The Vanguard will be publishing the comments of each of the five school board members on the AIM program. ...
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In Their Own Words: Tom Adams
In Their Own Words: Tom Adams
The Vanguard will be publishing the comments of each of the five school board members on the AIM program. We began with the comments of Susan Lovenburg on Sunday and Barbara Archer on Monday. Yesterda ...
| by David Greenwald -
My View: What is Best For Our Kids?
My View: What is Best For Our Kids?
In yesterday’s column, I laid out my continued concern about making changes that are not based on any sor ...
In yesterday’s column, I laid out my continued concern about making changes that are not based on any sort of educational research as to the best program. I’m referring specifically to the potential c ...
| by David Greenwald -
Commentary: Does District Really Need to Cut AIM Program in Half?
Commentary: Does District Really Need to Cut AIM Program in Half?
There has been a lot made about process in the issue of AIM program changes. From the start to the end of ...
There has been a lot made about process in the issue of AIM program changes. From the start to the end of the meeting last night, the process has been baffling to me as an observer. It has been three ...
| by David Greenwald -
Sunday Commentary: Board Misses Chance to Forge Consensus on GATE/AIM
Sunday Commentary: Board Misses Chance to Forge Consensus on GATE/AIM
On Thursday, Board President Alan Fernandes pitched the idea of forming a board subcommittee that might b ...
On Thursday, Board President Alan Fernandes pitched the idea of forming a board subcommittee that might be able to hash out an agreement on AIM that could create a 5-0 consensus. However, three member ...
| by David Greenwald -
Board Majority Rejects Subcommittee on AIM
Board Majority Rejects Subcommittee on AIM
One of the ideas that has been floated about this summer is the idea of creating a school board subcommit ...
One of the ideas that has been floated about this summer is the idea of creating a school board subcommittee that could work out a compromise on AIM reforms, build community consensus and maybe avoid ...
| by David Greenwald -
District Moving to Modify Board Policy on Suspension and Expulsion
District Moving to Modify Board Policy on Suspension and Expulsion
Under current Education Code, the law allows for home suspension for students in grades 4-12 who have dis ...
Under current Education Code, the law allows for home suspension for students in grades 4-12 who have disrupted school activities or defied valid authority. The problem with the current policy is tha ...
| by David Greenwald -
Monday Morning Thoughts: Why Wasn’t 2014 School Board Election About GATE?
Monday Morning Thoughts: Why Wasn’t 2014 School Board Election About GATE?
The supporters of the current GATE/AIM program have complained repeatedly that the proposal to change the ...
The supporters of the current GATE/AIM program have complained repeatedly that the proposal to change the GATE/AIM program caught them off guard. Board Vice President Madhavi Sunder stated, “There was ...
| by David Greenwald -
Part Two of Public Comment on GATE
Part Two of Public Comment on GATE
On Friday, we had two reports on Thursday’s DJUSD School Board meeting. We presented the comments by the ...
On Friday, we had two reports on Thursday’s DJUSD School Board meeting. We presented the comments by the Davis School Board (Both Sides of AIM/GATE Debate Turn Out for Special July Meeting) and the fi ...
| by David Greenwald -
Both Sides of AIM/GATE Debate Turn Out for Special July Meeting – Public Comment
Both Sides of AIM/GATE Debate Turn Out for Special July Meeting – Public Comment
Part Two – 45 Public Comments The public came out and expressed thanks and criticism to the board, someti ...
Part Two – 45 Public Comments The public came out and expressed thanks and criticism to the board, sometimes in the same comment. There were concerns expressed about the program – on one side, about t ...
| by David Greenwald -
Both Sides of AIM/GATE Debate Turn Out for Special July Meeting
Both Sides of AIM/GATE Debate Turn Out for Special July Meeting
Part One – Board Comments Civic engagement does not end when the school year ends, and, to prove it, the ...
Part One – Board Comments Civic engagement does not end when the school year ends, and, to prove it, the DJUSD Board of Education held a special meeting allowing parents and community members to speak ...
| by David Greenwald -
Commentary: A Board Elected to Heal the Wounds Should Not Instead Divide the Community
Commentary: A Board Elected to Heal the Wounds Should Not Instead Divide the Community
It is perhaps easy to forget just how much the events of the winter of 2014 divided the community. When N ...
It is perhaps easy to forget just how much the events of the winter of 2014 divided the community. When Nancy Peterson in the winter of 2013 first pulled the VSA (variable services agreement) of volle ...
| by David Greenwald -
Monday Morning Thoughts: Differences of Opinion on Top Administrative Salaries, VSA
Monday Morning Thoughts: Differences of Opinion on Top Administrative Salaries, VSA
We are starting to see differentiation occurring among the school board members. It started with the June ...
We are starting to see differentiation occurring among the school board members. It started with the June 4 vote on the AIM program, which was 4-1 with Madhavi Sunder in dissent. Then we had the 3-2 v ...
| by David Greenwald -
My View: Board Majority Dances on the Brink of Trouble with AIM Decisions
My View: Board Majority Dances on the Brink of Trouble with AIM Decisions
Last fall, every candidate for the school board vowed, in the aftermath of the volleyball scandal and the ...
Last fall, every candidate for the school board vowed, in the aftermath of the volleyball scandal and the resignation of Nancy Peterson, to restore the community’s trust in the integrity of the decisi ...
| by David Greenwald -
Monday Morning Thoughts: More on the Brown Act, Board Views on GATE, And Why the Motion Passed
Monday Morning Thoughts: More on the Brown Act, Board Views on GATE, And Why the Motion Passed
We have kept the focus on the GATE/AIM issue on the potential Brown Act violation. The Brown Act, as we n ...
We have kept the focus on the GATE/AIM issue on the potential Brown Act violation. The Brown Act, as we noted yesterday, requires among other things that the legislative body of a local agency shall p ...
| by David Greenwald -
Analysis: Nonverbal Tests for AIM Identification of Minority and Disadvantaged Students
Analysis: Nonverbal Tests for AIM Identification of Minority and Disadvantaged Students
On Thursday night, the school district heard a critique of its use of TONI (Test of Nonverbal Intelligenc ...
On Thursday night, the school district heard a critique of its use of TONI (Test of Nonverbal Intelligence) by Professor Tobin White. His research finds that the students administered the TONI were “s ...
| by David Greenwald -
My View: Social Justice and AIM
My View: Social Justice and AIM
For a long time I have stayed relatively quiet on the issue of GATE/AIM. There have been a variety of rea ...
For a long time I have stayed relatively quiet on the issue of GATE/AIM. There have been a variety of reasons for that, but after watching the discussion on Thursday night, things have changed. The de ...
| by David Greenwald -
Are AIM Students Being Overidentified? School Board Grapples with AIM Identification Issue
Are AIM Students Being Overidentified? School Board Grapples with AIM Identification Issue
While there were a number of procedural issues asked about the presentations on Tuesday night regarding t ...
While there were a number of procedural issues asked about the presentations on Tuesday night regarding the district AIM program, much of the hard questions focused particularly on the identification ...
| by David Greenwald -
Monday Morning Thoughts: New School Board Takes Shape, And the Week Ahead
Monday Morning Thoughts: New School Board Takes Shape, And the Week Ahead
Last week we saw the election of three new school board members: Madhavi Sunder, Barbara Archer and Tom A ...
Last week we saw the election of three new school board members: Madhavi Sunder, Barbara Archer and Tom Adams. Coupled with the May appointment and October re-appointment of Alan Fernandes, 80 percent ...
| by David Greenwald -
No Surprise in School Race: Sunder, Archer and Adams Cruise to Victory
No Surprise in School Race: Sunder, Archer and Adams Cruise to Victory
Tom Adams and Barbara Archer were elected to the school board on Tuesday There was really no surprise i ...
Tom Adams and Barbara Archer were elected to the school board on Tuesday There was really no surprise in the school board race; the only question coming in was whether Tom Adams or Bob Poppenga woul ...
| by David Greenwald -
Analysis: In a Way the Community Never Moved On From Peterson…
Analysis: In a Way the Community Never Moved On From Peterson…
It was March 18, and the Davis School Board had just voted 3-1 to uphold the district’s decision on not r ...
It was March 18, and the Davis School Board had just voted 3-1 to uphold the district’s decision on not renewing volleyball coach Julie Crawford’s VSA (variable service agreement). At the time, Board ...
| by David Greenwald