I received the following today in my email from a friend who received it from a local realtor who's email list she is on. I'm sincerely interested in the thoughts of everyone within the MDUSD as this will affect all of us, no matter what happens:
"Annexation is the Answer
I urge all the folks who worked hard on the Measure D campaign to consider moving forward now with a campaign to annex from the Mt Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD). The goal is to effectively reduce the unmanageable existing size of the MDUSD through annexation of Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek residents within the MDUSD into other adjacent school districts.
Pleasant Hill residents should begin a dialogue with Martinez residents to consider the annexation into the existing Martinez School District. About half of the children in Martinez already attend schools located in Pleasant Hill. It makes sense to consolidate Pleasant Hill and Martinez into one school district.
Walnut Creek residents within the MDUSD should revitalize their campaign to annex into the Walnut Creek School District.
Concord/Clayton and Bay Point residents within the MDUSD should work together to actively support the proposed annexation of Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill into the adjacent school districts. The net result will be a smaller and more manageable MDUSD to ensure the communities of which it serves will receive a quality education experience.
Doing nothing and waiting to cope with the aftermath of draconian state mandated budget cuts is not the answer.
Pete Sabine
Pleasant Hill"
.
You mean that woman Ruth Carver was right all along?
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:52. Only if you agree with the annexation effort .
ReplyDeleteNO, Ruth was not right...she was well intentioned but is a little of base of how to accomplish it.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a bad idea but will further the divide among the haves and have nots.
You think it was difficult to pass a parcel tax with the current district, try and pass one with your proposed Concord/Clayton/Pitt MDUSD.
This is just another attempt by Walnut Creek residents in the MDUSD to try to raise their home values by changing school districts. Get over it. You bought a house in the Mt. Diablo school district.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world would moving Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill out of MDUSD possibly benefit MDUSD. It would not!!! At least be honest about your motives.
ReplyDeleteHey tell Pete Sabine, the realtor who wrote this.
ReplyDeleteWell I live in Walnut Creek, and I will be instituting a lawsuit to make this happen. All you poor folk in Concord have been riding our coattails for far too long.
ReplyDeleteIf the district was sub divided into an adjacent district and that district had Parcel Taxes would the new taxes be automatically applied to the new district residents?
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at base economics normally getting smaller increases the ratio of administrators to teachers so the trend in the past has been to go to BIGGER districts not smaller.
However, I am not sure that this has to be the case, a total restructure of school districts tied to cities has a certain appeal but only with a restructure of the financial options and arrangements from state revenues and the like to be directed to the schools.
It is a complex issue that is also tied into the 2/3rds rule on funding and the like.
What makes Mr. Sabine think that adding that much territory would be beneficial to WCSD/AUHSD? The budget situation for those districts isn't that much better than MDUSD, and transitioning the WC MDUSD schools into those districts would cost a lot of money to align textbooks and staff.
ReplyDeleteI am a WC resident who currently lives in the WCSD/AUHSD boundaries, and we pay about $300/year in various parcel taxes to the various school districts.
Ruth Carver was batshit crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:36
ReplyDeleteOkay, Let's really be honest. Why don't you tell us why you want to make sure Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill stay a part of MDUSD?
I will tell you what the benefit is to the children remaining in MDUSD after a reduction in size. A smaller school district means less bureaucracy, less need for a bloated administration, a greater ability to define and target programs to meet the needs of the students within the district, a greater ability to work with personnel and programs to institute reform, a greater ability to align bell schedules and offer classes to students based on interest and need rather than location.... if this isn't enough I can go on.
Anon 4:34
Yes, those residents living within a new boundary area would be subject to the taxes of that school district. It is law and held up by a court ruling.
There are quite a few studies available that look directly at district size and effectiveness. The State's move toward bigger districts has nothing to do with benefiting students and improving education. Districts that are too small have economies of scale issues. There is an optimum size in between.
City governments, and residents of those cities, are realizing the importance and advantage of city based education. As state budget cuts continue school districts that lie within city boundaries will have greater opportunities to partner with their city businesses and organizations to raise funds, to provide intern and mentoring programs, etc... things that are difficult to accomplish when a district the size of MDUSD crosses over so many city boundaries and leaves some cities split.
Anon 9:23
You must make your mother proud.
Anon @ 4:16... wow. Just wow.
ReplyDeleteanon 10:03,
ReplyDeletedon't sweat it. Walnut Creek residents have always had disdain for Concord residents, its kind of like a modern day caste system you know?
Hey Anon 6:53
ReplyDeleteI guess you and Pete want to leave Northgate HS in the MDUSD. If it were to move into the Acalanes district, it would be in the same district as schools in Orinda and Moraga. As you pointed out, it's a bad idea to have schools from different towns in the same district. All those businesses and organizations that want to help just won't be able to do it.
Of course that would cause problems because the elementary and middle schools that feed to NGHS would move into the Walnut Creek school district under your plan. No aligning of bell schedules, eh?
Hmmmm..... I think your plan is falling apart.
Fewer schools in MDUSD means fewer students in MDUSD which means less money from the state for the district. That's no way to help MDUSD.
ReplyDeleteClearly poor Pete Sabine knows not of what he speaks. His "proposal" is coming from a purely selfish place. PERIOD. Maybe someone should ask him to come here and explain his thinking and his grand idea for helping MDUSD.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:17
ReplyDeleteYou appear to think you know what I want, how incredibly arrogant. Never once did I mention Northgate or Acalanes. I have no desire to move any school into the Acalanes School District. I do believe that districts that fall within city boundaries have advantages when it comes to coordinating fund-raising and city sponsored programs including the arts, mentoring, and internships. There are instances of local cities contributing funds to school crossing guards, sports field maintenance, and crisis counselors...to name a few. These are coordinating efforts between cities and the schools that fall within their boundaries.
Watch how difficult these next few years are in this district as parents become a greater source of funding for programs. Watch how difficult it will be to coordinate these efforts across a district as large as MDUSD, it won't happen.
My comments stand as stated earlier, MDUSD is too big, it does not serve the needs of the students within the district boundaries. And for all of you who claim making MDUSD smaller will hurt financially I ask you to take a look at which school districts are being most affected by these recent budget cuts. It is not the mid-size districts. Which school districts suffer most from waste and inefficiencies? It is not the mid-size districts.
And I will ask once again... why do you care so much if Pleasant Hill or Walnut Creek remain a part of MDUSD? These blogs never have a nice thing to say about these schools, their communities, or their students... EVER! So what is it you want from Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek?
3:46 , are you Pete? or the other guy 8:17 was commenting about? So you just want PH and Martinez to join but you don't want WC to join Acalanes? HUH?
ReplyDeleteYou just want what you want and to hell with anyone else. Yah, you keep telling yourself its best for MDUSD to split it up, maybe someday you'll really believe it.! ! Then your sports league could play Alahambra vs. CPHS every game - WOWOOO WEEEE, fun!
3:46.. you are full of it! THese blogs are ALL about the keeping MDUSD the best it can be!!! I guess with your grey colored glasses anyone could see doom and gloom huH?
ReplyDeleteBoth Anon 8:50s
ReplyDeleteA comment to the most recent Post on this blog:
Anonymous said...
It's not good that any school closes but wouldn't it be classic if Mount closes and the kids actually go to Northgate. Ironic because back in the day the uppedy ups with money opened Northgate and Pleasant Hill High School had to close. If you know your local history you would know that Mount wasn't always a bad school. It had a lot of tradition. But then some schools closed in West Pitt and kids were sent to Mount and problems started. Unfortunately they would never let students from Mt. D go to Northagte. Money talks and face it, Northgate/ Foothill/ Diablo View/Mt.Diablo Elementary are like private schools. They don't have to deal with the problems that the other schools have and they have the money/power to keep it that way.
May 31, 2009 12:17 AM
What color glasses do I need to see how this comment is keeping MDUSD the best it can be?
There is no dialogue in this thread. I post specific examples of why a city based education is better and specific examples of why MDUSD would be better off smaller and this is the best response you can come up with,
"You just want what you want and to hell with anyone else. Yah, you keep telling yourself its best for MDUSD to split it up, maybe someday you'll really believe it.! ! Then your sports league could play Alahambra vs. CPHS every game - WOWOOO WEEEE, fun!"
You still haven't answered my question why do you care so much if Pleasant Hill or Walnut Creek remain a part of MDUSD?
MDUSD.......oh please let my people go!!!
ReplyDeleteWalnut Creek Schools Together NOW
someone has apparently been commenting on my behalf without my permission. if anyone wants to step up and contact Pete Sabine direct simply call me at (925)385-2340. Especially all of you hiding behind your anonymous identities with your brazen remarks.
ReplyDeletePete, this discussion is from 6-7 months ago! I don't see your name tied to any of the comments. What do you mean? Did you not send out the original e-mail? Is that what you're saying?
ReplyDelete