Attendance Policy

This Tuesday, Oct. 27 @ Deerfield Elementary (4353 West Harvey Blvd, Cedar Hills), the Board Study Session will include a discussion with Juvenile Court Judge Bazelle about the current attendance policy.  The Study Session begins at 4:00pm, and the Judge will be there at 4:30 pm.

The regular board meeting with public comment will take place at 6:00 pm.

Why should you care?  One major issue that keeps coming up from parents and taxpayers is attendance.  I have had many complaints about the strictness of our former policies, and the inconsistencies of the application of our current policy.  Some parents have sent their kids to a different school specifically because of the harshness of some of the attendance policies.  I have not had anyone complain that our attendance policies are too lax...until now.

State Law allows certain things as valid excuses: illness, death in the family, etc.  It also allows "any other excuse established as valid by a local school board, local charter board, or school district."  In our district, our policy says, "The Alpine School District Board of Education has determined that the parent or legal guardian of a student can excuse an absence for reasons they deem necessary."

At our board meeting on Sep. 22, Board Member Taylor reported that in a meeting with Judge Noonan (who oversees that Orem area), concerns were raised that our policy is working great for about 95% of our students, but there are 5% that they can't help because our policy is too lenient.  (To listen to the audio, go to http://board.alpineschools.org/2015/09/18/september-22-2015-board-meeting/, click on 'Additional Media', and the second audio file is the Board Meeting.  The report begins about 1 hour into the meeting.)

While I have found that our district policy is not being implemented as stated, that is more of an internal issue.  However, at the end of the day, we passed the attendance policy in order to support parental rights.  We do no one a service when we try to insert ourselves into the realm of the family, prematurely, where we actually do not belong. 

In other states where there has been no distinguishing between excused absences and truancy, many children have become 'collateral damage' to a system that is hoping to make sure that increased attendance is the ultimate good. But how many innocent parents and children will be harmed in the process?   http://www.nebraskafamilyforum.org/2011/12/chambers-family-in-bed-sick-at-school.html

The question I have is whether we can find a non-judicial way to help those families that may need that help, without jeopardizing the rights of the rest of our families.  Those who find themselves in extreme circumstances do not need the added concern of the County Attorney looking for reasons why they are unfit, if the only indicator is attendance.  Attendance alone, if excused by parents, is insufficient to predict negative consequences for kids in school or later life (current internet talking points notwithstanding.) 

At the end of the day, how many good families and how many parental rights are we willing to sacrifice?  Do we start with the premise that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, unless they have children in our school system?  I think the same standard needs to apply.  Can you imagine the pain and heartache in your family if you were threatened with the loss of custody of a child?  Do you believe that only the 'bad parents' are possibly at risk? The evidence shows otherwise.

Justice Dallin H. Oaks, ruled, "Family autonomy helps to assure the diversity characteristic of a free society.  There is no surer way to preserve pluralism than to allow parents maximum latitude in rearing their own children."

Parents have the fundamental right to manage their children, including their education. Until that parent has violated that trust (and it has been proven, with evidence), the state does not get 'veto' power over parents.  The laws come from We, the People, not The State.  We either value parental rights and support them, or we subject ourselves to the power of the State.  This is an important discussion for us to have.  Please join me on Tuesday!

Code of Conduct

The ASD Board of Education has a Code of Conduct.  I was told that the most important thing for me to do right now is to read and learn the Code of Conduct.  Please take a minute to review the Code of Conduct page, and give me your feedback here.  We will be discussing this Code in January.

Initial Meeting

Last Monday, I met with the Superintendent and the Board President. It was mostly a get-to-know-you meeting and then an overview of some of the responsibilities of a school board member.

Some of these are:
Twice monthly work sessions (4pm) and board meetings (6pm)

Tuesday morning tour and meetings: These are rotated among board members so there are only 2 or 3 board members present. Awards are given to a high performing team at the school, and then information is presented to the board members by the district officials. Minutes are taken at that meeting and passed around to the rest of the board members. In general, each board member will visit a school and participate in these meetings once each month.

Committee Meetings: There are about 18 committees and each board member will be on 3 or 4 of these. These assignments are made by the board president, but individual board members can express preferences for certain committees. I'm still trying to figure out what all of them are.  See the list of committees here.

Training session for new board members: The Utah School Boards Association hosts a training session (that will take place this year on Dec. 4).

Participation in a closed session of board meeting (Dec. 14): The board sometimes has closed sessions to discuss private matters, such as compensation, complaints, student issues, liabilities, etc. The new board members will be invited to attend this closed session to learn about the proceedings, but not take an active part, I assume.

Additional trainings and retreats were mentioned.

There was discussion about unity, keeping confidences, and the board's Code of Conduct. I was told that the most important thing I could do between now and January was to review and understand the Code of Conduct. I would appreciate your comments about this. Read the Code here.

Board members also receive some benefits. These are:
Internet Service, if requested
Laptop, if requested
Retirement benefits, if requested
Health Insurance, if requested
Compensation of $500/month that must be accepted. I will donate this amount.

In short, it was a nice meeting. Everyone was very positive and welcoming. That is very much appreciated.

Meeting with Alpine Education Association

Today I met with the Alpine Education Association (AEA) as they decide which candidates they will be endorsing for the upcoming election.

Prior to being contacted by the AEA, I didn't know much about them. I looked on their website, but didn't get a whole lot of information. I talked to a few neighbors, teachers and my state legislator. All were very positive about the AEA. I did find out that they are in charge of negotiating the teachers' contracts with the district.

The interview started out with my describing my background and my interest in education. They asked what I had heard about the AEA, and I told them what I outlined above. Their Vice-President wanted to assure me that their association wasn't there to keep bad teachers around. She said their goal is to help teachers who need remediation and to make sure that they get their due process. They hear stories all the time about teachers' associations being there to enable bad teachers to keep their jobs. They wanted to make sure that I understood that this wasn't their position at all. I certainly appreciated that they wanted to make this position clear. I assume that it would make good teachers' jobs more difficult to have "bad apples" in the bunch. I also appreciate that you want to make sure you're being fair with people.

We discussed Investigations Math, and my "lack of enthusiasm" for it. However, this isn't the reason I'm running, per se, as Investigations isn't supposed to be used in ASD anymore. One of the teachers wondered if it wouldn't have been better if they had introduced Investigations, starting in Kindergarten and First Grade, and following it through, rather than switching wholesale as was done. I agreed that it would have been better, but that I felt kids needed more of a basic foundation in arithmetic that Investigations doesn't provide. As I've said, math is about knowing the relationships between numbers and seeing the patterns. If you have a firm grasp of that, you free your mind up for higher computations and associations with those numbers.

Another question was about my desire for greater parental involvement. I told them about the district using technology like emails and more "front page" website posts to "push" information out to parents. I didn't go into too much more detail, but you're welcome to read the post about that here.

I was also asked about the latest talk of increasing the high school requirement to four years of math and science. I am opposed to this. I think we want kids to have the basics: basic knowledge of arithmetic, and whenever possible, basic algebra. With algebra, you can go to most other disciplines successfully. Other than that, we don't need to force people to spend time on math, if they aren't interested in it. It doesn't benefit anyone. I was required to take only 2 years of math in high school. However, because I was interested in it, and I thought it would benefit me in college, I did take four years of math. This is what we want. Those who are interested, spend the additional time studying it. And those that aren't, get to study something else that would be of benefit to them.

Finally, I was asked if I was a "jump into things with both feet" kind of person, or a "sit and watch" kind of person. I think that I'm more of a "jump in" person, but I am very aware that you don't want to take what's working and start all over from scratch. I want to make sure that any changes that I advocate are actually beneficial and not just throwing the baby out with the bath water, as it were.

I really appreciated their taking the time to meet with me. It was a good opportunity for me to spend a bit of time with people that are on the "front lines" of educating our children. I appreciate their dedication and their commitment to that end.

Conversations with Principals

I had been working as a Project Manager for a couple of years when our team received a new boss. He was full of ideas and wanted to change everything before evaluating what worked and what didn't. The upside of a new person is that they don't have any loyalty to how things have always been done. The downside is that they don't have any loyalty to how things have always been done.

I want to make sure that I don't take what is good and dismiss it. So in that vein, I have been discussing the issues with some of the principals in the district. These are incredibly talented indviduals who really know what works and what does not. I have enjoyed our conversations. Overall, the theme is we have a good district. They are pleased with the support and respect they receive from the district. They feel the district is being run efficiently, and they appreciate the collaboration that takes place.

A number of the principals referenced "The Four Questions". I wanted to learn more about this concept and I think you will also find it interesting. In all things, the schools are to ask: 1) What do the kids know? 2) How do we know that they know it? 3) What do we do if they don't know it? 4) What do we do if they DO know it? I like the emphasis on both extremes: those that don't know and those that have it mastered. Therein is the trick in any classroom, how to meet the needs of those who are struggling, while providing the next step for those who have mastered the concept.

Another thing that was mentioned were the Areas of Focus that were put together with a lot of community involvement. To view this, click here. Also, a couple of them mentioned the Moral Dimensions of Teaching. These are principles adopted by BYU's College of Education and used to train teachers. To view these, click here.

One principal mentioned how the teachers were finding creative ways to use materials and supplies so as to reduce the amount needed during difficult times.

Finally, one of the schools has 'gifted' programs for all of their core subjects. After seeing how many children came to test for the pilot 3rd-grade A.L.L. program a few years ago, it is apparent to me that this is something parents want. A little more of a 'push' on the students is something I have heard repeatedly. It's nice to see some of this desire coming to fruition in our schools.

I congratulate these principals in their achievements and their endeavors. We have a good district. My goal, which I invite you to share, is to make a good district a great district. How do we do that? By changing the culture so we all take part and contribute what we have to offer. There are many things that can be done. Every principal, teacher, parent and student knows ways we can improve. Some are small improvements, some are major improvements.

To have the absolute best district possible, we must all do everything necessary to contribute to success. What does that mean for a school board member? I believe it is necessary for the school board to reclaim its position in preserving the balance between the interests of the district administrators and the interests of the families which they serve.

Our district has tremendous assets in its students, families, teachers, principals, and district administrators. Obviously, everyone has a vested interest in wanting the best education possible for the students. How that is actually accomplished is where people begin to differ. It is only natural for people to come at a problem with varying solutions. The role of the school board is to fairly evaluate the interests of all parties and make the best decision. The "best decision" should be defined as the decision that most effectively educates the students at the highest level possible.

Too often, leaders become insulated against the real world of those they seek to serve. It is a natural process where, left alone, decision makers begin to rely on their own set way of doing business. That is why we have elections with the wonderful opportunity to infuse our bureaucracies with new people, renewed passion, and those who more accurately represent the ideas and ideals of the common person.

My candidacy is about bringing the voice of the everyday family to the school district. We must keep what is working well. We must change what is not working. The only way to reach a higher level is to acknowledge we can do better and be willing to accept better ideas when we find them. To find them, we must be willing to listen. We can make our district better by opening up the system to greater communication, accountability, and representation. There are great ideas out there. The school board needs to return to a culture that embraces the views of the people they serve. By doing so, we tap into what truly makes our district great: the families and individuals who make up our communities.

School Community Council Conversation

I had a nice discussion the other day with a member of one of our School Community Councils(SCC). I have known people who have served on the SCC's in the past, and have seen the flyers and voting for members of the SCC, but I had never realized that the SCC's are responsible for the school trust lands money. I always assumed that the district or the State determined what was to be done with that. (BTW, the school trust monies amount to about 1/2 of 1% of each school's budget, on average.)

Some of the things we discussed were reading the minutes of the school board meetings, how much time will I devote to the school board, and what her perception was from moving from out of state a few years back.

I really appreciated the conversation. It was helpful to have input from another perspective, and here is what I've done.

1) One of my first thoughts was how often do average people read the minutes for any meetings? Unless we have issues with things, we usually just ignore them. However, we need to know what the main issues are in order to affect a direction. After the conversation, I tried to find the minutes. I was able to find the April 20 minutes. It takes some doing to get to them when you first look. As a member of the school board, I would like the district to be more pro-active in getting the minutes and issues out to the community. Currently, my city allows subscribers to receive agendas via email. This wouldn't be difficult to implement at the district level.

My thoughts on the minutes.

Overall, other than the community comments (most of which were about the mission statement and "enculturating"...more on that in a later post), I didn't find the minutes to be all that helpful. The property items struck me as the most important information to be gleaned. They mentioned that my opponent, Mrs. Hanneman, voted against ceding some of the Lone Peak HS property to UDOT for the widening of 4800 W. The minutes do not give specifics other than to say that she voted against this and would have preferred a 4 lane road. My SCC council contact mentioned that it was 25 feet in front of the school, allowing for a wider road that would come closer to the existing school entrance. This specific information would have been helpful to have in the minutes. It would have been even better for people from the Lone Peak area to be able to have a say on this issue prior to the vote. I assume that no one knew about it, as it isn't referenced at all in the community comments. In light of my contact's information, I agree whole-heartedly with my opponent's vote on this issue.

2) I have found in life that projecting how much time something will take is a moving target. The more you have done something, the better your estimates will be. If you've never done it, you will be way off. I am committed to spending as much time as it takes on school board issues. I am also committed to spending no more than that amount of time. If there are efficiencies to be found, I will find them. I have experience doing that in my business, which is why I can operate a full-time business and still be an 'at home' mom.

3) My SCC contact was concerned with academic excellence and encouragement. In her previous state, her child read Beowulf in sixth grade. In our district, it is a high school (or late middle school) requirement. Also, kids in AP classes in the old state, pushed and encouraged each other and were proud of their accomplishments. Here, the kids that are in AP classes don't see it as a good thing, but rather as inhibiting social status. She also mentioned that the top 10% of graduating students were automatically accepted to state colleges and universities. She would like to see a program like that in Utah.

I appreciate the time that she took to contact me, and to give me more information. This is the type of transparency and input that the board and the district need to encourage, not just from those appointed and filling notable positions (SCC, District Community Councils) but from every day people, parents, students, and teachers.