I mentioned in a couple of my previous posts that I would continue writing a blog and intend to do so.  Because of the way the accounts on WordPress are set up, it was simpler to establish an entirely new blog site.  Thus, you can now find me at http://www.belindasmusings.wordpress.com.   There you will find essays about almost anything; it will be whatever strikes my fancy, at least at first, and perhaps it will become clear to me as I proceed what kind of focus it will have.  There is an introductory post there now and I will begin in earnest within the next few days.

Please share it with your friends if you find it worthwhile; I hope to hear from you soon.

I’ve had almost a week to get used to the idea that I won’t be involved with schools other than as a parent.  I’ve had a great many people express their disappointment and sadness over my outcome  and I appreciate the sentiments.  Sad as it was for me, however, it’s over and the fat lady has sung.  It is now time to move on, but not before I share some last thoughts that are important to me and, I believe,  to the district.

Proposed Board Policy 5113 (Excused Absences for Confidential Medical Treatment): I am sure there are some who believe this policy was my undoing because I expressed approval of allowing students to receive an excused absence from school should they need to seek legal confidential medical treatment.  Many people spoke out against this policy and expressed a multitude of reasons it should not be approved.  If everyone were completely honest, I think the dissenters would ultimately admit they opposed the policy because they don’t think teenagers should be sexually active and allowing them an excused absence to seek reproductive health services indicates tacit, if not active,  approval.  This is not, however, the stated reason people gave for their opposition.  The reasons given were  students shouldn’t be making medical appointments of any kind during school hours (though it happens all the time), it interfered with parent’s rights (though minors can legally seek treatment in the State of California without parent’s knowledge or consent already), and the school has no right to take my child in for a medical appointment without my knowledge (which was a completely preposterous statement and never a part of the policy).  The reasons were numerous, the discussion was heated and the outcome was less than satisfactory.  The losers in this argument were students who need advice and treatment from medical professionals at a time when they may not have anyone else to turn to.  The teen pregnancy and STD rates  in Stanislaus County are high.  One’s belief that teenagers shouldn’t be sexually active is all but irrelevant, because a great many of them are.  Anyone who is opposed to abortion should logically support access to birth control and anyone who cares about children should be pro-medical treatment for STD’s.  Certainly when a teenager commits suicide, it is one too many, and I would think responsible adults would be clamoring to allow access to mental health professionals when young people are suffering from depression or because of  substance abuse, sexual assault  or relationship violence.

A thought about future budget cuts: One of the things I mentioned as worthy of examination in regard to possible budget savings was district employee health insurance.  Even though I mentioned it briefly and didn’t really get into the specifics, I had some anxious response to bringing up the subject at all.  When I mentioned it, there were apparently people who thought I wanted to eliminate district-sponsored health insurance which was not the case.  However, here’s the rub:  several years ago,  the negotiators from the MTA  and district officials discussed rolling health insurance benefits  into salaries.  This was a very desirable perk at the time; it passed muster with the board  and teachers and managers received the benefit.   Essentially, what this meant was that certificated staff and managers received a pay increase ostensibly to pay for their health insurance coverage whether they received coverage through the district or not.  When I asked about how many employees take coverage through the district, I was told approximately 65% while the remaining 35% had coverage through a spouse or partner.  I think it would be worthwhile to determine what the cost savings to the district would be with a traditional health insurance package where employees take the insurance as a benefit rather than a salary increase.  Employees would have access to health insurance but those who were covered by a spouse or partner would not cost the district additional money.  Granted, this would be an unpopular suggestion and would have to be negotiated with the Modesto Teacher’s Association and the managers, but it could represent a substantial savings.  It would also demonstrate how serious the Association leadership and district employees are about keeping budget cuts as far from the classroom as possible.

Superintendent Arturo Flores: Much has been made of the perceived “lack of leadership” at the board level and the relationships board members have with the Superintendent.  Somehow, it has been assumed that agreement with the Superintendent on strategies, policies and programs equates to something inherently wrong or irresponsible.  I can honestly say I favored hiring Mr. Flores as the superintendent because I liked his ideas, his openness, his concern for children and his drive to improve the academic excellence of the district.  None of that changed as I watched him take on his responsibilities and perform his job.   If I disagreed with something he did, said or asked for, I would certainly say so as I did when I voted against last year’s package of budget cuts.  However, if I agreed with the proposal, project, policy or contract, should I have voted against some of them just to prove I wasn’t in the Superintendent’s “hip pocket”?  Apparently, some feel that’s what I should have done, but at least this way, I have a clear conscience and can say I performed my duties in a way consistent with my beliefs and values.  I believe in the direction the Superintendent is taking the district and wish him the best for as long as he chooses to stay with Modesto City Schools.  I hope he can garner more support for the strategic plan, for his quest for educational equity for all our students and the care he shows for children.

There are additional thoughts and ideas that have come to me over the course of the last week, but these are the issues I felt it was important to relate.  I will continue to write in this space, though I will probably change the name of the blog, for obvious reasons.  I look forward to future opportunities and to sharing thoughts and rants with all of you.  Please check back periodically and post a comment.  I’d love to hear from you!

Here we are,  post-election, and there’s not much to say other than I got my proverbial butt kicked.  It’s been quite the humbling experience, I must admit.  I’ve seen and heard lots of speculation about the election, a great deal of interpretation about why  it went the way it did, but I can’t say I agree with the most of the analysis.  As is my nature, I have been scrutinizing everything I said or did during the campaign and wondering whether or not I should have done anything differently.  I thought about what I did:  walked precincts, had supporters walk precincts, walked and talked at the Farmer’s Market a couple of times, attended several related events, participated in four candidate forums, did two mailings, put up big signs, had yard signs available, created and maintained a Facebook page and a blog and did some on-screen advertising at Brenden Theater.  It should also be noted I had no organized support in the form of organizational endorsements or volunteers, no contributions other than from individuals, had almost all of my large signs stolen from their locations and had yard signs stolen out of people’s yards, including my own.  Could I have done more?  I probably could have done more precinct walking, but other than that, I did what I could with the time, money and resources I had.  There has been some criticism of the way I conducted my campaign, surprise at my last-place finish and other comments from observers, but for the most part, those comments have come from people who don’t know me or were unaware of what I was doing during the campaign.  It could be true I didn’t campaign hard enough,  but I was the only candidate holding down a full-time, 40-plus hour a week job, attending to my responsibilities as a board member and mother and campaigning all at the same time.   Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t have regrets about what I did and while it was very disappointing not to retain my seat, the people who worked with me are talented, dedicated, loyal friends who worked hard and supported me unconditionally.

It has been very interesting to read analysis of what this election “means”.  The Bee has declared the voters were seeking change and a more conservative bent to the board.  Considering only about 20% of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot,  I’m not convinced the voters really “said” anything.  What it might say is voter apathy is rampant and education is not only a low priority for our state legislature, but to the citizens of Modesto and the state of  California.  I have always felt if the education of our children was truly a priority in this state, we would put a great deal more energy, money and attention toward improving and enhancing educational opportunities and institutions.  It seems that bringing attention to the successes of the students, faculty and administrators of the district, talking about the future, ideas and the strategic plan to which we are all dedicated were not topics of interest for voters.  I’m sorry that my message, ideas and approach didn’t resonate with the voting public.  It is truly unfortunate  I wasn’t able to talk to more people about my vision for the students of the district and most importantly, I’m sorry I won’t have another four years to build on the experience I gained during my term on the board and help guide the district to higher achievements.  I sincerely hope the district will continue to move forward, cultivate and foster an atmosphere of academic excellence and achieve all the goals and objectives  of the strategic plan.   I believe in the employees of the district, the talent and dedication of our teachers and the value of public education.  My hope  is for the best, despite the serious fiscal challenges the district will face in the coming months and even years.

There are things I wish I’d said during the campaign; topics I wish I’d had better opportunities to address, so I won’t claim to have no regrets.  My next post will address those things.  In the meantime, I want to thank the people who supported and voted for me.  Your faithfulness to this blog is deeply appreciated and I hope you have gained something from reading.  More to come!

As the campaign comes to a close (don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!),  I would like to mention a couple of things that relate not to this campaign or even the current school board, but that bear consideration for the future.  Those two topics are term limits and district elections.

Can someone be on the same board/council for too long?  I think so; I have a self-imposed  maximum two terms on the school board.   Should I be fortunate enough to be re-elected, this would be my last term.  I may, under very compelling circumstances, be persuaded to run for  a third term, but I can’t think of any at the moment that would convince me.  Three terms teeters on the edge of too many.  For me, four terms  is too long for anyone, no matter how good a job they do or how much I like them.  Considering our terms are four years, one could get a child all the way through their school career in three terms and that’s plenty.  You start to lose steam and gain cynicism after three terms of service, and I think it’s better to allow new blood, fresh ideas and people with more optimism come in and take their turn.  Experience is a benefit, especially in challenging times, but sometimes enough is truly enough.

On the topic of district elections, I think it is an idea whose time has come for Modesto City Schools.  Geographically, our district is very large, extending outside the city limits of Modesto into Salida, Riverbank and Empire.  The sheer size of the area candidates have to cover is overwhelming to some and the costs of running a campaign have become astronomical, especially for a position like school board.  Just the cost of mailing literature to all the registered voters in the district mounts into the thousands of dollars, and most of those mailings are targeted and don’t include all the registered voters candidates would like to reach.  Trying to walk and talk to all those voters is impossible and most candidates want to talk to as many voters as they can.  It must also be mentioned that historically, while our school board has the best record of member diversity, the size of the district and cost of a campaign probably does discourage people from running.  District elections could pare down the geographical scope and cost of running for school board and potentially allow people who do not have unlimited financial resources to be truly competitive.  Whether they admit it or not, all candidates run because they want to win and money should not be the reason someone is or is not elected.

As important as cost and diversity are, the other argument for moving to district elections is the increased accountability of the members to the public.  It would be much easier for the voting public to hold their district representative accountable for their attendance, participation and accessibility than the current system allows.  Members could conceivably hold district town-hall style meetings at a district facility to get a better idea of what the public thinks about their schools.  It would also allow the faculty and staff within each district’s boundaries to have a specific board member with whom to express their concerns as well as their delights, allowing  stronger personal relationships with board members.  It certainly aligns with the district structure of academic learning communities and the philosophy of building stronger relationships contained in the strategic plan.

There are many other reasons to consider and promote these two issues and the discussion of district elections goes hand-in-hand with the idea of consolidating smaller districts into our own, but that is the subject of another blog.  If re-elected (and possibly even if I’m not), I will pursue and promoted these two very important issues along with the other challenges we will face.

Finally, I would like to thank those of you who continue to read and share this blog with others.  I hope you have voted, or will vote, on Tuesday and the outcome will be the best for the children in the Modesto City School district.