PRIORITIES
Parental Rights, Transparency and Financial Accountability
Kids FIRST
We can improve outcomes for all children by respecting parental input and choices, as they know their children best. While Irvine students overall have high achievement rates, school district testing shows that 25% of students are not proficient in reading. IUSD also has a pattern of disparities in outcomes for many student groups, which may be even more pronounced after COVID. In addition, many parents witnessed their child's learning loss and onset of mental health issues during remote learning. Statistics show that students with disabilities have always struggled within the district, and some have also been subject to discrimination; IUSD has had four separate discrimination complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in just that past 5 years. We need to celebrate our successes, while also help the many students who are struggling academically and mental-health wise. I believe that Irvine residents are very compassionate and want ALL children to have equal opportunities to succeed.
As a board member, I will ensure that parents' voices are heard as they know their child best and they have the legal, financial and moral responsibility for their child's upbringing. Remote access to board meetings is essential for providing opportunities for busy parents to have their voices heard, and should be reinstated. I will also work to ensure that we strive for high expectations and outcomes for ALL of our students regardless of race, disability, or socio-economic status, and ensure that addressing the COVID learning loss and mental health issues are a priority. I will work to strengthen and enforce board policies that protect children with disabilities from discrimination and ensure a zero tolerance policy for discriminatory practices within our school district.
Informed decisions based on transparency
Parents have a right to know what is being taught to their children. We need more transparency about approved curriculum as well as supplementary materials that do not go through a vetting process by the Board. Parents also need to know exactly who is collecting data about their children via surveys or other instruments and how that data is being used. The public deserves transparency via the Brown Act which requires that the public see what will be discussed on the agenda, and that they have an opportunity to give public comment. In addition, many school districts are transparent about how to request public records, including the name of a contact person on the District website along with detailed instructions on how to request records. There is no mention of public records on the IUSD website, making it difficult for community members to obtain public information.
As an IUSD Board member I will insist upon more transparency including what curriculum is being taught through core and supplementary materials, what data is being collected on our children and how it is being used, how administrative decisions are made, and where our tax dollars are going.
District Policies
One of the main duties of the School Board is to create and maintain policies so that there are clear expectations and protocols. Currently, we as taxpayers are paying for IUSD Board members to enjoy membership in the California School Board Association (CSBA) which provides standard board policies for free to its members via GAMUT Online. However, IUSD has not adopted all of these well-vetted and up-to-date policies and instead continues to have policies that are 20, 30 and even 40 years old.
The Board’s reliance on outdated policies recently resulted in a letter from the American Civil Liberties Unition (ACLU) threatening litigation unless IUSD modified an unconstitutional policy which violated free speech rights under the First Amendment.
The District's 13-year old "Civility" policy says it seeks mutual respect between parents and employees, but it then allows for revoking the "privilege" of communicating with a child's teacher or principal for things like misusing the "copy to" feature on an email - without defining what that means. This can lead to the unnecessary, and potentially unlawful, disruption of a parent's rights to communicate with their child's educators and administrators.
As a Board member, I will work to ensure that these policies are updated in an expeditious manner to ensure they are in alignment with the First Amendment, the California Constitution and with parental rights to communicate with their child's teachers and administrators. These policies need to provide clear and equitable guidance to ALL community members, parents, teachers, staff, and administration.
Spending wisely
As elected representatives, Board members are responsible for ensuring the proper use of taxpayer funds. Everything the school district pays for is done with taxpayer dollars such as salaries, buildings, office supplies, and all contracts with vendors such as EdTech companies, attorneys, and food vendors. All of these services are supposed to be for the benefit of the school district as a whole and should be transparent. Currently, however, not all contracts are being provided with the agendas, and the Board is approving these contracts sight unseen. A current public records request revealed that one of these contracts allowed for attorney fees for up to $1,390 per hour – which is 3-4 times the going rate. Since the contracts are not provided with the agendas, neither the public nor the Board has any idea how these taxpayer dollars are being spent.
As a Board member, I will work to ensure that the taxpayers are respected by ensuring that their hard-earned dollars are not wasted or directed away from students. This can only occur with more transparency regarding how funds are being used. I will work to ensure the funding priority is always for the direct benefit of students for their educational and mental health needs rather than to unnecessary and inflated legal fees or administrative costs.
Ira Glasky - Katie McKewen - IUSD - Irvine Unified School District - ACLU - free speech - silencing parents - Irvine Teacher's Association - Irvine teacher's union - Irvine Unified Board Members - Irvine Unified policies - Ira Glasky Board President - Ira Glasky Irvine Unified School District - Ira Glasky threatening to ban parent from speaking - ACLU admonishes Irvine Unified - IUSD defies ACLU - Ira Glasky denies threatening to ban speaker - Ira Glasky denies agenda request - Ira Glasky acts as treasurer - Ira Glasky works on one campaign, silences another candidate - Ira Glasky - unethical behavior - appearance of impropriety - Cassie Parham - Raianna Chavez - Terry Walker - Christopher Krebs - Cassie Parham - Raianna Chavez - Terry Walker - Christopher Krebs - Cassie Parham - Raianna Chavez - Terry Walker - Christopher Krebs
Feel free to email me: DebraKammForIrvineSchoolBoard@gmail.com