How will firing staff and merging schools possibly promote retention when all that will do is increase the workload and class size of teachers and support staff who are already over-worked and under-compensated? How would this at all prioritize student academic success? And of course, true to form, OUSD has decided to impede community input and discussion on the matter by notifying us about the special meeting just one day before the meeting. The continued lack of transparency and blatant disregard for our voices is incredibly disrespectful to all the educators and families in OUSD, not to mention undemocratic. Trying to spin cuts as being in the best interest of teachers and students is insulting to all our efforts and our profession. Let's be real: the teachers and support staff who work with students every single day know best how to prioritize students' academic success, and the solution is definitely NOT cuts or closures. Listen to us. Vote NO!
NO CUTS, NO CLOSURES!!! It is ridiculous that we are thinking about continuing to cut from school sites without sufficient community engagement and closing off public speaking on Zoom so that you can't comment unless you registered beforehand.
The timeline of these adjustments is rapid and leaves little room for the community to meaningfully engage or understand what these changes will mean for our communities - especially school "mergers," which are closures in disguise and could do incredible harm. Please vote NO or at least postpone voting on this item until the community has more time to digest it and respond.
It is hard to understand the details of the proposed adjustments. My ask of the district is that decisions remain laser focused on the need to intensify early literacy support and reading recovery for older scholars, and that no cuts be proposed that would decrease the number of staff or contractors that are dedicated to that effort.
There is a staggering amount of bad and shortsighted decision-making in this list of budget adjustments, proposed and likely to be implemented without a meaningful attempt at community engagement - with all due respect to Director Davis's 11th-hour town hall - but it is truly stunning to see that we are back to a discussion of school "mergers", with "at least 10" as-yet unnamed District schools now immediately at risk. I would hope that the "progressive" board majority remembers who put them in their seats, and opts to not make the same mistakes as past boards.
How will firing staff and merging schools possibly promote retention when all that will do is increase the workload and class size of teachers and support staff who are already over-worked and under-compensated? How would this at all prioritize student academic success? And of course, true to form, OUSD has decided to impede community input and discussion on the matter by notifying us about the special meeting just one day before the meeting. The continued lack of transparency and blatant disregard for our voices is incredibly disrespectful to all the educators and families in OUSD, not to mention undemocratic. Trying to spin cuts as being in the best interest of teachers and students is insulting to all our efforts and our profession. Let's be real: the teachers and support staff who work with students every single day know best how to prioritize students' academic success, and the solution is definitely NOT cuts or closures. Listen to us. Vote NO!
NO CUTS, NO CLOSURES!!! It is ridiculous that we are thinking about continuing to cut from school sites without sufficient community engagement and closing off public speaking on Zoom so that you can't comment unless you registered beforehand.
The timeline of these adjustments is rapid and leaves little room for the community to meaningfully engage or understand what these changes will mean for our communities - especially school "mergers," which are closures in disguise and could do incredible harm. Please vote NO or at least postpone voting on this item until the community has more time to digest it and respond.
It is hard to understand the details of the proposed adjustments. My ask of the district is that decisions remain laser focused on the need to intensify early literacy support and reading recovery for older scholars, and that no cuts be proposed that would decrease the number of staff or contractors that are dedicated to that effort.
There is a staggering amount of bad and shortsighted decision-making in this list of budget adjustments, proposed and likely to be implemented without a meaningful attempt at community engagement - with all due respect to Director Davis's 11th-hour town hall - but it is truly stunning to see that we are back to a discussion of school "mergers", with "at least 10" as-yet unnamed District schools now immediately at risk. I would hope that the "progressive" board majority remembers who put them in their seats, and opts to not make the same mistakes as past boards.
This timeline is too quick and is lacking community engagement. Please delay voting March 1 or March 8 and offer more community engagement sessions.