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Issue 80
Your Public Schools Hear You
As part of its efforts to resolve the current financial crisis, the
Healdsburg School District has put together study committees to address
the biggest issues and is holding community forums to hear from the
public. We know that the success of our community’s school district is
directly related to the success of our community. As a result, our
school district welcomes and needs input from the community to address
our financial problems.
Study committees are open to all community members. They are meeting
regularly during January and February and will report their outcomes to
the School Board in March. These are short-term committees, not
involving a long term commitment. Thank you to the community members who
have already joined these committees and are giving generously of their
time and ideas. More detailed descriptions of each committee as well as
meeting schedules and progress reports are available on the district
website at www.husd.com. The
public is encouraged to join these committees or if not, follow their
progress on the website and submit comments, suggestions and questions
to the chairpersons of each one. The committees are:
• Funding Procurement Committee - Develop a plan for development and
implementation of a parcel tax ballot measure for the June 2005
election.
• Configuration Cost Committee - Develop a comprehensive report with
recommendations on school configuration scenarios.
• District Benefit Committee – Discuss with the interested community the
current benefit programs and future options.
• District Properties Committee - Develop a comprehensive report with
recommendations on generation of revenue from school properties. At this
time the District Properties Committee is an internal committee with the
Board of Trustees and district administration. If the board decides to
sell, there is a very specific process that we will follow that includes
forming a community committee.
• Legislative Action Committee - Develop a comprehensive plan to
communicate with government officials and legislators the
loss/inadequate state and federal revenue for public schools,
specifically HUSD.
• District Communications Committee - This currently active committee
will develop a marketing plan to promote our district/schools/programs
to attract students, thus increasing enrollment.
In addition to these committees, the District is now holding community
forums to meet informally with community members to hear about our
schools in general and get ideas about the current crisis in particular.
Several forums have already been held with excellent results. We thank
all attendees - they have been very open and generous with their input.
If you haven’t already attended one of these forums, please consider
attending one of the next two: Thursday Jan. 20 at 7:00 pm in the
Healdsburg Junior High Multipurpose Room or Feb.1 at 6:00 pm in the
Healdsburg High School Library. These meetings are an opportunity for
you to learn a little more about the current situation and give us
feedback about your ideas, suggestions, observations, etc. The notes
from each forum are posted on the website (www.husd.com) and you are
welcome to comment on them or add more via e-mail.
We are planning to hold a Town Meeting sometime in February to bring the
city together to present what we have learned from our meetings and
committees and discuss our current progress toward a resolution. We will
let you know when that meeting is scheduled.
School Board President Paul Deas reminded attendees at a recent
community forum that the current situation didn’t happen overnight, and
results from a confluence of many different factors. The solution, he
added, must also be reached by making many changes, large and small.
Please be a part of helping to find and implement resolutions to this
current problem. By attending the community forum meetings and/or
participating on a committee, you can learn more about the situation and
contribute your ideas.
Our kids,
our community, our future!
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