Response to Foster's Op-Ed

Ms. Foster claims: "One of our first votes was to halt the outsourcing of transportation, custodians, payroll and human resources." How can she make such a claim when we all know that ESI was hired to the tune of $20 million dollars to outsource employees as recently as this past summer? We know that she knows all about ESI because an ESI executive gave her and Cam Juarez $5,000 apiece. We also know that Foster returned the money after the public discovered potential corruption, but Juarez has not--despite that he said he did.

The current board has voted to lower classroom spending to $.48 per dollar. Our children are worth more.

There are more administrators and fewer librarians, custodians, and counselors today in TUSD than there were last year, the year before, and the year before that. Administrators cost the district at least 2X what other employees cost and have little or no impact on student achievement.

Foster also claims that if the board changes, more schools will be closed; however, when Foster and Juarez first got onto the TUSD School Board, they had the chance to vote not to close schools. They did not. See: http://threesonorans.com/…/fact-check-schools-did-close-un…/.

Still, closing schools is no longer on the agenda. It's over. The fact that she brings it up in this article shows that she is trying to manipulate fear and incite the post-traumatic stress that this community suffers because of poor school management. How can a school board member be so willing to pat herself on the back at the same moment she seeks to incite the fear of past trauma?

And let's do try to be honest: enrollment is still down--despite a steadily growing Tucson population, including an influx of refugee students who attend TUSD schools. So how can enrollment still be falling despite Tucson's growing population? And how can this person be so brazen as to claim there has been an about-face when enrollment numbers are still negative?

Last, discipline--not school closures--is the major issue facing TUSD now (along with, as always, declining enrollment). Catalina Magnet High School is the next one that will implode due to discpline problems. Utterback is falling apart at the seams, Palo Verde suffers; I could go on and on. Why does this school board member not mention her plans for how she and the rest of her board plan to get Sanchez to address the discipline horrors in TUSD before tragedy strikes--again?!

TUSD needs change, not excuses. TUSD deserves success, not spin. TUSD will have transparency, accountability, and integrity--as soon as we vote for people who will face the facts, share them with courage and integrity, and then establish strategic plans for improvement.

Smile! We got this. In response to "Which TUSD Board Candidates Favor Closing More Schools?" D. Safier 10/25/16

The Superintendent is responsible for implementation, and implementation was fundamentally flawed when it came to closing schools in TUSD.  The Gibson Operational Efficiency Audit makes sense—it also makes more than 60 different recommendations, most of which have nothing to do with closing schools.  Yes, the Audit makes a very persuasive argument that there are too many old buildings in TUSD that do not serve the students well—but that is largely because there are not enough students to fill the buildings.  As such, the Audit makes clear that declining enrollment is the single biggest issue facing TUSD.  The second biggest problem in TUSD, according to the Audit, is poor management, which of course results in lower enrollment. 

Supt. Sanchez and his team are responsible for management.  The board is only responsible as far as it has allowed the Superintendent to manage TUSD as he has, unchecked.  Any member of the school board who is not alarmed by the community’s cries, who does not heed our calls to better govern the Superintendent, needs to go.  It is clear to the entire community that there are three members on the TUSD governing board who allow the Supt. to do as he pleases.  They praise him for the job he has done.  Now it is up to us, the community, to stand together and let them know that we disagree.  We don’t have to yell at them anymore—they don’t seem to have been listening anyway.  Note to self: They get it.  Now it’s time to vote.     

This article, the street signs calling for the ousting of our school board members, the bad blood, it’s all just making TUSD worse.  This comments section is evidence—this war is making people want to leave.  It has to stop.  Whoever is putting out the signs may claim that they care about TUSD, but their actions are hurting this district.  If they really want to help the schools, they should invest their money toward spreading goodwill for a bond election so that we can increase the budget to pay for the buildings that everyone wants so badly to keep open.   

No one wants to close schools.  But if we don’t stop this fight, families will just keep leaving, and there will be no choice.  We can make this district great.  But we have to work together.  Tucson is a wonderful city, and TUSD has some great schools.  They can all be great.  We have to have faith, vote for school board candidates who will not blindly support the superintendent, and smile!  We got this.

TUSD's current board voted to spend only $.49 per $1 in the classroom.

Response to audience comments at ADI: "TUSD Board To Consider Superintendent’s Goals, Denver Junket"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for caring enough to read about the TUSD School Board race, have an opinion about us candidates, and ask for more information.  We are all entitled to our opinions, but we should remember that they say more about us than they do about what we criticize or enjoy.

You are welcome to check my blog (http://sedgwick4tusd.blogspot.com/2016/10/action-plan.html), my website (sedgwick4tusd.com), my Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/sedgwickforschoolboard2016/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel), or friend me on my personal FB page (https://www.facebook.com/ms.sedgwick.90).  I have opened up my personal page to you to demonstrate with my actions that I have nothing to hide, and I have the courage and integrity to accept your input and feedback about my performance.

For your general information, I am originally from Nogales, AZ., and I have an MSEd from UPENN, twelve years of teaching experience, and I am now a third-year law student at the UA College of Law.  As a 3L, I represent children involved in dependencies with the State in the Pima County Juvenile Courts.  My experiences have led me to develop the skills, courage, and integrity necessary to help improve TUSD's governance, as the current board has not managed to do in the past four years. They are proud of their decisions; however, they have consistently voted to spend only $.49 out of every dollar in the classroom.

I can help.  I will work to raise classroom spending from $.49 to $.70--before the end of four years.  I will also work to reinstate the counselor, librarian, and custodian positions that the current board has voted to cut (to make room for more administrators).  I would vote to cut the number of administrators and lower their salaries so that TUSD can pay teachers and other employees what they are worth, on par with the rest of the nation.  I will not lie to the community or spin the facts to make myself look better.  I will always look to student achievement results, employee satisfaction, and community feedback to grade my own performance.  In sum, I will bring transparency, accountability, and integrity to the TUSD School Board.

Choose wisely this November, but above all--please--change the board.  Our students are worth more than $.49, worth more than TUSD's ever-increasing number of administrators, and they deserve more from board members than fact-spinning and ego-selling.  We can elect to have TUSD governed better, more efficiently, more effectively...we just have to change the board.  Let us choose wisely and vote for the people who best represent us this November.  I hope to see you on Facebook--

Rachael Sedgwick

Many of You Have Asked, So Here It Is In Advance, Just In Case...

Are you a Republican?

No, I am registered Independent.  I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.  I was a Republican long ago, then I was a Libertarian.  I registered Independent because I do not agree with all the ideas of any party--I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.  I am pro increasing the funding to education, but I am also pro spending the money we already have to fund the schools to actually fund the schools, not keep administrators financially healthy.

Does money matter?  Yes, there has to be enough.  Is it the only thing that matters?  No.  The U.S. spends more on education than many other countries that perform far better than we do.  Money is just a tool.  It is not a magical bullet.  So throwing money at the problem, as we are wont to do in the United States, is not a solution.  There has to be a purposeful and carefully considered strategy behind the money.  TUSD is a great example.  Over $300 million is spent each year on TUSD; there are fewer librarians, custodians, and counselors every year, but there are more and more administrators.  The administrators get rich and complement themselves for it; some schools thrive, many fail, and the administration answers by crediting itself for the success, but threatening and blaming educators for the failing schools.  So money matters, but money is not the biggest problem in TUSD (or many, many other inner city or urban districts).  The biggest problem in TUSD is the administration (the school board problem should get solved soon, November 8).

Third, our public schools should prepare young people to participate in life.  That is, we want critical thinkers, hard workers, and people with good (can-do) attitudes.  So, my biggest focus in education in general is making sure that we are producing critical, independent thinkers.  In TUSD, my first priority would be accountability, which requires transparency at the district level, but it also requires that schools are safe.  Right now, I hear that some TUSD schools are not safe, and teachers and children and parents are suffering.  Many have told me that Sanchez has to go.  I suspect that he will leave if he is held accountable for the things he is supposed to be doing, which requires transparency.  But all in all, my biggest focus is on the students and what they are learning.  The administration just takes away from that.

Action Plan

Based on community input, as a TUSD School Board Member, I would work with the Superintendent to:

1.     Survey current district employees, students, and families to gauge satisfaction levels, collect input on current faults, gather ideas for solutions, and address complaints.

2.     Invest in technology.  Invest in communication.  Collaborate with the community and media to share more effectively the amazing things that TUSD is doing, how some schools are thriving, and what the district is learning from those schools to improve district-wide.

3.     Use community feedback to solve the discipline problem.  Stop condemning and vilifying people who come forward; use their concerns to solve issues regarding violence and assaults in the schools.

4.      Create a forum for parent and community input, empower parents, and use community experience and expertise as assets by forming community task forces. 

5.     Routinely reach out to parents and community groups for feedback and advice about how schools can improve.

6.     Tie the Strategic Plan to the Unitary Status Plan (USP).

7.     Revise the Superintendent goals to include measurable outcomes that depend upon notable improvement in quantifiable gains like student enrollment numbers, new hires, and employee vacancies.  

a.     Tie the Supt. goals to the USP, Curriculum Audit, and Comprehensive Magnet Plan (CMP).  The CMP, for example, requires that:

                                               i.     A magnet school must be an A or B school as defined by the Arizona Department of Education school letter grade system.

                                             ii.     Students in magnet schools will score higher than the state median in reading and math on the state assessment.

                                            iii.     Students in magnet schools show higher growth than the state median growth in math and reading.

                                            iv.     Magnet schools will secure the growth of the bottom 25% of the students at the school at a rate higher than the state median growth of the bottom 25%.

                                             v.     Magnet schools will reduce achievement gaps between the racial groups so that achievement gaps between racial groups are less than those in schools not participating in magnet programs.

8.     Open the budget for community inspection and input.  Describe the budget in a handbook; explain the logic behind budget allocations so that the average reader can understand how and why money is being spent as it is.

9.     Proactively address concerns about desegregation funding; spend desegregation funds on desegregating the district.

10.   Revise and update the TUSD website to make it easier to find information, including the Unitary Status Plan.  The USP should be as prominent on the website as the Strategic Plan.

11.  Explore grants and other sources of funding to supplement budgets for diverse students with extraordinary needs, including refugees, English language learners, students living on their own or in foster care, etc.

12.  Engage the community, as appropriate, to decide whether buildings that currently stand empty should be sold, leased to community groups, etc.   Collect feedback to understand and gauge needs, desires, intentions to work together to make the best use of TUSD schools; invest in new, updated spaces.

13.  Stop outsourcing, invest in employee morale, and defer to employee expertise.

14.  Invest in solar energy.

15.  Raise funding to each classroom from $.49 per dollar to $.70.  Research grant, federal, and state sources of additional funding and apply for them.

16.  Return control of site budgets to site leaders.

17.  Stop hiring administrators.  Replace the librarians, counselors, custodians, and others who have been cut.  Put certified teachers who are not teaching back into the classrooms.  Increase “blue collar worker” and substitute pay.

18.  Hold administrators, particularly the Superintendent, accountable for student achievement rates.

19.  Raise the average teacher salary to $50,000 per year; pay experienced teachers well for their experience.

20.  Provide robust teacher support and development systems; empower teachers to replicate what is working in high performing schools.

21.  Invest in technology, and use the technology to eliminate bureaucracy and red tape, simplify district processes, and communicate with employees. 

22.   Actively recruit students and teachers to the district; hold periodic hiring fairs.  

23.   Use other successful districts as examples, and work with other districts to improve.

24.   Improve efficiency of the bus system by empowering current leaders to continue to step up and continue streamlining processes.

25.   Populate busses with safety monitors and collect input about how to improve morale from the bus drivers and monitors.

Revise the Strategic Plan

Revise the Strategic Plan to include specific and measurable outcomes so any reader can tell when goals are reached.

Currently, the first point reads: 

Strategic Priority #1: Curriculum: TUSD will design an aligned, articulated and well-administered curriculum that supports academically high standards of learning for all children, integrates college- and career-ready skills, incorporates fine and performing arts and is culturally relevant for our diverse student population. It will be reviewed and revisited regularly to meet the changing demands of our students and community.

In collaboration with the Superintendent and other board members, I would replace the first point as it is written above to, FOR EXAMPLE:

Strategic Priority #1: Curriculum: TUSD will ensure that there is available on each school’s individual website a curriculum map for each subject taught at the school, across grade levels.

Specific: TUSD will design an aligned, articulated and well-administered curriculum that supports academically high standards of learning for all children.  Measurable: TUSD will provide curriculum maps.  Achievable: The Supt. will work with principals and teachers to determine a schedule to fulfill this responsibility.  Results-oriented: Parents will find the maps online, at each school website.  Time-bound: The curriculum maps will be up and available for parent inspection by May 2017.

S: The curriculum will be reviewed and revisited regularly to meet the changing demands of our students and community.  M: School principals will lead their staff in reviewing and revising the curriculum on a timeline set at the school level, posted to the school website.  A: The Supt. will work with principals and teachers to determine a schedule to fulfill this responsibility.  R: Parents and other community members will see updated curriculum maps each year, which reflect the changing needs of the students and the community.  T: The maps will be available on school websites beginning in May 2017.

S: Students will graduate ready for college or for employment.  M: TUSD will collect (and share on its website) data regarding college entrance and graduation rates and for post high school graduation employment rates, beginning in May 2017.  TUSD will create a system to collect contact information for TUSD graduates, so TUSD can send graduates periodic surveys collecting information about college and work experiences.  A: The Supt. will work with principals and teachers to determine a schedule to fulfill this responsibility.  R: Reported data will show that students graduate at a rate of 80%, enter college or enter the workforce at a rate of at least 90%, report that they are equipped to work or study at a rate of at least 80%, and graduate from college in 5 yrs or less at a rate of 60% (I just chose these numbers at random as an example).  T: Data will be collected beginning in March 2017.  Data will be reported beginning in September 2017.

S: schools will offer courses in the fine and performing arts.  M: List schools, will offer courses in the fine and performing arts.  A: The Supt. will work with principals and teachers to determine a schedule to fulfill this responsibility.  R: parents will find these courses listed and students will be able to enroll in the courses on school websites.  T: completed on date . . . .

S: schools will offer culturally relevant classes that reflect TUSD’s diverse student population. M: TUSD will offer list courses, at list schools.  A: The Supt. will work with principals and teachers to determine a schedule to fulfill this responsibility.  R: Students will report that they are taking diverse courses with diverse students, as reported by teachers, and parents will find these courses listed and students will be able to enroll in the courses. T: completed on . . .

***The Superintendent should present the Board with a timeline, perhaps in February 2017, detailing the curriculum map completion goals and dates for each school.