Alpine educators
feeling unappreciated
by district
By Lori
Bledsoe and Chuck Taylor
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — Alpine Union School District trustees, teachers and
residents gathered at Creekside Early Learning Center last
Thursday, Jan. 18, for the monthly school board meeting.
Before the regularly scheduled meeting teachers and
trustees met for an informal round-table discussion. Both
elementary- and middle-school teachers were represented, as was
the district staff.
While the meeting was friendly, there were undertones
of discontent. A teacher representing Joan Mac Queen Middle School
said that many of the teachers’ feelings of disconnection from the
district are growing. The spokesman asked whatever happened to the
year-end party that the district used to throw for the teachers?
District Superintendent Ryan stated that it would
certainly be possible to reinstate the year-end event; however the
teachers stated that if he did, it should not be mandatory.
Local teachers are feeling unappreciated, said one
spokes-teacher from Alpine Elementary. The feeling amongst local
educators is that the board is not interested in teachers’ needs.
Member Mark Price said that there was an agenda item at
every board meeting for the teachers to speak. However, many
teachers said that they do not feel comfortable airing their
thoughts and complaints in an open and public meeting.
All members of the school board spoke to the issues
affirming that they were indeed very proud of the district’s
teachers and that it was because of these people that the district
enjoys great test scores and an excellent reputation.
Board President Scott Barr asked the teachers present what
the district could do to bring the teachers back into the loop.
One option that was agreed on by the teachers is that
each of the five board members “adopt” one of five local schools
and meet with school teachers and staff on an informal basis once
each month and return to the board with any reports.
After a closed session the board reconvened for the
regular meeting.
Requests to the board were filled by Margaret Graham,
who again asked that more bathrooms at Joan Mac Queen Middle
School be opened to students.
Also in Graham’s comments, she said that the children
enjoyed the Honorary Mayor elections, and even though the JMMS
teacher, Brendan Casey didn’t win, students had fun raising money
for the benefit of the schools.
Moana Miller, principal of Creekside Early Learning
Center, introduced several new employees at CELC.
Bill Cudog made a presentation to the board that
covered the on-going District-wide collaboration. This
collaborative effort was discussed last year and implemented this
year to allow teachers time to discuss and create professional
learning communities, to further AUSD student achievement.
In this presentation, Cudog reiterated that there are
now 10 minimum days that have been built into the schedule to
allow for this collaboration, along with on-going
principal/teacher meetings and discussions. Also, the ExCel model
has been implemented in order to better meet the needs of the
individual student.
The goals for this year, Cudog said, was to continually
monitor grade level data, set goals for student achievement based
on the gathered data, monitor instructional pacing, student
progress and update materials to be used in the classrooms. The
collaboration efforts will allow teachers to share ideas and
coordinate special events that will also help our students’
achievement.
The board adopted and revised several policies,
including Board Policy 4,000, where the board states the role of
the board and the role of the superintendent in personnel matters.
This policy also states that the board wants to hear
from employees regarding working conditions and that the
superintendent will establish a process to receive input and will
convey that input to the board.
Eric Wray added at this time that the board was very
happy to hear from the teachers and would like to invite more
teacher presentations to the board regarding what’s going on in
their classrooms and how the programs are going.
Ann Pierce agreed with Wray, saying that open
communication is very important. She also said that she had
recently toured the schools and was very impressed with everything
that is being done.
Mark Price extended his thanks to the teachers for meeting
earlier, and commented that the JMMS newsletter was very good.
Price took this time to invite Alpine community members
to attend the Feb. 3, GUHSD Strategic Planning Meeting, saying
that it was very important for our community to be involved in
this as they (GUHSD board) will be discussing the Proposition H
bond, and their new high school constructions plans.
Gina Henke expressed appreciation to the teachers for
their time at the prior meeting and Scott Barr requested an update
on the repairs at JMMS.
Greg Ryan announced that a Strategic Plan for AUSD was
scheduled for Jan. 29, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. He said that this
meeting was a practical and pragmatic meeting and invitations to
attend this working group, were extended to PTA members, School
Site Council members, and teachers to update the AUSD Strategic
Plan. Ryan said that it would be advantageous if the board members
attend this meeting.
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