My position, issues and hopes for the future

By Crystal D. Manly

It has been frustrating and challenging. I have had many sleepless nights filled with worry and wonder about making good choices for our children. Below you will find some of the issues the board of trustees has worked on resolving, issues that the board of trustees is working on, my hopes for the future and things I feel still need to be addressed by the Board of Trustees.

The Old College Campus Purchase

During my first month in office I raised the question on the purchase of old college campus. In my review of the purchase, I discovered previous Board relied on an appraisal that was over a year old, was not performed by a qualified appraiser and one had been paid for by Palo Verde College. The outdated appraisal valued the property at $1.75 million. After paying $1.5 million for the campus, the board president from the former board told the audience that it was a "good deal".

California Education Code requires that School Districts provide due diligence when acquiring real property. I pushed to have a qualified appraiser perform a new appraisal. The appraisal came in at $1.25 million. A quarter million dollars less than the previous board had paid for the property and a half million dollars less than the outdated appraisal the former board relied on said the property was worth.

After the board received this appraisal from an MAI certified appraiser, the board of trustees voted to rescind the purchase. While this was going on, we moved towards the modernization of Appleby.

Despite our quest to preserve taxpayer money by rescinding the purchase of the college campus, the state of California informed us that a natural gas pipeline ran underneath Appleby School, not only did this put a halt to the renovation of Appleby School , it also forced us to keep the students off the site.

This turned into a very unfortunate situation because most governmental agencies work together for the benefit of the community. In this instance, I believe Palo Verde Community College did not do its part as a partner in this community to further education.

We were in a bind. We had no place to house the students and staff of Appleby School. The response from Dr. Jim Hottois, the Superintendent/President of Palo Verde Community College, was to lease the abandoned campus to PVUSD for $165,000 per year.

This issue is still very upsetting to me. We are paying rent of $165,000 per year to Palo Verde Community College for a campus that had been vacant for over a year. A campus that the taxpayers paid for in a bond measure in 1967 and a campus that was gifted to Palo Verde Community College for $1 by Palo Verde Unified School District in 1974.

Another issue I brought forward in relation the purchase of the campus was that no environmental studies had been conducted prior to the children occupying the site.

Federal law requires that an asbestos inspection be performed by a K-12 school district prior to their purchasing a building that was built before to 1986. This required environmental study was not requested by the previous board. I pushed to have this study done, as required by law. Fortunately, there were no major findings in the environmental survey, except that floor tiles and dry wall joint compound contained asbestos. These problems are being managed through proper maintenance.

English Language Learners

Nearly two years ago I asked why the budget for English Language Learners was only $12,000 at the High School. This figure was seemed low considering all of the elementary schools were spending more money on their ELL progarams. During the summer of 2001, Dr. Ron Corona, the interim PVUSD Superintendent, assigned staff members to review the program.

It was confirmed that we had not been meeting the needs of our English Language Learners because students were not being properly identified.

In the spring of 2003, the State of California, in a Coordinated Compliance Review, identified thirteen major areas of noncompliance with our ELL program. The Coordinated Compliance Review found that PVUSD was not serving more than 600 English learning students within the district.

In September 2003, PVUSD hired a full time ELL coordinator to address the issues of noncompliance in this program. The education services department is now in the process of training certifying all teachers in the district to teach English Language Learners.

Early Childhood Education

Another area of focus I believe is vital to improving student performance is early childhood education.

I would like to see PVUSD commit to giving parents the option of sending their children to an all day Kindergarten class at all of the PVUSD elementary sites.

Appleby offered all day kindergarten last year and staff feels that it had an impact it on the children.

The first grade teachers, now working with children that were in all day kindergarten last year all believe that it has helped these children get ahead. These teachers believe that all day Kindergarten has great benefits for the children.

I believe that focusing on early childhood education plays a part in improving student achievement. Considering the focus the State and federal government is now giving to student performance, I believe now is the time to build a strong kindergarten program.

I also believe that the school district needs impress upon parents how important their role is in ensuring their children are successful life long learners. We must focus on early childhood intervention so that students who are not at grade level are identified and that they do not slip through the cracks.

Alternative Education

I have continued to push for alternatives to suspension and expulsions for students. While there is no doubt that some cases warrant the removal of students from school to ensure student safety, students also need to be offered an alternative. We need to keep children in school, not throw them away.

Instead of suspending or expelling students, we need to offer "Opportunity Classes" to children whose behavioral issues are not ones that affect student safety. We need to focus on keeping children in school instead of suspending them for several days at a time.

Fiscal Responsibility

In September 2002, I voted no to renovate the administrative office at Palo Verde High School. I voted this way because the remodeling of the the administration building was not something the voters were promised in the Measure E Bond they approved in 1998.

In 1998, a majority of the voters of this community supported the bond measure to renovate our schools. A part of that promise included the renovation of the PV High School gymnasium and the creation of a performing arts center - there was no mention of remodeling the adminstration building at the High School.

I believe the vote to renovate the administrative offices was not student focused decision and was not what the taxpayers said they wanted. That vote was a 3-2 split with Gary Grimm and myself voting against it.

In trying to honor the promise to the community, the board of trustees has made improvements to the gym. The improvements include: Insulation of the gym ceiling and retrofitting the bleachers in the gym to address safety concerns. We are also in the process of reviewing bids to install new lockers in both the boys and girls locker rooms.

Hopes for the future

I have great hopes that Palo Verde Unified can enhance and expand the music program it now offers.

I hope to see an after school program that teaches fine arts.

This type of program strengthens self-esteem, helps students develop self-expression and teaches children about other cultures.

I also hope to see an expansion of vocational opportunities for students.

Vocational education helps young adults build self esteem, helps them better understand themselves and helps them develop goals for a future career. Providing vocational opportunities for non-college bound students is crucial.

Problems That Still Need to be Addressed

Many changes have occurred and many more are needed. We have only begun scratch the surface with regard to the issues that must be addressed at PVUSD.

I have continued to push to ensure that PVUSD does business in a professional, fair and consistent manner. I have also demanded that we comply with the law so we ensure the safety of our children, create a fair, consistent and supportive working environment for staff and that we spend taxpayers money wisely.

In closing, I hope I have done a good job serving my community for the past two years. The job has been challenging. A problem we have faced was was the budget cuts from the State over the past year. This problem is something we are going to be facing for a long time and we now find ourselves in a position where we have to prepare for more budget cuts for the years to come. We are in a time when we must be extremely cautious with our budget.

I made no promises during my last campaign, but I will make some now. I promise to continue to be a child advocate and I promise to be fiscally responsible.

I hope that you, the community, will give me the opportunity to continue to serve you for another four years. I would like to continue to work to improve Palo Verde Unified School District.