CUSD Update

The Capo school board met on Feb. 9 and quickly got down to business. In sharp contrast to several recent meetings, the union had apparently not summoned its disruptive members and hecklers. The board had no action to report from closed session, which included discussion of Supt. Woodrow Carter, who is on paid administrative leave.

A PowerPoint presentation by CUSD staff told of $12.5 million in mid-year cuts and ways of trimming substantially from the 2009-2010 budget. The visuals sent shock waves through the audience, although staff made no recommendations. An article about the list also appeared in the Feb. 10 Or. Co. Register.

Following are some of the categories discussed in the presentation.

• Eliminating Kindergarten would save $9.4 million a year
• Eliminating all district and school administrators would save $22 million
• Eliminating 20:1 class sizes in grades 1 through 3 would save $2.4 million
• Eliminating high school sports would save $2 million
• Rolling back all district salaries 1 percent would save $3 million, and 2.5 percent rollbacks would save $7.4 million
• A one-day district furlough would save $1.5 million, while a three-day furlough would save $4.4 million

The board agreed to suspend a policy indefinitely that required parent volunteers to submit to and pay for criminal background checks and tuberculosis testing. Board members said they hoped the decision would encourage more volunteerism.

Several Mission Viejo residents attended the meeting, and one sent the email below regarding the board’s decision not to hire any firm to manage its cell-antenna leases. With a 7-0 vote, the board rejected CityScape, which was the staff’s recommended firm. The board then rejected an overture by a trustee (Anna Bryson) to act on Councilman Frank Ury’s lobbying effort for ATS to manage the leases.

“At the beginning of the budget talks, staff member Ron Lebs quoted Albert Einstein, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ Some parents who weren’t writing down the budget information wrote down the quote, which is well worth remembering. The quote also applied to the attempted coup by three trustees when they tried to do Frank Ury a favor and enrich his buddy Tony Igegneri of ATS. It was disheartening to see the three – Anna Bryson, Ken Maddox and Jack Brick – slip into the old behavior that got CUSD into so much trouble. They weren’t able to explain why CUSD needed a consultant except that Ury said so. Didn’t they run on a reform platform? Constituents can breathe a sigh of relief that four trustees (Ellen Addonizio, Mike Winsten, Sue Palazzo and Larry Christensen) are keeping their promises, but a vote of 4-3 is a narrow margin of victory against special interest.”