July 31, 2002
Cupertino, California Since 1947
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CUSD's evaluation notes five broad areas for improvement By Jennifer Zhang The Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) Superintendent William Bragg has received a report card from the board of education with a set of guidelines for immediate improvement during the next school year. CUSD Board of Education President Ben Liao presented Superintendent William Bragg his annual evaluation report on July 25. In addition to an evaluation on Bragg's past performance, the report also includes future developmental plans for the district as well as for Bragg personally. According to Liao, the board has identified five broad areas for improvement that require immediate action„student support, student achievement, human resources, financial stability and leadership. This report was issued approximately a month after the controversial teachers' contract negotiation process, which involved a three-month impasse and numerous heated school board meetings. Soon after a board meeting in May, 90 percent of the teachers polled gave Bragg a vote of no confidence, according to Janice Hagenbauer, president for the Cupertino Education Association. Liao said this year's report is different from previous evaluations in that it's more concrete. "The areas that need immediate attention are all clearly identified." Liao said the five areas, while separately identified, are all related in some ways. He said they represent the expectations of the school board, although Bragg might disagree with them. "All of those areas are important. I concur with the board," Bragg responded. In the area of student support, the district stresses the continued effort to provide emotional and social support for each student. "We need to provide all students a safety net, a safe environment both at school and home," Liao said. "Students have different needs. For example, English Learning Development students have language difficulties and students in special education have their special needs. ... Taking care of all their needs is an important part of the student support area." Bragg agreed, adding, "We need to identify different student needs as early as possible and to find ways to address those needs." While student support takes care of students' emotional and social needs, student achievement aims to help students academically. The goal is to provide challenging and appropriate instructional programs for each student as everyone "has a different learning style," Liao explained, adding, "We put students at the center of the picture. It's a student-centered theme." "One of our focuses is writing (part of language art)," Bragg said. "I think it's one of the areas that can be enhanced." Teachers make up an important factor in a student-centered theme "because they teach and make contacts with students everyday," Liao said. As a result, teacher morale, retention and development are some of the critical issues in the area of human resources. Dissatisfied parents, who were quite vocal during the contract negotiation process, echoed many of these concerns. Many said they feared losing experienced teachers, who are an important piece of the district's excellent performance and reputation. "These are some of the most important issues in the district," Liao said. "And it's not just teachers, it's all the district employees." Both Liao and Bragg said they believe understanding teachers' reasons for leaving the district is important, particularly determining the reasons why they left. "We have always been working on teacher retention and we'll continue to do that," Bragg said. "We need to identify the reasons that they left and then utilize programs to address that." Concerning teacher development, Liao said the district currently offers training and support mostly to first and second-year teachers. "We want to provide more services for third-year teachers and up," he said. Money issues are the crux of financial stability area, which parents have long complained about. While some accused the district for not spending its money sensibly, others said the budget is clouded and difficult to understand. The district plans to address all of those concerns. The other 14 percent of the general fund will help cover other costs such as energy, books and supplies. Liao estimates that about $5.85 million of the $6 million reserve will be needed to cover different costs, leaving a $150,000 reserve balance at the end of the 2002–03 school year. In addition to these concerns, Liao also emphasized on the need to come up with a clearer presentation of the district's budget. "A lot of people didn't trust the budget because they couldn't comprehend it," Liao said. The leadership area focuses on improving communication in the district, which both teachers and parents have argued needs drastic improvement. "Communication is very important," Bragg said. "Finding ways to communicate more clearly and effectively is a major priority for next year. We have to make sure that information is getting to everyone. ... It's important for leadership building." Bragg said he will be working with the board as well as district staff in the coming weeks to find ways to achieve these goals. "It's an on-going process that will be continually monitored and refined," he said. |
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