District Deeds received a dispatch from I’s on ELL’s who sent the following recap of the first DELAC meeting of the year.

District Deeds had called out Marten at the time for her careless and unilateral poor decision without any plan or collaboration with ELL Stakeholders in a blog post on July 22, 2014: https://districtdeeds.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/sdusd-english-language-learners-feel-the-royal-command-pain-of-superintendent-inexperience/

Fauxllaboration Definition: https://districtdeeds.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/news-release-san-diego-unified-school-district-malady-identified-marten-fauxllaboration/

Here is the dispatch from I’s on ELL’s

Versión en Español:   https://districtdeeds.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/alerta-de-falsacolaboracion-de-sdusd-reunion-escandalo-en-delac-sdusd-bloquea-discusion-por-miembros-de-delac-miembros-sobre-los-cambios-recientes-en-relacion-a-las-maestras-de-recursos-elst/

Dear District Deeds-

San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) parents who volunteer and are involved in the English Language Advisory Committee in their schools attended this school year’s first SDUS District ELAC representatives meeting (DELAC General Meeting).

• Many ELAC members were very concerned, upset and had many questions about the removal of English Language Support Teachers (ELST’s) positions at their schools.
• Strangely the ELST removal WAS NOT EVEN ON THE AGENDA!

When the meeting started:

• The material prepared and presented by Mary Waldron and Debra Doughertywas in reference to the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)…nothing to do with the ELST’s
• It was a VERY long presentation and ELAC representatives were getting frustrated and angry as they wanted to express their confusion and disapproval on losing ELST’sat their school sites.
• Some members tried to raise these questions as the established agenda did not provide for Public Comment or membership participation. I thought that was VERY unusual for what was supposed to be a sanctioned “community collaboration” meeting. 
• The presentation kept going as theSDUSD Rep Mary Waldron repeated she did not want to deviate herself from the agenda and she was reassuring parents the district wanted to work collaboratively with them to address the status quo…while refusing to work collaboratively with them at the meeting!
• Parents kept disrupting the presentationas they really felt the need to address the ELST’s issue and further discuss this matter, but the district staff continued to refuse to address the ELST issue.
• Almost at the end of the meeting a motion was made from the floor to extend the meeting 10 more minutes to discuss the ELST issue.
• The Districts ‘ Debra Dougherty did not know how to react to this motion.To everybody’s dismay all DELAC Board officers voted NOT to extend the meeting to further discuss this matter against parliamentarian procedures. This was supported by the so called “collaborative” District Representatives.
• The meeting became chaotic…the General Membership was SHOCKED and very confused as parliamentarian procedures were not being followedand there was not clear leadership and direction on this chaotic situation. 
• At this point ELAC representatives were growing in anger and frustrationand the DELAC Past Vice Chair tried to formalize ELAC representatives issues by inviting them to write their concerns in a pink slip provided for this purpose.
• The current DELAC secretary was NOT taking minutes and all DELAC officers were not actively joining this effort.
• Debra Dougherty, Program Manager and Mary Waldron, Office of Language Acquisition Director were not answering any questions and refused to allow the ELAC representatives  to express their concerns.
• The direct feedback of the parents expressing their anger in reference to the ELST situation and the manner it was handled included:

1. Parents were not aware of the fact that their schools were losing their ELST’sas this was a decision that took place a week before Summer break; thus they reacted in anger, frustration and disappointment as they are beginning to feel the full NEGATIVE educational impact on their children.
2. A drastic action like this one had not been presented with a planthat answers the question of how is the district going to serve their students BEFORE the SDUSD decided to just implement it.
3. Parents question the metrics set forth in the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) as the ELL’s must demonstrate growth and higher reclassification rates but there is no established plan to get them there.
4. Now that the funds that were allocated to programs and services for ELL’s are now unrestricted and are part of the general fund, parents want to understand how is the district going to GUARANTEE they will continue to spend the same amount or more money to service these ELL students.
5. The District personnel, who were supposed to promote collaborationand communication with all the ELAC reps who VOLUNTEERED to spend their time at the meeting instead of with their families, were contributing to this chaotic situation by refusing to answer the DELAC General membership questions.

The ELAC members who were present at the meeting along with many, many additional concerned parents and community members will be meeting outside the Education Center at Normal Street, on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 4.30pm, before the Board of Education (BOE) meeting to organize ourselves in order to convey our message to the Superintendent Marten and members of the Board of Education.

We will demand that our concerns are addressed and that we will obtain detailed answers to our questions.

Please invite ALL SDUSD Stakeholders – Parents, Teachers, Students, Community Members, Administrators and Press – through the District Deeds blog to come and join us tomorrow to support the ELL students and all the students in this issue.

Signed-

I’s on ELL’s

District Deeds strongly urges ALL SDUSD Stakeholders to demand REAL collaboration and REAL transparency from Marten and the Board of Education by joining the DELAC tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7, at 4:30 pm!