Valley Congressmen and state legislators are getting involved in the lingering dispute between some school board members and Superintendent Michael Hanson. On Friday, five lawmakers sent this letter to School Board President Carol Mills regarding the recent Grand Jury report on the district.
Republican commentator Michael Der Manouel Jr. offers his take on the letter here.
The letter from the Congressmen and legislators follows:
There are few issues as important to building a healthy and successful community as providing an academic environment where our children can learn. It is clear that a productive learning environment has significant benefits, both for the student and the community.Our children look to their leaders to do their best to provide that environment. Despite the progress, we believe we can all agree that there is much work that needs to be done in light of the recent findings in the Grand Jury report regarding the Fresno Unified School Board.
Based on the history of difficulties the District management has had, it seems prudent to carefully and expeditiously review, consider and address the Grand Jury recommendations.
The Board's response to this citizen grand jury report should send a clear message that it is committed to being part of a cooperative effort to put our children first and put them in a position to excel. We offer our encouragement in reviewing and addressing the recommendations that will allow the Fresno Unified School District to shift its focus back to the education of our children.
The letter was signed by Rep. George Radanovich, Rep. Devin Nunes, Rep, Jim Costa, State Sen. Dave Cogdill and Assembly Minority Leader Michael N. Villines.
It's unusual for Valley legislators to write such a letter to the school board. Although the language is polite, the members of Congress and the Legislature seem concerned about the direction the school board majority is going.
Carol Mills is just doing her job which is called oversight. Juan and Amy Arambula want a board that rubber stamps everything this Supt. does. I think the States Attorney General's office should investigate the Grand Jury and Assemblyman Arambula for manipulating the Grand Jury.
I don't know who is at fault in this imbroglio with insufficient data, so my reaction is a "plague on all your houses." Everyone should focus on the children, and all of this is nonsense. The children they are educating seem mature by comparison. The problems of Fresno Unified are massive, and even with total cooperation are daunting. This conflict makes it impossible.
Does anyone see the irony in all this? The chief complaint of the Grand Jury was that the Board was "micromanaging" by questioning Hanson's decisions and allegedly getting involved in personnel decisions (although the Grand Jury report didn't have any details about that).
Then the Grand Jury proceeds to demand that the Board change it's leadership, which is a blatant attempt of its own to micromanage and to substitute its own discretion for that of our elected representantives. It's also outside the scope of the Grand Jury's authority. Their civil oversight is supposed to be limited to examining the processes of the District, not to who the Board picks as its leaders.
Then these Congress and Assembly members jump in to do some micromanaging of their own, perhaps spurred on by yet another hit piece from the Bee. Sheesh, does Hanson really need that much help dealing with his employers? If so, maybe he's not as smart as everyone seems to think he is.
Clyde, the Grand jury cannot be manipulated. What a ridiculous comment.
How is it an appointed body (the grand jury)feels it has the power to second guess the duly elected representatives on the school board.?he question of Mr.Hanson and his relationship with the board is hardly the issue we elected these other folks to focus on.Maybe if the mayor and the congressman and others would focus on their responsibilities instead of those of the school board we might be able to solve some of the myriad of problems facing this community. With 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants on the fast track to becoming citizens I think these folks had best focus on their own responsibilities and leave the board to run the schools.
Robert Hoe has a good point - maybe our state and federal elected representatives should focus on their areas of responsibility when it comes to the schools, before offering advice to another elected body.
Here's a question for Mr. Villines and Mr. Cogdill: why does Fresno Unified receive fewer dollars per student from the State than other districts such as Clovis Unified, when they are expected to compete with those other districts for qualified teachers, and educate students to the same standards?
And a question for Messrs. Radanovich, Costa and Nunes: why hasn't federal funding for education matched the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, amounting to an unfunded mandate on the school systems?
Michael, surely you aren't so simple that you believe a body like the grand jury can't manipulated. Clyde