Board of Education Meeting, Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Board of Education Meeting
Dent Center
7:30 p.m.
Agenda

FCMAT SPECIAL EDUCATION REPORT HAS BEEN RELEASED

Dr. Lawrence released the FCMAT Special Education Report to the board members at the Mt. Diablo School District Board of Education meeting last night.  Below is a link to the district website where the report has been posted for community input.    Please email me with your comments.  Thanks.
Lorrie Davis  

CAC Chairperson
See FCMAT SPECIAL EDUCATION REPORT HERE.

MDUSD Board of Education - Special Closed Session Meeting

When: January 7th, 2013

Time: 4 pm

Where: School District Board Room - 

            1936 Carlotta Drive

Agenda HERE.

MDUSD Transportation updates - Dr. Lawrence states no Board approval required for "cluster"

Here are the following updates on MDUSD transportation from CAC chairperson, Lorrie Davis:

Update #2  September 20, 2012

Dr. Lawrence has informed us that the decision to "cluster" is a managerial decision; therefore, board approval is not required.  He stated the decision will be made by Transportation (department) and the board will be informed of the decision.  I personally think board policy has to be approved by the board of education.  We were also told that the parent meetings will be to INFORM parents of decisions made, not gather parent input.  I find these statements very disturbing.  Parents - please contact your board members and provide your input.  

Board members names and contact information HERE.

Lorrie Davis

CAC Chairperson

Update #1 Emailed September 19, 2012

At our September 4, 2012 CAC meeting, Carolyn Patton, Special Education Administrator, provided us with an update on Special Education Transportation.  As promised, attached is the PowerPoint presentation and the new Specialized Transportation Needs Assessment form which is being used to determine eligibility.  As discussed at the meeting, the district is exploring the possibility of clustering but it has NOT yet been approved by the board of education.  They are currently collecting data to see how many students would be affected and what would be the cost savings to implement clustering in our district.  Parents input meetings have been postponed until the district decides if they will be considering a clustering model of providing transportation.  I will keep you updated as we receive more information.   

Lorrie Davis

CAC Chairperson

MDUSD CAC to host Board of Education Candidates' Question and Answer Panel

The MDUSD CAC  will be hosting a Board of Education Candidate Question and Answer Panel.  Barbara Oaks, Brian Lawrence, Debra Mason, Ernie De Trinidad and Sherry Whitmarsh will be asked questions that are important to special education. These questions will be selected in advanced, but the candidates will hear them for the first time that evening.  Each candidate will be asked the same question and have 90 seconds to complete their response.

Tuesday evening, October 2, 2012

6-7 p.m.

Board room of the Dent Center

1936 Carlotta Dr., Concord, CA 94519

See map HERE.

This event is open to the public.  Bring a friend and stay for the CAC meeting that will immediately follow at 7 p.m.

MDUSD APPOINTS INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND PUPIL SERVICES

At last night's MDUSD Board of Education meeting, the board unanimously voted to hire Dr. Kerri M. Mills as the Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services and Special Education.

Dr. Mills is coming to the District from the Santa Barbara Unified School District holding the position of Assistant Superintendent of Special Education

The Executive Committee of the MDUSD Community Advisory Committee had an informal meeting with Dr. Mills on Sunday and are looking forward to working with her.

Read more about Dr. Mill's professional accomplishments at the Santa Barbara Unified School District website HERE.

Read more about Dr. Mill's work with the Santa Barbara USD special education community HERE.

Dr. Lawrence, MDUSD Superintendent, states the FCMAT reports will not be on the August 13, 2012 school board agenda.

Dr. Lawrence, MDUSD Superintendent, states the FCMAT reports will not be on the August 13, 2012 school board agenda.  The earliest they will be finalized and presented to the Board Members is at the August 27, 2012 board meeting.  I asked if parents/community members will have ample time to review before the board meeting and he stated that he is trying to work something out so the community will receive the final reports at the same time the board members receive.  We spoke about a timeline so parents/community members can plan accordingly.  When he has a better understanding of when the reports will be finalized and distributed, he will give me a call and I will forward the information.

Lorrie Davis

CAC Chairperson

After 17 Years, MDUSD Board Member Ready to Move On

Please note that this a copied from The Concordian  page :

The year that Gary Eberhart first joined the school board for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District was the same year that the first Pixar, “Toy Story” movie came out. Seal’s “Kiss from a rose” and Bryan Adams’ “Have you ever really loved a woman,” shared frequent airplay time, and in Concord, Waterworld, USA opened its doors.

Eberhart, who at the time was on a committee tasked with finding people to run for a seat on the board, found himself in the running. A student of Ygnacio Valley High, class of 1981, he knew that public education was a mixed bag; on the one hand a necessary component of readying young people for adult life, while on the other hand often boring and irrelevant to his needs.

“On the first day of my senior class I told my counselor – we had counselors back then – that I wasn’t feeling motivated and wasn’t progressing,” Eberhart recounted. “I had been considering taking the GED and ending that experience.” Instead the counselor told him that “if you leave school you’ll never amount to anything.” He left anyway, took, and passed, the GED and by the time his friends graduated high school he had already completed a year at Diablo Valley College.

“Tons of kids are not on the college track.” Eberhart believes their needs are not being addressed. “Those demographics are not well represented on the board to this day,” he says.

And so he found himself elected to the board, the youngest of the board members and the only one without a college degree. “I was 32 years old, full of vigor and matching wits with people with degrees.” It was, at first overwhelming, but he quickly immersed himself in understanding what, to this day, he considers essential knowledge if you are going to serve on the board; budgets and how the public school system works, not just in theory, but through experience.

“During his tenure, bond measures were passed which allowed our facilities to get much needed repairs and improvements,” says district Board President Sherry Whitmarsh who has worked on the board with Eberhart since 2008 and whose seat comes up this year.

Read more of the Concordian article HERE.>

(From page 2 of the article: )

It has been a particularly difficult decade for public education in California. Massive expectations from programs like “No Child Left Behind,” and “Race to the Top” which often were not fully funded, placed burdens on districts whose budgets were slashed at a state level, requiring teacher layoffs, cuts to programs like high school sports and music. Some of these programs have since seen a partial revival due to private investment organized through parents and staff. And funding issues that show a disparity between Special Education and General Education leave many parents confused why education funds are not just evenly allocated.

"There are laws that decide what goes where," Eberhart explains."We can't change that." He also believes that things have yet to bottom out. A new bill in Sacramento allows further manipulation of education funding. "California tries to do too much for too many people," he says.

Special education gets a large amount of funding, approximately $80 million year. "You would expect for that money you would be getting awesome outcomes,” Eberhart says, “but we are not getting these outcomes. There needs to be a fundamental change in education. Everything has become
about politics." That includes the news coverage about district activities.

(Read more of page 2 of this article HERE and scroll down to page 2)

Lorrie Davis, CAC Chairperson ,Addresses The Board Of Education. Please Submit Your Comments And Concerns To The Board Members

Here is the text of Lorrie Davis', CAC Chairperson,address to the MDUSD Board of Education members on 6/28/11 regarding Item #15.26. You are encouraged to write to the Board members (and cc the Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Brown) with any questions or concerns you might have.

"I agree we must approve this item to pay for the mandated AB 3632 mental health services; however, I am concerned with the statement in the first paragraph written under the Summary section which states:

For 2010/11 the cost of AB 3632 services was budgeted at $4.8 million. Under current information received from the CDE, we anticipate receiving $3.4 million for the 2011/12 budget cycle, and $2.1 million annually after that. Therefore, the Special Education department is committed to determine reductions in the overall special education budget including the new requirements that districts are being mandated to absorb because AB 3632 was repealed, to ensure additional longer term financial pressures are not placed on the general fund.

This statement is very disturbing. How can staff guarantee they will find $1.4 million in special ed. reductions?

I understand the State has chosen to shift the responsibility of providing AB 3632 services from the County to School Districts without full funding and I applaud the board for understanding how important it is to fund this mandated program; however, why is the special ed. department responsible for absorbing the excess cost, requiring them to reduce services for all of our other special needs students?

With all the cuts special ed. has received, how can staff guarantee they will find $1.4 million in reductions? There is no where else to cut.

School Districts are under a mandate to serve all students with special needs. You cannot uphold the mandate for one group over another.

We cannot pick and choose which special ed. students will be served and which services we will provide.

In regards to financing the projected $1.4 million in excess costs, these are difficult times but the money needs to come from somewhere.
• This year, the board approved a budget in the amount of $2,428,189. Three weeks ago we received additional funding to assist with providing the new services; therefore, we spent only $8,509. The savings of over $2.4 million dollars
($2,419,680) can cover the $1.4 million projected excess cost for next year.
• For future years, according to the School Services of California dartboard, between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 fiscal years, our district will receive over $600,000each year in additional AB 602 funding; therefore, by the 2015-16 fiscal year, our special ed. funding will increase by over $2.4 million ($2,462,922).This information has already been shared with staff.



Fiscal Year Funded COLA Funding Increase
2010-11 P-2 0.00% 19,797,027.00
2011-12 0.00% 19,797,027.00 0.00
2012-13 3.20% 20,430,531.86 633,504.86
2013-14 2.70% 20,982,156.22 551,624.36
2014-15 2.90% 21,590,638.75 608,482.53
2015-16 3.10% 22,259,948.56 669,309.80

Total Increase in Funding $ 2,462,921.56




School Districts are under a mandate to serve all students with special needs.

Reductions already imposed on the special ed. program has created concern as to whether the district is fulfilling their legal obligation in providing FAPE.

It is important that we continue to make decisions that ensure mandated services are not compromised for any student."



Item 15.26

MDUSD Email Addresses

Gary Eberhart gary@mdusd.net


Sherry Whitmarsh sherrywhitmarsh@hotmail.com


Linda Mayo mayolk@aol.com


Cheryl Hansen cherylhansenmdusd@yahoo.com


Lynne Dennler lynnedennler@gmail.com


Steven Lawrence lawrences@mdusd.k12.ca.us


Mildred Browne brownem@mdusd.k12.ca.us

Save the Date! May 17th at 7 p.m. Special CAC Meeting with Board Members

MDUSD Board Members, Sherry Whitmarsh and Cheryl Hansen, have developed a "draft" strategic plan and are scheduling community input sessions to gather input from parents, staff and community.

The CAC meeting regarding the survey is
Tuesday, May 17, 7:00pm
Dent Center Board Room
All adults involved with special education students are encouraged to attend.

Ms. Whitmarsh and Ms. Hansen would like input on the items listed on the survey and any additional items that parents feel should be included.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!
See original blog posting and worksheets HERE.

Special CAC Meeting - Tuesday, May 17th at 7 p.m.- All Special Education Parents Please Attend

MDUSD Board Members, Sherry Whitmarsh and Cheryl Hansen, have developed a "draft" strategic plan and are scheduling community input sessions to gather input from parents, staff and community.

The CAC meeting regarding the survey is
Tuesday, May 17, 7:00pm
Dent Center Board Room
All adults involved with special education students are encouraged to attend.

Ms. Whitmarsh and Ms. Hansen would like input on the items listed on the survey and any additional items that parents feel should be included.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

See MDUSD Strategic Plan Draft HERE.

See Strategic Plan Input Session Doc HERE.

MDUSD School Closures In The News

See Theresa Harrington's Contra Costa Times coverage of:

Mt. Diablo school board to discuss team-building during special Sunday meeting

Trustees to discuss closing Westwood Elementary on Tuesday

and Matthias Gafni's Contra Costa Times coverage of:

Shock, anger at MDUSD school closures

MDUSD School Closures

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District Board of Education has voted to close Glenbrook Middle School and Holbrook Elementary School. There will be a public meeting on February 15, 2011 to determine where these students will go. Time and location of this meeting to be determined.

View the meeting on Gary Eberhart's blog HERE.

Mt. Diablo School Board Approves Nearly $1 Million To Cover Mental Health Costs Vetoed in State Budget

Although Gov. Jerry Brown's budget spares K-12 education from immediate cuts, it does not give districts the money they need to replace mental health funding vetoed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger through June.

Read more of Theresa Harrington's article in the Contra Costa Times HERE.

Board of Education Member, Gary Eberhart, Is Interviewed on AB 3632 Funding

Our School Board President, Gary Eberhart, did an interview with Dave Padilla with KCBS radio this morning about the loss of AB3632 funding and the resolution passed to support continued funding.

Listen to interviewHERE

Mt. Diablo school board to vote on mental health funding Tuesday night

Here is Theresa Harrington's Contra Costa Times article regarding tonight's Board of Education Meeting:

The Mt. Diablo school board on Tuesday expects to allocate nearly $1 million to cover costs for the residential treatment of severely emotionally disturbed students to take the place of state AB 3632 funding vetoed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Trustees also expect to pass a resolution calling on Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature to reinstate the mental health funding through June.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the district office at 1936 Carlotta Drive in Concord. Information is available by calling 925-682-8000 ext. 4010 or by visiting http://esbpublic.mdusd.k12.ca.us. Click on Jan. 11.

Also during the meeting, the board expects to approve the addition of six special education assistant positions and to review several other special education issues, including the identification and evaluation of those who receive services.

Board of Education Meeting, Tuesday, January 11th

The Board of Education Meeting
When: Tuesday, January 11th at 7:30
Where: Dent Center, 1936 Carlotta Dr, Concord

See agenda HERE.

There are many items on the agenda regarding special education.

Celebrating Richard "Dick" Allen and Paul Strange

Please join the MDUSD Board of Education in honoring and celebrating Dick Allen and Paul Strange for their "Years of Service" on the Board of Education. November 29, 2010 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Dent Center, Board Room 1936 Carlotta Drive, Concord
You may RSVP or enter messages for the outgoing board members HERE.

Questions: Contact Loreen Joseph at 925.682.8000 ext. 4000

Invite

Congratulations To The Winners Of the MDUSD Board of Education Election

Congratulations to Cheryl Hansen, Linda Mayo and Lynne Dennler for winning the MDUSD Board of Education Election. For more results on the local elections, see the Contra Costa Times HERE.