Communicate More With Parents, Taxpayers and the City

By Linda S. (Shirley) Boyd

Our school district should establish a voluntary interactive communications program so that Glendorans are informed on major developments in our schools and have the chance to provide input.

I tried to find the current GUSD Budget for this fiscal year on the GUSD website and discovered it wasn't there. Why not? It is public information and any citizen who wants to review it should be able to do so with a few mouse clicks.

I tried to find a District Map showing the attendance boundaries - it's not there either.

We still use an old-fashioned robocall system to inform parents of student absences. The overwhelming majority of our parents have email and it is more reliable than the phones. Let's join the 21st century!

Beyond that, why don't we proactively inform parents of upcoming events via email? We could save money on mailings, provide more information, and ask for feedback so we know if parents and other taxpayers like what we're doing.

The City of Glendora and the Glendora Unified School District (GUSD) should be partners. There is currently not enough interaction between the two. I propose that the Council and School Board hold joint meetings once or twice a year to discuss matters of mutual interest. The public should be invited to express their opinions at these meetings. Topics could include Community Services Commission programs that our kids are involved in after school, traffic problems around schools and working together to prevent the state from raiding our local government funds.