8/8/2019 Charter Update Nov. 20, 2010

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By Andy Bowman

November 20, 2010

This is to update everyone on where we are at with the charter conversion. It summarizes the information thatwe shared at the last PAG meeting and explains the decision to add two PAG meetings in December.

Three weeks ago, Tom Arnold and I (Andy) attended a meeting at the district office with Superintendent Flores,Kim Spina, president of Modesto City School Board, Cindy Marks, another board member, and Chris Flesuras,

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, and Pam Able, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary

Education. We felt the process of our conversion had stalled, and we wanted to know why. The objective of

our meeting was to determine what the district and board desired from pursuing a charter with us. Our purposefor creating this charter was to create a wall of separation between the teaching positions at FOP from those of

the rest of the district.

They told us directly that the district and the board have no interest in creating any structure that will guarantee

the protection of the teachers in the program. They categorically refused to allow teachers to be granted leaves

of absence to work at the charter, as we had requested. They further claimed that granting any of these

protection measures would be an unfair labor practice that the union would charge against them.

We then asked why we were led to believe that we were fulfilling the boards and the districts desire by

pursuing this direction. They told us that we misunderstood them. They further stated that if we chose to createa charter that would be completely independent of the district, they could not legally stop us. However, the

district would retain the Fremont Open Plan name, the site at Fremont, and they would continue to run FOP as it

has been running for the last 35 years.

We then asked about the proposed job description. They indicated that they believed that they could convince

the union to proceed on it. They did not suggest that this would remove the teachers from the seniority pool,

however, as that would require a skipping criteria established by the board. The two board members presentindicated that any skipping criteria would be determined in the spring. They could not speak for what the board

would decide at that later date (they did not sound or look promising).

Therefore, the proposed charter that we have been discussing is no longer a viable option. This, however, doesnot leave us without options. We will continue to pursue the previously discussed HR fixes, which the jobdescription is the first piece. We can also proceed on creating a charter where the teachers are employed by the

district. This charter will not absolutely protect the teachers, but it may give them one more distinction they canargue in the event of further layoffs. Additionally, it may allow the teachers more freedom to implement the

Open Plan philosophy. The teachers and other parents are asking us to consider this option.

The way we have decided to move forward on this issue is to take a vote at an upcoming PAG meeting to

decide if pursuing this charter conversion is something we should do. We also decided that we should have a

fuller discussion of this issue so that everyone will have a chance to understand exactly what is being proposed.

Therefore, we have scheduled two additional PAG meetings in December. First, we will hold an Open Forum

on Thursday, December 9 at 6:30 in the cafeteria to discuss this proposal. This will include a short PAGmeeting to start, followed immediately by the forum. Then, we will have a second PAG meeting on Tuesday,December 14 at 6:30 to vote on this proposal. Our bylaws stipulate that voting of this nature must take place at

a PAG meeting. Further, they also require that only those who have attended one out of the three previous PAGmeetings are eligible to vote. This means that if you have not attended the October or November PAG

meeting, you must attend the open forum/PAG meeting on the 9th

to be eligible to vote on this issue on the

14th

.For more information, contact Andy Bowman at bowman.andrew@att.net. For an alternative perspective,

contact Joe Orlando at concord3@sbcglobal.net.

mailto:bowman.andrew@att.netmailto:concord3@sbcglobal.netmailto:concord3@sbcglobal.netmailto:bowman.andrew@att.net