Category Archives: Echo Chamber

Board Retreat: Evasive Maneuvers on OCR Complaint (Audio)

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School Board Annual Retreat  2013-07-09-Board-MeetingOCR1 Audio #1 starts about 55 minutes into the meeting   2013-07-09-Board-MeetingOCR2 Audio #2 starts 5 minutes after the previous one  In this blog I have posted two short audios of the July 9, 2013, School Board annual retreat. In this meeting the school board sets the list of priorities of issues that they will address in the coming school year. In these two audios you will hear the superintendent and … Continue reading →

Michael’s Response to School District Attorney about OCR Complaint (Letter)

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  The attached letter is in response to a letter I received earlier this month from the School District’s attorney, claiming that the board wanted to ‘dialogue’ about the issues raised in the OCR complaint. The original letter that solicited this response is included as enclosure #1. It is also listed as another Blog Post. PDF Link of Michael Clara Letter to Attorney   PDF Link to Enclosures 1-8 PDF Link to Enclosures 9-14 … Continue reading →

Seasoned Board Member is Opposed to Receiving Detailed Budget Information (emails)

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School Board Member  Representing District 6   Fellow Board member Rosemary Emery sent an email to all Board members prior to our retreat last week. She is requesting that the Board have better access and understanding to the school district budget: From: Rosemary Emery Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 3:17 PM To: Laurel Young; Tiffany Sandberg; Michael Clara; Heather Bennett; Doug Nelson; Kristi Swett Subject: board meeting Over the last two years it has become apparent that as a board … Continue reading →

Superintendent’s Growing Compensation: $220,244.00

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During the Budget process earlier this year I proposed an amendment to the budget that would give our employees a 3% COLA increase in order to match the 3% annual bonus that the Superintendent receives. It was voted down by the Board and the Superintendent somewhat denied that he revived a bonus. This year the School Board gave the Superintendent a 6% increase and gave our Teachers (& all employees) a  1% increase School Board … Continue reading →

Is the School Improvement Council (SIC) Inflating Classroom Size?

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“When an SIC sits down and if they predetermine what they want taught because of the adults in the room and that happens in some of our schools more than it should ever occur, then we are missing the opportunity to better serve kids and that effects dropout rates” McKell Withers “Your core [high school] teachers have 220 kids, obviously that effects how they relate to students….there is a connection between the fact that you … Continue reading →