Ed roundup: Superintendents to take pay cuts if faculty do
| Tuesday, Nov 03 2009 05:00 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 03 2009 05:00 PM
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Four superintendents in the Kern High School District would take pay cuts equivalent to what faculty would under an agreement with the district Board of Trustees announced Monday evening.
The district is negotiating contracts with several employee bargaining units. It's unclear when resolution will come but it will be before the contracts expire next June 30, said district board President Joel Heinrichs.
There's been talk of slashing employee pay throughout the district by 5 percent in the coming school year. That's in part because the district is expecting big state education cuts next year.
It's the deal struck with faculty that's most likely to trigger changes to the contracts of the superintendents, Heinrichs said. The managers who'd take pay cuts if the faculty do are the superintendent plus associate superintendents of business, instruction and personnel.
- Government editor Christine Bedell
BOUNDARY CHANGES MADE, POSTPONED
Also Monday night, the Kern High School District board approved boundary changes for three schools in south Bakersfield and postponed until December a decision on adjustments for two schools in northeast Bakersfield, according to district spokesman John Teves.
The changes are to take effect in the next school year and only affect incoming freshmen. They do not affect any current KHSD students or their siblings.
The new plan moves an area with about 548 students from Golden Valley High to South High; shifts an area with about 181 students from South High to Golden Valley High; and sends an area with about 402 students from South High to West High, Teves said.
The board also looked at two possible boundary change plans affecting Foothill and Highland high schools in the northeast. It postponed a decision based on concerns expressed by the public.
Both plans would shift students who'd currently go to Foothill to Highland now that the Highway 178 overpass at Fairfax Drive is complete.
Several Foothill High staff members told the board the current boundaries should stay the same because the loss of students there would be detrimental to such Foothill programs as international baccalaureate, Teves said.
On the other hand, he said, parents from the affected areas argued for the change so students who live closer to Highland could attend a neighborhood school.
The issue will come back to the board Dec. 7.
- Government editor Christine Bedell
DRAMA BREWS AT BESSIE OWENS
About 100 parents upset at what they called abusive treatment from office staff at Bessie Owens Primary School met in Martin Luther King community center Monday night to vent and discuss what should be done.
Many parents also signed petitions demanding counselor Bertha Barrera, who is on administrative leave, be reinstated and the school secretary, Vivian Herrera and principal, Anne Lopez, be removed from the school.
A spokesman for BCSD said the district had not received the petitions and he could not comment on personnel issues.
Phillip Brown, with the California Teachers Association, told parents Monday night that Bessie Owens' teachers have also been subjected to rude treatment and outright intimidation.
"When teachers speak up in defense of students and try to ask questions, they're reprimanded," Brown told the crowd. "A teacher in one meeting was told, 'Shut up.'"
A number of parents then related a host of stories illustrating poor treatment including both parents and children being publicly humiliated, parents being denied access to the campus and one parent said she was hung up on.
Tammy Williams, however, said she didn't share those experiences and thought it was important to know why Barrera was put on leave Oct. 28 before demanding she be reinstated.
- Californian columnist Lois Henry
STUDENTS GET UP CLOSE LOOK AT CITY GOVERNMENT
Wednesday, 60 top students from 15 local high schools, plus their advisors, will take over and run the city, sending any recalcitrant city officials to Santa Barbara for retraining.
It's not quite that juicy, although the students and their advisors will receive lessons in how the city is run. This is the 55th anniversary of "Student Government Day."
The program was founded by Glendon Rogers, former activities director at Bakersfield High. Rogers's idea? Have students and city officials spend a day together.
To qualify, students have to excel in scholarship, be leaders in their school and be involved in community service. Students were selected by their school's advisors.
The day starts with a good breakfast provided by the Optimist Clubs. Awards are also passed out including one for scholarship, one for leadership and the third for community service.
The students spend an hour with a representative from the city manager's office. They will be briefed on what departments do and review the city's budget. City officials are matched with a student counterpart by the city.
At 11 a.m., students break for lunch hosted by the Kiwanis Clubs of Bakersfield, Delano, Shafter, Taft and Tehachapi. The Golden K Kiwanis Club of Rosewood/Kern City runs the lunch. Provost Soraya Coley of CSUB will be the keynote speaker with Mayor Harvey Hall as the special guest.
After lunch, the students return to their schools. Some will attend the city council meeting later Wednesday evening if their city counterpart is involved.
- Columnist Herb Benham
