Fillmore Unified School District

On Tuesday, September 6 2011 the Fillmore Board of Education met for a relatively brief meeting. Following the quiet public comment portion of the meeting the student representative from Fillmore High School Sammy Martinez reported on the goings on at the school and the preparations for Homecoming Week that will take place the week of September 19 with the final event, the Homecoming Football game on September 23.

Next Board Member Tony Prado kicked off Board reports speaking about Back to School Night at Piru Elementary School. “[It was] very well attended. The principal [Diana Vides] did a good job in explaining to the parents her goals, her vision, her mission…very interesting to hear that she would be very transparent… and [will make sure that] the School Site Council and ELAC [groups] understand school budgets.” Prado commented that he was impressed with her ability to easily switch back and forth between English and Spanish so as to communicate effectively with all of the families of Piru School. “Right now it looks like we have a … good leader at Piru.” Later in the meeting Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson introduced Vides to the Board. When she addressed the Board she thanked them for the opportunity, as this is her first time serving as principal. “One of the reasons the superintendent took a chance on me is because I was a migrant child myself, my parents were migrant workers, and I’m proof that the system does work…one of the things my parents always instilled in me is that education is very important.” She went on to explain that she connects well with Piru families because not only does she speak the language but she “has the same values, my parents went through the same…struggles that they [are going] through…If you hold education highly anything is achievable. I hope to make a big difference at Piru.” Prado went on to reiterate what he said earlier and stated, “I was impressed and I hope that you provide the desperate leadership that Piru needs.”

Board Member Dave Wilde focused on the Agricultural Advisory Council meeting he attended. Reporting on the continuing plans of Fillmore Middle School to allow 4H to use 2 ½ acres for its program. He reported on the upgrading of the greenhouse at the High School and plans of Future Farmers of America (FFA) to “[build] a meat lab so kids [can] learn how to cut meat”, the revitalization of the park area around the house at the FFA property, and plans to use vegetables grown by the students in the schools cafeteria. He also reported on the presentation of a plaque to long time Fillmore resident and veterinarian Dr. Charles “Doc” Nelson DVM for his long time support and help treating the animals.

Starting off the Superintendents report was FUSD Director of Business Services Dr. Michael Bush, “Rio Vista is going vertical,” he stated referring to the new school being built behind the Bridges housing tract. The construction is now in the framing phase, “the iron is up and they’re starting to put up the wood.” Bush reported “we are continuing to struggle with air conditioners” it seems that several administrative units at the middle school, high school and district office are on the fritz. He explained that one time insurance money would be used for the needed repairs. Regarding the budget “ [our] audited actuals … are pretty much on track…where we thought it would be, the State continues to struggle, [no extra revenue coming in] and there will be some sort of mid year triggers, they’re trying to push some legislation through… it’s a zero sum game if the moneys not coming in at the top it can’t go out at the bottom, it does look like we are going to have mid year cuts this year.” Director of Human Resources Todd Schieferle spoke next, reporting “We have two [teaching] positions [available] … at the Middle School a resource teacher [position] is vacant, we have received a bunch of applications and we’ll be filling that ASAP.” And there is a position for an English teacher at Sierra High School they are working to fill. Assistant Superintendent in Ed Services, Michael Johnson reported, “We are continuing to address the curriculum… in the district.” In the next two weeks he will be meeting with the Curriculum Committee that is made up of representatives from every school in the District to “[focus on] more than just textbook adoption…we will be addressing some of the systemic areas…that relates to curriculum, environment in the school [and so on].” He reported on the progress of the Essential Standards Committee made up of mainly elementary school teachers. Johnson will be working with them to “continue the work that has already been started in the area of Essential Standards benchmarks and… assessments.” He reported on the progress of the Alternative Governance Board (AGB) “later on [the Board will get] a road map of where we are, the process… [The AGB will be meeting with the staff at the schools] to give them an orientation … their [school] plans are going to be revised to address essential program components called ‘EPCs’.” He informed the Board that they would be updated regularly on the process and progress of the AGB. Johnson also told the Board that all principals were encouraged to attend an ELD (English Language Development) Training Session “not a conference, but a session offered at the County.” There will be four sessions they will be attending. “I’m so happy to see the enthusiasm of all the elementary [school principals] who have volunteered to attend those training sessions. After all, 80% of our students are ELD students, so this will give additional skills and knowledge on how to reach [them].” Johnson also commented on the Ag Commission meeting “I enjoyed [the meeting] particularly the ribs.” All who attended that meeting agreed the ribs were a highlight. Interim Superintendent Dr. Alan Nishino finished up the report by saying, “[I am] really pleased that our staff is working to focus on what is good for our students… [So they] have the opportunity to be as successful as they can be. Our clients are our students, and that’s our focus.” He explained that his hope is that “when [students] graduate from [FUSD, they say] ‘boy, am I glad I came to Fillmore…I’m proud I’m a Fillmore graduate.”

All agenda action items were approved unanimously including an Unaudited Actual Budget from 2010-11. Future scheduled meetings are September 20, October 4, October 18, public portion of the meetings set to start at 6:30.

(View the School Matters Blog for more school info at www.fillmoregazette.com/school-matters)

Meeting Video

Planning Commissioner Tom Fennell has tendered his resignation from the Fillmore Planning Commission. He is the fourth Commissioner to do so, citing unlawful interference, lack of cooperation, disrespect, and unprecedented meddling by the Fillmore City Council majority (Gayle Washburn, Patti Walker, Jamey Brooks, and Brian Sipes) in the Commission’s affairs.

The controversy between the Commission and the Council majority began in July after the majority attempted to appeal what they believed was a decision of the Commission to approve a Verizon cell tower in town near the railroad tracks. No such decision had been discussed, and the majority’s move to act against such an alleged approval was cited by Verizon’s legal counsel as a federal violation of the Telecommunications Act; a lawsuit was threatened against the city in a July 11, 2011 letter from Verizon’s attorneys.

The council majority denied any such attempt but at the August 23 council meeting, Washburn (appointed mayor) was finally forced to admit that her denial was false.

The council majority, particularly Brooks, Sipes and Washburn, made numerous disparaging comments about the Commissioners (all long-time volunteers) which were demeaning, false, and disruptive.

The city is now seeking four new Planning Commissioners to replace those who have recently resigned.

In a statement released on August 30, 2011 Fillmore Unified School District reported that during the June 28th 2011 meeting of its Board of Education, the District was “directed …to form an Alternative Governance Board (AGB).” In the minutes from that meeting it is reported that Human Resources Director, Todd Schieferle “shared the plan and information from Sanger Unified School District who came out of program improvement and went on to become distinguished schools.” Sanger is located in the Fresno area and in a report titled “Turning Around a High Poverty School District” by Bay Area Research Group, on the website of the U.S. Department of Education it is stated, “In 2004, the district [Sanger] was named one of the 98 lowest performing districts in the state, with seven of it’s schools identified to be in “Program Improvement” (PI) status.” The report goes on to state that in “just six years [Sanger schools] made staggering progress across the board, with it’s test scores outpacing average state gains each year since 2004. By 2008-2009 all seven schools in PI had moved out of the status, with four schools achieving “State Distinguished School” status.” According the report Sanger “faces many of the challenges associated with educating a high poverty student population…families who don’t speak much English, or families who haven’t had much experience with education.” According to the California Department of Education website six of the seven schools in FUSD are in PI status, only Sierra High is not in PI.

What is an AGB ? The five member AGB is made up of two FUSD administrators, Michael Johnson, Assistant Superintendent and Schieferle; Kelli Hayes a “district-level administrator” from Moorpark Unified School District; Anna Merriman, “a director from [the] Ventura County Office of Education”, and Dr. Michael Babb, Director of the Regional System of District and School Support. FUSD states that “[the AGB] will direct Fillmore Middle School [FMS] staff to plan and implement strategies that will support learning for all students, especially those student subgroups that have struggled in the past…The AGB will be a collaborative team that will report to the [FUSD] Superintendent and the FUSD Board of Trustees. The AGB will oversee school improvement efforts…until scores surpass Adequate Yearly Performance targets for two consecutive years.” Part of the process will involve the AGB helping to “shape the plan” at FMS to “change learning and teaching at the classroom level. Families can expect to see improvement strategies that support students who historically have struggled at [the school].”

Why Now? Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Stanley Mantooth confirmed that the process of instituting the AGB began under the previous Superintendent for Fillmore Unified School District Jeff Sweeney to support Fillmore Middle School (FMS) in improving it’s test scores and coming out of PI. To get out of PI a school must meet the Academic Yearly Progress (AYP) proficiency targets in all subgroups for two consecutive years. Based on information at the California Department of Educations Data and Statistics website FMS has been in “PI” since the 2003-2004 school year. A school is designated as in “PI” when for “each of two consecutive years” it fails to meet the AYP targets in reading and mathematics as set by the State based on the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Currently only schools that receive federal Title 1 funds are required to meet the AYP target criteria. The targets are set with the NCLB goal of every student achieving minimum proficiency or better in language arts and math by the 2013-14 school year. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s website “The purpose of (Title 1) is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.” The most recently reported test scores for FMS (from 2010-11 school year) show that in Language Arts 39.2% of students are “proficient or better”, meaning that 60.8% percent of students do not test at a minimally proficient level. In math, only 28.3% are proficient or better, with 71.8% failing to test proficient. School-wide scores dropped 8 points from 2009-10 to 2010-11 school year. FMS has not met the minimum state proficiency targets since 2001, was labeled PI in the 2003-2004 school year and so while it has not met targets for a decade, and has actually been in PI for nine years, it is labeled as PI Year 5 because there are no designations past Year 5 in the PI program. The “corrective actions” required by the State for schools in Year 3 of PI include the following “replacing school staff; implement new curriculum; decrease management authority at school level; appoint outside expert.” For Year 4 the State requires restructuring to begin and this is where “Alternative governance of [the] school” should occur; “[or] reopen as a charter, [or] replace all or most of staff including principal.” Once a school gets into Year 5 and beyond the plan developed in year 4 is implemented and the district must offer school choice and “supplemental services” until “school makes AYP for two years.”

Where is the Accountability? In the statement released by FUSD it is recognized that “[NCLB] specifies that schools in year 4 and 5 of school improvement restructure their learning programs and create an alternative governance structure to support restructuring efforts.” FMS has been in Year 5 for six years and the community may wonder why the District is just now implementing this action. According to page 14 of the FMS Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) which was approved for the 2010-2011 school year by the School Site Council (SSC) (an elected school group made up of staff, parents and the principal) funds in the amount of $92,119 were allocated for eight “sections” to hire “intervention teachers.” Instead of following the instruction of the SSC as the District and site administration is mandated to do, not all of those sections were funded and instead supplies and other tangible items were purchased at the end of the year. The failure of District and Site administrators to adhere to the SPSA prompted the filing of a Uniform Complaint against FUSD, which garnered the attention of the State. FUSD was unable to comment on this particular issue prior to print deadline.

Looking Ahead. Included in the statement prepared by FUSD was a quote from Interim Superintendent Dr. Alan Nishino “The Board’s major concern when I was hired was to address student achievement and insure the academic success of all students in the district. I believe this structure will provide that opportunity to accomplish this goal.” The action of the FUSD School Board on June 28th gave the AGB the ability to examine more than one school in the district and it is currently “considering elementary schools” which may come under it’s influence. For the 2010-2011 school year Piru Elementary was in Year 4 and San Cayetano was in Year 5 of PI.

On 8-28-11, deputies with the Fillmore Police Department responded with personnel from the Fillmore Fire Department and American Medical Response to an injury traffic collision in the 800 block of 4th Street. When they arrived, they found that a five-year-old boy had ridden his bicycle out of a driveway and into the path of male adult driving a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan, which was westbound on 4th Street traveling approximately 15 mph. The boy, who was wearing a helmet, collided with the van and fell. Suffering minor injuries to his ankle and arm, the boy was transported to the Ventura County Medical Center for treatment.

The Fillmore Police Department reminds the public that bicyclists must be observant of traffic when riding on the road. Bicyclists under 18 years of age are required to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle. Because the boy wore his helmet, he likely avoided additional injury. Courtesy of Fillmore Police Dept.

As a result of VISTA’s annual schedule adjustment process, area bus riders will have additional travel choices as well as revised travel times. Additions to VISTA service include two additional trips on the popular Coastal Express service linking Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, as well as additional Dial-A-Ride service in the Heritage Valley communities of Fillmore and Piru.

“Thanks to a slight rebound in local sales tax revenue, VCTC is able to introduce additional service in response to growing bus ridership. We are proud ridership on VISTA is increasing and are continuing our efforts to serve that growth,” observed Darren Kettle, VCTC Executive Director.

The new weekday Coastal Express trips depart the Ventura County Government Center at 8:00 a.m. and Goleta at 6:25 p.m. There will be as many as four Dial-A-Ride vehicles available for service within the Heritage Valley on weekday evenings. “While the number of actual vehicles in service will vary based on customer demand, this is an important development given the service cuts imposed last spring,” noted Kettle. “As the county’s regional transportation planning agency, VCTC recently embarked on a planning study to identify the most effective ways of providing public transit service in Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Piru. We encourage Heritage Valley residents to participate in the project though surveys, community workshops, and local focus groups.”

While service to CSUCI will remain unchanged during the school year, the CSUCI route will undergo slight reductions during school breaks. During CSUCI’s winter and summer breaks, the last bus will leave the Camarillo Metrolink station at 5:30 p.m., while the last bus will depart C Street in Oxnard at 5:00 p.m.

Additional information regarding VCTC and its programs and services is available either online at goventura.org or via phone at (800) 642-4860.

Councilmember Sipes
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(l-r) Vance Johnson, City Clerk Clay Westling
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Publisher’s note: Due to the absence of our city hall correspondent this week we regret that we have no story
covering last night’s council meeting. A few highlights are covered in the Realities editorial and Channel 10 will broadcast full coverage. The Gazette’s video highlights of the meeting will be posted here Thursday afternoon. We apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Councilman Sipes and Brooks argued for council action to seek new legal counsel for the city. The distinguished law firm of Myers, Widders, Gibson, Jones and Schneider has handled the city’s legal matters for nearly 20 years. Until the election of Sipes and Brooks to the council there have been no complaints about the quality of work. Councilman Conaway praised Schneider’s work, and cautioned against such a move. Neither Brooks nor Sipes could articulate a reason, other than personal reasons, for launching their attempt to replace the Myers firm, which failed 3-2. Great concern was expressed by resident Vance Johnson for delinquent minutes of council meetings. City Clerk Clay Westling did not respond to the criticism. Mayor Washburn and City Manager Quiring attempted excuses which Johnson and others found insufficient.