Posts
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Dear Board Members:
I know you are wrangling over the decision about what elementaries
to add to Phase 4 of the bond for the meeting tomorrow. I appreciate the difficulty of this decision
and wanted to clarify just a few things.
- Our
previous board is not, legally, allowed to tie your hands, as the current
board. As new information and
situations change, you are not only free to act in a different direction than
what we planned, you are obligated to do so. You are accountable for the knowledge
and information you have now, regardless of what decisions we made in the
past.
- The
decision that we made in November, 2017 to designate Vineyard as one of
the elementary schools was based on data that is no longer accurate. In Nov. 2017, Vineyard was projected to
be at 1,360, non-self-contained students by this year (2019). By 2021, it was supposed to be at 1,523. By contrast, Sage Hills was supposed to
be at 1,070 by 2019 and1,136 by 2021.
Dry Creek was 1,102 by 2019 and 1,144 by 2021. Currently, Vineyard is at 1,085. Sage
Hills at 1,140. And Dry Creek at
1,039. The 2018 projections were
more accurate by a large factor than the 2017 projections upon which the
Vineyard “promise” was made. Those
numbers are much closer to the actual numbers for this year (which only
makes sense), but the 2018 projections for Vineyard in the year 2021 went
from 1,523 to 1,167. This is a HUGE
discrepancy. Additionally, the Sage
Hills and Dry Creek numbers are, roughly, similar between the 2017 projections
and the 2018 projections, for both 2019 and 2021. And, the 2021 projection for Sage Hills
is already 4 students short of what Sage Hills has currently, in 2019. So,
there was obviously a huge error made in the Vineyard projections upon
which our board based its decision. This information and the change in data
must be incorporated into your decision, regardless of what we thought at
the time. This is why you were
elected, to make on-going decisions, as new information presents itself.
- I
understand that many of you are concerned about keeping the promises that
our previous board made to the citizens of Vineyard. First, you need to know that the amount of
time you’ve spent studying this issue is much, much greater than the time
we took in making the original “promise”.
In point of fact, I (and at
least one other former board member) didn’t even remember this Vineyard “promise”
ever occurring, until I read the Herald article and listened to the audio. Granted, we go through a lot of issues, but
I do remember the major decisions that took time, and effort, and
energy. To my recollection, this
idea of specifying Vineyard as Phase 4 on the bond was not ever brought up
in Superintendent Meeting, at least not one that I attended. The placement of the issue on the agenda
was one I discovered by looking at the agenda during the day or so before
Board Meeting. I have no record of
having asked any questions outside of the Study Session or Board Meeting
on this issue. In short, I looked
at the numbers presented and made my decision based solely on those, now
obviously, incorrect numbers. We
were “promised” in our Board Meeting in November, 2017, that Vineyard
would be the elementary with “the largest” population by 2021. According to the projections, only one
year later, that “promised” projection went down by nearly 400 students. That discrepancy is the second
point. When the numbers are closer,
as they actually appear to be, it’s a much more difficult decision. This would have required a lot more
analysis and discussion, than a few comments in a Study Session, then a 5
minute discussion in Board Meeting, and a vote. Finally, based on the timing of the
vote, it really did seem like we were designating Vineyard in order to appease
the Hillcrest/Scera Park patrons.
And that’s fine, if you have the numbers. But we didn’t designate any other
elementaries for Phase 4 at that time.
And our numbers were much more accurate for our other elementaries. It’s, as if, Vineyard was the only error
in our projections. I can promise
you that if the numbers hadn’t been so widely out of line for Vineyard, I
would not have been willing to make that determination at that time. And certainly, if the numbers had been
closer, I would have asked more questions and asked for more time. My single vote wouldn’t have changed the
board’s “promise”, but I am here to tell you, I hope you will not base
your decision on my mistake.
In short, we made a “promise” with faulty data and
without a lot of deliberation, discussion, or analysis. We are not legally allowed to tie your
hands. Since you now have greater
information and understanding, I ask you to take all the information into
account. If you are unable to diverge
from what we, hurriedly “promised”, with inaccurate numbers, I shudder to think
about other decisions that we made and the on-going implications. You MUST be able to make a decision, without
thinking about what was said in the past.
And, hopefully, without considering politics, only facts, numbers, and
students.
Thanks for taking on this difficult task, and I hope
you know if you decide against what I agreed to 2 years ago, I will be pleased
that the system is working as it should.
And, even if you don’t, please don’t blame the hurried promises of our
board for your decision. Please own the
decision, based on your own numbers.
Sincerely,
Wendy Hart
November, 2017 Projections (2019 pg. 20, 2021 pg. 24)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4LZ8teFSo0femlIdzdESXY4c3c
November, 2018 Projections (2019 pg. 18, 2021, pg. 22)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2z1TYkIjIEONFV1djEtbnN5d28/view
Current Numbers (pg. 118)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rOrnhPXSKu9gxOqoqpYMeMXZ2TYjEeU5
