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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
KELSEYVILLE – “It’s doom and gloom,” according the Kelseyville Unified School District superintendent Boyce McClain. “Everyone in the district knows what that means.”
McClain’s comments followed Tuesday night’s board of trustees meeting during which his recommendation to cut the equivalent of 10.5 full time non-teaching positions was approved unanimously.
Those followed last month’s cuts of 12 teaching positions as well as elimination of a counselor, a vice principal position and 20-percent of a school psychologist’s position.
“It just gets worse and worse,” school board chairman Peter Quartarolo said.
“It’s really discouraging,” said Kathy Garrison, the district’s business manager, referring to the state’s budget cut that alone amounts to a $1 million loss for her district, which serves 1,796 students with a $17 million operating budget.
Garrison told the board the district is currently spending more than it should. “Ongoing revenue is less than ongoing expenses,” she explained in an interview Wednesday. “We will run out of money if we keep doing this.”
Although she attributed some of the current overexpenditures to rising fuel costs, the future looks bleak.
“The state is creating its largest deficit and the end is not in sight,” McClain stated to the board.
He also noted that the nation is heading into a recession and costs are rising.
But the superintendent was not completely pessimistic. He referred to a speech Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made in January predicting the tough times.
“He’ll stand up again on May 15 and he’ll say how much has changed,” McClain predicted. “I expect education to come out better than what he said.”
McClain said that although he is optimistic the governor will at least partially revoke the dramatic 10-percent statewide school budget cut in May he, too, is discouraged by the actions he felt he had to take.
“You work really hard to build the district and improve the district and all of a sudden the state comes in and starts destroying what you built,” he said.
“In a matter of months you succumb to state politics,” Garrison said. “You realize how little control you have.”
Quartarolo echoed Garrison’s comments. “I’m really tired of the state of California using us as pawns,” he said, adding that the extreme budget deficit “shows gross mismanagement on the part of our legislature and governor.”
The state’s 10-percent cut in funding is tempered by a cost of living adjustment and other factors to reduce Kelseyville’s funding a net 6.5 percent.
“It’s really ten percent,” Garrison said. “It’s not normal.”
Quartarolo noted that school cuts are not limited to Kelseyville. “Everyone else is in the same boat,” he said. “They’re pulling everyone’s chain ... law enforcement, fire departments ... this time they’re really putting it to everybody.”
Like other districts in the area, Kelseyville is also affected by dropping enrollment.
Based on average daily attendance figures, the Kelseyville district will receive funding for 47 fewer students next year, which drops the 2008-09 budget another $300,000, Garrison said.
Quartarolo also noted that enrollment drops are statewide.
In addition – or subtraction – to the two major “hits” to upcoming years’ budgets, Garrison said the state has revised the way it distributes federal funds, which means Kelseyville schools will be getting $63,000 less than expected in Title I or low income-targeted funds.
McClain explained that the state projects the district’s poverty level based on the 2000 census.
“The state is saying we don’t have the poverty level, that it’s not the same as it used to be,” McClain said. “But if you look at our free and reduced lunches, our poverty level has not gone down.”
Garrison said that although the district is currently “deficit spending,” or that its expenses exceed its revenues by about $11,000 this year, “We have enough savings to support our budget for the next two years.”
Also, Garrison pointed out that health and welfare benefits are rising in costs. She explained that such benefits have been rising at a rate of 16 percent annually and have slowed to 9 percent growth.
But that still amounts to $245,000 in cost increases that will be borne by either the district or its employees, depending on negotiated contracts.
Garrison pointed out that Tuesday’s board resolution, identified on the agenda as “reduction or discontinuance of certain particular kinds of service” will not be enough to stop the deficit spending. In other words, the district will have to continue to spend savings to make ends meet.
In the next year, she said, the district’s budget will be $413,000 in the red without improvements in the state budget. “The reductions proposed are insufficient,” she said, referring to the combined lists of teacher and staff layoffs.
McClain said he met with managers within the district and asked the principals for their priorities in order to determine where to make the cuts.
“We don’t do like Lakeport,” he said, referring to the budget committee process that included solicitation of ideas from teachers and staff there.
McClain kept his proposal confidential until the board approved it. “It’s not a fact until the board approves it,” he explained. “I didn’t want to say anything until the board spoke … boards tend to get offended if superintendents assume what their decisions are going to be.”
Only Trustee Chris Irwin questioned the cuts, asking whether McClain had considered consolidating facilities. “I want to make sure we look at every stone,” Irwin said.
“We need to be patient for the May revise,” McClain responded.
The superintendent recommended the board “wait and see” what the May revision of the state budget is before making any further cuts. “We’ve done all we need to do.”
His advice for parents and staff? “I think they all need to continue to let Sacramento know that education of their children is an extremely high priority.”
E-mail Maile Field at
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It was an evening notable for its tears, nervous speeches, passionate pleading and … individual open-mindedness.
After board members added their half-hour of comment regarding the use of a logo and name the native American community called “disrespectful,” Kelseyville Unified School Board Trustee Gary Olsen made a motion “not to return to the Indian mascot.”
The motion was approved 4-1 with board member Chris Irwin alone voting, surprisingly, against the status quo, citing a loyalty to the taxpayers who elected him. “I feel we have better things we should be talking about,” he said, adding, “I’m not trying to be a rebel, I really don’t care what the mascot is.”
About 100 people showed up for the continued agenda item that brought voices of students, elders and everyone in between. Last month’s meeting drew almost four hours’ comment on the subject before it was continued.
The town doctor, Kirk Andrus, was the first to step up to the podium Tuesday night. He said he has lived in Kelseyville since 1979 and that he was graduated from Dartmouth in 1972 as a Dartmouth “Indian.”
“A large part of who I am,” he said, “is based on the fact that I went to Dartmouth.”
Andrus said it is not about his being an “Indian,” but about the institution, its curriculum, culture and his education.
“I think of myself as a Dartmouth graduate,” he said, “not an Indian.”
Andrus, a former school board trustee himself, commented that he felt “it is incumbent on us to listen to the local native Americans.”
The doctor continued, “When my grandfather sold a blanket that was infected with small pox … that’s germ warfare. But let’s not play the blame game. Use of an Indian mascot distorts and trivializes a native culture.”
Marcie Cadora said she learned that the Tomales “Braves” compromised by giving up their logo but not their name and she proposed the same. She said she telephoned Clayton Duncan, the man who originally asked the board to stop using the mascot, and she said she also called several board members.
“No one seemed interested in a compromise,” she said.
Cadora repeated, as she had at last month’s meeting, that the term “Indian” is used in pride, that it is not meant to be derogatory.
Kim Olsen said she grew up near the Big Valley Rancheria and rode the bus with many native American children and she never saw racism. Olsen suggested adopting a logo designed by local tribes and an annual general assembly at school to educate all children about native culture and history.
“A compromise would make the job of the board much easier,” she said.
Bob Prather said he was a 1945 graduate of Kelseyville High School and an “Indian.” He also said he had seven sons and numerous grandchildren go through the schools.
“I understand why many would like to keep the Indian mascot,” he said. “I also understand that if I were an Indian, I would not want others parading around with my image.”
Prather said it’s about citizenship and understanding others’ feelings. Referring to a petition circulated among “Indian” mascot supporters reported to have documented 700 signatures, Prather commented, “There are a lot of names on the petition … but there are a lot of names that are not on the petition.”
Jacque Santana – whose daughter is a freshman “Knight” – said that change is hard. “Maybe I didn’t like it, but it is time to move forward,” she said. “Personally I think the ‘Knight’ is a really lame mascot.”
But what is “blowing my mind,” she continued, “is that they let this issue divide them.”
Lisa Mammina, who repeatedly emphasized that she is from Ukiah, broke the tension with humor by saying she was confused about who were Indians and who were not. She motioned to the crowd on the left, many of whom wore sweatshirts reading “Always an Indian,” and said, “I think it’s really cool they (motioning to the Indians on the right) are not asking for their land back, they’re asking for their name back.”
“It hurts them,” she said simply.
Several students spoke in favor of returning to the former mascot, stating they felt school spirit had fallen. “Now it’s like walking into a retirement home,” one girl stated, adding that learning about the Pomos would be “cool, awesome ... let’s do that.”
Phillip Murphy said he has a daughter in Kelseyville High School who “loves and respects her teachers” and feels good about her school. The other daughter graduated last year and doesn’t feel the same way, he said.
The older daughter, Murphy explained, is enrolled in an ethnic studies class at Sacramento State University. “We are portrayed as an example of modern day racism,” Murphy said.
When the class was asked by the professor whether anyone was familiar with the issue, “she was ashamed to raise her hand,” Murphy said, “and say, ‘Yeah, I went to that school.’
“I have a simple question,” Murphy went on, “Do you value the trust, respect ... and cooperation of your neighbors more than a name on a jersey? I hope you do.”
Murphy concluded, “I want to see it get put behind us tonight ... permanently.”
With “Indian” mascot supporters on the left and native Americans and their supporters on the right, applause following each speaker was clearly divided.
And then, two hours into the session, Kerry Roper stood up — from the left side of the aisle.
First she identified herself as a hairdresser, pointing out her son-in-law, Chris Irwin, seated among the board trustees. She also mentioned that she had many family members in the room, including her husband, who had just spoken in favor of returning to the “Indian” mascot.
“Tonight’s meeting completely changed my mind,” she said. “We are using something that belongs to someone else.”
“I would be very upset if every salon in the county changed their name to ‘Vintage Hair Salon,’” she said, referring to her own business. “I have to agree with the native Americans that we should not be called the Indians.”
Roper had the last word.
Board Chairman Peter Quartarolo broke the astonished silence with humor. “I think there’s an extra bed at our house.”
After the other board members explained their positions, Quartarolo opened a book from the district’s own “Hate in Schools” curriculum.
“Right here on page three,” he said, “it recommends we get rid of ethnic mascots.”
Quartarolo said that he has had a lot of friends remind him how important the 'Indian” mascot is to them.
“My ultimate responsibility is to the children of this district,” he said. “You read all these papers ... there’s all this evidence it teaches bigotry. That I can’t tolerate.”
E-mail Maile Field at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
“The governor wants to slash funding to schools at unprecedented amounts and it’s really quite scary,” she told a solemn audience of 23 teachers, staff and parents.
The board agreed unanimously to a list of money-saving cuts and adjustments topped by closure of Natural High School.
No programs there will be eliminated, but all will be relocated, Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg was quick to explain.
The board also agreed to eliminate three teaching positions as well as five other aide, clerical and custodial jobs throughout the district.
Smith-Hagberg and Slockbower recommended the board make the reductions in planned spending following Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to reduce the schools’ funding a net 6.5 percent following cost of living adjustments and other factors.
Slockbower said 86 percent of the district’s funding comes from the state.
The governor also is proposing to “borrow” from the schools by not paying revenues due in July until September, a move Slockbower called “devastating.”
In the third stroke of a triple-whammy, the district also is affected by declining enrollment, having lost 59 students since the beginning of the current school year, a continuation of a multi-year trend. Those students moved out of county or out of state, Smith-Hagberg said.
Lakeport's K-12 enrollment was down to 1,668 students in February from a high of 1,918 in 2001-02, district officials reported.
With revenues apportioned by average daily attendance figures, the cuts required by enrollment declines are immediate, Slockbower explained, in an “interim” budget revision.
During a different agenda item at Thursday’s regularly scheduled meeting, Slockbower told trustees cuts would reduce the district’s balance next year (aside from legally requisite reserves) to just $75,000. And for the 2009-10 budget, Slockbower’s figures showed a negative $162,000 balance.
The Lakeport district has an annual budget of about $10 million. The “permanent until revoked” state funding cut reduces that figure by almost $700,000.
“We cannot sustain our budget two years out with this level of income,” Slockbower said.
Although no audience members made public comment on the action, school board members were vociferous.
School Board Trustee Bob Weiss called the state’s move “disgusting,” commenting that it “irritates the hell out of me” that the governor is taking away from communities to “play politics somewhere else.”
Trustee Tom Powers commented that good fiscal management in the Lakeport district in recent years has made the budget crisis easier than it would have been. “If we hadn’t been doing things right, it would be a much bleaker picture,” he said.
Trustee Robyn Stevenson encouraged people to contact the governor to complain. “The only thing we can do is be vocal,” she said.
Smith-Hagberg noted gravely that all the cuts were valuable and that in recent years the “easier” budget cuts had already been made. She noted that the middle schools combined last year to eliminate a principal position.
The superintendent described the process behind the recommendations as “very uncomfortable.”
Smith-Hagberg – who has two children in the district where she has been a student, a teacher and a principal – said she solicited anonymous suggestions from staff via email and presented those ideas to a budget committee made up of teachers, parents, administrators and site representatives.
That committee prioritized potential cuts, which were then reviewed by Smith-Hagberg. The superintendent then compared positions of district staff to those of three other districts of similar size before submitting her proposed cuts to the school board. She noted her own office staff numbers one fewer than the other comparable districts.
The approximately 20 cuts, which range from elimination of a basketball league for third- through sixth-graders to transportation for athletic and band groups, as well as a districtwide reduction in material and supply budgets, are not simple.
Smith-Hagberg described the shuffling of duties and program restructuring as a “reorganization of the educational community.”
E-mail Maile Field at
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