An open letter to SDUSD\u2019s Board of Education Two weeks ago, district staff gave a budget presentation in our [Point Loma] cluster asking for additional input from our community members via the districts website\u2019s budget crisis forum.\u00a0 While we appreciate the intent of this request, in reality, it is does not represent a meaningful opportunity to participate in the budget decision-making process.\u00a0 In fact, in our experience, individual voices are all too often perceived and dismissed as minority factions (i.e. parents supporting a special interest such as athletics\/VAPA\/GATE-\/special education\/technology\/ second language, et cetera). \u00a0If, as the district staff predicts, the budget crisis is going to severely affect our students\u2019 learning environment, then we want to go beyond mere input.\u00a0 We want to be part of the group that frames the budget solution for our cluster; we want to bring a unified cluster voice to the district decision making table.\u00a0 Just as the San Diego Education Association is often asked to participate or at least observe the work, now it is time to extend that same opportunity to cluster governing organizations.\u00a0 Granted, seeking cluster-level solutions to district-level problems is a whole new way of thinking for the San Diego Unified School District. Nevertheless, since 2006, the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation (PLCSF) has worked to unify its cluster of ten schools.\u00a0 Our strategic plan was developed by a group of cluster staff, parents, teachers and area superintendents to support an engaging and empowering learning environment for more than 6,000 students. Recently, other clusters have taken up similar work.\u00a0 Furthermore, this move toward cluster-level governance is an important response to the budget crisis. JIn fact, it is one of the few strands of silver in an otherwise dark cloud.\u00a0 The work to strengthen the community voice at the cluster level speaks to addressing a critical flaw in the current system. Without meaningful participation by the cluster learning communities, the district lacks the full power of the organization to frame the right questions, let alone propose and implement a long-term solution. \u00a0Consequently, the PLCSF is asking the Board of Education and the San Diego Unified School District to deliberately engage cluster communities as colleagues in the decision making process and, ultimately, to consider budget control at the cluster level.\u00a0 One-size-fits-all solutions are no longer tolerable.\u00a0 We must do better at addressing the educational needs of our individual diverse communities.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u2014 Submitted by the executive board of the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation. For more information, call 2009-10 board president Christy Scadden at (619) 222-2289, e-mail cscadden@cox.net or visit www.pointlomacluster.com. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An open letter to SDUSD\u2019s Board of Education Two weeks ago, district staff gave a budget presentation in our [Point Loma] cluster asking for additional input from our community members via the districts website\u2019s budget crisis forum.\u00a0 While we appreciate the intent of this request, in reality, it is does not represent a meaningful opportunity […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Needing a meaningful cluster role in budget process","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11593,11552,11561,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-images","category-opinion","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}