By Sharon Noguchi
snoguchi@mercurynews.com
Posted: 09/21/2009 12:01:00 AM PDT
Updated: 09/21/2009 06:34:42 PM PDT
In the tiny Luther Burbank School District, the office copy/fax machine is on the fritz, the phones go to voicemail for lack of a district secretary and teachers picket after school to protest stalled contract talks.
And yet, while some things in the central San Jose school district may be falling apart, eager students are tackling synonyms and long division, and the staff is celebrating test scores that indicate solid academic progress.
Three months after a scathing grand jury report questioned its very existence, and seven months after a audit critical of its financial practices, the one-campus district has shakily stayed its course, while the larger political and educational community has responded with a shrug of the shoulders.
"It just seems like the board and district are running amok and no one seems to care," said Don Kawashima, foreman of the grand jury that in June suggested board President Antonio Perez step down, and the 566-student district merge with a neighbor. After alleging the board engaged in conflicts of interest, secrecy, intimidation, questionable spending and election malfeasance, the grand jury concluded that the district could not fix itself.
There's no sign that others have taken up the push for the 103-year-old district to dissolve or for Perez to relinquish leadership. And few people in this highly mobile and immigrant community, an unincorporated enclave near the I-280/I-880 interchange, have joined teachers in expressing outrage at the alleged abuses outlined in the report.
Luther Burbank was to respond to the grand jury report by next Wednesday but was granted a five-week extension. Perez did not return calls for comment.
Problems persist. Luther Burbank missed the deadline for turning in a 2009-10 budget and ultimately needed the Santa Clara County Office of Education to compile the document. It asked for continued County Office budgeting help, was turned down, and now is investigating a joint-powers agreement—where several districts share services— to shore up its administration.
Is the district capable of managing its budget on its own?
"I don't think so," said Charles Weis, county superintendent of schools. He said his office will offer training — at a charge — and coaching to the K-8 district.
The district had been run by four administrators, but this year cut the number to 2½: a principal-superintendent, business manager and half-time instruction director.
Yet it's paying for far more. Earlier this month, the board hired a new superintendent-principal. But it's keeping on its interim superintendent for 1½ more months, and its principal for a year. It's alsostill paying the school chief who was ousted last November. And it's headed to an expensive arbitration with that leader, Richard Rodriguez, who alleges the district has failed to pay his health benefits as required.
Meanwhile, teachers, still negotiating last year's contract, picket weekly and seek more planning time and improved health benefits.
What rankles them is that trustees provide themselves and their families premium health insurance, at a cost of $73,000 last school year, while teachers say they spend up to $11,000 each for a lesser health plan.
"I am angry. I'm mad and offended and frankly amazed" at board spending decisions, said Janet Plant, Burbank's teacher of the year, told trustees. The teachers union hasn't taken a position on merging.
Perez said he supports teachers, but added, "we're making sacrifices all the time that we're not getting credit for."
Teachers charge that the district is violating state law, which requires districts spend at least 60 percent of their budgets on teacher salary and benefits. Luther Burbank fell short by nearly $250,000 last year, they allege.
Business Manager Rodolfo Avalos-Sanchez said spending was incorrectly logged last year, and that the district does meet the 60 percent threshold.
In non-classroom expenses, trustees spent more than $15,000 on travel, meals and conferences. District legal expenses exceeded $49,000 from July 2008 through August 2009. And Fernando Elizondo, the interim superintendent, spent $10,500 to print a 1½-inch-thick book of student letters to President Obama, which he presented to local politicians, but not students.
Outside investigations aren't new to Luther Burbank. In 2001, political turmoil pushed the district to look into a merger with the nearby Campbell Union School District. But then-new Superintendent Rodriguez rebuilt nearly the entire staff. His administration ran into turmoil with the election of Perez, a former district student, who openly clashed with the superintendent and persuaded the board to force him out last November and immediately hire Elizondo as interim leader.
Elizondo said he's helped clean up the district. He's getting the board to approve policies, from finance to personnel, and has recalled the 11 credit cards that board and staff used.
Kawashima of the grand jury concedes change seems unlikely. He believes parents are too intimidated to speak. The danger, he said, is that the administrative tumult will demoralize teachers, filter down to the classroom and threaten academic progress.
Teachers are hoping a new administration will bring labor peace and resolve some of the issues facing the district.
"We're working as hard as we can, as fast as we can to try to rectify all the different things listed in audit and by the grand jury," said Becki Cohn-Vargas, who began Monday as superintendent-principal. "But it's like rebuilding a train while it's going 100 mph."
Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775.
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