PAC Notes 22-23
Updates from May 2023
Pair Check in - greatest immediate principal needs vs. medium/longer-term principal needs
PCN creation
Short term
Non Teaching PCNs - when will they be available
STIP subs - for schools that do not have one, when will they get the new ones
What is happening with bargaining, really?
Budget rollover - what can be kept?
Timing of Teacher PD - how to announce early, particularly if it is mandatory
Approval of new gate to be put up at MetWest parking lot
Longer term
Vision & communication for sped programming and placement long term
Talent/Central responsiveness
Contracts - how to streamline across schools; how can we have a master contract, like with bus companies (ie photos, assemblies)
Behavioral Health Support
Custodial
Principal learning - input and differentiation
Principals can help find solutions with common problems
PAC
Once a month raising same issues, not getting results
Getting Kyla/Sondra at these meetings
Compensation
Supporting sites who are short staffed
Facilitron - schools should receive the $
Safety - automatic gates, culture keepers
Kyla discussion
Bargaining: should be able to settle tonight or tomorrow morning; common good is the main issue. Want to make sure we are settling on things in the contract that can be enforced, that the district can afford in the long-run
Language around shared governance, community schools
Board already approved a set amount for bargaining, primarily for compensation for OEA and other units; cannot exceed board authority in bargaining different topics and amount spent
Next steps
Bargaining update tomorrow morning at 9:15
Once a TA is reached, teachers do not need to vote before they return to school; they do need to vote to ratify final version
What additional communication is needed: what is the impasse about?
For principals: shared decision making and new structures; all unions need to be a part of this conversation
Was the info shared out about compensation accurate? This is one of the complaints.
How do people make sense of step changes, where step 20 is now step 14, don’t translate to years of service? Troy will prep to answer in principal Q&A on Wednesday
Sailaja will ask Fiscal to share Rollover process/information/timeline
Will likely not be available until September, after first pay runs for the year and the salary and benefits increases are accounted for
May also need to set aside money from other one-time resources for the TA
Special Education program changes
We have some info now, and some things may change based on Board direction
Early childhood programs are expanding next year at Markham, HM, Burckhalter (4 classrooms)
School board voted to reduce a number of Special Ed positions -- this led to the elimination/minimizing of certain programs
CAC was upset. Resolution being considered: Need to bring to board a review of where programs are changing, moratorium on program closures, need at least one year notice to families about future changes
Memos did go out to specific schools wehre there is a reduction/consolidation
Secondary program changes go to Principal Ops time on 5/18
Hiring freeze/non-teaching positions
Largely did not affect school positions
PCNs are created by budget office; these were all supposed to be created already
Reach out to Fiscal Analyst or James Gouthier for any issues
Longer Term issues
Behavioral Health supports
Schools are still struggling based on the BH cuts from last year
People providing this support was really valued and supported and made a difference
More support for COST teams, risk assessments, who do we call for different kinds of support or services?
COST MH teams are maxed out
Who can do the BCBA observations? Who do we ask to make sure this happens? Who holds these folks accountable with an urgency for students to return to class quickly?
Intent is MTSS team will be taking over the broader work across Academic, MH, Behavioral interventions
We will be hiring additional Behavioral health specialists and director position
Have a tiered behavioral health structure, including additional social workers in each network to work at different campuses to do group and individual student work
Hiring continues to be an issue across our district and others as well
Update crisis response planning this summer with the new team; will provide this update to schools soon
Alameda County risk assessments also not available
Presentations: giving principals and teachers help after doing everything on the checklists; we need help with that
PAC
Kyla can meet quarterly next year
Sailaja can also work with Sondra/SLT to commit to certain dates as well
Helpful to focus on short-term wins as well as longer-term issues
Responsiveness from Central: if needs are being met, then we feel valued
Do we want to use Zendesk: need to actually verify if the work is done (when ZD tickets are closed, we see who was supposed to be responsible); principals do not know who is supposed to be responding and who should fix the problem
Even when we ask for help, it doesn’t always go to the person contacted; it is supposed to get fixed by a different person
Some issues are in SchoolDude, they are there but are not getting addressed
Need a response and acknowledgement
Immediate Issues that have come up this year - what have been addressed, what has not?
Principal restraint - we provided info in a Ops session. Has it been enough?
This was useful, still need support around issues like diapering, etc.
Safety - Cameras and access to schools & locked gates & buzzers - transparency
Cell phone stipends - not all principals; getting list of who is/not getting
Planning for PAC next year
Principal PPL
Be transparent about the input - will it authentically change anything?
The approach to adult learning needs to change
The purpose of the time has to be clear
Differentiation needs to be built in
Can’t just be people who have time - this isn’t a representative group
Need to compensate people and take things off their plate so that principals can engage in developing transformational PD
The whole day can feel overloaded - off campus a lot
Could we do every other week, one half day with Networks, one half day on operations?
What do we need to accomplish and how much time does it take to accomplish that work?
In other districts, there is a lot of principal PD; but there needs to be a clear understanding of the purpose. What’s the end result? Are you building capacity? Then the content needs to be more meaningful.
New leaders need some systemic support
Building leadership capacity is needed
Need to have differentiation, less time off campus; optional?
Could it be after school, including compensation?
Need to align with LGDS
Appreciate the community building
Updates from March 2023
STIP Subs
Guidance is ready; Talent is currently handling Board decision related to staffing. Guidance will be reviewed with PAC and shared with all principals.
Special Education
→ Fill Rates for current ISS and paraeducator positions:
Paraeducators: 93%
ISSs: 85%
→ Site-by-Site analysis (via a POS 02 pulled 3/7/23):
Most sites have 0-1 support staff vacancy
Current efforts to recruit & retain
→ Weekly meetings with SpEd:Talent Recruitment to ensure all vacancies are posted, refresh advertisement on all platforms, prioritize vacancies and match candidates;
→ Online first round interview process to streamline hiring;
→ Free testing and CPR to meet MQ;
→ Consideration of part-time candidates;
→ Community college flyering and job fairs
→ Live employment offers at OUSD hiring events
→ Collaboration with AFSCME to support recruitment;
→ Opportunity for monthly paid professional development outside of the regular day to supplement income and enhance skills;
→ Para mentorship opportunities;
→ Offering para lead stipends when appropriate in accordance with AFSCME CBA;
→ Public acknowledgement and email shout-outs;
→ Coming soon- staff appreciation kits for all para/ISS in their first year and those with 15+ years
What are the issues and some solutions?
Extreme behavior
Seeing uptick in Gen Ed and in SPEd
Lots of K students without IEPs from PK because they were not assessed there
Work with special education leadership & legal to hear what is happening on the ground and get guidance & training around how principals should respond in situations requiring restraint
Training and support for teachers as well to ensure students and staff feel safe
How can we make sure staff can attend when training is available?
CPI training was great for those who attended
Training is often optional, not setup during normal PD hours; how do we make sure that essential training is offered during regularly scheduled PD times.
Can we set up a climate team at each site to get paid to attend these trainings?
Classified absences
Can we pay noon sups or other classified staff to cover?
There’s $$ in the classified sub budget in 0000, but no classified subs
Approach AFSC for the sub issue; can we work out of unit in those situations
Resources for # of IEPs
Schools with just one administrator can’t attend all the different IEPs, how can we get admin support for this
Transfers of new students, can we get a call with a heads up about information about transitioning the student into their new school
New students often have an overdue IEP; how do we provide some grace for schools with a new student to give time to complete the IEP
Working with Enrollment to identify when inclusion students transfer schools--this isn’t always known to SpEd staff
Support from Special Ed Staff
Responses do not always feel supportive; can be snarky, dismissive, disappointing
Custodial
Custodials are assigned based on square footage and additional use, ie how much the facility is used by outside organizations and the after school program.
With the expanded school day, we are redoing formulas to assign more custodial coverage to support the after school programs.
Underlying issues we are trying to address
We don’t have enough substitutes and will need more people to come in and support in the afterschool program
Need to address underlying pay issues to be competitive
Overtime means that the quality of cleaning is lowered as they are spread to think
Civic center process and principal verifying the custodial.
Proposed solutions, available resources
Think about high school students as substitutes to clean schools to create additional support
YAP students as a potential solution to creating a pipeline
High school students as substitute custodians
If someone is out for an extended leave, get a dedicated custodial substitute
Brainstorming additional solutions short & long term
Can we have substitutes that don’t need a social security number
would ITIN's work?
Family members from the school community being substitutes.
Feedback, comments, questions
Need high level endorsement to solve the problem from the union, etc.
How does the school get some Facilitron funds?
Vernon (old CBO) made this commitment; Marcus Battle (next CBO) reversed that decision, but it wasn’t communicated
Need to look at the amount of revenue coming in before making a different decision now
Coming Soon
District Wide Safety Assessment
Pre-Assessment about Campus for Safety Review
Need feedback from site by end of April
Phase 1: Late April-Early May
25% of Schools will be sampled based on a review of the data to get a diverse cross-section of OUSD campuses.
Each of those schools will get a Comprehensive Site Assessment
District will get a budget projection for potential cost for mitigation across district
Phase 2: TBD Based on Budget
Updates from February 2023
B&G:
Storms worsened already bad conditions; rodents, leaks, sewage problems, possible mold.
Anywhere there is a leak and possible mold, the Risk Management team will do an assessment to ensure the building is safe for staff and students.
Eliminations in Deferred Maintenance has made many more emergencies; trying to contract out work to address the issues
Need to talk this through in the working group--we have very old buildings, how do we communicate about our priorities here
Suggestion: Can we get a dashboard to show what’s in SchoolDude--age of facilities, staff available, how many tickets
Suggestion: Is there another status other than “Closed” like “Pending” or “Waitlisted” or “Reroute”
Camera installation timeline & Blinds- required for lockdown but many classes have none
Operations team is In the middle of doing assessments at all schools for safety/facilities work, starting with elementary. Can we include a lock standard in this assessment?
Suggestion: share a dashboard with the public that shows where we are in the status of these upgrades
Ask of District Safety Team: what are the alternatives we need to tell teachers/principals/staff for what to do if blinds are not installed in classrooms?
Ask of sites: how can you also help make sure safety features are being used on a daily basis, ie keep the front doors closed and locked, keep side gates closed and locked, etc.
Some work orders closed without work being completed
Need better communication between shops, ie electrical and carpentry, where multiple shops are needed to address the issue
How are the different teams communicating with each other; who is managing the internal communication and keeping multi-step tickets open
Ask of principals: can we get 4-5 case studies of how this has happened to understand the issues and find solutions; what’s the experience of principals to inform the improvement process here. Provide work orders and an explanation of what did/not happen.
Expanded Learning:
Additional funds, expanded programs, lots of questions, no answers: FAQ was shared on Thurdsay 2/3
2 hours of Custodial extra time not enough to clean schools when so many more students are in after school programs; need to hire more custodians and improve salaries.
SPeD:
Not enough support; need additional staffing for IEP completion, coverage when Paras are absent
We do have someone in Talent who is specifically working on hiring for these vacancies
Low wages here continue to be a barrier to hiring; would be great to get a classified STIP to fill in when there’s a gap here
Discussed issues specifically around support staffing; not easy solutions around getting more people hired
Next steps: How can we more efficiently use existing special education staff to address the vacancies; efficiencies could also result in reduced service/support
We do have declining enrollment, but our remaining students have higher needs
Inclusion in Decision making:
Suggestion: Create opportunities for Principals to participate in decisions that impact them; i.e. PD, how funds are allocated, what supports are essential. These opportunities should be paid and Institutionalized
Particularly for central cuts to services, like Behavioral Health, how can we get principals’ input/involvement in those decisions to understand impacts on schools
March: we will spend more time in PAC looking at the budget for multiple years ahead and questions about what we can expect.
Other:
Suggestion: TSA’s should not be off campus on same day as Principals; they should be staggered
1st and 3rd TSAs leave around 1pm to go to in person ELA training
This particularly impacts elementary schools where the TSAs are often taking the principal’s role on campus
Filter replacement- staff filling out google form but no one is coming to replace filters
The form is being used and updated each day by custodial. Email kechette.walls@ousd.org if you are not seeing service
Principals just ask the custodian on site to change the filter.
Updates/Input for Labor
OEA and OUSD has prioritized compensation, collapsing salary schedules to eliminate plateaus to improve retention
Heard feedback from principals--want to add additional PD days at the start of the year; revamp the evaluation system to make it easier on principals; additional collaboration and PD time
What support do principals need for the start of the year?
How can we consult with UAOS generally about the work calendar?
Optional PD days are hard - what are the expectations of principals on those days?
Can we be clear about who is expected to come back on PD days and who is not for all different job classes?
Talent will provide a clear Return to Duty calendar that shows which job classes should be back on the various PD days.
Quality Services to Schools Survey (Sailaja)
Ask for principals: Feedback welcome until April 1 for this year’s survey
PD
Would like to create a survey to get more principal voice about PD: differentiation, timeliness of context, input into sessions, expectations across TK-12
Example: How can principals learn about how to spend PD to talk about how to do a learning walk, instead of doing a learning walk. DIscuss problems of practice.
Best time of year for different topics: front loading info in August vs check-in during busy seasons about what’s coming up during PD time.
Times for PAC meetings
More relevant for elementary meetings: request for more time; meet earlier for 15 minutes, or go 15 minutes later.
Ask of principals: how is the time working for you? What suggestions do you have for changing the time? Do we want to meet together across networks?
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Updates from January 2023
Issues Raised/Resolutions
Principal PD
Principal working group will work with Leroy to develop the scope and sequence next year.
Feedback from principals about the New Leaders content has been positive. Net sups will ensure they are also collecting feedback about network-led PD.
Short-term changes, like providing more work time for principals, have already been made. Need to collect feedback to see if principals like the changes, and also need to hear from principals about their learning and coaching needs for next year.
Buildings & Grounds
B&G handbook and a work order phone number {(510) 535-2718}, so principals can get real-time support with issues at their sites.
Safety
Ongoing assessments and improvements to safety facilities, including fencing, cameras, visitor management systems, etc.
Response plans have been vetted by Oakland Police Dept and City Department of Violence Prevention. Toolkit has resources for principals.
Communications
PAC page on Principal Central will be updated after each meeting to ensure all networks have access to information and resolutions of issues.
Depending on the issue raised, additional PPL sessions, emails, meetings, or information may also be communicated out to principals.
Special Education Staffing
Mental health support staff are currently contracted from county--we are looking to provide these staffing supports internally next year, which will provide greater autonomy around what the staff can do.
Supplemental positions for SPED staff cannot be opened and hired into while there remains such significant staffing vacancies in base staffing across continuum.
RBTs are contracted out through other agencies because they have a specific skill set, that is held centrally as a result, and not at school sites.
Training for paras and ISSs: for ISS on-boarding training we need more comms about who attends and who doesn’t. PD is offered centrally.
Enrollment
Will train staff to review transcripts before they are assigned to schools, but students do not always have their transcripts at the time of enrollment; students may not be excluded from school or not assigned classes because of missing transcripts.
School Closures/Reversals
Closing school principals were not required to attend budget sessions; they meet regularly with Monica to get support and communication.
Depending on board action and potential reversal of closure resolution, enrollment projections and one-pagers will need to be re-run, which will take 3-4 weeks after board decision. Similarly, enrollment windows, offers, etc. will also move 4 weeks later. Elementary schools will be primarily affected, with lesser impacts on secondary schools and elementary schools that are typically at capacity each year.
Talent
Talent will send out information about the central STIPs available for next year. Their primary use is to cover absences, but schools will not be prevented from accessing the central sub pool in Frontline.
Talent will add the non-work days on the Return to Duty calendar next year for all employees.