Agenda Item:  H3

Board Meeting Video Time:  4:55:26 – 5:24:33

• Calendar Change: Superintendent Marten and 3 OF 4 Board Trustees Betray Stakeholder Majority in less than 30 minutes!!!

Link: Board Meeting Video – 06/09/2015

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Agenda Item H3: 2016-17 Academic Calendar for All District Schools

The Fauxllaboration charade of the Marten Administration hit an all time low with presenting false information to the Board of Education to convince 3 of the 4 Trustees to Vote AGAINST the will of the SDUSD Stakeholder Majority.

District Deeds began describing this Calendar Committee ruse in an earlier posts here:

SDUSD School Calendar Change – Marten Manipulation and Lies in Action!

And here is the Stakeholder testimony from the December 9^th, 2014 meeting that exposed the total lack of Stakeholder engagement:

And here is the District Deeds post describing the result of those comments:

School Start Date Pushed Off 1 Year!

During the Stakeholder Engagement phase, a dedicated Parent Stakeholder provided a comprehensive case that eliminated EVERY SINGLE MARTEN EXCUSE for the pre-Labor Day start:

OPEN LETTER TO THE SDUSD: MISSION BAY CLUSTER PARENT PROVIDES a 5TH REASON the SDUSD SCHOOL START DATE Should Remain AFTER Labor Day!

District Deeds attended many SDUSD meetings during the Stakeholder Engagement Phase from December 10, 2014 through June 8, 2015 and IN EVERY SINGLE CASE THE COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS WERE AGAINST THE PRE-LABOR DAY START WITH AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY!

In the June 9^th BOE Meeting, Marten decided to bring out her big guns…OUTRIGHT FALSEHOODS and then repeating of the OUTRIGHT FALSEHOODS by SDUSD Employees and Parent Stakeholders who enjoy “special access” to Marten.

In her presentation, Marten just repeated the same false arguments with faulty analysis protocols to improperly sway the BOE.

EVERY lie and false argument created from thin air and presented by Superintendent Marten had already previously been debunked by facts brought by the SDUSD Stakeholder community.

However this time the public portion of the Marten disinformation campaign began with a parade of SDUSD Employees and Parent Stakeholders that depend on Marten either for their job or to retain their “special access” credentials as representative of a BOE sponsored organization like the PTA or the DAC.  They all parroted the same lies that Marten presented and added a “new” wrinkle.

The PTA Parent Representative on the committee said:  “This is an academic calendar…not a vacation calendar or a camping calendar.”

This was an opinion also echoed by Marten Employees in the SDUSD and the Unions who just got a 5% pay increase.

If this is STRICTLY an academic Calendar not a Vacation Calendar, how about trying to end the School Year BEFORE June 1^st too?

Vacations don’t count according to the District surrogates on the Calendar Committee so how about making up the extra days on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after?

Or how about adding the days from Christmas Day through New Years Day too?

Obviously the argument that this is STRICTLY an Academic Calendar is a false one…one that is disingenuous and probably one cooked up by the Marten Propaganda Communication Department to justify ignoring the Stakeholder Majority and pushing through this ill-advised decision through the BOE.

The Truth:

It is a SDUSD FAMILY Calendar…and therefore the MAJORITY of the SDUSD Stakeholders should decide…not a Marten handpicked overwhelming majority that depend on Marten for their job or continued “special “ access.

The DAC Chair proclaimed that she had voted against it initially but that the Calendar Change didn’t make any difference to her personally since her children already start school in August.  She then thanked the Board for “adequately consulting the Clusters and Advisory Group” and thought “this is a model for the way we need to start engaging Stakeholders”.

REALLY?

As DAC Chair you only care about the impact to your kids and ON TOP OF THAT are thankful that the Board and Superintendent Marten engaged SDUSD Stakeholders, found that an overwhelming majority were against the pre-Labor Day Start and then PROPOSED TO DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE STAKEHOLDERS TOLD THEM?!?

WOW!

With Parent Stakeholder Representatives like that on the Calendar Committee that represent the exact opposite of their constituency, WHY BOTHER HAVING PARENT STAKEHOLDERS ON THE CALENDAR COMMITTEE AT ALL?

But there is another question…

Is the desperate conceding to Marten by these SDUSD Employees and Stakeholders with “special” Board Sanctioned access so important to them that they will accept ANY lie Marten tells and publicly testify that it is the truth despite ALL evidence to the contrary…and then use “for the kids” as their excuse?

If our trust in Marten and the Board is now so damaged that even considering that the described manipulation of those Stakeholders is a possibility to be true, how disgraceful does that make the SDUSD Senior Leadership team?

After the SDUSD Propaganda speakers were finished, the SDUSD Stakeholders who have NOTHING to gain except the health and welfare of their Children/Students had their chance to destroy the Marten untruths to the BOE.

The first Stakeholder speaker called out Marten on the AP prep excuse that impacts a tiny minototy of High School students and NO STUDENTS in Elementary or Middle school that make up the vast majority of the Student population.  She also debunked the College Schedule June 1st argument by pointing out that the proposed pre-Labor Day Schedule WOULD STILL RUN PAST JUNE 1ST…MAKING IT A BOGUS ARGUMENT BY MARTEN!

Here is her testimony:

The next Stakeholder speaker took apart the Marten neutral “fiscal  impact” lie explaining that the running of air conditioners during one of the hottest weeks of the year would incur additional millions of dollars expense in this cash strapped District. She also pointed out the Marten and BOE hypocrisy to accept an award and a photo-op from SDGG&E for energy conservation and then deciding to use air conditioners ACROSS THE DISTRICT for an extra week.

Here is her testimony:

The 3rd highlighted Parent Stakeholder speaker used the Survey Data COMPILED BY THE DISTRICT AGAINST THEM!

The Parent Speaker told Marten and the BOE that the results of a survey on the District website asking for stakeholder input resulted in “65.9% of the respondents preferred a post Labor Day start.”   She concluded with “If you in vote in favor of this proposed Calendar Change you are telling these Stakeholders that their opinions DO NOT MATTER!”

Here is her testimony:

District Deeds described the night of the decision by the board in  NEWS FLASH!  San Diego Unified School Board Trustees Barrera, Evans and Grand Jury Accused Foster BETRAY STAKEHOLDER MAJORITY – Move School Start Date to Pre-Labor Day!!!

Grand Jury Accused Trustee Marne Foster, Trustee Richard Barrera and Trustee John Lee Evans decided to vote YES on the ill-advised Marten recommendation and TOLD ALL OF THEIR VOTING CONSTITUENTS THAT THEIR OPINIONS DO NOT MATTER!  Again…Trustee Beiser was conspicuously absent for one of the most important votes of the year.

Only one Trustee stood tall for the majority of SDUSD Stakeholders…DR. MICHAEL McQUARY!

District Deeds Observation:

The one thing that Marten is really good at is the Carrot and Stick manipulation method.

The stick of intimidation and job risk can be used to coerce SDUSD employees to testify her way.

The carrot can be used on non-employee Stakeholders and Unions with rewards of special access to her office and granting of favors that make the recipients look like they are “collaborating” with the District Boss Marten.

In BOTH cases, dedicated SDUSD Stakeholders completely lose trust in the Marten Leadership and Board of Education Governance.

It seems like a lot to lose in one Board of Education Vote…and EVERYONE lost in the process.

Lost Trust

Lost Commitment

Lost Belief that the Board Trustees could be trusted.

Even more amazing…

It only took Cindy Marten, Marne Foster, Richard Barrera and John Lee Evans only 29 minutes and 59 seconds to do it!

Coming up next:

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 5:

“Meddlin Marne Melts Down and Marten Lies Betray Dedicated SDUSD Staff”  

Here is a list of the full series of posts for the SDUSD Board of Education Meeting on 6/9/15:

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego Unified Board of Education Meeting 6/9/15 – INTRODUCTION

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 1 “SCREECHING, PURGING AND THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES”

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 2:  “IF YOU TRICK STAKEHOLDERS AS AN AREA SUPERINTENDENT…THEN YOU MIGHT BE A USED CAR SALESWOMAN (Sorry Mr. Foxworthy)”

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 3:  “SHELL GAMES”

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 4: “NEW RECORD!!! MARTEN AND 3 OF 4 BOARD TRUSTEES BETRAY STAKEHOLDER MAJORITY IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES!!!

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – PART 5:  “MEDDLIN’ MARNE MELTS DOWN AND MARTEN LIES BETRAY DEDICATED SDUSD STAFF”

DISTRICT DEEDS MEETING DISMEMBERMENT: San Diego BOE Meeting 6/9/15 – EPILOGUE