Superintendent's
Update
November
2004
Dear Friends,
Cotati-Rohnert
Park Unified continues to offer the best education possible for
the students entrusted to our care. Despite the severe budget cuts
by the State, and those budget reductions necessitated by declining
student enrollments and revenues, we continue to provide an excellent
educational program for our K-12 students.
The
challenges of fewer and fewer resources have required us to reduce
funding for important services and programs. As we look towards
the future, it is not expected that our financial future will be
any brighter from the State.
We
face these fiscal challenges on a daily basis, and continue to seek
unrestricted sources of revenue that will provide sustainable support
for our educational programs.
I am
often asked "How can parents work with the District to provide
the best education possible for their children?"
There
are six major categories of participation where parents can make
a major difference:
- Remain
Informed. Perhaps the most important thing that any public
school parent can do is to be informed about school and educational
issues. Know your individual child’s academic program, the
activities taking place at your school; policy issues district-wide,
and educational issues under discussion at the state level.
- Legislative
Advocacy. Legislative advocacy is both a challenge and
an opportunity. Local school officials and parent advocates must
regularly update new state lawmakers on the effects that an ever-increasing
number of state laws, not to mention the intricacies of state
funding, have on day-to-day school operations. I strongly believe
that parents should try to establish relationships with their
locally elected assembly and senate representatives. An army of
well-informed parents, focused on the achievement of legislative
objectives, can be a powerful force with Sacramento lawmakers
when it come to issues of funding, testing, curriculum standards,
to name just a few.
- Fundraising
Support. In these trying times, for better or worse,
many parents are choosing to raise funds to supplement the educational
program provided by the state and the district. Parents need to
determine, first of all, whether they wish to participate in fundraising
at all and then, if they do, to determine where, collectively,
their supplemental fiscal resources should be best directed. Since
we are talking about “public” schools, in fairness,
parents shouldn’t have to fundraise at all. However as we
all know, the reality of our situation suggests the need to consider
compromising that philosophical position.
- Local
School Parent Involvement. I am pleased that all Cotati-Rohnert
Park Unified Schools have an active parent:teacher:student association.
Local parent groups, and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
represent a place where parents can come together and be involved
in a variety of support activities.
- Volunteer
Services. Principals and teachers throughout the Cotati-Rohnert
Park Unified School District are fortunate to be able to count
on the services of a large corps of volunteers who provide a variety
of services tour schools and our children. Volunteer services
can range from assisting teachers in classrooms, working with
small groups of children under the direction of the teacher, or
by serving the entire school in support of a school wide endeavor.
Any parent (and grandparent too!) who has the time and interest
in serving in a volunteer capacity need only make contact with
the school’s principal.
- Effective
Parent/Teacher Relations. To best assist the educational
program of his or her own child, a parent must take the time to
know the child’s teacher(s), understand the curriculum being
taught, and learn the classroom protocols, such as homework, testing
schedules, and outside study suggestions. By reinforcing at home
what is addressed during thee school day, a parent sends an important
message to children that the home and the school are working in
concert. With one institution reinforcing the other, children
benefit because the lessons learned in school take on an additional
relevance.
As
we look ahead, we know there are financial challenges we must anticipate.
Our school community has demonstrated their support of our local
schools through a wide number of local fund-raising efforts. As
a school district, we will need to come together and address how
we will cope with declining enrollments and reduced state funding.
We
can all be thankful for the collaborative efforts we see at each
of our schools. Together we can make a difference.
Happy
Thanksgiving to you and your families!
Michael
Watenpaugh
Superintendent
Email:
Michael Watenpaugh
superintendent@crpusd.sonoma.edu
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