Community Meeting Tonight 7pm: Making the Best of a Tough Situation

Remember the Local Community Meeting tonight.

7pm at the Willow Creek Center at 1026 Mohr Lane in Concord.



You'll view a presentation (also available HERE), and hear why a new funding measure will help protect academic programs in the Mt. Diablo School District. You'll also hear, as part of the presentation, the recent poll results related to the possibility of a new funding measure. There will also be an opportunity for break out sessions with your local high school feeder patterns.



This really is an important meeting. Voice your concerns, join your neighbors. What are we going to do to protect basic education in our district? It seems we are past restoring anything that was cut, we are fighting for the survival of very basic core academics. Every district near us has a parcel tax. The district needs to restore trust and perhaps, our new Superintendent will do just that. These issues are statewide. This is not our current board's fault. It is an impossible situation for them. It's not how to make cuts that won't hurt, at this point, we're already looking at cuts at the core of what is best for our students. How will our district survive this next round?

I hope that we can all be adults. Stop the blame and finger pointing and let's get down to how we're going to keep this district providing a quality education for our children? People get bogged down in the blame, the past and their own priorities that we seem to sometimes forget the big picture - that is that our children deserve the best education possible. How are we going to get there? How are we going to keep this district solvent? If there is an idea you have other than a parcel tax - get involved, and voice it! The same old arguments (cut at dent, cut admin, blame the board, blame the superintendent, cut the teachers, etc etc) don't cut it. We need real solutions. This is a statewide issue, that will require a local "roll up your sleeves" solution. The question is, what's the answer?

Here's a new Fact Sheet Flyer, also available at this LINK:

MDUSD Parcel Tax Community Meeting

Interested in the next MDUSD Parcel Tax effort? Attend the "Local School Community Meeting" coming up on Monday, December 14th. At this meeting, you'll hear the results of a recent community polling effort as well as learn how you can help.



Each school Principal has been invited. They have each been asked to bring a parent rep and a teacher rep... if you are interested in this renewed push for funding for our local schools, please talk to your Principal and plan to attend and help the effort at your school. EVERYONE is welcome!



Local School Community Meeting

Monday, December 14, 2009 at 7pm

Willow Creek Center, 1026 Mohr Lane, Concord

Measure D: New Website, Volunteers needed and 30 days left!

With less than 30 days left until the May 19th election, now, more than ever the MDUSD Measure D campaign needs your help. Can you spend an hour to walk to particular homes in your neighborhood? How about some time making some calls? Any time you can devote is appreciated and will aid in making this Measure a huge , resounding YES for our kids!

Also, next week Tuesday, April 28, Wednesday 4/29, and Thursday 4/30 is a fundraiser at ROCCO's Pizza in Walnut Creek (Oak Grove at Ygnacio near Safeway/Applebees). Just mention Measure D and proceeds will go toward supporting this campaign to restore quality programs to our schools!

A new website for YES on Measure D has been unveiled this week. Mt. Diablo School District has cut over 15 million just this year! More may be coming. Measure D will yield upwards of 7 million dollars per year. This 7 million dollars stays local, and can not be taken away by the state to cure their budget problems. Vote Yes on May 19th for Mt. Diablo School District's Measure D.

Check it out! http://www.protectourlocalschools.com/

MDUSD's Measure D requires a 2/3 voter majority and we can do it with your help!

Measure D Newsletter - campaign kick off party and more!

To read this newsletter online click HERE

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Hi Measure D Supporters,
Just 48 days left until the May 19th election. Please read through this entire newsletter for important information about the campaign.

Campaign Kickoff Party
Save the Date!!!

Next Saturday April 11th at 10:00am come join us at our campaign HQ 2280 Diamond Blvd #350 Concord to kickoff our voter outreach efforts. We’ll provide donuts and coffee, and begin training volunteers so we can start that day with our voter outreach efforts (i.e. precinct walking and phoning). Media coverage along with public officials will be there, so come show your support for Measure D.

Site Captains
This Wednesday is our second site captain meeting and first training session for all site captains. We will go over phone banking and precinct walking, as well as update everyone on the latest outreach efforts. Please attend.We now have 74 site captains, however some schools are still without one. Here is the list of schools still needing site captains. ( ) notes number of volunteers signed up.

• Fair Oaks (4) Sun Terrace (0)

• Highlands (13) Valley Verde (3)

• Holbrook (0) Wren Avenue (0)

• Meadow Homes (2) Diablo View (11)

• Shadelands Center (0) Adult Education (0)

We need to fill these campuses ASAP.

If you or anyone you know may be interested, please contact me at rudy@protectourlocalschools.org

Training

Please get in touch with your site captain if they have contacted you. We are beginning mobilizing efforts this week any need every able volunteer to begin lawn sign distribution, phone banking, and walking neighborhoods.

Lawn Signs
They have arrived. We would like to have at least 5 volunteers come in and help with organizing all 2,500 for distribution. If you have a busy street or perfect place to put one, let us know.

Contributions
The campaign can continue only through your support both in the field and in funding. With additional contributions we can get more lawn signs and communicate with more voters. Any amount helps. You can contribute online by visiting http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CommunityUnitedForEx/368244bf2a/7aa9465939/45338fb19b. Or, mail a check payable to CUES at 2280 Diamond Blvd., Suite 350, Concord, CA 94520.

Once again thank you to all of you who have been working hard for Measure D. Your efforts are the driving force behind this campaign. Feel free to contact with any questions or concerns.

Rudy Ramirez

Campaign Manager

Yes On Measure D

Rudy@protectourlocalschools.org
- ProtectOurLocalSchools -

Paid for by Community United for Excellent Schools, a coalition of teachers, parents, elected and community leaders who support reliable local funding for Mt. Diablo Unified School District FPPC #1301210

Measure D Newsletter - what can you do to help?

Hi Measure D Supporters,

Thank you for your support of Measure D to protect our local schools against the continuing barrage of state budget cuts that is devastating the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. My name is Rudy Ramirez and I am the campaign manager for Measure D. I will be managing the day-to-day operations of the campaign, including coordinating all of our volunteers.

We have a real challenge ahead of us to capture the difficult 2/3rds voter support necessary to pass Measure D. And we don't have much time. Our campaign will be successful as long as we have active volunteers from the MDUSD school family, including our parents, teachers and other District employees and our community supporters.

I will send out this email every Monday to keep you and all our other volunteers informed about what the campaign is doing, our progress, what we've got coming up and how you can get involved. You can also visit www.ProtectOurLocalSchools.org to get information.

Where Are We with the Campaign?

The Campaign for Measure D is led by Community United for Excellent Schools (CUES) and is comprised of a highly energetic and active group of board members, administrators, teachers, and parents, all of which have led to an excellent beginning for the campaign. Among the actions we have already taken:

Organized committees to secure campaign endorsements, raise contributions, and conduct voter outreach.

Submitted a primary argument as well as a rebuttal argument that will appear on the voter guide provided by Contra Costa County.

Opened a campaign headquarters at 2280 Diamond Blvd, Suite 350, Concord. James Busby of Security Owners Corporation generously donated the space, which was furnished by the United Democratic Committee of Contra Costa. Thanks to the volunteers who helped get our office up and running. I encourage you stop by and visit. Our office hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

What Can You Do to Help?

Volunteer. We badly need more volunteers for our voter outreach, which in coming weeks will involve phoning voters and walking neighborhoods to encourage voters to cast their ballot for Measure D. This will be one of our most important tools in passing Measure D.

We need site captains for each school who will recruit and manage volunteers for phoning and walking. You can have more than one site captain for each school. Time commitment will be 4-6 hours a week, primarily in evenings and weekends.

We will hold an informational meeting for site captains - or those considering it - on Wednesday March 18th 6:30pm at the Measure D headquarters. For information, call me at 925-202-3178. We'll have pizza and drinks.

Schools Needing Site Captains

Bel Air
Eagle Peak Montessori
El Monte
Fair Oaks
Gregory Gardens
Hidden Valley
Highlands
Holbrook
Meadow Homes
Monte Gardens
Mountain View
Pleasant Hill
Rio Vista
Robert Shearer
Silverwood
Strandwood
Sun Terrace
Sunrise
Valhalla
Valley Verde
Westwood
Wren Avenue
Ygnacio Valley
Diablo View
El Dorado
Foothill
Clayton Valley
Concord High
Northgate
Ygnacio Valley

Headquarters supplies. The campaign is in need of spare computers and office supplies. Please contact me if you or anyone you know can help with this.

Headquarters staff. We need a few volunteers to staff the HQ during the week and weekends for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. No special skills required. Need a friendly, upbeat attitude. If you speak Spanish, even better.

Staffing events. There are many school and community events where we can communicate with voters about Measure D (see list below). We need volunteers to staff tables, talk with voters and answer their questions, and hand out fact sheets, endorsement forms and any other literature. This is an excellent way to get involved.

Webpage Help. We need a Webmaster ASAP!! We already have a webpage up and running, just need someone for updating.

Thank you once again to everyone for your continued support of Measure D and the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. Together we can continue to make MDUSD a great place to learn and interact.

Rudy Ramirez
Campaign Manager
(925) 202-3178

www.ProtectOurLocalSchools.org

Parent Editorial: Sports and the Parcel Tax - "...no plan, no guarantees and if the Parcel Tax does or doesn’t pass, we may not get sports back"

Below is a parent letter, an open letter to the board and to our community. If you have something you'd like to share, please feel free to comment, or email mdusdparents@gmail.com to get your letter posted here.

Update 6pm, the Contra Costa Times just posted the following article: Mt. Diablo School District Parents confused about the future of sports . Check it out. There is also an email circulating today to urge sports families to attend the board meeting tonight. Sports for next year is already cut. Sports are not on the agenda tonight. I hope they remain organized and use this energy toward the passage of Measure D and the prioritization of what programs to restore when it passes. Behind the scenes, district personnel are working to determine the "pay to play" and parent funded athletic options. We should hear more soon.

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Dear Mt. Diablo School District Board,

I have 3 students in the Mt. Diablo School District, I have been very supportive of our schools and have contributed significantly as PTA President, and auditor for several years, as well as doing the yearbook, helping in classrooms, with graduations, etc. I stay well informed and keep in close touch with many of our teachers. That being said, I was quite surprised when last Tuesday I heard of the boards decision to cut all Athletics from our high schools. I learned of this from my son who was told by a friend on his Concord High Football team. Once I began to research I found that there were very few people aware that this cut was scheduled to be done at the March 3 board meeting, as I realize the sports program has been on the cuts list since November, I was not under the impression that it had come to that point yet. No one I spoke to had any idea this cut had occurred, one day after the board meeting.

Since the day I found out about the cut I have been relentlessly trying to figure out what was going on and figure out why no one was talking about this, why did no one know about it? I Sent emails, talked to people, the only information I could get was... we have to pass the parcel tax. Great, I signed up to support that, without hesitation. But then with further research I realized, that the Parcel Tax does not speak to sports anywhere in the verbiage, but it does speak to art and music. So tonight still trying to piece all the facts together, I attended the Concord High Boosters meeting to hear what Sherry Whitmarsh could tell us, (thank you for coming Sherry), what I took away from that meeting is, there really is no plan, no guarantees and if the Parcel Tax does or doesn’t pass, we may not get sports back. So what are our options, we ask? Well, there is no option for pay to play and there doesn’t seem to be any real handle on whether or not the Boosters could fund the sports programs, there may be legal issues involved. Which brings to question, why if Water Polo is a self funded sport and can continue, why couldn’t football be a self funded sport and continue? And how much money is really needed to continue the sports programs, the $721,400, seems to be somewhat of a questionable amount, does it include the money raised by sports such as football gate fees and transportation? In order for the parents and Booster Clubs to know what we are up against if the Parcel Tax doesn’t pass (or even if it does), we need to know what our options are.

I think this was the first time that the people in the Boosters and parents in general really understood that you are taking sports, I think everyone thought we could raise money or do pay to play, it even said that in the Contra Costa Times, but as I understand it from Sherry tonight, we are not eligible for pay to play because of some of the schools below poverty levels. This is absolutely devastating. And if the Parcel Tax doesn’t pass things are even more dire. My feeling is that with 1/3 of high school students in the Mt. Diablo School District participating in sports, that is a good support base for passing the Parcel Tax. I know for a fact that if it meant keeping High School Athletics, you would have hundreds of people willing to go door to door to get the support for this Parcel Tax, without having it specifically written into the Parcel Tax, you have tied all the Athletics Boosters and Parents hands, we can not go out and rally for this Parcel Tax to save Sports because you won’t commit to that.

This cut of all high school athletics will have astronomical consequences to our students, those that have dreams of college scholarships, those that have questionable family lives, sports are the best intervention program we have. Without sports those kids will be wondering around our neighborhoods getting into trouble, gang issues will rise, and high school truancy and drop out rates will increase. Beyond the affects this will have on our children, this move will lower our property values even more, with people leaving the area to go to districts with sports programs, and people not wanting to move into our district without a sports program, our school scores will drop, with the students having no accountability, the grades and test scores will plummet.

All this being said, I am not blaming the board for the cut, I understand why it was made and that it was a difficult decision, however, what I am saying and asking for, is for some accountability. What can we do to keep the sports programs, realistically, we need a plan, we can make it work if there is only a plan of action. Can we add sports to the Parcel Tax verbiage, then we can get every parent of a high school student in sports to go out and rally behind Measure D? And if the Parcel tax doesn’t pass, how much money needs to be raised? Can the schools keep the gate fees and transportation fees toward the funds for sports? Is there any way to do pay to play? Can each sport fund itself like Water Polo at Concord High? We need answers and we need answers now so that we can get something in place to have sports programs still in our schools in August when our students return from summer break.

As I said before, this cut will cause far reaching devastation, it will affect far more students, directly and indirectly than any other cut. Please consider this carefully and help us to keep our sports programs.
Sherry Whitmarsh mentioned tonight, she has not seen any support for sports at the board meetings, except a few people from College Park. Well, I can guarantee you, that will be changing, the biggest reason that no one has shouted out about this cut yet, is because no one really knew it had happened and what it really meant. We all assumed it would just turn into a pay to play situation, at worst, now we know that is not the worst. The worst, absolutely, is no sports programs, which are vital to our children’s education and chances at getting into college, being successful and for our community to continue to thrive with decent schools and programs.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and we will be seeing you at the board meetings.


Sincerely,
Meghan Mahler
mmahler@sbcglobal.net

(students at Concord High and El Dorado Middle)

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Devastating cuts coming March 3rd

This is the meeting where the all important cuts to library, elementary music, athletics, custodial, VPs and more will be discussed and potentially reduced that night.

Its not going to be pretty.

What can you do? Support our local parcel tax. It may be the only way to restore some of the upcoming cuts.

Visit: http://www.protectourlocalschools.org/. Get involved. Support with financial help. Support with your time. Anything you can do, will help. Most especially vote YES on MAY 19.

Right now the March 3rd board agenda does not note which specific cuts may be considered, but the board can consider them all. Just look at the reduction list available with the agenda, everything is up for grabs. Check at http://www.mdusd.net/ for more specifics of the programs on the discussion list for Tuesday.

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