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  • Wednesday, January 17, 2018

     

    OUSD to spend over $200,000 on PR


    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    Orange Unified Board to spend $219,000 on a Public Relations contract calling the educational tax dollars "discretionary money"

    Deligianni-Brydges stops fighting and starts spending

    Board President Dr. Alexia Deligianni-Brydges first major accomplishment on the OUSD Board will be spending over $219,000 on a Public Relations contract.  Deligianni who has portrayed herself in her election campaigns as a "fiscal conservative" was elected as OUSD Board President in December 2017.  Those campaigns include her trustee position and her unsuccessful runs for California Superintendent of Public Instruction and for the state Assembly.



    In her last contested OUSD Trustee race in 2012, Deligianni promised voters she would:
    " Continue putting students first in all of our district's decisions, and ensuring money continues to go directly into our classrooms not bureaucracy."

    "Continue to provide fiscal responsibility for taxpayers, and fighting for continued strong fiscal oversight.."



    It appears that as Board President, Deligianni has stopped fighting and started spending.

    For more information click on Deligianni Campaign Promises

    The new Public Relations spending comes just over a year after OUSD voters for the first time approved a property tax hike bond -Measure S.

    After the Trustees had mock PR campaigns from two public relations firms presented at their last meeting on January 8th, (without a price-tag attached), at this week's Thursday's Board meeting the Trustees will be voting on a $219,425 contract with VMA Communications using educational tax funds that the agenda item describes as "discretionary" .

    This Thursday's January 18, 2018, OUSD Agenda Item 12 B (page 6) calls the $219,425 in "discretionary" educational tax dollars for a public relations contract a  "limited budget".

    With increasing pension costs, the OUSD Administration's staff has for months been predicting a deficit in future budget years.

    No rational or needs assessment for hiring a public relations firm is listed in the Agenda Item explaining why OUSD needs to spend the over $200,000 in educational tax dollars the staff describes as "discretionary ". No data collection plans on how to assess the effectiveness of spending over  $200,000 a year in educational tax dollars are included in the Agenda Item.  In five years, at the current rate without increases, the public relations contract will cost over one million dollars in educational tax dollars.

    The VMA website lists 30 school districts as "clients".  The only Orange County school district on the client list is Buena Park School District

    Why would little Buena Park School District need to waste educational tax dollars on a Public Relations Firm?  In April of 2017,  the Buena Park Board of Education President Dennis Chambers was arrested on suspicion of trafficking in child pornography when thousands of pornographic images and videos were found in his home on an electronic storage device.

    The move by OUSD Trustees to jump into a traditional PR contract comes just as PR is shifting to earned media.

    The VMA website describes its services to its clients as:

    VMA will:
     Click on VMA Client list


    What does over $219,000 a year in educational tax dollars actually buy in an era of internet and social media?  

    Here's what the evidence shows.

    A Google search of "news" for the VMA client Buena Park School District ( the district with the pornography Trustee story) gets you this search results despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on PR (click on): 


    What will over $219,000 buy Orange Unified?  Well since OUSD will not be doing any measurable data collection, ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE will. Beginning with this issue, we will be helping you keep track of what your $219,424 in educational tax money buys you with the VMS Public Relations promise of "appropriate, harmonized messaging and communications plans".

    Here is the January 2017 baseline Google News for OUSD without a $219,424 Public Relations contract:

    Four OUSD trustees are up for re-election in November of this year. Self-described fiscal conservatives Rick Ledesma and Timothy Surridge, plus Kathy Moffat and Andrea Yamasaki.

    INSIDE the OUSD Agenda
    Agenda Item 9 A: Recognition of the CIF Football State Champions El Modena and Orange High Schools
    Agenda Item 12 A: Approval of  a Deferred Maintence Plan for Summer of 2018
    Measure S:  Several Measure S Bond items can be found throughout the agenda: Item 13 Information Items and Item 14 Consent Items.

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Thursday September 11, 2014

    CLOSED SESSION 6:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm
    For the AGENDA-CLICK ON: AGENDA
     For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting, questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/

    Orange Net News

    Monday, January 08, 2018

     

    Rare Monday OUSD Board Meeting


    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    OUSD Trustees meet on January 8, 2018
    The Orange Unified School Board will start an scheduled 18 regular board meetings for 2018 with a rare Monday regular meeting on the first school day back from winter break.

    Board members will be voting on the contract with newly appointed OUSD Superintendent Dr. Gunn Marie Hansen.

    The Trustees will also vote on the charter application for the Tomorrow's Leadership Collaborative Charter School.

    The Trustees will vote on an incentive for retiring teachers to give the district early notice of plans to retire to allow the district time to plan to hire a new teacher.  The incentive would be about $1500 for the early notice.

    Two PR firms will present "mock"  PR Campaigns for OUSD in hopes of being selected for a PR Contract with the district.

    Los Angeles based VMA Communications and Orange based Communications Lab are the two contenders.

    What does money for a PR Firm buy?
    Currently OUSD does not have a PR Firm.
    To see the Google Search results for Orange Unified
    Click on ORANGE UNIFED

    One of VMA's clients is Rio Hondo College.
    To see the Google Search results for Rio Hondo College,
    Click on RIO HONDO
      
    One of Communication Lab's  clients is Oxford Academy.
    To see the Google Search results for Oxford Academy,
    Click on OXFORD

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING January 8, 2019
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION-  6:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA



    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/

    Orange Net News

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    Greater Orange News Service is a community service of the Orange Communication System /OCS/, the communications arm of the Greater Orange Community Orgainization