My new website

I have a new website, http://www.annetteemery.com/
Please check out this site for information on my canidacy for Twin Rivers, how to volunteer, donate, or endorse.  I look forward to victory on June 5, 2012 and being sworn in as the Twin Rivers Trustee for Area 6.

Sacramento County Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations

 The Sacamento County Grand Jury investigated complaints about Twin Rivers Unified School District during their 2010/2011 session.  The complete report is available on the Sacarmento Grand Jury website http://www.sacgrandjury.org/.  The Grand Jury ended their report with findings and recommendations.  Unfortunately, Twin Rivers has chosen to denigrate the Grand Jury rather than use the recommendations to make changes.  Upon being elected, I plan to use the Sacramento Grant Jury findings and recommendations as the bluerpint for change. 

Twin Rivers Unified School District: Lack of Trust + Lost Opportunities = Children’s Loss

Findings and Recommendations

Finding 1.0 Measure B promised the voters the new district would have a streamlined

administration and the cost savings would allow for more dollars for students in the

classrooms. When compared to other large school districts in Sacramento County, the

grand jury has found Twin Rivers has a higher number of administrators.

Recommendation 1.1 Twin Rivers must immediately reduce the number and

expense of top level administrators and put the savings into classrooms.

Finding 2.0 Measure B promised the voters the district would have an articulated pre K–

12 curriculum. After three years, some curriculum has been aligned using existing

materials from the four districts and is fragmented at best, with little or no social studies

or science being taught in elementary schools.

Recommendation 2.1 Twin Rivers must immediately develop, fund and

implement a comprehensive pre K–12 articulated curriculum plan for all core

subjects, including social studies and science.

Finding 3.0 The decision to hire a superintendent without unification experience, without

secondary school leadership experience and without construction management experience

has impeded the unification goals of Twin Rivers.

Recommendation 3.1 Prior to the contract expiration of the present

superintendent, a nationwide search should be conducted for a superintendent

with the qualifications that include experience in unification, secondary school

leadership and construction management.

Recommendation 3.2 Representatives from various ethnic groups,

representatives from the seven voting districts and community leaders must be on

the search and selection committee for a new superintendent.

Finding 4.0 The history of unification attempts and testimony to the grand jury clearly

shows animosity and negativity towards the former Grant district and its employees.

Recommendation 4.1 The Twin Rivers Board and superintendent must take

responsibility for creating a more diverse group of key personnel from all four of

the unifying districts, including Grant.

Recommendation 4.2 The Twin Rivers Board and superintendent must take

every opportunity to have constructive relationship building activities with

personnel and community alike.

Finding 5.0 The Board of Trustees has acquired additional property for its district office,

in the form of a 99 year lease and at a cost of $14M, despite the availability of existing

district property.

Recommendation 5.1 The Board of Trustees must better utilize existing

buildings, and be more judicious in the spending of scarce district funds.

Finding 6.0 The Board of Trustees voted to stop the ENEC project resulting in

approximately a $60M closure cost.

Recommendation 6.1 Twin Rivers must immediately develop and implement a

short and long term plan for the use of ENEC, as well as a timeline and budget for

the project.

Finding 7.0 As of April 1, 2011, the storage and insurance costs for some building

materials is $132,000 and continues at $3,000 per month. The security and utility bill for

the closed ENEC project is $12,500 per month. This does not include unknown amounts

for storage costs of building materials in Texas.

Recommendation 7.1 The Board of Trustees should be informed of the ongoing

storage costs and must immediately work to resolve this financial drain on the

district.

Finding 8.0 After almost three years as a unified school district, the district has not

merged equipment inventories nor has it completed a physical inventory of the four

unifying districts.

Recommendation 8.1 The district must immediately complete a comprehensive

physical inventory and merge equipment inventories from the four unifying

districts.

Finding 9.0 In the opinion of the grand jury, the use of outside counsel hired by the Twin

Rivers Board of Trustees has consumed too much general fund money.

Recommendation 9.1 The Board of Trustees must analyze and evaluate the costs

of using outside counsel in comparison to the cost of hiring in-house legal staff.

Recommendation 9.2 If outside counsel is contracted to be general counsel, an

annual cap or limit on legal fees must be imposed.

Finding 10.0 Twin Rivers Board of Trustees’ decision to file four lawsuits against former

Grant district personnel and companies that have done business with the Grant district,

led to the spending of nearly $1M of general fund money to date.

Recommendation 10.1 The Board of Trustees must conduct a monthly review of

the status and costs of each lawsuit involving Twin Rivers.

Recommendation 10.2 To promote public disclosure, the Board of Trustees must

direct the business services department to develop line items in the district budget

to report legal fees and costs.

Recommendation 10.3 The Board of Trustees should direct its general counsel to

explore submitting cases currently being litigated to binding arbitration or at least

mediation for expedited resolution.

Recommendation 10.4 Before the Board of Trustees decides to initiate litigation,

it must require legal counsel to submit a detailed, projected budget of legal fees

and costs.

Finding 11.0 The Sacramento County Grand Jury questions whether it is illegal or, at

best, ill-advised for Fund 24 bond money to be used in the litigation against a party that is

not engaged in construction projects.

Recommendation 11.1 The Board of Trustees must stop using Fund 24 bond

money as a source of funds for Twin Rivers v. CFS, et al.

Finding 12.0 According to witness testimony to the grand jury, geographic and ethnic

communities are not being adequately represented by board members who are elected at

large by the entire district.

Recommendation 12.1 A more equitable election process would provide that the

trustees be elected directly from their individual districts rather than at large.

Finding 13.0 Many sixth grade students transitioning to middle school have not been

afforded the opportunity to select from the various middle school options, because the

district office has limited the invitations to special programs.

Recommendation 13.1 The Board of Trustees, using a wide variety of strategies

and resources, must insure that parents of all students are made aware of all

programs offered to students by the district, including those programs offered by

dependent charter schools.

Recommendation 13.2 The Board of Trustees must insure all students receive

fair access to all programs offered by Twin Rivers, including those programs

offered by dependent charter schools.

Finding 14.0 Some community members from various ethnic groups do not believe they

are respected by the Board of Trustees and the Twin Rivers Superintendent. These

community members have stated that the needs and concerns they have repeatedly

expressed continue to be disregarded.

Recommendation 14.1 The Board of Trustees and the Twin Rivers

Superintendent should engage in active listening and consistent responsive

communications, and encourage the involvement of all members of the Twin

Rivers communities.

Recommendation 14.2 All parents should be informed that translators are

available to parents. Teachers, administrators and other staff should use this

service when scheduling appointments, meetings and conferences with non-

English speaking or limited-English speaking parents.

Recommendation 14.3 Meetings, using translators, should be held throughout the

district with non-English, limited-English and bilingual groups of parents to give

information on how they share concerns, needs and suggestions with school

personnel and board members.

Endorsements

I am proud that the following are supporting my campaign by endorsing me for the Twin Rivers Unified School District Governing Board of Trustees. 
Endorsements (partial list)
Juanita Carranco - Gardenland Northgate Neighborhood Association (GNNA)
Linda Orozco - Post Adoption Center for Education and Research
Dennis Muzquiz - GNNA
David Marvelli - GNNA
Gabriel Medina - Field Representative, CA State Assembly
George Azar - President, GNNA
Sister Jeanne Felion - Executive Director, Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center
Ruben Moody - Grant High School graduate/City College Student
Meg & Dennis Bryerton - River Gardens Neighborhood Watch Program
Linda Thompson - Administrative Profession, LDS/Past Grant School Board member
Jacques Whitfield - The Sterling Group
Gary Miller - Roseville School District Trustee
Steve Cohn - Sacramento City Council Member

Student Board Members

When the Twin Rivers Unified School District was formed by merging the Rio Linda, Del Paso Heights, North Sacramento elementary districts and the Grant High School District, I had great hopes for improved communication.  So, it is a surprise to find that the Twin Rivers Board is ignoring one of the best and simplest means of direct communication with students - the student board member.  Generally, elementary school districts don't have student board members, which is the only reason I can think of for Twin Rivers not appointing a student board member - the board and administration came primarily from the elementary districts and may not` know about student board members.

Student board members generally are juniors or seniors in high school and are picked by members of the Associated Student Body (ASB).  The student board members do not vote but they report on ASB, ask questions, and weigh in on items that are important to students.  Over my almost ten-years on the Grant District board, I enjoyed the insight provided by the student board members.  And for the students, it is a great opportunity for leadership development and training along with being a plus on college applications.  So, when elected I plan to ask the ASB to vote for a student board member.  School boards promise to   focus on students - a student board member helps them keep that promise.

East Natomas Education Complex - what could have been

This is the current state of the East Natomas Education Complex (ENEC).  Pretty sad, especially when you consider what could have been.

Contracts/Groundbreakings/Completions - June 2008
McCarthy, LPA start design-build work on Sacramento educational complex McCarthy Building Cos. and LPA Inc. recently broke ground on the long-anticipated East Natomas Education Complex in Sacramento. The complex is the largest design-build public school project being constructed under a new state law. McCarthy and LPA Inc. is the contractor/architect partnership in this design-build effort. The flagship 293,450-sq-ft 7-12 grade campus is being built under Assembly Bill 1402, which authorizes school districts to utilize a design-build procurement process to deliver school projects greater than $10 million. The $150 million educational complex will include a 1,900-student high school, a 1,100-student junior high school, sports facilities and a performing arts facility that is expected to set standards for energy efficiency in California. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010. The schools’ buildings will be constructed primarily from concrete and steel rather than wood products to expand the facilities’ life expectancy from 50 years to 100 years. The school will also incorporate a number of important green initiatives, including east-west building orientation to maximize energy efficiency; solar tubes, skylights and high-efficiency HVAC units to reduce daytime energy demand; and waterless urinals and occupant sensors will reduce potable water use. Part of the Grant Joint Union High School District, the project will be the largest design/build project completed in the California public school system under the assembly bill. The complex will be built in two phases, with the junior high scheduled to open in August 2009 and the high school a year later. Yes, instead of a new junior high/high school complex that would currently be serving students in the North Natomas area, there is an empty shell.  Twin Rivers spent $60,000,000 to stop this project while acknowledging that space for high school students will be needed in the next 10 years.  Twin Rivers claims that the project was not funded while ignoring the passage of Measure G that included building ENEC.  There are homes near ENEC - home with people living in them.  The housing market would have put off the opening for one year but if Twin Rivers had continued with ENEC's construction, they would have students in this school now.  I was on the Grant board when we built Norwood Junior High.  Norwood was supposed to open with 350 students - 650 showed up the first day.  Build a school and it is amazing how many people "remember" what district they live in so they can attend that school.  ENEC would have been the same.  Instead there are more portables than ever at Rio Linda and Grant High Schools and the school promised the residents of North Natomas sits decaying in a field.  

Twin Rivers Police Department

There has been a lot of publicity about the Twin Rivers Police Department.  Before we throw out the baby with the bath water, I want to go on record as supporting school police departments.  School police departments serve the specific function of keeping our students safe and in school. I remember riding along with a member of the Grant police department (this became the Twin Rivers Police Department) and the officer had such a good relationship with the students.  This officer was assigned to one school and continuously monitored what was going on at the school.  We saw a car pull out of the parking lot with four people in the car.  One was a student going for a job interview, one was the driver and the other two were friends.  The office sent the extra students back in and checked the driver license to make sure that the driver was who he said he was.  This action kept students in school and the driver realizing that peeling out of the parking lot was a way to get a ticket.  So, before actions are made to get rid of the Twin Rivers Police because people have been pulled over, think about the students who are safer becaue of their presensce. 

The real issue is who is in charge.  When Twin Rivers was formed out of the previous Rio Linda, North Sacramento, and Del Paso Heights elementary districts and the Grant Joint High School District, the decision was made by the Twin Rivers Board of Trustees to not have in-house legal counsel.  The Grant police chief reported to the Grant legal counsel.  Twin Rivers retains an outside legal counsil (at $100,000 a month - the subject of a future blog) so the Superintendent is overseeing the police department.  Even a micromanager cannot manage to run all facets of a school district, including the police.  The result is community distrust, finger pointing, and anger.  It is time for a change.  Vote for Annette Emery for Twin Rivers in 2012.