- East County Guardian
- Sep 27, 2023
- 6 min read
It is unfortunate that a district that is known for its diverse culture and it touted for its many languages, has an all-white, English-speaking parent committee for their sex education curriculum. It was noted at Cajon Valley Union School District’s most recent DELAC meeting. DELAC is an acronym for the District English Learner Advisory Committee that was held on September 20th at the District office. A concerned parent brought up the fact that there are only white, English-speaking parents on the committee that is designing the Sex Ed Curriculum. The answer the district spokesperson gave was it was a “lottery process” and that a board member “picked the numbers” that ultimately decided who was on the committee. Another parent who sits on the committee currently asked if more parents from the DELAC meeting could be included… and the district spokesperson said, “That wouldn’t be fair to everyone else who was in the lottery and didn’t get picked.” Come to find out, only 4 to 8 parents have been coming to the meetings. The meetings allow for at least 16 parents. There is room, but the DELAC community is being disregarded for some reason.
So, who can fix this?
President Jim Miller. President Miller sets the agenda and can appoint committee members. This would be an easy solution. He could appoint and direct the committee to have significant parent engagement that represents the diverse and engaged parent community. He has let this situation go on without resolution. Under President Miller, many things are not happening as the board policies and bylaws dictate. It is tyrannical and fits a very controlled and contrived narrative of the Superintendent. Many of the rules being bent or not followed are not for the benefit of students, but to rather to protect a Superintendent that is highly paid. While the Superintendent’s pay is rising CVUSD’s student test scores are plummeting. Parents want to be engaged, parents of all communities.
Ask yourself these questions:
· Are some voices not as significant?
· Do their children matter?
· Do they have a right to be engaged as parents?
· Why would the district exclude the communities they exploit in their promotional videos?
· Why wouldn’t the district appoint parents from various groups first to make sure they have significant engagement and then add more parents randomly through lottery (School Site Council, LCAP, DELAC, PTA/PTO, Parents who have raised concerns at board meetings)?
THIS IS NOT SIGNIFICANT PARENT ENGAGEMENT. In fact, a committee should have an appointed parent as a chairperson and should be giving recommendations and results to the board. We do not have that in CVUSD, they have a consultant firm called Educators Cooperative that speaks for the parents.
What happened to #YouBelong?
Want to know more? Please read the following (boring but necessary) facts about the leadership at CVUSD:
Under the leadership of Board president, Jim Miller, the Board has failed to consider the following policies as relevant or of any importance, therefore, being negligible in their charge for proper oversight, governance, and accountability. The Board remains out of compliance with the following Board Bylaws:
POLICIES AND REGULATIONS
9000: Board Bylaws - 9121 BB
BOARD PRESIDENT
• Enforces the Board's policies relating to the conduct of meetings and helps ensure compliance with applicable requirements of the Brown Act. The Board president & superintendent, not being in compliance with Board Bylaws, has created an environment of mistrust and adversarial tension on the Board and for the community.
• Working with the Superintendent to ensure that Board members have necessary materials and information - This has not been consistent or timely, and at times adversarial.
9000: Board Bylaws - 9124 BB
ATTORNEY
• The Board and Superintendent shall annually evaluate the performance of the firm and/or attorneys providing legal services in such areas as efficiency and adequacy of advice; results obtained for the district; reasonableness of fees; and responsiveness to and interactions with the Board, administration, and community.
• Upon a successful evaluation, the Board may renew the agreement with legal counsel without initiating an RFP. - This practice has been non-existent under the past & present Board leadership. Under the current Board president, a Board member’s request to be compliant was disregarded.
9000: Board Bylaws - 9130 BB
BOARD COMMITTEES
• The Governing Board may establish a committee whenever it determines that such a committee would benefit the district by providing diverse viewpoints, specialized knowledge or expertise, or increased efficiency. Such committees may be subcommittees of the Board or committees that include members of the community, staff, or other stakeholder groups.
• Upon establishing a committee, the Board shall clearly define the committee's purpose, any timeline for completion of assigned responsibilities, any stakeholder groups, or individuals to be represented on the committee, length of time that committee members are expected to serve, and expectations for reporting to the Board and/or the Superintendent or designee. Unless specifically authorized by the Board to act on its behalf, the committee shall act in an advisory capacity.
• Except for subcommittees of the Board, committee members shall, as appropriate, be recommended by the Superintendent or designee and appointed by the Board president, subject to Board approval. - The Board president has disregarded all aspects of this Board Bylaw in establishing the Sex Curriculum & Safety subcommittees which is explicit to having greater parental involvement.
0000: Philosophy, Goals, Objectives, and Comprehensive Plans
VISION -0000 AR (Administrative Regulation)
The Superintendent or designee shall establish a process for developing and regularly reviewing the district's vision and direction which includes:
1. Clearly defined procedures, timelines and responsibilities
2. Identification of the strengths and needs of the district
3. Input from parents/guardians, students, staff and community members through procedures which may include surveys, focus groups, advisory committees and/or public meetings and forums
4. Board adoption of district vision statements at a public meeting
As part of this process, the Superintendent or designee shall provide the Governing Board with relevant district documents and data, including current district mission and vision statements, if any, and information about student demographics, student achievement, student enrollment patterns, current programs, and recent program cuts, staffing and professional development needs, budget trends, facilities, technology and emerging educational issues.
2000: Administration - 2140 BB EVALUATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
• The Governing Board recognizes that, in order to effectively fulfill its responsibilities for setting direction, ensuring accountability, and providing community leadership for the district, it must adopt measures for holding the Superintendent accountable. At a minimum, the Board shall annually conduct a formal evaluation of the Superintendent's performance to assess his/her effectiveness in leading the district toward established goals. In addition, the evaluation process may include opportunities during the year for review of the Superintendent's progress toward meeting the goals. The evaluation shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Superintendent's contract and any applicable Board policy.
• Evaluation criteria shall be agreed upon by the Board and Superintendent prior to the evaluation and shall include, but not be limited to, district goals and success indicators; educational, management, and community leadership skills; and the Superintendent's professional relationship with the Board.
• The Board and Superintendent shall jointly determine the evaluation method(s) and schedule that will best serve the district and the structure and format of the instrument to be used.
• Prior to the evaluation, the Superintendent shall provide to the Board for its review a report of progress toward district goals, the Superintendent's self-appraisal of accomplishments and performance, and a statement of actions taken to address any Board recommendation from the previous evaluation.
• Each Board member shall independently evaluate the Superintendent's performance. Based on these individual evaluations, the Board president shall produce a document that summarizes the individual evaluations. The Board shall then take action on this document and present it to the Superintendent for his/her response.
• The evaluation shall provide commendations in areas of strength and achievement, provide recommendations for improving effectiveness in areas of concern and unsatisfactory performance, and serve as a basis for making decisions about salary increase and/or contract extension.
• The Board shall meet in closed session with the Superintendent to discuss the evaluation. (Government Code 54957)
• The Superintendent shall have an opportunity to ask questions, respond verbally and in writing to the evaluation, and present additional evidence of his/her performance or district progress.
• After the Board and Superintendent have discussed the evaluation, the Board president and Superintendent shall sign the evaluation and it shall be placed in the Superintendent's personnel file.
• At the open session after the Superintendent's evaluation or at a subsequent meeting, the Board and Superintendent shall jointly identify performance goals for the next year.
- The specific process and requirements as outlined in both policies above have been ignored by the prior board and under the current Board president. The Board has been completely and fully negligible in their oversight to hold their only employee accountable. The Board president has repeatedly denied the requests of a Board member and a cure & correct demand letter signed by over 20 community citizens to administer a fully comprehensive evaluation with proper public notice.
Thank you for reading the whole article if you got to this point! Please, share this article and your thoughts with friends and family. If you are not in CVUSD, make sure you are also holding your own School Board and Superintendent accountable. Public oversight is important to keeping our communities our own.
In Unity,
The East County Guardians
