To the Reader
A preliminary version of this report was presented to the FUSD Board of Trustees on December 9, 2004. Since then, four town hall meetings and multiple other presentation and discussion sessions have been held with stakeholders throughout the District. Interested parties have also submitted written suggestions for consideration by the Superintendent’s Advisory Task Force.
This report includes many changes to the preliminary report based on the input received in these forums and through these sources. A fifth overarching academic goal has been added to the four that were included in the preliminary report. One recommendation has been added and numerous edits have been made to add clarity to the report’s findings and recommendations. A large number of suggestions and recommendations have been forwarded to the implementation task forces for consideration as this plan is further fleshed out and implemented.
The Task Force is grateful to the many individuals in the community – parents, students, District employees and other interested parties – who took their time to attend meetings and submit written documents. Their contributions have helped the Task Force produce a better report, stronger recommendations and a more effective path to implementation. Superintendent Chuck McCully has referred to this report as “a blueprint for the future of Fresno Unified.” As with all blueprints, it is subject to “change orders.” The Task Force wants to encourage a continued flow of new ideas and recommendations. The reader should see this report as being in “loose leaf,” as a work-in-process that can and will be improved upon as we proceed with the implementation process.
It has been gratifying to see the high degree of commitment to FUSD from so many quarters, and more importantly, the willingness of so many people to roll up their sleeves and participate in the District’s turn-around process. What began as a somber and sobering assessment of the District’s problems has turned into an energetic, enthusiastic and committed crusade to fix those problems. The expectation has changed from “staving off disaster” to “becoming a high performing district.” Frustration and despair has been turned into hope and aspiration for a return to excellence.
Preface
“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion” Thomas Jefferson
Most of us would agree that, next to the values inculcated by family, the quality of the education received by our children is the most important predictor of their future success, and that their success will in turn define the future of our community. If we share this view, we have to answer for ourselves, why is it that we have allowed so many of the children of Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) to receive a sub-standard education for so long? Why is it that a once-thriving school district has lurched from crisis to crisis, for more than two decades, until we find ourselves now with more than 50% of our schools in the bottom ten percent of California schools and on the verge of a State take-over?
We know there have been many well-intentioned efforts to help the schools. We are well aware of the heroic efforts by people within the district to create safe havens for children in the midst of chaos and neglect. We honor the many community people who have done everything they can to help kids, teachers and the schools. We accept that the district became overwhelmed with changes, many of which were outside of its control. Like many urban districts, the flight of upwardly mobile families coupled with an influx of students with unmet physical and emotional needs at base levels have created enormous challenges for the district. Once a situation becomes chronic and systemic, the skills and resources necessary for change increase in both complexity and number. The fact remains that others with similar challenges have succeeded where we have not. It is time to get past our denial and our tendency to blame others and take responsibility as a community for the futures of our children.
Ask a dozen people how we got to where we are and you’ll get a dozen answers. It’s our Board, our Superintendent, our unions, our demographics, and on and on the list goes. The fact is, the answer lies in the mirror. We have all played a role. We elect the Board. They choose the Superintendent. Our labor contracts carry signatures not just from union leaders, but from the administration acting on the board’s authority. Other California school districts also have to deal with the enormously burdensome California Education Code, just as we do. Our demographics are no more challenging than those of many other school districts with much higher academic achievement and fiscal stability. Too many of us have taken the easy road. Only 40% of us cast our vote for Board Trustees on Election Day. Of those of us who vote, too many of us are happy to remain disengaged, leaving the challenges of the District to the Board and Superintendent, as if they each come with an “S” branded on their chest. Good schools in good school districts are characterized by extensive and constructive engagement from parents, business partners and civic organizations.
There are some who believe that a State take-over is yet another easy way out, when all it does is delay the date when we finally must step up to take control of our own destiny. When the State takes over, it’s because a loan must be granted to the District. The priority of the State then becomes paying back the loan, not improving academic achievement. Once we go through the painful adjustments required to pay off the loan, which could take years, the State will return control of the District to us. Then, we can resume work on improving academic achievement, work that will have laid dormant for many years, and, at the expense of how many children? As Thomas Jefferson said some 200 years ago, when the people have exercised their control in a way that shows them to be unenlightened, you don’t take power away from them; what you do is enlighten them.
Thus, the purpose of this report is to help all of us understand the issues facing the district so we can come together to make enlightened decisions that will bring about the changes that are required to give our children the education they deserve and need to be successful citizens of our community. We can choose to engage constructively and collaboratively to build a strong educational foundation for our children and our community or we can sit on the sidelines and point fingers while the problems remain unsolved. Either way, we are Choosing our Future. We hope readers of this report will realize that the Fresno Unified School District is our responsibility and respond constructively to the community-wide call to action that is implicit throughout this report.
No attempt has been made in this report to sugar-coat the situation faced by FUSD. The challenge is daunting. But we can turn FUSD around. Other large urban districts with challenging demographics have done it: Garden Grove and Long Beach in California, Seattle and Houston, to name a few. We can do it too. Indeed, we must. Every year, about 80,000 children are enrolled at FUSD. The future of our community rests on the quality of education we provide to them.