KPAO by Dave Cortright

Awesome Steve Jobs tribute watercolor by Steve Rude

Steve Rude does a really amazing job with the lighting in this watercolor. And it's up for auction right now!

Same blog, new host and look

FYI, I changed blog hosts last night and in the process merged the content of KPAO with my old Rated Best blog. I had to use a new design template, so the center column is narrower and will cut off some of the older posts' pictures. And there are definitely some broken links, which I'll be fixing over the next few days. Do feel free to let me know of specific places that are broken.

Thanks for your readership over the years!

My response to Craig Mann's letter to me regarding Bullis Charter School

 Mr. Mann and other members of the Santa Clara County Board of Education,

Please understand that just because you have renewed BCS, it does not obviate your responsibilities to actually manage them to the performance levels required by both their contract and state law. Certainly you aren't suggesting that if BCS were in gross violation of their charter or the law, you would simply wait until 2017 for the agreement to expire, right? So between that extreme case and the one where they are run perfectly with no issues (also an extreme), there is a middle ground in which we are now, where it is possible the charter may need to be reminded, urged, prodded or even ordered to execute their duties under threat of reprisal, up to and including revocation of their charter.

And so I promise to be there with you every step of the way helping you to understand all sides of the issues surrounding BCS. I have stood by silent for 8 long years and watched believing in vain that rational thought would eventually win out. But I see that if I want the change to happen, then I must take it on and drive it myself. So be it. I admit I am new to this, but I count that as a good thing. Many people who make great things happen often say in hindsight that if they knew how hard it would be starting out, they would never have even tried. Thus I will do my best to retain that innocent optimism. As I told a friend of mine, perhaps changing educational policy is no different than creating a diamond. Merely apply constant pressure over a long period of time.

http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp

Mr. Mann, your reputation precedes you. I am well aware of your intransigence on this topic. I have little hope in changing your mind in any way. But there are 6 other board members here with minds that I am certain are open to rational discussion and reasoning. So consider the fact that I choose to include you on these messages as FYI; a mere professional courtesy due to you in your role as a member of the board.

As always, thank you for your time and attention. Respectfully,

·Dave Cortright

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From: "cmann4896@aol.com" <cmann4896@aol.com>

To: davecortright@yahoo.com; leon_beauchman@sccoe.org; michael_chang@sccoe.org; josephsds1@aol.com; julia_hover-smoot@sccoe.org; grace_mah@sccoe.org; craig_mann@sccoe.org; anna_song@sccoe.org

Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:07 PM

Subject: Re: How could BCS best serve ALL students in Santa Clara County?

Mr. Cortright,

 

Thanks for your communication.  So, you are crystal clear - please understand that this Board will not be reviewing BCS again for another five (5) years, 2017. The only dialog between now and then with BCS will be their annual reporting to the Board and the COE's monitoring as it does with all of our charter schools. In short, the Board is done and the Board is moving forward. In the interim, please do take advantage of Member Beauchman's offer to meet as he has been on the Board since BCS initial approval and has much historic fact and wisdom to impart.

 

Take care, enjoy the holidays and happy new year's in advance.

Best regards,

 

Craig Mann

Member, Santa Clara County Board of Education

 

"I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it's Hell."  President Harry S. Truman

My letter to the Santa Clara county board of education RE: Bullis Charter School

Esteemed members of the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE),

3 minutes in person at your meetings is definitely not enough time to make and deep, well-reasoned points. Hence, I am following up my appearance there last night with this letter. I have 3 main points to make. In summary:

1. Bullis Charter School (BCS) would best serve all students in Santa Clara County by being a county-wide charter.

2. In order for BCS to succeed, you MUST devote county resources to them.

3. You need to set SMART goals for BCS to fix their deficiencies, and publicly clarify how you intend to deal with them if they do not meet those goals.

Bullis Charter School (BCS) would best serve all students in Santa Clara County by being a county-wide charter.

I've already talked at length about the discriminatory enrollment priorities that make BCS essentially a private school for those living in the old Bullis-Purissma enrollment area. But even if that were to go away, BCS is still a district charter. And let's be honest: there aren't a lot of needy, under-served students in the LASD. Even if they dropped the Los Altos Hills mandate, as a district charter they would logically have enrollment criteria that favored students from LASD. Any gains in diversity by BCS will come at the expense of diversity in LASD schools proper. All we're doing is rearranging deck chairs on the boat here; they're really not allowing the students who can't otherwise afford the cruise to board the ship.

This is why BCS would better serve Santa Clara County as a county-wide charter. Eliminating the district restriction would open up enrollment to students throughout the county. And I think we can all agree that there are a lot more under-served students from outside LASD who would benefit from an education of the caliber that BCS and LASD provide.

One could argue that BCS could remain a district charter but still open the doors more broadly by eliminating most or even all enrollment priorities. However this doesn't make logical sense. For every student that attends from out of district, LASD would end up paying for them while not receiving any money from the state or district tax payers. It would put an unfair financial burden on LASD, and the money would effectively be taken away from LASD students, which in turn would seriously threaten the ability for the district to do such an amazing job educating our kids.

If BCS is to really help the under-served students in the county, it really needs to have the leadership and expertise that can only be provided by those familiar with the issues across the county. And it needs access to resources throughout the county, not just in the north-most corner which is not easily accessed by everyone. I hope you agree with me that it makes most sense as a county-wide charter.

I strongly encourage you to have BCS re-submit their petition as a county charter. This would be the best outcome for serving all residents within Santa Clara county.

In order for BCS to succeed, you MUST devote county resources to them.

So here I'm hedging my bet. The previous scenario is the ideal, but if for whatever reason BCS remains as a district charter, I still think there is more you can do to help it succeed. For example, BCS has for its entire existence been aggressively pursuing better facilities for its students. And who can blame them for wanting the best possible resources? So this is where the county can and must step up and help them out. You approved the charter, but by merely approving the charter but not providing the resources they need to succeed, you are encouraging them to take this aggressive legal action. And by not providing additional money to the school to make up the gap between what they get from the district and what they need to run their current curriculum, you are tacitly encouraging BCS' aggressive fundraising.

I say, "no more!" Take away their incentives to do this. Give them the facilities and the money they need to run their school, and these problems will go away.

In fact, we know that BCS receives many more applications for enrollment than they can handle. Clearly there is great demand for a BCS education. I know BCS has grown. But why not encourage them to grow even further? I dare say they are the best performing charter within Santa Clara county. Likely the best in the state. Maybe even the best in the country. Why wouldn't you want to see this greatly expanded? Give them the facilities and money and let them expand as rapidly as they can scale their school up without impacting quality. What a positive impact you would make if everyone who wanted could choose a BCS level education for their children.

You need to set SMART goals for BCS to fix their deficiencies, and publicly clarify how you intend to deal with them if they do not meet those goals.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. An example of SMART goals would be: 

1. BCS must increase their enrollment diversity for the 2011-2012 school year to be at least double that of the LASD average. 

2. BCS must have over half of their board elected directly by parents for the next term.

3. BCS must reduce by at least half year-over-year the number of anonymous complaints about aggressive fundraising by parents.

We need to have clearly defined goals that are time-bound, so that when the time is up, we can compare the results with the goals and say definitively whether or not the goal has been met. 

But coupled with that, you need to have a plan in place for what the consequences will be if the goals are not met. Ultimately the only leverage you may have is your ability to revoke the charter. But if so, that's probably sufficient. However, if that is your point of leverage, you must clearly communicate your seriousness to carry through with it. As close as we all are to educating children, I think we all know that idle threats are often worse than no threat at all.

A final thought. I would appreciate official responses to the points I brought up in this and previous letters. At times I do feel like these points are falling on deaf ears, and I may drift back into the state of learned helplessness once again on this issue. If nothing else, I would like to see what your action plan is for managing BCS rectifying its deficiencies over the next year, and how you plan to deal with non-compliance.

As always, thank your for your time and attention.

Respectfully,

·Dave Cortright

 <address and phone number redacted for privacy>

"Are Human's Carnivores?" by Dan Piraro (Bizarro cartoonist and vegan)

I was raised believing that humans have always eaten meat. We're not completely carnivores, but we're omnivores at least, right? What's the truth? I like to rely on anthropology and common sense to cut through he 21st-century crap we often tell ourselves, and recently I came across a very competing set of facts that did just that.

The teeth of omnivore are long and pointed, for tearing. Ours are blunt and flat by comparison. We would find it nearly impossible to tear into a freshly dead animal and eat it raw with our stubby, little, square teeth. Herbivores have small "canine" teeth for biting into tough fruit (like apples) but these are nothing compared to the size and shape of a carnivore's.

The jaws of carnivores move up and down. but not side-to-side. This is because they tear off meat and swallow it whole. They don't chew. An herbivore’s jaws move up-and-dawn AND side~to-side for grinding vegetation. Check your jaws and see what they do.

The intestines of carnivores are very short and simple—3 to 6 times their body’s length—so that they can pass meat through their body quickly and efficiently without absorbing too much cholesterol or saturated fat. This is why it is impossible for carnivores and omnivores eating a natural diet to get most kinds of cancer or heart disease from clogged arteries.

An herbivore's intestines are long and complex—8 to 13 times their body's length. The main contributor to heart disease in humans is saturated fat and cholesterol absorbed from meat, eggs and dairy. Care to guess which kind of intestines we have?

A carnivore can eat rotting, bacteria-ridden meat completely raw without getting sick. They have stomach acids that kill the bad stuff and enable them to digest what's left without puking their guts up. Ever try to eat road kill? Or even a freshly dead chicken completely raw? Give it a shot and let me let me know how it works out for you. (TIP: Have an ambulance standing by.)

A carnivore is quick, cunning and without sympathy so that it can catch and kill other animals efficiently and without remorse. For the vast majority of human history we have been without tools, weapons or fire. During this period, how many animals do you suppose we successfully caught, ate, and kept down? Try to catch an animal that doesn't want to be caught with your bare hands and you'll get an idea of how slow we are. Ever feel sorry for at injured puppy? An instinct lire that would completely ruin a carnivore's lunch.

Natural meat-eaters find the smell of dead animals attractive. How do you think they smell?

Here's a test you can try at home: put a two-year-old in a playpen with an apple and a rabbit. If it plays with the apple and eats the rabbit, you've got a carnivore.

According to numbers studies—including the Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running clinical study in medical history—vegetarians have 60% less cancer than meat-eaters, and a fraction of the heart attack rate.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we aren't designed to eat meat.

Are Human's Carnivores? by Dan Piraro (Bizarro cartoonist and vegan)

The original text is hard-coded into an image file, so I transcribed it to make it searchable and copyable.

My response to Joseph Di Salvo's email RE: Bullis Charter School

Both his original and my reply are included below.

---

From: Dave Cortright

To: Joseph Di Salvo

Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 6:14 PM

Subject: Re: Back up your Bullis charter vote with your own county resources

Beneficial to whom? Certainly to BCS. But not to the greater LASD community, nor even to the broader Santa Clara County community who continue to be taken advantage of and under-served by a charter that uses geographical discrimination to exclude those who would most benefit from attending. And now that you approved them yet again for 5 more years, you have no leverage.

Mr. Di Salvo, I do appreciate that you have a difficult job. But I feel that you and the rest of the board have taken the path of least resistance here rather than the more difficult path that would drive the positive change that we all want to see in the charter operations. My request of you is simple: Anna Song brought up several reasons why BCS is currently in breach of their agreement. Use one or more of those to revoke the charter and force them back to the bargaining table with you. At that point, insist that they become a county charter to serve residents county-wide, and enforce other changes to the charter to make their board elections more fair, their "suggested donations" more in line with other public schools, and their diversity requirements explicit.

There is a company headquartered in Santa Clara county called Netflix. Recently Netflix announced a plan to split their business into 2 separate web sites. While this made sense for them operationally, it would have made for a much worse customer experience. After several weeks of listening to the negative feedback, the company did the right thing and reversed their decision. Now I am asking you to do a similar thing. It's not easy to admit you were wrong, but to take responsibility for your actions and to correct your mistakes are traits of a great leader. Please Mr. Di Salvo, be that great leader. Do the right thing here and hold BCS accountable for their actions.

Thank you for listening.

Respectfully,

·Dave Cortright

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From: Joseph Di Salvo

To: Dave Cortright

Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 3:50 PM

Subject: Re: Back up your Bullis charter vote with your own county resources

Mr. Cortright,

I was disappointed a delay could not be mutually agreed to.  In the absence of the delay I thought the most beneficial thing we could do was to vote to approve. I do hope the adults will work to include the contentious issues in the contract. We were a very split board. You were there. It was gut-wrenching to be so split.

Once again, Amazon nails it with fantastic customer service

My dog tends to pull on our walks and since he is part terrier (stubborn lil guy), he has priven quite difficult to train. On advice of others, I ordered a Gentle Leader head collar for him.

However, the size I ordered turned out to be too small for him. So I signed onto my Amazon account to return it this morning. This is what they told me:

That's pretty awesome. It saves me the hassle of boxing it up and mailing it back, and no doubt it saves Amazon the postage, processing, and restocking.

Plus, look at all this free positive publicity they are getting. My blog reaches well north of 200 readers a day. :-)

Bullis charter school schadenfreude

The silver lining in this continuing Bullis Charter School fiasco is that they never did get the primary thing they wanted: a location for their school in Los Altos Hills.

According to Google Maps, it is 2.1 miles between the current Bullis Charter School site and the Gardner Bullis site (which the charter school has coveted since 2003). Given the school year is about 180 days long and they have 466 students, that adds up to about 176,000 extra miles driven in their luxury SUVs each year by Bullis parents. Of course this is a maximum. We need to subtract out for carpooling (it could happen, right?), families that live closer, and of course all school-sponsored international field trips.

Even worse, they are slumming it in a neighborhood whose average property value is well south of $1 million. And it's but a short walk to where the people who clean their houses and tend their gardens hang out looking for work. I guess it's good to show the kids how the lower middle class lives. Just keep the doors locked as you drive through!

Reading over their filings and re-filings on the fight over Prop 39 "reasonably equivalent facilities" is amusing. If Narcotics Anonymous was right in that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then the Bullis admins are certifiably insane. I know, when you get everything you want in life, it's hard to accept when the world seems to turn upside-down and—gasp!—you don't get what you want. I'm sure these feelings are all new and confusing for you. But I have faith that you will move past the denial, anger, bargaining, and finally get to depression. Oh right, and then of course acceptance. Sure, if you want. But depression for sure.

So here's the strange thing—BCS got what they wanted 4 years ago: a public school in Los Altos Hills. If they acted rationally, dropped the charter, and re-enrolled their kids in LASD, they could walk/bike their kids to school. They could save all the time and money spent driving up and down San Antonio Road. They wouldn't have to pay the additional $5000 in yearly tuition per student (oh, I'm sorry, "suggested donation"), and they wouldn't have to deal with all this charter paperwork.

Note to BCS: you won. You got what you wanted. Gardner Bullis is a public school in Los Altos Hills. Why are you still fighting as if you lost? Ah well, there's no accounting for irrational spite I suppose. Enjoy your daily drive to your reasonably equivalent trailer park in the slums of Los Altos!

(A note of clarification: when I say "reasonably equivalent trailer park in the slums of Los Altos", I am taking literary license for effect. In no way am I implying that the LASD is purposefully giving Bullis charter school inferior facilities at the furthest reaches of the district just because BCS are a bunch of arrogant, entitled assholes.)

State Senator Joe Simitian: Fix California Charter School Law

I submitted this to State Senator Joe Simitian's There Oughta Be a Law web page.

What's the problem that needs a legislative solution?
A county board of education can override a local school board on the issue of whether to approve a charter school, thereby forcing the local school board to support the charter with resources that would otherwise go toward the education of children attending district schools.

What's your solution? Please include proposed language, if any. Be as detailed as possible.
Do not allow a county board of education to approve on appeal a district charter. Instead, if the county wishes to approve a charter school, the charter must be rewritten such that it is formed as a county charter with all money and resources for the school coming directly from the county. This would take the local school district entirely out of the equation.

Background information. (Please include any studies, reports, newspaper articles, personal experience, or anecdotal evidence relating to your proposal.)
Bullis charter school is taking advantage of this charter school loophole whereby the county approved their charter 3 times over the past 8 years on appeal, thus forcing the Los Altos School District to fund the charter and provide classroom space to them, despite having no oversight over their operations.

Are you aware of similar legislation previously introduced in California or in other states? If so, please include the author, bill number, and outcome of the legislation.
None that I know of.

Please describe any financial impacts (i.e., costs, savings, or revenue) you anticipate may be associated with your proposal.
The Los Alto School District has spent $600,000 alone defending itself against frivolous lawsuits filed by Bullis charter. This legislation would have prevented that money from being spent, and thus it could have directly benefited the education of our children in LASD. I'm sure there are plenty of other cost savings that LASD would realize. But more importantly are the intangible benefits of not having to deal with the distraction and stress that comes from the unrelenting divisiveness caused by the Santa Clara County Board of Education forcing the Los Altos School District to spend it's own time and resources on a charter it doesn't believe in, distracting it from the ultimate goal of educating our children.

Who do you think would support the bill? Consider legislators, the governor and his administration, state and local government agencies, and interest groups.
I think anyone with a rational thought process will realize that this is a necessary fix to close a loophole that shouldn't have been left open in the first place. It's OK for for a county to sponsor a charter school. It's not OK for a county to force a school district to sponsor a charter.

Who do you think would oppose the bill? Consider legislators, the governor and his administration, state and local government agencies, and interest groups.
Certainly those benefiting from the loophole and those who have been complicit in exploiting it: The Santa Clara County Board of Education  and the Bullis Charter School.

My response to Grace Mah's letter RE: Bullis Charter School

From: Dave Cortright
To: G Mah and the rest of the Santa Clara County Board of Education
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: Back up your Bullis charter vote with your own county resources

When BCS board declined the extension Wed night, you could have denied their petition renewal. In 2003, 2007, and 2011, you could have denied the petition and told BCS to come back with one that would make them a county charter. 3 times over the past decade you declined to do so.

By failing to exercise your power to deny BCS their charter, you ceded the power in the relationship to them. You told them that effectively they have the power in the relationship. They call the shots. And sure, you hem and haw and make a few pointed comments about how they are deficient in these areas, and how you are concerned about the perception of those actions, and how they really need to change. But ultimately it is all just lip service—full of sound and fury yet signifying nothing. You go ahead and approve the charter as is without any changes of substance. And now you are left with no way to enforce positive change.

The $600,000 in legal fees spent fighting BCS' numerous and unrelenting lawsuits were effectively stolen from LASD. It is true that for a student from within the LASD boundary who instead attends BCS, the money from the state should (and legally must) transfer to BCS. But there is no legal obligation for parcel tax money to go to BCS. (Personally, I consider the parcel tax LASD's legal fund against their "white whine" lawsuits.) As we've been saying for years, BCS is effectively a quite exclusive private school for the residents of Los Altos Hills, with a legal minimum of other students for the appearance of "diversity". Why would LASD give any money with a competing private school of kids who have said that the LASD schools are not good enough for them, thus depriving LASD kids of that money?

But this begs the question that the SCCBOE has so far failed to answer: if you believe so strongly in BCS and want to see it succeed, why don't you back up your words with money and resources of your own? Lead by action rather then rhetoric and give them the money they ask for. To paraphrase from Grace's letter below: Siince you approved their charter, is there ethical obligation to share a part of your operating funds with BCS? I don’t understand why SCCBOE can’t mete out some percentage of their operating funds to BCS.

Regardless of if you choose to fund BCS, I ask you—nay beg you— to please, stop making decisions and then forcing other people (the LASD community) to pay for your decisions. We do not want this charter. We rejected it in 2003, and to this day we stand by that decision. Just because your approval on appeal makes us legally obligated to support then does not mean we choose to do so. Far, far from it.

Perhaps a better way to put it is by analogy to one of the most powerful scenes in the movie "The Social Network". When fictional Mark Zuckerburg is asked of the opposing lawyer if he has his complete attention, Mark replies "You have part of my attention; you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room—including and especially your clients—are intellectually or creatively capable of doing."

BCS has part of our attention; The legally minimum amount. The rest our our attention is back at the schools of LASD, where the teachers, administrators, parents, and others in the community are focused on educating our children. After all, isn't that what this is ultimately about?

Respectfully,

·Dave Cortright