EMail sent to Alameda community on March 14, 2003

In response to my Board Action Email as well as media reports, many individuals are still not clear why the Alameda School Board took the action to notice all of the teachers. Some attribute it to a "scare tactic" while others characterizes it as the District staff not doing its homework.

Without quoting specific statutes of the California Education Code, let me attempt to lay out parameters each School District is working under in dealing with anticipated budget reductions. By law, each District is required to send a notice to any certificated employee as a result of the need to reduce or eliminate particular kinds of services. This action must take place before March 15 of any year.

As I mentioned in a previous EMail, in December 2002 Governor Davis proposed immediate across board cuts, while the Legislature is considering minor targeted cuts and delaying major cuts until after June. Therefore, each School district is faced with dilemma of trying to reduce their budget, but they do not know how much and what programs. Not a problem, right? That is why you elected a School Board.

In an ideal world, District staff would identify programs to be reduced or eliminated and then each community would provide feedback about the proposed cutbacks. The challenge has been and continues to be when to "commit" to program reductions. Each School district that has "targeted" their notices have already implicitly decided what programs are to be reduced. The question I have for those Districts is, does their community know what "programs" have been targeted? In Alameda's case, we have not "committed" to any specific educational program reductions. In the next ten days, we will have to decide. That decision will be the result of the work of Superintendent's Education Advisory Committee and input from the teachers, staff, parents and the community.

In retrospect, should we have completed the identification of program reductions sooner, thus eliminating the need to notice all of the teachers. The answer is yes and I share in the responsibility for not anticipating this sooner. Unfortunately, we can not put the toothpaste back in the tube. What we can do is to insure the dialogue and decisions surrounding program reductions are conducted in an efficient and effective matter.

I encourage each of you to become engaged in this crucial process. I will do everything in my power to make this process as open and transparent as possible. I truly believe that together all of us can do what is right for the children of Alameda.

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Last modified: December 10, 2003

Disclaimer: This website is the sole responsibility of Mike McMahon. It does not represent any official opinions, statement of facts or positions of the Alameda Unified School District. Its sole purpose is to disseminate information to interested individuals in the Alameda community.