Study Session on School Closures January 19 @ 5:30 PM at Northgate High School

The Board of Education and the School Closure Advisory Committee will conduct a joint meeting to discuss school closures. The meeting will take place on January 19, 2011 at 5:30 PM at Northgate High School in the Little Theater. We will also attempt to stream the meeting live to this blog so that those who are unable to attend will have an opportunity to watch.

Read more of School Board Member Gary Eberhart's blog entry HERE

Mt. Diablo district school improvement grant plans

By Theresa Harrington from On Assignment - ContraCostaTimes.com

As the Mt. Diablo School Closure Advisory Committee prepares to present its recommendations to the board next month, questions are arising in the community about why most of the district’s lowest-performing schools aren’t on the proposed list.

The district applied for and received more than $15 million in three-year School Improvement Grants (SIG) for four of its lowest-performing schools: Bel Air, Rio Vista and Shore Acres elementary schools in Bay Point and Glenbrook Middle School in Concord. Only Glenbrook is on the list of schools recommended for closure by the committee.

Read complete article HERE.

School Closure Advisory Committee October 14, 2010 Minutes

Rose opened the meeting by reviewing the Charge of the Committee included on the Agenda. She also reminded the committee of the norms adopted on September 7, 2010.

Rose explained that Public Comment segment has been added to the start of each meeting. A total of ten minutes is scheduled for a maximum of two minutes per speaker. If more than 5 speakers wish to make comments, the ten minutes will be divided among the speakers. No speaker wished to make a public comment.

Pete Pedersen reviewed:

• 2010 Measure C Implementation Schedule

• Chart of schools with information on year built, building square footage, acres, before and after school programs, transfer kitchen, portables, portables to be demolished, portables to be replaced, HVAC, work orders in 2009, use permits in 2009.

How come Bay Point schools are not scheduled for air conditioning installation?

All schools in Bay Point and Monument corridor as well as high schools have AC already installed.

What happens to money not used up?

Will need to go back to the Board who will determine how the money will be used.

The following schools have agreements with City of Concord on their fields:

Ayers, Loma Vista, Meadow Homes, Cambridge, El Dorado/Westwood

Foothill and Diablo View gyms were built with joint funds with the City of Walnut Creek and Clayton. There are “walk-away” clauses in the original agreement.

Joe reviewed information on academic performance for each school. Academic growth over five years based on the California Academic Performance Index (API) was provided. He also reviewed the AYP report which reflects the Federal accountability system.

Rose reviewed the following handouts:

• Administrative costs by site

• List of schools with afterschool programs

• List of schools with preschool programs

• List of schools with their special education classes

Bryan shared utilities costs per site. A handout will be provided at our next meeting.

Additional meetings are needed to ensure that the Committee has adequate time to complete a thorough process. The following meetings will be added: Thursday, October 21; Thursday, November 4; and Monday, November 11. The Committee voted to start the remaining meetings at 5:30 PM. Members will be prepared to stay until 8:30 PM if required.

Members of the committee drew numbers to one of seven subgroups. Each subgroup was insured to have no more than one person from the same feeder pattern. Each group randomly picked one of the seven criteria for evaluation. Criteria 8 will be evaluated after the first seven are completed.

Criteria #1 – Todd Porter, Joseph Hernandez, Kathy Kritscher, Savannah Carnes

Criteria #2 – Kacie Boustead, David Maurer, Ean Ainsworth, Randy Monroe, Rita Goldman

Criteria #3 – David Ramirez, Mike Mattos, Terry McCormick, Dorothy Weiseberger, John Ferrante

Criteria #4 – Jonathan Roselin, Faye Mettler, Kim Montano, Nick Adler, Brandon Bratcher

Criteria #5 – Sharon Brockman, Verna Ogden, Yvanna Wheeler, Linda Carter

Criteria #6 – Christine Flinn, Debbie Trammel, Emily Heinzman, Jim Martin

Criteria #7 – Susan Brekle, John Parker, Sharon Fees, Ilana Samuels