Patch Blog: Restore Lost LCUSD Instructional Days

At its January meeting, the LCUSD Governing Board resolved to request that the State of California provide Average Daily Attendance (“ADA”) credit to avoid losing state funding for the two days that LCUSD schools were closed in December 2011 due to the windstorm.  As a former President of the La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation and current father of three children, I never want to see our District lose money, so I approve the Board’s half-step in the right direction.

What troubles me, however, is that the ADA request might be the only half-step LCUSD will take.  I believe that children’s interests are, once again, being sacrificed for the interests of adults, and I object to this. 

We all remember the that ensued last summer when we learned that there would be four pupil-free “teacher collaboration days” in 2011-12, in addition to the usual three “teacher work days,”  reducing the number of instructional days to 176.  Our concerns were met with vows from the District to be more open and communicative about policies affecting students and parents.  While we perhaps were not pleased, we grudgingly accepted the reality.  Many of us got involved in last year’s LCUSD Governing Board elections that produced two outstanding , and we have high hopes that these members, one an LCFEF Director and parent of LCUSD students and the other recently a LCHS student himself, will keep children’s interests high on the agenda in every action they take.

This issue is an important test for the new and continuing Governing Board members, because it is a question of how students’ interests are valued.  The students’ primary interest of course is in actually receiving education. At 176 versus 180 days, students already were forced to pay the price of the “collaboration days” experiment.  If the Governing Board is satisfied merely to request funding for the two missed days, our students will lose two further days to 174.  In light of warnings that California’s budget may be so bad next year that several weeks may be lost, it behooves the Governing Board to provide as many days as possible this year.

If the Governing Board is serious about continuing to provide the excellent education we all as a community have worked so hard to stablish in La Cañada, a funding reimbursement is not enough.  The instructional days need to be restored to the students.  Options would include one of the two remaining “collaboration days,” February 1 or March 15, one of the two remaining “work days,” January 27 or June 14, and/or the uncategorized day of June 15.  While I am married to a public school teacher and the son of two public school teachers and recognize the importance to teachers of the “work days,” the entire raison d’etre of a public school system is to provide education to children, not to provide employment or the perquisite of a pupil-free day (or seven, or nine) to adults.  Presumably, all teachers and school employees were paid for the two missed wind days and will not see any economic damage.  If the ADA restoration request is granted, the District will not see any economic damage.  Only the students will have lost. 

I call on the leaders of the District and on the teachers’ and employees’ bargaining representatives to make sure that the children do not suffer the loss of two  additional instructional days.  Let’s see if LCUSD and LCTA can provide the leadership to work together to put students first.