Board of Education Meeting Wednesday, March 23rd, 5:00pm La Escuelita School 1050 2nd Avenue At 4:45, there will be a press conference regarding planned decentralization of OUSD's successful Reading Clinic There are so many troubling things happening right now in OUSD. Come out tonight to the Board of Education meeting and let the school board know what you think! A massive restructuring of Special Education has already begun with the elimination of the majority of leadership and specialist positions, including the Deputy Chief of Programs for Exceptional Children and all upper administrative staff. Among the finalists in the hiring for Deputy Chief of PEC are candidates with zero Special Education background and knowledge. All of the Special Education program specialists have received layoff letters.Other positions (such as designated therapeutic services) are being redefined or redeployed. Throughout all of this, there has been no regard for the institutional, programmatic, and student knowledge of all of the staff that is being let go. Guiding this restructuring is a contracted review by the Council of Great Schools, which began in January, and whose contract is before the Board of Education tonight for approval. The parameters and the guidelines for that review process have not been shared with any staff or community body. Many Special Education services will be managed by General Education offices and departments, such as Community Schools and Student Services. At the moment, there is not a clear detailing of which departments will oversee such services as Occupational Therapy, Speech, IEP related psychological and behavior services, etc. Schools sites will have direct control of Special Education positions and resources through their budgets. Since there has been no engagement with the community regarding these widespread changes, we are left to wonder how schools sites and departments will have the capacity to manage and support their many new Special Education administrative, programmatic, and compliance functions. The Reading Clinic, OUSD’s most successful Special Education program, is being decentralized, with services to be spread throughout the district, and more intensive programming, formerly SDC classes, slated to be available only to students who are assigned to Redwood Heights Elementary through the general school enrollment process, with priority given for neighborhood residence. There has been no vetting of these dramatic transformations with the OUSD Special Education community, not even the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, and programs and classrooms are being redesigned without a process for engaging the affected families and students through the IEP process to make sure that services comply with current and future provisions to support identified student needs. In addition to these developments specific to Special Education, there is further destabilization happening throughout the district. Up to 17 school site administrators are potentially being removed from their schools sites at the end of the year including the much lauded and much beloved Mr. Karicaca of Westlake Middle School. Twelve charter schools have requested and are about to receive Prop 39 offers, MOST of which involve co-locating at existing district campuses, and SOME of which will also have new leadership, which is not reassuring to those communities about to be subject to such major changes. We will likely have 15 or so new charter school by the end of this year (including this year and last) which will continue to demand space at our district schools, disrupting existing or developing programs. We has been sued by the California Charter School Association (CCSA) who wants OUSD to turn over entire school sites to charter schools. Key questions we would like the Superintendent or Board of Education to answer: -Who will guide these dramatic transformations in a way that respects the IEP processes underway and the protected rights of students under IDEA? -How will we prevent the loss of capable teachers and other staff who have invested years in developing responsive programs and systems for their students? -How will we address the generalized loss of trust? -How will we address the almost complete lack of transparency and meaningful engagement with those most affected by these changes?