Board OKs tech center, with concerns

By Jackie Burrell, CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 2005

Mt. Diablo's school board, a normally civil body of five, erupted into acrimony Tuesday evening over plans to create tech centers for vocational students at the district's high schools.

The dispute eventually led Superintendent Gary McHenry to ask the board if it had confidence in his leadership.

At issue is $8.9 million in capital funding from 2002's Measure C, targeted for middle and high school vocational technology centers. But trustees also are troubled by differing interpretations of a technological vision that was never spelled out in the first place.

Program organizers gave only a vague picture Tuesday of their plan for Ygnacio Valley High School's new arts and communications technology center -- even though students already have signed up. Six classes, including computer animation and television and video production, are to begin late next month.

The action plan offered no specifics on curriculum nor on the creation of "an environment where all students will be prepared to progress naturally into the vocation or college of their choice."

"This is a poison pill, not at the eleventh hour, but the twelfth hour," said trustee William Leal, who abstained from voting.

The organizers were asking the board to let them buy materials they need to start the program. The request to buy $126,000 worth of video production, animation, robotics and other equipment squeaked through after 90 minutes of debate.

A 14-member faculty committee has worked on the Ygnacio Valley plan for 18 months. But the specifics appear to have been slow getting to the board level.

Leal blamed the lag first on the superintendent and then on the board, which should have demanded information earlier, he said. Trustees Linda Mayo and Richard Allen confessed reservations but said they felt that halting the project now would hurt students.

Trustee Gary Eberhart, who cast the lone vote against funding the program, had no such compunctions.

"I'm not going to be boxed into a corner," he said. "This is an issue near and dear to my heart, but if I don't know what it is (we're voting on), I'm not going to support it."

The tech centers landed on the district's list of priorities for Measure C money because Eberhart forced fellow trustees to include them in the ballot language, Eberhart said Wednesday. He told his colleagues he would not support the school bond without a tech center component.

"Shame on me for using that tactic, but sometimes it's imperative to make it happen," he said. "I'm looking to strengthen career skills programs that also offer academic rigor."

Trustees and leaders of the district's Career Academic Integration program -- the vocational education program -- have different visions for the tech center.

Leal worries about the future labor market and wants the tech centers to emphasize basic vocational training. Board president April Treece said most future jobs have not been invented so the district must provide "a rigorous and relevant education." And Eberhart wants a hands-on, experiential program that bridges the technological and vocational worlds.

"We need to take one step back, then move forward as a collective," Eberhart said. "A committee without a mission is a waste of time."

HOW THEY VOTED

Approved $126,000 to outfit the Ygnacio Valley High School arts and communication technology center.

Yes: Treece, Mayo, Allen

No: Eberhart

Abstain: Leal

Mt. Diablo school board cuts positions over superintendent's objections

By Theresa Harrington, Contra Costa Times, 1/28/09

CONCORD — Long simmering tensions between the new Mt. Diablo school board majority and Superintendent Gary McHenry came to a head Tuesday night, when trustees refused to follow his recommendations to eliminate six vice principals and instead targeted six district office administrators and McHenry's top aide.

The board voted 3-2 to eliminate six directors or assist directors in the district office out of 16 possible, including staff members responsible for curriculum, student services, personnel, technology and alternative education. In addition, the board voted 3-2 to eliminate the senior administrative assistant to the superintendent, who also serves as the district's communications specialist and spokeswoman.

Trustees Linda Mayo and Dick Allen voted against both cuts, saying the positions were integral to district operations. McHenry was visibly jolted by the lack of support the votes displayed toward him.

"It's really difficult to stay motivated to do a job when it just doesn't seem like the board is going to support what you're going to do," he said. "I just think that what is happening here is wrong. I do think that it's somewhat vindictive and retaliatory and I'm going to see what action I can take to address it in whatever form is appropriate."

The board instructed McHenry to return Feb. 10 with specific recommendations for administrators to be cut, which president Gary Eberhart estimated would save the district about $600,000. In addition, the board unanimously voted to eliminate one independent study teacher, one district senior typist clerk and to reduce general fund contributions to peer assistance and Beginning Teachers Support and Assessment programs, shifting these to restricted funds.

"I think we got to the $1,046,000 the superintendent recommended," Eberhart said, "although we took a different route to get there."

Tuesday's actions brought the total amount cut from the district's 2009-10 budget to about $5.8 million, on the way toward slashing $6.6 million, due to state funding reductions. The board hopes to complete the cuts by Feb. 24, but warned that additional reductions are likely after the state finalizes its mid-year budget, which is projected to include less education money than originally anticipated.

Budget cuts add to strained relations between Mt. Diablo school board and superintendent

By Theresa Harrington, Contra Costa Times, 1/31/09

CONCORD — Although he has vowed to do something about Mt. Diablo school board decisions he called "vindictive and retaliatory," Superintendent Gary McHenry is prepared to carry out his orders.

After strongly objecting this week to the board's direction that he name six district administrators whose jobs could be cut, McHenry on Wednesday began meeting with the 16 directors and assistant directors in his Cabinet that he must rank according to their necessity.

"I called a special meeting of the Cabinet specifically so we could talk about what we need to do to carry out the board's directive," McHenry said Friday. "Now, I am meeting with individual Cabinet members, which includes members of the superintendent's council, to come up with a recommendation."

McHenry's council consists of assistant superintendents and other top aides who oversee the positions that will be eliminated, as the board continues looking for ways to slash $6.6 million from its 2009-10 budget of nearly $297 million, due to state funding reductions.

Employees are continuing to do their jobs, while wondering whether they will have their positions next year.

"Any time there's budget cuts, it concerns everyone, on both a personal level and on a professional level — with regard to what the effects are upon the students that we're serving," said Bryan Richards, fiscal services director. He came to the district in November after working in the John Swett school district. "That's true anywhere in any school district."

Board members expressed relief when Richards was hired, because they expected him to provide much-needed assistance to the district's often maligned fiscal services department. The district is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Yet, his position is on the list of those that could be cut, along with administrators who oversee personnel, food and nutrition, adult education, technology, alternative education, student services and maintenance and operations.

"Over the last five years," McHenry said, "we've had to cut more than $30 million from the district budget. At this point, all the items on the budget reduction list look impossible.

"But we still have to make them."

The list contains about $11 million in possible cuts including teachers, vice principals, librarians, special education assistants, and sports and music programs. The board has cut about $5.8 million so far, including the administrators, who haven't been determined.

"All these positions are important," said board President Gary Eberhart. "There are other ways to cut the amount of money from the district office and if the superintendent wants to come up with those ways, then I think he should."

Eberhart and the rest of the board met with McHenry on Saturday to discuss the superintendent's performance evaluation. Eberhart and Paul Strange called for McHenry's resignation last year and have ramped up pressure on the chief executive since they assumed leadership of the board in December.

"I've found that if you don't give the superintendent very specific direction, the outcomes you're trying to achieve do not come to fruition," Eberhart said.

"Making these cuts is very difficult, especially with all the hoopla that's being raised about them and the fact that the superintendent doesn't seem to be aligned with the board as far as the recommendations."

The board rejected McHenry's recommendation to eliminate six vice principals, saying that idea did not adhere to its top criterion of keeping cuts away from schools. But trustees Linda Mayo and Richard Allen said district office cuts would eliminate crucial support for schools.

All cuts have repercussions, said Monte Gardens Elementary Principal Patt Hoellwarth.

"It can't be business as usual," she said.

"I think once people realize what these cuts are doing to us, people should become alarmed and contact state legislators."

Mt. Diablo trustees continue superintendent performance deliberations

By Theresa Harrington, Contra Costa Times, Februrary 5. 2009

CONCORD — Were they just words expressing frustration, or a threat of legal action?

As Mt. Diablo school board members continue on Friday what have become months of closed-door meetings regarding Superintendent Gary McHenry's performance evaluation, they may discuss comments he made Jan. 27 while trying to come to a consensus about how to manage him.

At their most recent board meeting, McHenry accused his elected bosses of making "vindictive and retaliatory" decisions to eliminate some district office positions and said he might take action to rectify the wrongs he perceived.

"I'm not happy that he said that," trustee Paul Strange said. "I can only interpret what he said as meaning that he's going to fight us on the cuts that we made the other night. It's just not appropriate for the superintendent to be seeking methods to challenge the board so long as he remains the employee of the board."

McHenry declined a request by the Times to elaborate on his comments, but he said last week that he had begun interviewing administrators to implement the cuts that trustees directed him to make. District spokeswoman Sue Berg, whose position the board also cut effective June 30, said McHenry has not challenged the decisions.

"He has been totally absorbed in coming up with a plan to reorganize district operations as a result of the board directive, because it really does hit every department."

Trustee Sherry Whitmarsh, who suggested cutting district administrators instead of vice principals, said the decisions were made in keeping with the board's priority to keep cuts away from classrooms.

"It had nothing to do with being vindictive," she said. "It had to do with trying to solve the budget problem."

The board has so far cut about $5.8 million from its 2009-10 budget, on its way toward slashing $6.6 million by Feb. 24. These cuts were prompted by state reductions, but California's budget crisis could lead to more cuts by the end of June.

"The board is dealing with very difficult decisions and emotions are running high, and employees throughout the district are very concerned," said trustee Linda Mayo, who with Richard Allen voted against the district office cuts. "I also believe that parents are very concerned about how the district is going to continue to provide service to students and families."

Mayo and Allen said that McHenry's comments seemed to stem from the board's refusal to go along with his recommendations, compounded by the majority's decision to cut people who are close to him.

"When you get frustrated, things come out," Allen said. "He's doing what the board wants him to do. His feelings don't run his actions."

NAACP representative Darnell Turner said the board should reconsider the district office cuts, which he said would cripple McHenry's ability to do his job effectively. The cuts also could create legal compliance problems if reports are not properly completed or disadvantaged students are shortchanged, Turner said. The 16 assistant directors and directors, whose ranks must be reduced by six according to the board, include ethnically diverse people, he noted.

"We are watching to see that the district maintains its legal requirements and that no decisions are taken that would violate the civil rights of some of the staff and students," Turner said. "Everything needs to be real transparent."

Board President Gary Eberhart said he is not willing to reconsider cuts already made, since the board still must cut about $800,000 more.

"The next round may be the worst, and we may end up making some cuts at the sites," he said. "In the next few weeks, the state may come back and say we want you to cut another $10 million out of this year's budget."

In the meantime, board members who have publicly disagreed with each other are privately working together to agree on what they expect from the district's top administrator, so they can balance their budget and pursue a parcel tax.

"What we're trying to do is see if we can get our act together so we can guide the district with the superintendent," Allen said. "It's all part of his evaluation — his relationship with the board and his relationship to the community."