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Monday, November 12, 2007
Consultant Culture in OUSD lives on to the tune of $115,000
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
a news service of Orange Net News /O/N/N/
Independent insight into OUSD
Consultant Culture in OUSD lives on
to the tune of $115,000
The Orange Unified School Board will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday November 15th, 2007. On the Consent Agenda are 7 Consultant Contracts with the Orange County Department of Education for a total of $115,000 in educational tax dollars.
The contracts are for consultants to provide “technical/coaching” assistance to seven OUSD Program Improvement Schools (a.k.a. High Priority / Underperforming/ Failing schools). Those schools are Prospect, Lampson, Yorba, Handy, Esplanade ($15,000 contracts each), plus Portola and Fairhaven ($20,000 contracts each). The $115,000 in educational tax dollars come from a variety of OUSD budget areas.
The “consulting/coaching” services include “Principal Coaching”. The irony of this is of course the fact that OUSD just spent years and millions of dollars in educational tax dollars on a failed OUSD Focus on Results program that also had a “principal coaching” component. In a consultant repeat performance three of principals in the targeted schools for the new OCDE Consultant Program were previously intimately involved in “principal coaching” with the failed multi-million dollar wasteful OUSD Focus on Results program. Prospect Elementary Principal Kathy Bruce was in fact a Senior Consultant for the corporate Focus on Results Inc. while she was also an OUSD Principal. Principal Bruce did not reveal that fact while she appeared before the OUSD Board of Education defending OUSD’s multi-million dollar commitment to the consultant program that she herself was a consultant for the company. The OUSD Board also approved a separate $25,000 personal Focus on Results consultant coach for Portola Principal Debra Thompson. Finally, current Lampson Elementary Principal Cheryl Cohen was the OUSD Focus on Results “guru” in her former position as an OUSD Assistant Superintendent. Cohen revealed in a controversial and now infamous Focus on Results Program Update to the OUSD Board that she also had a personal Focus on Results Consultant Coach (it was during that same report that Cohen compared the consultant program to “marriage encounter training”).
Now these three principals (along with the other four principals) who have been coached for years with taxpayer supported personal coaches will again be “coached” this time by “educates” from Orange County’s biggest failed bureaucracy – the Orange County Department of Education. Perhaps the OC Department of Education coaches should concentrate on the schools that its own OCDE operates which have the lowest state test scores in all of Orange County.
INSIDE the November 15th, 2007 OUSD Board Agenda
Action Items include the following:
12 A Actuarial Valuation Report on the Retiree Health Benefits
12 B Resolution Authorizing Bonds to fund Retirement Health Benefits
12 C Board Policy Revisions to Visual and Performing Arts
Consent Agenda Items include:
• Parker & Covert is an item on Page 24. The item asks the OUSD Board to approve $200,000 more of a $400,000 budget for Parker & Covert the OUSD law firm.
• The November 15th Consent Agenda also includes Item 14.I to relocate two attendance areas from Anaheim Hills Elementary to Canyon Rim Elementary.
Community Donations
Serrano PFO-$ 6,032 for Serrano Excel PE; Nohl Canyon SA- $7087 for Tech Aide Salary; Mike and Adele Inc.- $1107 for Chapman Hills Ed Connect; Linda Vista PTA-$325 for computer printer ink; VPHS PFSO- Gridiron Boosters- $1,800 salary. For a complete list of community donations see page 21 of the Agenda.
INSIDE the OUSD Budget
“We’re a $220 million dollar business; we’re going to spend the money somewhere.”
-OUSD Trustee Wes Poutsma 9/22/05
INSIDE’s EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WATCH 2008:
$200,000 Total
2008 Attorney Fee Tally:
11/15/07 Parker & Covert (1/08 to 6/08) $200,000
INSIDE’s EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WATCH 2007:
$704,090.00 Total
2007 Consultant/ Speaker Fee Tally:
4/30/07 Debra Ford Speaker Fee $ 4,090
4/30/07 Danny Brassell Speaker Fee $ 3,500
3/8/07 Dr. Daggett Speaker Fee $ 9,000
9/27/07 Dr.Daggett Speaker Fee $ 35,000
11/15/07 OCDE High Priority Consultants $115,000
Total $166,590
2007 Attorney Fee Tally:
1/18/07 Parker & Covert (1/07 to 6/07) $175,000
(6/07-12/07) $200,000
2/08/07 Miller, Brown, and Dannis $ 7, 500
2/22/07 Parker & Covert $ 45,000
5/10/07 Miller, Brown and Dannis $ 50,000
7/19/07 Parker & Covert $ 60,000
Total $537,500
2007 Administrative Conference/Travel: hidden since 6/8/06*
*JUNE 8th, 2006 Trustees VOTE to Give OUSD Superintendent the power to APPROVE Travel Requests taking this item OUT of the PUBLIC AGENDA
Total for Watched Tax Dollars approved in 2006: $849,717.00*
2006 Consultant Fee Tally: Total $176,400
2006 Attorney Fee Tally: Total Approved $655,000
2006 Administrative Conference/Travel: Total $ 18,317 *
* JUNE 8th, 2006 Trustees VOTE to Give OUSD Superintendent the power to
APPROVE OUSD Travel Requests taking this item OUT of the PUBLIC AGENDA
Total for Watched Tax Dollars approved in 2005: $978,300.00:
Total 2005 Conference Administrator/Board Fees: $ 7,500.00
2005 Attorney Fee Tally: $730,600.00
Total Watched 2005 OUSD Consultant spending: $ 270,200.00
Next OUSD Board Meeting Thursday November 15, 2007. For more information
CLICK ON: BOARD AGENDA
OUSD CLOSED SESSION STARTS 6:30 PM on 11/15/07 Regular Session: 7:30 pm
For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent insight into OUSD
is an independent news service of /O/N/N/Orange_NetNews@yahoo.com
a news service of Orange Net News /O/N/N/
Independent insight into OUSD
Consultant Culture in OUSD lives on
to the tune of $115,000
The Orange Unified School Board will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday November 15th, 2007. On the Consent Agenda are 7 Consultant Contracts with the Orange County Department of Education for a total of $115,000 in educational tax dollars.
The contracts are for consultants to provide “technical/coaching” assistance to seven OUSD Program Improvement Schools (a.k.a. High Priority / Underperforming/ Failing schools). Those schools are Prospect, Lampson, Yorba, Handy, Esplanade ($15,000 contracts each), plus Portola and Fairhaven ($20,000 contracts each). The $115,000 in educational tax dollars come from a variety of OUSD budget areas.
The “consulting/coaching” services include “Principal Coaching”. The irony of this is of course the fact that OUSD just spent years and millions of dollars in educational tax dollars on a failed OUSD Focus on Results program that also had a “principal coaching” component. In a consultant repeat performance three of principals in the targeted schools for the new OCDE Consultant Program were previously intimately involved in “principal coaching” with the failed multi-million dollar wasteful OUSD Focus on Results program. Prospect Elementary Principal Kathy Bruce was in fact a Senior Consultant for the corporate Focus on Results Inc. while she was also an OUSD Principal. Principal Bruce did not reveal that fact while she appeared before the OUSD Board of Education defending OUSD’s multi-million dollar commitment to the consultant program that she herself was a consultant for the company. The OUSD Board also approved a separate $25,000 personal Focus on Results consultant coach for Portola Principal Debra Thompson. Finally, current Lampson Elementary Principal Cheryl Cohen was the OUSD Focus on Results “guru” in her former position as an OUSD Assistant Superintendent. Cohen revealed in a controversial and now infamous Focus on Results Program Update to the OUSD Board that she also had a personal Focus on Results Consultant Coach (it was during that same report that Cohen compared the consultant program to “marriage encounter training”).
Now these three principals (along with the other four principals) who have been coached for years with taxpayer supported personal coaches will again be “coached” this time by “educates” from Orange County’s biggest failed bureaucracy – the Orange County Department of Education. Perhaps the OC Department of Education coaches should concentrate on the schools that its own OCDE operates which have the lowest state test scores in all of Orange County.
INSIDE the November 15th, 2007 OUSD Board Agenda
Action Items include the following:
12 A Actuarial Valuation Report on the Retiree Health Benefits
12 B Resolution Authorizing Bonds to fund Retirement Health Benefits
12 C Board Policy Revisions to Visual and Performing Arts
Consent Agenda Items include:
• Parker & Covert is an item on Page 24. The item asks the OUSD Board to approve $200,000 more of a $400,000 budget for Parker & Covert the OUSD law firm.
• The November 15th Consent Agenda also includes Item 14.I to relocate two attendance areas from Anaheim Hills Elementary to Canyon Rim Elementary.
Community Donations
Serrano PFO-$ 6,032 for Serrano Excel PE; Nohl Canyon SA- $7087 for Tech Aide Salary; Mike and Adele Inc.- $1107 for Chapman Hills Ed Connect; Linda Vista PTA-$325 for computer printer ink; VPHS PFSO- Gridiron Boosters- $1,800 salary. For a complete list of community donations see page 21 of the Agenda.
INSIDE the OUSD Budget
“We’re a $220 million dollar business; we’re going to spend the money somewhere.”
-OUSD Trustee Wes Poutsma 9/22/05
INSIDE’s EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WATCH 2008:
$200,000 Total
2008 Attorney Fee Tally:
11/15/07 Parker & Covert (1/08 to 6/08) $200,000
INSIDE’s EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WATCH 2007:
$704,090.00 Total
2007 Consultant/ Speaker Fee Tally:
4/30/07 Debra Ford Speaker Fee $ 4,090
4/30/07 Danny Brassell Speaker Fee $ 3,500
3/8/07 Dr. Daggett Speaker Fee $ 9,000
9/27/07 Dr.Daggett Speaker Fee $ 35,000
11/15/07 OCDE High Priority Consultants $115,000
Total $166,590
2007 Attorney Fee Tally:
1/18/07 Parker & Covert (1/07 to 6/07) $175,000
(6/07-12/07) $200,000
2/08/07 Miller, Brown, and Dannis $ 7, 500
2/22/07 Parker & Covert $ 45,000
5/10/07 Miller, Brown and Dannis $ 50,000
7/19/07 Parker & Covert $ 60,000
Total $537,500
2007 Administrative Conference/Travel: hidden since 6/8/06*
*JUNE 8th, 2006 Trustees VOTE to Give OUSD Superintendent the power to APPROVE Travel Requests taking this item OUT of the PUBLIC AGENDA
Total for Watched Tax Dollars approved in 2006: $849,717.00*
2006 Consultant Fee Tally: Total $176,400
2006 Attorney Fee Tally: Total Approved $655,000
2006 Administrative Conference/Travel: Total $ 18,317 *
* JUNE 8th, 2006 Trustees VOTE to Give OUSD Superintendent the power to
APPROVE OUSD Travel Requests taking this item OUT of the PUBLIC AGENDA
Total for Watched Tax Dollars approved in 2005: $978,300.00:
Total 2005 Conference Administrator/Board Fees: $ 7,500.00
2005 Attorney Fee Tally: $730,600.00
Total Watched 2005 OUSD Consultant spending: $ 270,200.00
Next OUSD Board Meeting Thursday November 15, 2007. For more information
CLICK ON: BOARD AGENDA
OUSD CLOSED SESSION STARTS 6:30 PM on 11/15/07 Regular Session: 7:30 pm
For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent insight into OUSD
is an independent news service of /O/N/N/Orange_NetNews@yahoo.com
