Sespe Elementary is hosting a Parent Involvement Night on "Bullying & Cyber Bullying" on Wed. March 30

FUSD seems to have an ongoing struggle to open it's arms to parents and the community at large. When parents come forward with concerns, or even with specific requests that the district do a better job at involving the community both the Board and District display little interest and effort in making any changes.
To be fair, individual schools seem to be making an effort by having parent involvement nights (Sespe), creating Parent and volunteer centers (Piru), and by sending in articles to the local paper about various events (San Cayetano), but this District needs improvement from the top and across all sites, a real change in the culture.
So what specifically would help? What does the public want the District to do in this regard?

Well I have been seeing what other Districts in our area are doing, here are just a few examples, none of these Districts operate in a perfect way, but these small efforts would be a great step for FUSD:

-Ojai Unified: Holds District office organized Parent Forum nights every month with posted topics including "bullying", homework, etc. The topics were picked based on what parents wanted. These forums are free and open to the public.

-Santa Paula Elementary District: They are looking for a new superintendent, and they held a Public Forum early in the process to hear what the community wanted in it's new superintendent, they posted this information online here: http://www.spesd.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=175165&id=0
Here is what their request for input says: "The Santa Paula Elementary Board of Trustees is seeking your thoughts on the personal qualities, professional skills, knowledge and experience desired of the new superintendent of schools for our district. The board would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to reduce your thoughts to writing. The board will consider this information when making its decision on whom to employ. Please see attachment below. "
They even post the recruitment brochure online for all to see and learn about the process involved in hiring for this position.

-Santa Paula Elementary District: Board member profiles online. During the recent campaign for FUSD school board I was surprised that many people 1. did not know that they voted for their local school board members and 2. They did not know who was on the Board or that you didn't need to be a teacher (in fact some folks don't think that teachers make good school board members because they are too "entrenched" in the current status quo but that's another story). At the link below, SPED posts profiles and photos of each Board member, this is a small step in reaching out to the public, letting them know who their elected trustees are, and making a small connection: http://www.spesd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?userGroupREC_ID=30461&uREC_ID=...

-Santa Paula High District: Superintendent background, profile, goals etc. Posted online. This goes a long way to connect the public to the Superintendent. If the District wants the community to recognize that the schools are a vital part of the community then the person in the leadership role for the district needs to be "out in the community" a good way to start that is for the background information and specific goals of that person to be public. The public shouldn't have to search and search for this information. It should be easily accessible. An example: http://www.spuhsd.k12.ca.us/Default.aspx?tabid=135

-Providing Choices & Options: Ventura Unified School District: VUSD has many options for parents. They have homeschooling programs (K-8), open classrooms (K-8), dual immersion programs (K-12 avail), charter schools, magnet schools. Having options and choices shows a willingness from the top (school board) to serve the needs of ALL students within it's boundaries. Of course VUSD is a larger district, BUT FUSD is getting ready to build a new school, might it make sense to find out from the community what options/choices could be provided that are not currently available?

-Budget available online: Many area Districts have their most recent complete (usually from previous school year) budget posted online. Demonstrates a true desire to engage the public, provide transparency (as required by law) and just a general feeling of not wanting (or needing) to hide anything.

-Community Budget Forums: Several Districts have had community forums on this topic. While FUSD has held "Board Study Sessions" which is a good effort for the Board to get educated about the issues it is facing, the tone and structure of these sessions has done little to get the community in on the conversation. The subject of these study sessions is not even included in the public agenda. Other Districts are having "Community Forums". Events specifically designed for the community to take part in the discussion, to hear from all affected. Some Districts directly ask community members what ideas they have about ways to help. Here's a link to OUSD Budget page of their site, http://www.ojai.k12.ca.us/DistrictBudget.aspx it asks "How can you help?

There are a number of ways that community members can help in this situation. You can:

1. Write to your legislators and let them know your feelings regarding state funding for our schools.
2. Work with your local PTA/PTO or the Ojai Educational Foundation to help generate funding for the district.
3. Make a direct contribution to the OUSD.
4. Help generate additional ideas and solutions for the district’s financial problems.

***Did you know that Fillmore Middle School does NOT have a PTO? Community members can even form their own (separate from the district) organization to raise money and fund school needs (that is what the OJai Education Foundation does, a non profit org, not under the control of any school, it raises money and gives based on it's own mandates as determined by it's board.... is this something Fillmore area residents/parents are interested in? )

And those are just a few examples that I could find quickly online. What are some specific (remember we need low cost options) things that YOU think FUSD should do to reach out to the community/parents to get them more involved?
People are assets. IN this time of declining financial resources we MUST demand that our schools use all the resources available to them, people are a valuable resource, perhaps the MOST valuable.

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