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INTRODUCTION

Ten months ago on New Years Day, Sunday, January 1, 2023, District Deeds made the 2023 “HAT Trick” New Years Resolution for holding the San Diego Unified School District to the reasonable, justifiable, and critical standard of Honesty, Accountability and Transparency:

Since that time we have provided our readers the HAT Trick Handbook for Uniform Complaints and spent Summer, 2023 breaking down the three components with documented proof of horrible SDUSD performance.

In the last 3 weeks we have provided both document and video examples of the SDUSD senior leadership corruption and lies in subverting any semblance of the 3 District Deeds HAT TRICK components of Honesty, Accountability and Transparency.

The videos we provided last week represented the SDUSD  Family “Speak Your Truth” perspective on violations of the 3 HAT TRICK principls.

Thanks to our “Speak Your Truth” initiative, for the next few weeks we will provide the SDUSD EMPLOYEE perspective on these 3 key principles.

This week we feature a brave SDUSD “Speak Your Truth” Employee of over 20 years sharing their story.

Dear District Deeds and Readers-

I have worked for the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) for over 20+ years, 10+ of those years in a Central Office capacity and 10+ years at school sites.  I am redacting my exact years of service and identity over fear of SDUSD retribution and retaliation.

The SDUSD is currently in the midst of a “spending freeze”.  Teachers are being told they can’t buy supplies for their classrooms. Teachers are being told the school cannot afford important Student engagement tools like Scholastic because of the raises the Teachers received last year.  What do the Teacher salaries/raises have to do with needed supplies and supports for our Students?  Title I schools have plenty of budget for supplies.  Whether it is a Title I school or not, all necessary supplies should be purchased by the district to ensure the best possible learning environment for our youth…NOT purchased by Teachers and Parents.  This is clearly budget mismanagement by the SDUSD senior leadership.

To be clear, this “spending freeze” means anything purchased by any department or school, is not approved unless it is declared an emergency…and even then the department/school has to jump through hoops before it is approved.

However that rule does NOT apply to ALL employees and areas of the district..

ALL of the Area Superintendents, SEVEN to be exact, just received brand new office furniture despite the spending freeze. I don’t care how or where money was set aside for this.  If the Teachers are not allowed to request supplies from the district to ensure their teaching experience and their students’ learning experience, why is it OK for the Area SUPS to be allowed to break the spending freeze for unneeded furniture when there is plenty of excellent used office furniture in storage throughout the SDUSD?

Why does the responsibility for classroom supplies fall on Teachers and many Families that are struggling financially instead of the billion dollar SDUSD?

As I said earlier, through my position I know that there are strict guidelines for all major purchases during a spending freeze and  must be signed off and submitted by Supt. Lamont Jackson.

Since when is new furniture in the central office an emergency that is more important than supplies for Students and Teachers?  Is THAT what Mr. Jackson considers an emergency?

I also know that classrooms are getting new furniture.  One example is new “kidney tables” which many Teachers are saying they DO NOT NEED. Teachers have told me that they would much rather have the necessary supplies that will enhance their students’ learning experience.

Again, ALL expenses are in the midst of a spending freeze so how can the SDUSD leadership justify why this is happening?

I am also insulted and frustrated that Teachers are being punished because they received MUCH DESERVED raises.  As we said earlier, they are literally being told by their Principals “there is no money for supplies because they got raises.”  What’s disturbing about this is that many times Teachers or Parents wind up purchasing these necessities/supplies with their own money because they are dedicated to their students.

I thought the Students came first. Apparently the comfort of the Area Superintendents and useless tables are more important than SDUSD’s Students getting the necessary supplies to ensure the finest learning opportunities.

Where is that same dedication to Students from upper management including Supt. Lamont Jackson and the Board of Education?

And the saddest thing of all is that this is just a very small tidbit of the hypocrisy and self serving corruption happening at SDUSD.  As a service to all of the SDUSD community I will be sharing more of these abuses in the coming months.

Sincerely,

“PTSD from SDUSD

District Deeds thanks “PTSD from SDUSD” for providing all SDUSD Stakeholders their “Speak Your Truth” insight regarding the SDUSD budget mismanagement and the impact to Students and Teachers in the classroom.

Honest assessments that hold the SDUSD accountable for this type of ill-advised spending made transparent by brave SDUSD Stakeholders is the cornerstone of our District Deeds HAT Trick initiative.

Complete dedication to FULLY serving the education needs (including ALL supplies and Student engagement tools) of Students MUST be the TOP priority of everyone.

We hope that every day the SEVEN Area Superintendents’ realize that when they sit down in their office filled with un-needed expensive new furniture that it is being paid for by the neediest students and families who struggle to buy the most basic of school supplies.  We hope that they remember that their new furniture SHOULD NOT be considered a priority for SDUSD education.

District Deeds “Speak Your Truth” Information

On August 27, 2023 we launched a new initiative in our post titled “2023/2024 – District Deeds 10th School Year…NEW “Speak Your Truth” Posting Opportunity for ALL SDUSD Stakeholders!!!” where we asked for the real life experiences of San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Parents, Teachers, Students, Staff and Taxpayers.

Here is the “Speak Your Truth” initiative definition from that post:

“Speak Your Truth” CONTINUES to inspire honesty and bravery with SDUSD Teachers, Staff, Parents and Students and given us additional insight into the deep fear of SDUSD retribution by employees in the toxic SDUSD work environment.

THANK YOU to ALL the brave SDUSD Stakeholders who continue to share their stories with us and provide deep insights into the ongoing SDUSD dysfunctional work and education environment.

Now for our Quote of the Week dedicated to SDUSD Stakeholders who are dedicated to prioritizing Student, Family and Teacher support over executive comforts:

“Education should be one of our top funding priorities; talking about it does not help the teachers and students who desperately need promises fulfilled. – Solomon Ortiz

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