Is Silverado Elementary a "necessary small school"?

You learn something new everyday - or so my teachers always told me. They were right. It's certainly been true for us as we fight to defend our school, slated for closure at the end of next week. These last few weeks have taught us much.


What's today's lesson? Get this:

Since 1998, the state of California, recognizing the need to support small rural schools, has provided extra funding to sustain those which are deemed to be "necessary small schools." These are schools that need to have small populations, usually because they are in sparsely populated areas or serve special populations. Such schools receive extra funding because they cannot realize economies of scale.

Is our Silverado Elementary School one such "necessary small school"?

Could it be that OUSD has overlooked this program as a solution to the crisis facing Silverado Elementary School?

One would hope that the elected public officials and the district leadership would have exhausted all options before voting to close the school which has served this community for 103 years.

You decide.

Peruse the relevant section of Ed Code below.

California Education Code Section 42283
(a) For the purposes of Section 42282, a "necessary small school" is an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, maintained by a school district which maintains two or more schools and to which school any of the following conditions apply:

(1) If as many as five pupils residing in the district and attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school in the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 would be required to travel more than 10 miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the nearest other public elementary school.

(2) If as many as 15 pupils residing in the district and attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school in the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 would be required to travel more than five miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the nearest other public elementary school.

(3) If topographical or other conditions exist in a district which would impose unusual hardships if the number of miles specified in paragraph (1) or (2) were required to be traveled, or if during the fiscal year the roads which would be traveled have been impassable for more than an average of two weeks per year for the preceding five years, the governing board of the district may, on or before April 1, request the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in writing, for an exemption from these requirements or for a reduction in the miles required. The request shall be accompanied by a statement of the conditions upon which the request is based, giving the information in a form required by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall cause an investigation to be made, and shall either grant the request to the extent he or she deems necessary, or deny the request.

(b) For the 1998-99 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, a "necessary small school," as defined in subdivision (a), shall be an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 reduced by the statewide average rate of excused absence reported for elementary school districts for the 1996-97 fiscal year pursuant to Section 42238.7, rounded to the nearest integer.

And how about these figures:

Necessary Small Schools: The Allowance for Necessary Small Schools is based on the combination of ADA and the number of full-time teachers (for elementary schools) or the number of certificated employees (for high schools), whichever provides the lesser amount. The allowance amounts, shown in the following tables, reflect the 5.66 percent COLA for 2008-09:

For a school of Silverado's size:
Number of Teachers: 4
Average daily Attendance: 73-96
Amount to be Computed: $531,500

We'll be meeting on Monday June 8 at 8 AM at Silverado to discuss these matters and others. Hope to see some of you there!

Please note: at the last board meeting Silverado Elementary School was singled out for praise. Check out a pic of the slide shown to the audience in the "Points of Pride" slideshow.



*

Grievances

griev·ance
Pronunciation: \ˈgrē-vən(t)s\
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1: obsolete : SUFFERING, DISTRESS
2: a cause of distress (as an unsatisfactory working condition) felt to afford reason for complaint or resistance
3: the formal expression of a grievance : COMPLAINT

synonyms see INJUSTICE

*

The following letter was read aloud at the OUSD Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday May 28. Each board member received a copy.

May 28, 2009

I have a number of grievances I wish to bring to the Board:

#1: The board voted to close Silverado Elementary due to budget cuts. However, the actual savings by closing the school are about zero, with the loss of around 40 students to other districts or home schooling. In other words, the district has just thrown away about 200k by treating Silverado children poorly, and their actions have not saved one penny, but instead have tremendously displace scores of children and tremendously inconvenienced families in the canyon community.

#2: Our pronouncements about children as young as kindergarten being asked to ride the bus for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get to Chapman Hills were scoffed at by some on the board. However, the district’s recently released bus schedule will have children in Modjeska canyon board the bus at 6:30 am in order to get to Chapman hills by 8 am, a 1 ½ hour ride. A staff person in the superintendent’s office remarked they are shocked (or some similar term) at such a long ride.

#3: Furthermore, part of that 1 ½ hour ride will combine high schoolers and elementary schoolers on the same bus, a situation usually avoided due to the potential exposure of elementary schoolers to the more offensive talk and behavior of high schoolers.

#4: A board member told us that, following their vote to close Silverado they suddenly realized that the elementary kids would be on the bus for long rides, on dangerous roads, potentially exposing them to significant danger, and that was a big concern - alas too late to do anything about it. It appears that concern is expressed only when nothing is going to be done about it.

#5: As a group, a number of parents have for months been working hard to find a good solution to reducing the costs of operating Silverado, including cutting costs, and setting up a Charter Environmental Science School to relieve Orange district from financial responsibility for the school. However the majority of the board have not worked with us, and several in fact will not respond to our requests to meet or discuss options. May I remind you that the school board is an elected body put in place to carry out the education of the community’s children. The majority of the board’s lack of willingness to work with us is, frankly, far beneath the dignity of your positions.

#6: The canyon community are the only children in OUSD now being asked to travel as much as 19 miles to get to the nearest school, Chapman Hills. Orange Unified is willing to include us in their tax base, and is willing to take our state money for each student in their district, but the majority of the board is unwilling to provide a school within a reasonable distance from our homes. No other child in the district – NOT ONE - has a school more than a mile or two from their home.

#7: Property values in our canyon community will be negatively affected by having no school within reasonable proximity. No other community in the Orange district will be left without a school close by. Families with children will not want to move into our canyons because of this.

And it goes on and on…

Therefore, I am formally requesting a response to each of the above complaints about the failure of the board to responsibly carry out their elected duties. I wish to know how those who voted to close Silverado elementary can justify the above actions and consider yourselves to be in compliance with your elected duties as board members. I will e-mail a copy of this letter to each on the board who voted for closure, including the superintendent, and I respectfully request not to be ignored – rather, I expect the issues to be “researched and responded to” by each of you, as stated by President Ledesma.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Wilson, father of two children from Silverado elementary

*

WANTED: Angry Parent with Law Degree

A friend asked me how the fight to save the school was going.

Well, I replied, the more we learn about the fate the OUSD board has chosen for our children, the angrier we get.

What you need, he advised, is an angry parent with a law degree.

What angers me today?

A concerned parent shared the following information with me:

The district’s recently released bus schedule will have children in Modjeska Canyon board the school bus at 6:30 am in order to get to Chapman Hills Elementary by 8 am, a 1 ½ hour, 19 mile ride. The children face the same length of time for the return trip in the afternoon.

Furthermore, a portion of that 1 ½ hour ride will combine high school and junior high students with the elementary school students on the same bus. This is a situation that is usually avoided due to the potential exposure of elementary school students to the talk and behavior of the older students.

In addition one of the groups - perhaps the younger students - will be pulled off the bus at a certain point and transferred to yet another bus.

This plan does not serve the interests of our children or our community - nor the stated mission of the OUSD: "...being committed to continual improvement, [OUSD] will offer a learning environment of excellence,with high expectations, to provide each student with the opportunity to be able to compete in the global economy."

Instead of educational opportunities, the children of the canyons are being offered three hours of daily bus travel, which, in some seasons will begin on chilly mornings before dawn.

The failure of the elected board members and the superintendent to face this issue is shameful.
*

Scenes from Silverado's 103rd Open House

The parents gathered, teachers were introduced, pizza was sold by Girl Scouts, proud students shared their work, classrooms were visited and admired - all was well except for the looming closure.

One wonders why the board of trustees and the superintendent didn't take the time to visit the little school in the canyon on this warm spring evening.

Surely if they believe so much in their decision they should stand behind it publicly, facing the very children and people it affects the most.

Their silence is deafening.

*

OUSD to Receive over $7 Million in Federal Stimulus Money

The Monday May 11 edition of the OC Register carried Fermin Leal's story on the federal stimulus money headed toward OC school districts.

The county's school districts will receive a combined total of $125.6 million.

What's our share?

Orange Unified School District is slated to receive $7,533,299.

Leal writes:

The money will go toward districts' general funds, meaning districts will have flexibility over where to spend. Much of the funding will go to help reduce the number of layoffs, state and local officials have said.

To read the rest of the article, click here.
*

Superintendent Dreier Writes a Letter

Parent and Silverado school supporter Jeff Wilson received the following letter yesterday:

Good Morning, Dr. Wilson:

On behalf of Dr. Dreier, the following letter is being forwarded to you:

May 7, 2009

Dr. Wilson:

With regard to your request to place an action item on the May 12th agenda regarding the closure of Silverado Elementary School, please be advised that this subject is governed by the provisions of Government Code 54954.3

“The agenda need not provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body on any item that has already been considered by a committee, composed exclusively of members of the legislative body, at a public meeting wherein all interested members of the public were afforded the opportunity to address the committee on the item, before or during the committee's consideration of the item…”

The Board of Education took formal action to close Silverado School at the March 12th meeting due to the impact of budgetary pressures on the District. After consultation with the Board President, it has been determined that your item request to reconsider the closure of Silverado Elementary School will not be placed on the May 12th agenda.

Sincerely,
Renae Dreier

Concerned parents and community members will be meeting Monday May 11 at 8 AM at Silverado Elementary School to discuss this and other matters. Please join us.
*

Traffic Report and Analysis

With the assistance of the county transportation department and the Office of Supervisor Bill Campbell and the dedicated work of the usual suspects, the following report was complied and distributed this week to the OUSD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Drier. I've had to adapt it for blog posting as my limited computer skills don't allow me to post the tables of statistics.

Silverado Elementary School is located at 7531 Santiago Canyon Road, about a half-mile from the entrance to Silverado Canyon and about two miles from the entrance of Modjeska Canyon. Buses travel through Silverado, Williams and Modjeska canyons to pick up and drop off students each morning and afternoon. Roads in the canyons are narrow and winding, with low tree branches and other obstacles. Live Oak Canyon Road and Trabuco Road are included in this report because if Silverado Elementary closes, a number of families will use those roads to drive their children to Trabuco Elementary, a school with a similar teaching and administrative philosophy and similar in size to Silverado.



Orange County provided traffic counts for the years 2006, 2007, 2008 and January through March 2009. The figures indicate that Santiago Canyon is heavily traveled, carrying an average of 6,000 vehicles a day. In an average year, Santiago experiences 19 traffic accidents, with an average of 12 injuries and one fatality.

While Live Oak carries about half the number of vehicles per day as Santiago, it has almost twice as many accidents. The annual average is 38 accidents, with 21 injuries and three fatalities.

Silverado Canyon Road averages 6.7 accidents a year and the two Modjeska Roads (Modjeska Canyon and Modjeska Grade) average 1.3 accidents a year.

Buses will likely pick up children from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., then bring the kindergarten students home between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Other students will travel home from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. From 2006 through 2008, Santiago Canyon Road experienced 27 accidents during these hours. Live Oak Canyon Road had 31; Silverado had 8 and the two Modjeska Roads, three.



The statistics reveal that the canyon roads are dangerous to travel and the risk of collision increases with mileage gained on Santiago Canyon Road toward the city of Orange or Live Oak Road toward Trabuco Elementary School.

When road closures occur, as they often do along Santiago Canyon Road, at Jamboree or the 241, it creates a significant hardship for our parents who need to transport the children to and from downtown schools. When the road is closed parents and/or buses must go all the way south to Lake Forest to get on the 5 freeway or 241 toll road, then travel to Orange to deliver or pick up children. This commute takes an additional hour (and the tolls are expensive). It is a distance of approximately 25-30 miles each way. As many of the elementary school children also attend the Silverado Children's Center (25 ages K-6), they are currently safeguarded from this problem. Since they are in nurtured professional care until 6 pm, their parents delayed by emergencies as this one can arrive to pick them up safely regardless. They are not sitting at a city school awaiting someone to get them….whenever they get there.

We feel that the singular solution to these safety and welfare issues is to keep Silverado Elementary School open in its current location on Santiago Canyon Road, where it is more safely and easily accessed by those going to and from school from both Modjeska and Silverado Canyon directions.

In conclusion, we respectfully but urgently offer that this traffic report and analysis, combined with the negative community economic impact report we provided OUSD at the last meeting --- in addition to the ongoing effort to create an Environmental Science Education Curriculum plan for our school --- warrants not only your renewed attention but your support of Silverado Elementary, a California Distinguished School and an important and essential facility among OUSD schools.

Please consider writing additional letters to the OUSD board and the superintendent citing this critical information.

The next OUSD board meeting is Tuesday May 12.

Thanks!
*