Fresno Unified has had 9 superintendents in the last 20 years. Most recently, Dr. Santiago Woods served from 2000 until he was terminated in June 2004. He was followed by Dr, Walt Buster, who served on a pro-bono basis from June to December 2004, and by former Superintendent Chuck McCully, who served from January to June 2005. Michael Hanson was appointed superintendent in July 2005.
Shortly after he became Superintendent, Dr. Buster asked a 9-member citizen task force to help him formulate a turn-around plan for the District. The task force found a District that was in complete disarray. “The fact is that academically and financially, FUSD is broken”, said the Task Force in the opening paragraph of its report. The dire financial condition of the district was confirmed in a report issued by a Fiscal Management Crisis Assistance Team (FCMAT) appointed by the County Superintendent of education. The academic bankruptcy of the District was evidenced by the fact that 51% of the schools in the district ranked in the bottom 10% of all California schools. Fiscal mismanagement had caused elimination of music programs, curtailment of library activities and big reductions in the number of counselors. Wherever the task force looked -- school facilities, technology, school safety programs, special education programs, etc. – it found dysfunction and disarray.
The task force delivered its initial findings on December 2004 and its final 37 recommendations on January 4, 2005 (see Choosing our Future report under reference documents). “Conventional wisdom says that change processes should focus on one or two areas at a time, but conventional wisdom does not apply to a situation that is as broken as FUSD”, said the report. Because the task force felt a sequential approach would not do the job, it recommended instead what it called a “blitzkrieg approach” – a concurrent attack on all the major problems affecting the district. “The fact is that many of us on the task force had our doubts as to whether the district could be saved”, said one of the task force co-chairs three years later. “It was going to take a gargantuan effort, and we were not at all sure that we would be able to find the leadership to get it done”.
Three years later, the turn-around that has taken place is nothing short of incredible. While there is a great deal yet to be done – work that will require steady leadership for years to come – there is today reason for optimism. The specifics of the turn-around – and the work yet to be done – will be covered in the Save Fresno Unified website in the weeks and months ahead.
