to me as they will clearly have a negative impact on learning, and our core mission, district wide.

Not just another Wednesday

I don't think any other regular board meeting has garnered so much attention as the one coming up Wednesday. The agenda includes:

VIII Unfinished Business
A. Discussion and Possible Approval of Consolidation of Maywood & Winnequah Schools
B. Discussion and Possible Approval of Budget Reduction Proposals
C. Discussion and Possible Approval of Revisions to Board Rule 343.2 Guidelines for Class Size
D. Discussion and Possible Approval of 2010-2011 Open Enrollment Applications.

IX. New Business
A. Discussion and Possible Approval of K-5 Social Studies Materials (2010-11) School Years.

There are a lot of serious educational issues on the agenda, these include increasing class size, lay-offs of music teachers, elimination of the IMC professionals, etc. We can't cut $1M from the budget without reducing services to kids - Its unfortunate, but its true...

In which we solve all the district's problems in 50 words or less

WSJ profiles or MG school board candidates can be found here, while the H-I coverage can be found here. My responses are reproduced following:

Peter Sobol

Age: 47
Address: 6005 Midwood Ave, Monona
Family: Married to Kristin; children Katherine, 13, and Will, 11
Job: Senior Instrumentation Tech., UW-Madison Department of Geoscience
Education: Bachelor's in Physics, University of Notre Dame; Master's in Physics, Purdue University

Political Experience: Member, Monona Grove School Board, for three years. Served as board Vice-president, Treasurer and Chair, Business Services Committee

What do you believe is the most important issue facing your district?

Sobol: Performance. Monona Grove has quality schools, but growth in academic achievement needs to be improved to meet the needs of our students and the expectations of the community. (The district) has taken important steps but needs to complete the transition to an outcome-oriented model of operation, including strategic planning and instituting a culture of continuous improvement.

Early last year, the district considered busing students to other schools to alleviated crowding in Cottage Grove schools. Where do you stand on using busing to solve this problem? What other options do you favor?

Sobol: The Cottage Grove elementary schools are at capacity, but the situation is manageable with existing facilities. Enrollment projections are stable or decreasing over the next few years in those schools so I don't anticipate the need for additional measures. If this changes then options such as modular units or two 4K-4 facilities will likely be less expensive than busing a significant number of students.

_____________________________________________________________________

Peter Sobol | MG School Board
Age: 47
Family: Spouse: Kristin, Children: Katherine 13, 7th grader at GDS. Will: 11, 6th grader at Winnequah

Education: M.S. (Physics) Purdue University, B.S. (Physics) University of Notre Dame

Website: I maintain a blog at http://petersobol.blogspot.com as my contribution towards keeping the community informed about issues before the board and my perspective. Information about my campaign can be found at http://sobolformgsd.blogspot.com/.

Occupation: Senior Instrumentation Technologist, U. of Wisconsin, Dept of Geosciences; and CTO, Synchrotron Research Inc. a developer of analytical instrumentation.

Experience:

• Three years as MGSD Board Member. I have held the offices of Board Treasurer, Vice-President, and Business Services Committee Chair during that time.

• Good working relationships with District Staff.

• Parent of two MGSD students

• Small Business Entrepreneur.

• Former Department Director for a hi-tech Fortune 500 corporation

• Extensive Management and Quality training.

Best Book:

John Adams, by David McCullough. We tend to idolize the nation’s founders as giants, but what I find most interesting is that their lasting accomplishments where made despite their all too human weaknesses and failings.

Interests/Hobbies:

Interests/Hobbies: I’ve always loved sailing and after a several year hiatus I recently purchased a small sail boat for use on Lake Monona this summer. Year round I like to read and listen to history in books and podcasts.

Campaign Contributions:

To date I have not received any contributions from any current or former board members. Except for current board members I will accept contributions from any community member wishing to support me.

In my first campaign I raised and spent just $1000, I expect to spend about the same this year. I have become concerned about the increasing amounts of money spent in School Board campaigns in recent years and hope the trend is reversed. Campaigns that are too costly become a disincentive to qualified members of our community.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Guest Column:

District must focus on deficit, but also on improved performance
Our district faces two serious challenges in the next several years. The looming budget deficit is a pressing issue that will dominate much of the board’s time and district’s activity for the next several years. But I think a greater challenge facing the district is the one of performance. We have a good school district and quality schools, but more needs to be done to fully live up to the high expectations of our communities. Improving the performance of our school district is critical to the future of our students and the continued success of Monona and Cottage Grove. Specifically I believe we need to complete a transition to an outcome oriented model of operation where educational decisions are made based on a set of carefully defined goals that leave our students well prepared for the next step in their lives. Our district has taken important steps in this direction, but difficult work remains to be done.

Based on my experience with best practices from both the public and private sector I have developed a plan to help address the performance and budget issues facing the district. Some of the key elements I would like to implement if given the opportunity include:

• Completion of a strategic long-range plan to provide essential guidance for budget decisions and alignment of district activities and curriculum 4k-12 to well defined goals.

• Continue working toward adoption of relevant, quality assessments in all areas and improved data utilization to provide comprehensive feedback as basis for accountability for district performance at all levels.

• Administrative re-organization to focus the talents of our highly trained educational leaders on the core academic mission of the district.

• Improve the capability of staff at all levels through the development of high standards for staff hiring decisions, collaborative professional development and goal oriented accountability.

• Explore creative solutions for support services, such as cooperative agreements with neighboring districts – if we are going to achieve significant savings to preserve the fiscal condition of the district we are going to have to find new ways of doing business.

The district will have to make some difficult choices over the next several years, but with the right leadership and a willingness to engage the community and search for creative solutions I believe our schools can emerge from the current budget crisis as a stronger asset to our community. More details of what I would like to achieve can be found at http://sobolformgsd. blogspot.com/.

I’d like to thank the voters of the district for the opportunity to serve on the School Board for the last 3 years; with my experience and record of success I believe that I can continue to be an asset to the school district in the future.

Jessica Ace joins the blog-o-sphere

Check out jessicaace.blogspot.com.

That makes three of us (including Jason) who are reaching out to make our thoughts and opinions available to the public on school board issues. I believe that can't be anything but good for our communities-- the more public the debate, the better. I know that this blog allows me to hear opinions and feedback, and be responsive in ways that were not possible before.

P.S. I deeply appreciate all the contributions others have made here, even when they are critical.

Dean Bowles weighs in...

Dean Bowles has a column in this week's Herald-Independent (did I mention how much I appreciate the H-I's continued thorough coverage?)

One of Dean's points:

Death by a 1,000 Lashes. Do not kill the MG schools with a 1,000 lashes by repeatedly cutting the “little stuff” that supports the core mission. In other words, make sure that teachers and programs that remain are supported (e.g. It might be better to cut an entire program than cut the support that undermines all programs.);

It is better to do an excellent job on the most important things, rather than try stretch resources over everything until they are inadequate for anything. The latter course is, in my opinion, a ticket to mediocrity.

This is what we should be talking about:

What's News: Monona Grove might be in the vanguard of Obama's education plans

My thanks to the Bill Breisch and the administrative team, as well as prior boards that had the foresight to start us down this path. I'd rather we had a reputation as the best performing school district, but for now I'll settle for a reputation of trying the hardest to get there.

Pass the Hatchet

Phil McDade passed along this link to TJ Mertz' rundown of budget cuts in WI school districts, including a discussion of what's going on in Monona Grove.

Most telling quote:

What’s missing here is that this has been going on in many districts for 16 years.

Coverage of MG's assessment leadership

The Cap Times has a nice article about the MG use of the EPAS (Explore, Plan, ACT) test and how we are using them to improve achievement. This sort of thing is excellent publicity for our district and communities.

Known primarily as a college entrance examination, ACT Inc. also provides a battery of other tests for younger students. Monona Grove is using these tests -- the Explore tests for grades 8 and 9, and the Plan tests for grades 10 and 11 -- to paint an annual picture of each student's academic skills and what he or she needs to focus on to be ready to take on the challenges of post-secondary education or the work force. The tests are given midway through the first semester, and results are ready a month later.

"We're very, very interested in what Monona Grove is doing," says Pam Nash, assistant superintendent for secondary education for the Madison district. "We've heard our state is looking at ACT as a possible replacement for the WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam), and the intrinsic reliability of the ACT is well known. The WKCE is so unrelated to the students. The scores come in so late, it's not useful.

"By contrast, ACT reports are a personal response with information about the student's strengths and where they need to build skills. It's what they want, and what parents want."

Upcoming Candidate forums:

From Andy Hagen:

Monona Community Cable to Sponsor Two Candidate Forums

Monona School and Community Cable (Channels 98 and 990) will sponsor two Candidate Forums on March 21st before the April 6th Election.
The first forum, for the Monona City Council, will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 on March 21st in the Community Media Room of the Monona Public Library. Questions for the candidates may be written at the forum, or called in during the live broadcast, to (608) 442-6601.
The second forum, for the Monona Grove School Board, will be held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Monona Grove High School I.M.C. Questions for the candidates will also be accepted at the forum or by phone. However, questions for the School Board must be phoned in between 12:00 and 3:00 pm on March 21st to (608) 221-7666 extension 3133. Staff will not be able to answer the phone during the taping.
The League of Women Voters will provide an impartial moderator for each event, and both forums will be rebroadcast on Monona Community Cable Channel. Copies will also be available for viewing at the Monona Public Library, and on www.mononatv.com a few days after each taping.

The WSJ reports on schools...

The front section of today's WSJ is largely given over to the problems facing school districts around the state with a focus on closing and consolidation of elementary schools. They have a short piece on the Maywood/Winnequah consolidation and an interesting story from Dodgeland where the district raised $17M through a referendum to consolidate all students in a single K-12 building to reduce operating costs.

A change of venue....

Wednesday's meeting will be held in Winnequah school, in order to accomodate the expected turnout. The full agenda can be found here.

Items of note:

IX. New Business

C. Discussion of Open Enrollment Report (30 Min)

We again received a large number of open enrollment requests, a total of 212 in and 41 out. The majority of applications (77) are for the high school, another 47 are for Glacial Drumlin. The next largest group is T4K which has 21 applications. Each OE student brings with them 2/3 of the usual funding, so under the right circumstances they can improve the budget picture. We can't turn down OE applications unless we don't have space

X. Unfinished Business
B. Discussion and Possible Approval of Location of 6th Grade Programming (30 Min)

Information about the possible move is found by clicking here.
The administration has made an educational and management case for combining the the 6th grade student into Glacial Drumlin. Against that I balance the "contract" of the last referendum that placed the 6th graders in their home communities. The communication I have had on this one has been mixed.

C. Discussion of Budget Reduction Proposals (30 Min)
D. Discussion of Possible Consolidation of Maywood & Winnequah Schools (30 Min)
E. Discussion and Possible Approval of Revisions to Board Rule 343.2
Guidelines for Class Size (20 Min)

Class sizes are big drivers of cost in the district, they impact our open enrollment options and teacher overload pay, but clearly the individual attention a student gets decreases as class size.

F. Discussion of District Split Study 2005 (10 Min)

This issue has been raised by members of the community and board members. I dug up the editorial I wrote that was featured in the Cap Times after attending the 2005 split study report:

Recently the results of a study examining the impact that splitting the Monona Grove School District would have on programming was presented to the MGHS School Board and the citizens of Monona and Cottage Grove. The study identified four small school districts, similar in size and funding to the Monona only district that would result from a MGSD split, and compared those programs to the current Monona Grove High School. According to the study, when compared to MGHS, these small schools:
1. Offer half the number of core courses (average 37 vs. 70).
2. Offer half the number of elective courses (average 38 vs. 74)
3. Struggle to offer AP courses because of a lack of willing or qualified teachers.
4. Rely on “creative solutions”, such as distance learning and online courses, as a substitute for classroom instruction.
5. Offer fewer athletic options outside the “major” sports
6. Have only one or two teachers per subject area.
7. Have difficulty retaining qualified administrators as they use small districts as stepping-stones to larger districts.
8. Share staff between middle and high schools.
9. Often have all K-12 students in a single facility.
10. Have special education students attend regular courses because there are not resources to offer separate classes.
11. Have fewer co-curricular offerings (example: none of the comparable schools offered an Orchestra)
12. And in at least one case were unable to offer the foreign language of choice because of the inability to find a qualified teacher.
Despite the stated theme of the presentation (”Not Good, Not Bad. - Just Different”) the issues identified in the study are, indeed, objectively bad. The issues raised by the study are certainly not consistent with the kind of educational opportunities this community expects for its children, nor are they consistent with the quality schools that drew us to Monona. For these reasons we oppose splitting our great Monona Grove School District!

PMA budget forecast-

Here's a link to the five page summary of the PMA budget forecast. The summary is the result of a detailed model that factors in all aspects of the district operations, historical and anticipated expense trends, enrollment and the state funding formula.

https://acrobat.com/#d=eTpLpggB*63vSkQI*sFOkw

The model assumes the district will continue to provide the same services it does this year cast forward. If you note the "Ending Fund Balance" line on page 3 you will see it drops from $5M to $-9.8M in five years, a budget deficit of $15 million.

Bleg

Bleg: n: An appeal for thoughts or more to readers of one's blog. A combination of blog + beg.

Instead of getting out and campaigning like I should I'm spending my time reading letters from the public, answering questions about budgets, trying to keep you updated here and otherwise doing school board stuff. So if you appreciate what I'm trying to do, I could use your help:

Click on the Paypal button to donate, or send a check to "Sobol for School board", 6005 Midwood Ave, Monona, WI 53716

If I can put up a sign in your yard, or you would help with a literature drop, please let me know at sobol_p@yahoo.com.

Thanks in advance-

Peter

Even more letters.

I'm behind with my "letters to the board" updates, here is the latest installment:
https://acrobat.com/#d=ihP6q8wpZW7Ttowg*iNR9w

I've got more coming (once I get permission) but in the email switch and just the plain volume of mail I may have lost a few, so don't feel slighted if your's isn't in here. I will post any and all letters to the board with the authors permission. Let me know if I missed one that you would like posted.

Thanks for your thoughts---