About this blog

I am currently a Governing Board Member of the San Carlos School District, elected November 2007. I created this site to keep in touch with folks who want to know more about what is happening in the District and what it's like to be a Trustee.

Please note that ANY OPINION EXPRESSED HERE IS PURELY PERSONAL AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT OFFICIAL POSITIONS OR POLICY OF THE SAN CARLOS SCHOOL DISTRICT NOR THE OPINION OF ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES ON THE BOARD.

I encourage everyone to visit the District web site as well as attend School Board meetings.

Note that I reserve the right to edit, reject, or delete posts based on spelling, grammar, readability, or my judgment of what is appropriate discourse.

 

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SMART-E Camps Registration Open

I had written earlier that our Superintendent was pursuing a number of “revenue enhancement” ideas to mitigate at least somewhat the painful budget cuts that we need to make. Today, registration opened for SMART-E Camps (Sport, Music, Art, Technology-Enrichment Camps that will be held at Arundel and Central schools this summer. Besides generating [...]

No one said it was going to be easy…

The following is a memo sent out from the Superintendent today regarding the budget and the status of the contract negotiations with our certificated teachers’ union. I think he sums up the situation very well.

———–

Dear San Carlos Community Members,

I write to give you an update on the status of negotiations for the 2010-2011 [...]

The Tough Work Now Begins

Unfortunately a good chunk of the remainder of the school year will be devoted to trying to solve our current budget mess, and this process kicked off in earnest with a Board study session we had on Tuesday, Janaury 26th. With the recently proposed State budget, our friends in Sacramento whacked education again. [...]

With friends like this...

At the Governor’s State of the State address, he vowed to “protect education” despite the addititional $20 billion shortfall that the State is facing through next fiscal year. I guess I’m not sure what dictionary he uses, but the word “protect” may have a different definition in his than it does in mine.

In the [...]

Can California Government be fixed?

Most folks in any way exposed to the workings of Sacramento know that it’s one of the most dyfunctional government systems we have in the country. It’s a systematic issue and not one related to specific legislators, as I actually admire many of our state elected representatives. However, they are paralyzed by a [...]

These Budget Issues Affect Real People

Probably the lowlight of yesterday’s Board meeting was our budget discussion. As I reported in early November, we continue to have a serious budget crisis due to the continued decrease in revenue from the State. And unfortunately the State appears to be in a new fiscal crisis and most people believe it will [...]

Déjà vu, all over again

The e-mail from the Superintendent sums it up:

November 4, 2009

A Message From Dr. Craig Baker,
Superintendent
San Carlos School District

The Budget Crisis

I’m writing to tell you that last night, the San Carlos School District Board of Trustees met to discuss our current and future financial situation, which, unfortunately, has taken a turn for the [...]

Charter Schools in San Carlos -- our unique identity

San Carlos is an unusual School District in that 6 of its7 schools (all except Central Middle School) are “charter” schools. I suspect most parents don’t even realize this because, with the exception of the San Carlos Charter Learning Center (CLC), all of the schools appear to be fairly “traditional.” CLC, which was [...]

We have a budget!

Last night, the school Board approved the 2009-2010 school year budget. Of course it contained cuts, and it still heralds potential cuts for next year, but compared to many of our neighbors we actually avoided some of the most egregious reductions in programs. This budget still has us deficit spending almost $300,000 next [...]

Last Week of School!

The San Carlos public schools end this week, and kids are of course getting a bit antsy for summer. I’m excited to attend a lot of the end-of-year festivities, including the fourth grade picnic at Arundel, graduation ceremonies for CLC, Central, and Tierra Linda, and a few more visits to see teachers at the [...]