Piedmont’s Beach Elementary School parents will be fund raising to create a “green schoolyard” in conjunction with the completion of the schools seismic retrofitting in 2012.  Their tentative plans for the schoolyard include a shaded lunch area, shaded seating, murals, a water garden, a butterfly garden, a garden classroom, a garden arch, and plantings.  See pictures: > Click to read more…

The Citizens Advisory Committee on the School Parcel Taxes (CAC) will discuss public outreach and making powerpoint materials easily accessible on its PUSD webpage.  The members of the CAC collected extensive date over the past year, providing information on comparative district information and historical budget trends to the Board of Education to better inform Board decisions.  See Powerpoint Presentation from the CAC.

> Click to read more…

An Opinion on PUSD Administrators’ Salaries and Benefits from Martha Jones, Board of Education Trustee

I would like to offer a few comments on the topic of public employee compensation.

1.     Transparency concerning public employee salaries and benefits is very important.  Taxpayers need to know which services they are paying for and how much these services cost.  Efforts to make some of these figures more easily available to the public have taken various formats, including searchable databases for the salaries of state employees (http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/), local city, county and special district employees (http://www.sco.ca.gov/compensation_search.html) and public employees in the bay area (http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area), > Click to read more…

• Tentative Agreement Between PUSD and California School Employees’ Association (CSEA)
• Reduction of 4 Classified Staff Services Positions (through retirements)
• Levying Parcel Tax Measures B & E (with 5% increase for B)
  
• Inter-district Transfers for grandchildren of grandparents

and more – read the full report from June Monach > Click to read more…

Havens Elementary School’s new playground looks pristine, but there has been a problem with dogs using the artificial turf as a restroom and running area.  The Piedmont Unified School District recently installed some signs stating, “No Pets.”  Residents have continued to notice dogs on the turf and have called the Police Department to have the dogs removed, as instructed by signage at the field (see below), but have been informed the police department has no ability to enforce the “No Pets” signs on School property. > Click to read more…

Memorandum from Constance Hubbard, Superintendent of the Piedmont Unified School District

Per the information received at the Alameda County Superintendents’ Council yesterday (April 6, 2011), I wanted to alert all to the predictions for the May Revise pending. I am receiving several requests to either not reduce program or buy back programs that have been reduced recently. I want to be clear that my recommendation is to stay the course as planned.

The “May Revise” is predicted to reflect twice the reduction for which we planned or:  $2.1 Million in on-going reductions starting in 2011-12

The issue remains the number of unknowns at this point. We are concerned, but not panicked. > Click to read more…

The results are out for the School Calendar Survey! Highlights include:

o   The majority of respondents with an opinion preferred a shorter summer (62%) while 38% preferred a longer summer.

o   80% of respondents with a preference and for whom it was applicable wanted to continue with the new collaboration day schedule.

o   Conference week:  respondents like the new schedule, and feel very strongly about keeping conferences.

Read the full 2011 Calendar Survey Report with more Graphs!

> Click to read more…

Highlights from the March 23, 2011 Board Meeting submitted by June Monach, Board of Education Trustee

Summary:

• Progress on District-wide Efforts Reviewed:
  • Diversity-Respect Task Force Mission Statement
  • 2011 Instructional Calendar Survey Results
  • Seismic Safety Bond Program Citizens’ Oversight Committee Report Reviewed
• Board Actions Taken:
  • Board Voted 4-0 to Use PEF Endowment Funds to Preserve Core Educational Program
  • Board Voted 4-0 to Adopt Resolution to Initiate Sale of $10 M in Qualified School Construction Bonds
• Board Direction Provided:
  • Board Requested Staff to Proceed with Beach Construction Based Upon the Cash Flow Analysis Presented by the Program Manager
• Other Business:
  • School Parcel Tax Levies
  • District Goals

> Click to read more…

An Open Letter Submitted by the Piedmont Education Foundation and the Associated Parents Clubs of Piedmont

With spring upon us here in Piedmont, chilly gray images of picketing demonstrators in front of the Wisconsin capitol look particularly bleak.  Public unions, governments and taxpayers are warring over budget shortfalls and engaged in pitched battles.  Not so here.  While Piedmont’s education funding gap was not unique in this economic crisis, the capacity of our stakeholders to work together to find solutions is quite otherwise. > Click to read more…

Highlights from the March 9, 2011 Board Meeting submitted by June Monach, Board of Education Trustee

Key Agenda Items:

• Board Votes 5-0 to Approve 3-Year Contract Agreement Between Teachers and School District
• Board Votes 5-0 to Approve Particular Kinds of Services (PKS) List for Employment Notification Process
• Board Votes 5-0 for Positive Certification of District’s Ability to Meet Financial Obligations 2010/11 – 2012/13 > Click to read more…