The Burlingame Voice

What's up with California school administration?

Thankfully this post is not about Burlingame but given what we read on some of our longest running School posts like this one from October 2022 there may be some learning to be gained by looking at recent events at Pittsburg High School.  The Chronicle had a piece about the PE teacher and football coach at Pittsburg High School that left me with many questions.  First, some details with extra bolding:

When school officials in the East Bay city of Pittsburg were told that a high school football coach had been accused of groping female students, they reprimanded him repeatedly for at least a decade — but allowed him to keep his job after each instance, then to quietly retire. In an agreement on the terms of his departure, the district made a major concession: It promised not to tell prospective employers about the coach’s history.

The complaints about former Pittsburg High School coach Phillip Webb finally surfaced Wednesday after a lawsuit was filed by two of his alleged victims, young women who said he had touched them inappropriately when they were students in 2015 and 2016. Documents obtained by the women’s lawyers show that officials told Webb at least a half dozen times to change his behavior but never punished him.

The state Commission on Teacher Credentialing issued a reproval against Webb this May, but did not revoke the teaching credential he had been issued in 1985. He had taught physical education in addition to coaching football.  That means Webb could still apply to other California school districts to work with youngsters.  The agreement was provided to the Chronicle by Lauren Cerri, an attorney for the two women, who obtained it under the California Public Records Act.

Webb did not address any of the claims in the lawsuit, and said any further questions should be directed to his attorney. He has not been charged with any crimes.

You can read through many of the details on-line as it is a long piece.  But it begs so many questions.  Many incidents were reported by students and other teachers (e.g. 2007, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2022!). That last one was on a security camera.  How many warnings do principals and superintendents hand out before they do something more?  How transparent with the school community are they--and should they be when it's a "personnel issue"?  Where's the school board oversight?  One of the girls' fathers is quoted and is angry and confused by the apparent inaction, but at what point does a parent call their local police?  We've read a bit about the Commission on Teacher Credentialing here on the Voice.  What exactly does the CTC do?  What sort of investigative resources do they have?  How high is their hurdle?

What's up with the agreement about retirement in three months and the secrecy?  Some of that is certainly personnel record law.  That's where the Chronicle ends the piece

A 2014 law signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown made it easier for schools to fire educators who commit misconduct, but many still choose to allow them to resign or retire in order to avoid potential legal battles. Bills that would forbid schools from entering into secret agreements that keep misconduct hidden from prospective employers have hit a dead end in the California Legislature.

More questions.  How easy is it to fire someone under the nine-year old law?  All sorts of crazy stuff sails through the California Legislature and gets signed by governors, but this hits a dead end?  What's up with that, supermajority?

BSD has a new substitute teacher

In the feelgood story of the month or maybe the whole year, our own Vice Mayor Donna Colson has gone through the process of becoming a "30-day substitute teacher".  Her column in the DJ explains the process so for those who are interested in doing the same I'll post it here for future reference:

To be qualified as a 30-day substitute teacher, you must contact the district in which you would like to work and

• submit your college transcripts as proof of a degree
• apply for a Live Scan fingerprint and background check
• obtain updated tuberculosis screening, and
• pass a brief series of human resources training modules.

The process takes only a few hours to complete, and the district office personnel are incredibly helpful. The credential must be renewed annually. With this certification, one can substitute short term in any school and in any grade in the district.

B'gamers know Councilwoman Colson is a bundle of energy, but stepping into an elementary school substitute teaching role three or four days a month (that's her goal) is next-level energetic.  I recall as a kid the games that were played on subs (by the other kids, of course).  Here's betting that won't happen when Mrs. Colson is in class.  Click through to read the rest of the story.

BSD: Caught between two parcel taxes

As the B'game School District trustees look at options for more funding, the same fatigue I wrote about here three-and-a-half years ago is still lingering.  The story gets more complicated by a competing proposal as reported in the DJ.  The first proposal extends the old 2014 Measure L (not the recent SMUSHD L) that you see on the property tax bills that arrived this week.  You see all of four current school-related line items on the bill.  The other proposal is different.

During a meeting Tuesday, Oct. 10, trustees discussed their options for possibly extending and increasing Measure L, a $256 per year per parcel tax passed in 2014. The measure is set to expire by 2030 but the board can decide to ask voters for a renewal ahead of time.

Also up for consideration was whether the board had an interest in endorsing a parent-led movement to pass a citizens’ initiative and whether doing so would be legal. That effort is being led by John Wood and Bryant McLaughlin, parents of Roosevelt Elementary School students, and if passed would charge property owners about 8 cents per square foot per parcel or $80 per vacant parcel, generating about $2 million annually. Someone with a 5,000-square-foot parcel would pay $400 a year.

Per some consultant

While a citizens’ initiative needs a simple majority to pass, the district would have no control over how that citizen measure was crafted. Meanwhile, a district measure would need a two-thirds vote for approval but it would get to use its resources to poll the community before developing ballot language, he said.

The city and district would likely need to develop a memorandum of understanding regarding the citizens’ initiative including a possible reimbursement plan for the city fronting the money for the ballot measure (Ed: $330K-448K) were the citizens’ initiative to be put before voters and other oversight grounds if it were approved.

The moving parts are what sort of tax format to use (rates, sunset clauses, etc) and who manages and oversees the monies (the City or the District).  Back in 2020, the bond Measure O passed with 60.17%, well above the 55% needed, so there is already $25 per $100,000 of assessed (not market) value per year in place.  And then there is the issue of getting it passed

Trustee Florence Wong also suggested the study look into whether the public would support the district’s measure with or without changes if another tax measure was on the ballot. Reflecting on previous failed attempts by the district to pass a tax measure, Wong said incremental or smaller changes appear to be more appealing to voters.

“People still remembered when the parcel taxes they tried to pass didn’t, so that’s a stinger when it doesn’t pass. There’s a lot of thought and anxiety about trying to add more taxes,” Wong said. “I feel very confident people would be supportive of continuing what we have.”

She's right.  When the four flavors of tax already total to two grand per year, there is uncertainty about adding more.

School sexual abuse lawsuits explode

I have been mulling over this distressing post for a month after reading the piece "Bay Area schools face historic wave of sexual abuse suits — with millions in potential costs" in the September 11 SF Chronicle.  The essence of this most disturbing situation is

In an unprecedented wave of lawsuits, scores of people who attended Bay Area schools in the past half century are taking advantage of a landmark California law to confront educators they say raped or sexually abused them and the administrators who they say didn’t take basic steps to protect them.

For schools, the accusations are a reckoning, and one that could carry a heavy price. The suits could trigger hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts by districts in settlements and judgments, experts say. Insurance costs for schools have already increased as a result.

The Chronicle found 51 cases in the Bay Area with one in SMUSHD at Capuchino.  There are a few more where the school/district is unnamed.  One early award of damages topped $100 million for two students.

School districts’ liability insurance costs for all types of claims has gone up 300%-600% in the past five years, said Dave George, CEO of the School Excess Liability Fund, which provides excess liability insurance for about half of California school districts.

Meanwhile, California lawmakers are debating whether to further expand the ability of adults to sue over assault they experienced as children. Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Assembly Member Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, introduced a bill that would end the statute of limitations for such claims, though it was amended to apply only to future cases amid concerns more lawsuits would cut into funding for current students.  Even with the amendment, groups representing school administrators and risk pools, including the School Excess Liability Fund, oppose the bill.

“The current situation is becoming dire,” Craig Schweikhard, executive director of the San Mateo County Schools Insurance Group, told lawmakers earlier this year. “We are currently paying hundreds of millions of dollars into lawsuits.”

I never gave much thought to the school systems' insurance policy--never had to, but when we are talking about this much money it should draw more attention than it has.  Per the SMUSHD web site budget page, the total 2023-2024 budget looks to be right about $220 million.  You don't have to be an accountant to see that something isn't going to work over the long-term--or perhaps even in the short-term.  I'm not sure if Mr. Schweikhard was talking about the San Mateo County system or California systems in general, but either way this is troubling on all fronts.  

Volunteer Profile: BCE President Jen Faber

I recently had a chance meeting with the current BCE president, Jen Faber, and after a pleasant conversation she agreed to do more of an in-depth "interview" for the Voice.  Afterall, why let "Mark at the Mic" Lucchesi have all the fun profiling people in town?  We talked for about an hour about her background (molecular biology and history), why she passed up a chance at med school, and worked in a medical lab and for J&J.  But BCE was the topic du jour and you can find more details here.

Once your kids are out of BIS and especially after they are out of BHS, you tend to lose touch with the organization.  I have.  I still believe it is a critical contributor not just to the school system, but to the overall quality of life and our shared investment in B'game.

As the mother of three boys, Jen started as a BCE donor, then volunteer and eventually became a board member.  She was a site director at Hoover which is often a jumping off point to further BCE involvement.  As Covid hit and some people moved out of B'game, BCE experienced some turnover which may have contributed to Jen taking on the presidency after only four years in town.  See what can happen when you raise your hand?

The main function of BCE-- raising money and granting it back to the schools--is pretty stable.  With a fiscal year starting July 1, the funds granted have been between $2.6M and $2.7M for the last three years --the Covid years.  There are expenses and the endowment needs to be maintained in case there are more economic disruptions.  The grants have funded 19 additional teachers which is why multi-year stability (or better yet growth) is important.  The additional staff are teaching music (7), PE (5), language (2) and five other assignments.

Jen revealed that she has a "challenger" mentality--probably why we got along right off.  She sees the BCE board and presidency as a political position in the sense that one needs to know how to influence other bodies like the District, the Trustees and the City while understanding where to pick one's fights.  We didn't get into that too much, but if and when one arises, I will know who to ask about it.  Here's our selfie taken during the interview in case you want to say hi when you see her around town.

BHS Gym bites the dust

Having been removed from the BHS community for more than a decade, big changes that the community is alerted to early can be news to me when they actually happen.  So it goes for the BHS gym--and I am not alone.  Several people pinged me to say how they were caught by surprise at the demolition of the old gym.  Not saying it wasn't time, just that it was a surprise.  If anyone knows where the gym-based sporting events are to be played, please weigh in.

This is the scene were the gym once stood.  Compared to other developments, a gym should go up pretty quickly.

Courtesy of the B'game Historical Society here is a photo of the first BHS gym designed by Ernest Norberg from the early 1930s

San Mateo High: Averting violence

A reader posted this comment on three different SMUSHD posts all of which are lengthy so you would have to scroll and scroll and scroll to read it.  I'm reposting it here for easier reading and commenting.

Regarding the recent stabbing incident at San Mateo High School: I’d be interested to know if the students involved had any prior history or reports of violence and threats in their student records? The news reported there were knives and a gun on campus. This reminds me of the pregnant teacher who spoke at the board meeting last year, begging the Superintendent to remove violent students from her class. What are we waiting for? Are my kids going to be the next victims? The Administration needs to do a better job of protecting our students. What are we waiting for? Are my kids next?

I'm guessing no public disclosure of any students' records will happen, but the SMUSHD Board and/or Superintendent should certainly take that into account and issue some statement about their position--past and future.

P.S.  People can use the editor email link on the right frame to ask for something to get an original post.  No guarantees, but we will likely be agreeable.

Getting into a UC from B'game

The Comicle is trying, trying to bring some bits of data to bear on its news articles.  The latest initiative looks at UC admissions rates by high school using a graphing tool here.

The rates are for admission into the 2022 fall semester, which The Chronicle paired with each school’s senior enrollment during the 2021-22 school year.  About a quarter of public-school seniors in our dataset (27%) applied to the UC system last year. Among them, about two-thirds were admitted (66%), and slightly under half of admitted students (48%) enrolled.

The BHS and Mills numbers are most of interest to us:

From BHS, 228 of 447 seniors applied or 51%.  145 of those 228 were admitted for a 64% admission rate.

From Mills, the percentages are notably higher.  166 of 291 seniors applied (57%) and 123 of the 166 were admitted for a 74% admission rate.

I'm sure we have a few readers who are active in the system now who can opine on this differential.  I've been away from it for too long to have any real insights.

BSD: Where's Johnny today?

Things are a mess in our education system nationwide.  Today's WSJ has a Stanfoo economist estimating that missed learning in K-12 from lockdowns will cost the typical kid $70K in lifetime earnings.  Yikes.  Closer to home the story is not much better.  The Daily Journal has a piece that compares absenteeism rates around the County and while Burlingame is "better than average", things are still not good.

A higher number of San Mateo County students were chronically absent from school in the 2021-22 school year compared to years prior, according to newly released state data, revealing the sustained effects of the pandemic on public education.  At the state level, about 30% of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of the school year. Students from most ethnic and challenging socioeconomic backgrounds experienced even higher rates of absenteeism.

The new interim B'game superintendent, on the job for two weeks as noted here, has some comments

Burlingame and San Carlos school districts fell into the medium category, San Carlos with an absentee rate of 5.7% and Burlingame with a rate of 9.2%.  Recognizing the challenges of providing a robust education to students who are under more pressure to stay home when sick, Marla Silversmith, Burlingame School District interim superintendent, said her staff worked hard to connect students with their classwork while remote, whether through paper packages or online platforms.

Students who did complete the work were given attendance credit, helping to reduce the district’s absentee rate. Just more than 9% of students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year, about 4% greater than the 2018-2019 figures.

I put "better than average" in quotes because having about 10% of all kids miss 10+% of school seems like a dire situation to me.  In a 180-school-day year, that's missing three and a half weeks or more!  San Mateo-Foster City, San Bruno Park, South San Francisco Unified and Redwood City were all above 20% -- or missing at least seven weeks of school!  Maybe instead of 87,000 new IRS agents, we should hire 87,000 new truant officers?

Interim Superintendent at BSD

In a mid-school year change, the DJ is reporting

Burlingame School District Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites is taking a leave of absence for an undetermined amount of time, leading to Assistant Superintendent Marla Silversmith to take on the role in the interim, officials announced in an email Friday.

“Ms. Silversmith has been with the Burlingame School District for five years and has acted as interim superintendent previously. We know that our community is in great hands under her guidance and leadership. We are grateful to Ms. Silversmith for stepping into this role,” the email statement read.

I wish Marla luck.  There is no lack of issues at hand at BSD from budgets to "workforce housing" to whatever the winter may bring Covid-wise to planning for major inflows of students from the roughly 1,500 new units of housing coming on-line in B'game.