Teachers, Board Clash at Sausalito Marin City District- Marin IJ - June 24, 2006 by Don Speich

Teachers, board clash at Sausalito Marin City districtMarin IJ - June 25,2006
Don Speich

A teachers' representative lambasted Sausalito Marin City School District trustees for excluding teachers in decision-making, failing to communicate and unfairly blaming them for failing to adequately educate students.
Deborah Moore, a resource specialist who said she spoke on behalf of the district teachers' association, told the Board of Trustees on Thursday that a recent series of articles in the Independent Journal put the district's 12 teachers in an unfavorable and inaccurate light.

It was unfair, she said, because teachers repeatedly are shut out of attempts to improve instruction.

"Many of the issues mentioned in the articles come down to decision-making," she told the board. "The teachers of the school district are excluded from the decision-making process, but are often left to shoulder the blame when poor decisions are made."

She cited as an example the board's campaign, "Vision 900," referring to the goal of raising district API scores from the current 692, the lowest in the county, to a level rivaling the best districts in Marin.

"In the case of 'Vision 900,' our input was not requested, but as always we accepted the challenge and in many cases met or surpassed expectation, yet we are told we are not good enough," she said.

"We have jumped through every hoop but each time the configuration of those hoops changes. From our perspective, the school board has systemically crafted a system designed to have us fail."

Trustee Whitney Hoyt said, "We have tiny classes, so when I'm asked what's going on I'm looking at the teachers. With small class sizes we should not have (student) reading levels two or three grades behind.

"I think teachers are responsible. If anyone can do it, it is the teachers. If it isn't happening, I look at the teachers."

Sausalito Marin City teachers are the highest-paid in the county, with an average salary in 2004-05 of $70,981 compared with the Marin average of $58,256. The district has three schools, an annual budget of almost $5 million, an enrollment of 283 K-8 students, and a pupil-to-teacher ratio of 14 to 1. Per pupil expenditure is $22,232, three times the state average.

Still, more than 50 percent of the district's students fail to graduate from high school - sparking an attempt by trustees to turn around the district's educational program.

Key to this, trustees have said, is assuring that classroom instruction gives students a mastery of basic academic skills in reading, writing and mathematics.

Trustees two months ago hired a new superintendent, Debra Bradley, who specializes in raising test scores through improvements in curriculum and teaching methods.

Board President George Stratigos, speaking on the telephone from his family home in Aegina, Greece, expressed disappointment that district teachers felt excluded. "We are a team," he said.

However, citing the series in the Independent Journal, he said, "The articles were a mixed bag and that is because we are in a confusing time, a time of change."

He said the board is looking at "instructional change and that means strengthening our teaching staff."

Stratigos, referring to the district's decision to reduce the number of instructional aides in classrooms - a move opposed by the teachers - added, "I would like to see more teachers on our staff; these are the best people to be teaching students.

"Change is confusing but change is what we have to do."

Teachers were steadfast in their objections to how change is coming about.

"Isn't it time to recognize that teachers are the credentialed professionals, and trust us to do the job we were hired to do?" Moore asked. "As teachers, we entered the profession of education because our hope, moral intention, and goal are to assist children in every way possible in maximizing their educational life.

"The stakes are currently higher than they've ever been and we are working tirelessly to fulfill and exceed these expectations.

"However, the job becomes increasingly more difficult when the board micromanages everyone else's job, especially when they have not created a dialogue with teachers."

As part of the board's reform effort, it spent $23,200 for a consultant to evaluate preschool programs in the county, a move aimed at determining which offered instruction best suited to prepare preschoolers for success in the primary grades.

Behind the move was a dissatisfaction by trustees with the programs run by Community Action Marin for more than 30 years in Marin City. Those programs have repeatedly received high marks from the state Department of Education.

The consultant, Deborah T. Simon, told the board all programs in Marin County were good, including Community Action Marin's. She said the board should work with the agency to make sure what staffers are teaching students is what is needed when they enter kindergarten.

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com