Year in Preview:
School Boards Prep for 2009
SUSD, CCUSD Share Top Goals
North Scottsdale Independent 1/7/2009, Page A01
By Dave Casadei, Independent Newspapers
Local school board members look to continue their uphill battle to improve student achievement as Scottsdale and Cave Creek unified school districts transition into the new year.
Board members from each district highlighted their top priorities for 2009 as well as a glimpse of how they plan to meet challenges, most of which are predicated by the slumping economy.
SUSD
Like other school districts, SUSD has felt the sting of the tough economy. Whether it be from increased construction and maintenance costs to reduced state funding, the money supply is dwindling. Despite tough times, SUSD Governing Board President Karen Beckvar and other SUSD board members are laying out a road map of goals to make sure students are not negatively impacted from the lack of funds and other issues facing the district.
Ms. Beckvar said her top three 2009 priorities include continuing to improve student achievement for all students, working to ensure all students have access to a quality public education and providing a variety of programs and delivery options for student learning.
The governing board president explained she plans to meet those goals by ensuring teachers and administrators have needed resources by lobbying legislators to invest in public education, and continuously reviewing district and board operations to improve operational effectiveness. She also plans to educate the SUSD community by stressing how important quality public education is to the community and the role it plays in strengthening the country’s democracy.
While optimistic, Ms. Beckvar realizes 2009 could bring some setbacks. “2009 will be a challenging year for all districts in the state with the threat of budget cuts for the current and following school years,” she said. “SUSD is fortunate to have dedicated and high-performing teachers, administrators, staff and parents who will continue to work together to do the best possible for students with the limited resources available. “ We have weathered tough times before. I am confident that with the continued support from our community we will emerge from these challenges as an even higher performing district.”
SUSD Governing Board member Jennifer Petersen has similar 2009 priorities — increase student achievement, more student evaluations/ assessments and increased professional development for retaining highly qualified teachers.
Ms. Petersen believes reviewing specialized programs/curriculum to ensure the district is not only meeting student needs but offering the best education possible will help student achievement. She also has a plan on how to improve student evaluations/assessments. “Our current testing mechanism, Galileo, comes up for review this spring,” she said. “At that point, we need to determine the best and most cost-effective tool for evaluation.”
Ms. Petersen also believes offering training, tools and technology to promote district-wide classroom success will help teachers develop, while allowing the school district to retain its quality staff members. Like Ms. Beckvar, Ms. Petersen, too, feels overcoming district and state budget woes will be SUSD’s biggest challenge. She said the district is working within tight financial constraints and needs to assess every line item so funds are effectively utilized. While times may seem bleak, Ms. Petersen does not see it getting the better of SUSD in 2009. “SUSD will continue to offer the highest quality education,” she said. “ We are committed to reaching our goal of 100 percent ‘Excelling’ schools and students.”
SUSD Governing Board member Dr. Eric Meyer has a unique challenge in 2009 being that he is a school board member, as well as representative for Legislative District 11, which covers Paradise Valley and parts of Scottsdale. He pointed out the $1.2 billion budget deficit the state is currently dealing with, as well as the possible $2 billion budget defi cit in the upcoming session, will dramatically impact SUSD’s budget. But Dr. Meyer is working hard to keep classroom immune from any district cuts -- cuts that could need to be as much as $5 to $10 million. In addition, Dr. Meyer noted another goal: hiring a new superintendent. “ The key will be hiring a new leader who will move us forward as a district,” he said. Dr. Meyer believes SUSD has a quality applicant pool, noting applicants will be reviewed in January. The applicant list will begin being narrowed down from there. Dr. Meyer also noted he will work to see the district continues to improve academic achievement. New Governing Board member Bonnie Sneed’s top 2009 goals include serving the entire SUSD student population with an eye to future sustainability; protecting educational programming opportunities for SUSD children at all levels, including fine arts, physical education, libraries, academic program choices, etc.; and maintaining fiscal responsibility within the district.
Ms. Sneed believes examining district facility usage to find additional operations savings is one of the ways her goals can be achieved. She also noted a few others. “Realizing that the previous board has already cut expenses (including administration) in the previous year, I would like to further investigate any inefficiencies within the district, maximizing the funding in the classroom,” she said. “I will be lobbying the Arizona Legislature to vote against cuts in education spending at the state level, and the federal legislature for revisions in federal education mandates to realistically bring accountability measures in line with available funding and proven positive results (in other words, assess the mandates).” Ms. Sneed said one of the district’s biggest challenges is persuading those who are not yet personally affected by the economic downturn that cuts need to be made, in as equitable fashion as possible. She also believes weighing differing options regarding the priorities of funding cuts and trying to determine the extent of consequences to students and their achievement in each scenario if deep cuts have to be made will also challenge the district’s leaders. Lastly, Ms. Sneed hopes the district better informs educators, community members and parents on the importance of fiscal responsibility and how it is in the best interest of the children.
Despite reduced funds, Ms. Sneed still views SUSD as a top school district. “ There are more opportunities for a well-rounded education in Scottsdale than in any neighboring district,” she said. “It is my hope that Scottsdale will fi ercely protect fabulous programs within the schools that will attract more students to Scottsdale and will help our enrollment numbers stay on an uphill climb — which will further protect the programs and enhance the education of our students.”
Governing Board member Dieter Schaefer’s top 2009 goals are minimize any negative impact to programs and teachers while implementing potential state budget cuts to education; focusing on reducing maintenance, operating, and administrative expenses, while exploring revenue increases through program enhancements and community schools; and hiring a new superintendent. Mr. Schaefer’s first step to meeting his goals is to perform a thorough program review to ensure programs SUSD provides are viable and contribute to achieving 32 excelling schools. Second, Mr. Schaefer believes SUSD needs to reduce maintenance and operations and administrative expenses. “ This includes reviewing consolidating the bus barns, closing/ leasing the education center, and utilizing existing space more effi ciently,” he said. Mr. Schaefer noted SUSD’s search for a new superintendent is on schedule and he is confi dent the district will attract top-notch talent. “Given Scottsdale’s reputation as a community that values excellent education, I have no reason to believe we will not have an excellent array of applicants and subsequent candidates,” he said. Mr. Schaefer said the only real challenge he sees in implementing goals is expediting the processes of priorities and completing them in a timely fashion.
CCUSD
Cave Creek Unified School District may face greater challenges in 2009 than most with the combination of reduced state funding and the community’s failure to pass the district’s K-3 override during last November’s election. CCUSD Governing Board member Cassandra Perkins said managing fiscal issues without negatively impacting student education is the board’s No. 1 goal. She also hopes to protect the size of classrooms so students are not overcrowded, as well as ensure teachers are retained and maintaining existing extracurricular offering from band to CCUSD’s gifted programs.
Other goals include building renewable options, and adding a Middle Years International Baccalaureate Program, a science and technology center at Cactus Shadows High School and expanding Core Knowledge to other elementary campuses. Like others, Ms. Perkins noted budget issues will be the district’s biggest challenge. “Every board meeting will deal with a portion of the budget,” she said. “ We need to decide early on and agree as a group of parents, students, teachers, administrators, community members, and governing board where cuts need and can be made with minimal or no direct impact to the classroom.” Ms. Perkins encourages her fellow board members to work closely with Arizona School Boards Association and Arizona Education Association. She also suggests the new CCUSD superintendent, once hired, meet regularly with Arizona legislators and the governor’s office to help focus the need to provide adequate educational funding as that directly impacts the classroom and providing building renewal funding.
In addition to budget concerns, Ms. Perkins noted voter approval of bond, K-3 override and/ or capital override elections may be needed depending on the district’s bare bones needs and what transpires on the state level in terms of educational funding. “ We will need to rally all in our community to stand behind the additional funding requests that may be needed,” she said. “I strongly encourage anyone in the CCUSD community interested to please become involved to look at the specific needs for a bond, K-3 override or capital override and help make the final recommendation to the Board for approval. Also, take a tour of the different campuses — look at the buildings for example to see why the need is there and what is being asked for.”
Board member David Schaefer’s top goals for 2009 include proactively working with legislators as they close their budget deficit, while remaining prepared for whatever funding changes the legislature ends up enacting; securing a highly qualified, permanent superintendent to lead the district; and securing funding for badly needed facility repairs, renovations and eventual expansion.
While Mr. Schaefer believes his goals can make a difference in the CCUSD community, he noted they can only be accomplished by working collaboratively with all governing board members, administration, staff, parents and the community. Mr. Schaefer pointed out it is inevitable that CCUSD faces budget cuts. But he said proactively making contact with key legislators, while offering alternatives and solutions all can be happy with is a way to combat the issue. “ We have already started to do our homework with regard to scenarios and alternatives,” he said.
Although CCUSD is conducting a national search for its next superintendent*, Mr. Schaefer has confidence in the district’s current leadership under interim Superintendent Dr. Debbi Burdick. “ Whether or not we conduct a search, we are fortunate to have a great candidate in place as the interim superintendent,” he said. “ Thus we are already in good shape in achieving this goal.” Lastly, Mr. Schaefer explained Cactus Shadows High School is over capacity by about 20 percent, Black Mountain Elementary and Desert Arroyo Middle Schools are older buildings in need of substantial renovation and that HVAC systems in at least two other schools are in dire need of replacement. “ We will be working hard to develop a sensible plan and helping our voters understand the needs and costs,” he said.
* The CCUSD board has not authorized a national search for superintendent- request for correction has been submitted to Independent Newspapers.
CCSOS Note: There are two school board members in the northeast valley named Schaefer. David Schaefer serves on the Cave Creek Unified School District board, and Dieter Schaefer serves on the Scottsdale Unified School District board.