I don't know whether Trustee Nelson fancies himself a crusader, or is truly delusional like Don Quixote??

"I don't know whether Trustee Nelson fancies himself a crusader, or is truly delusional like Don Quixote??"

Who is to say it can't be both? Were it not for his bizarre rants, he *could* be considered a valuable part of the school board. But he destroys any possible good he could achieve by behaving the way he does.

Steven, you may be a Nelson but you are no Mandela. Stop this self-aggrandizing behavior and step down.

While you're at it, take Coladonato with you. We don't want the grandstanding and aggressive behavior that these two consistently exhibit.

This is a school board in a small city, not the springboard for your delusions of grandeur.

"This is a school board in a small city, not the springboard for your delusions of grandeur."

+1 for the poster from Sylvan Park!

We are in BIG trouble when a school board needs to go on a retreat to figure out what went wrong. More of the same wasteful spending. Let's get back to basics.

I know this district has challenges. I myself have selected private elementary instead of our neighborhood school for my kids. However, out of curiosity I just checked greatschools.net and it looks like many Mountain View schools have gotten a bump with the new test scores. I see a lot more green than I did several years ago.

I know people were not happy with the new test results compared to some neighboring districts, but doesn't this mean that compared to other schools in the state Mountain View is doing pretty good (and continuing to improve)?

Looks like Landels and Bubb saw a bump, while Crittenden and Mountain View High school saw a large bump. Way to go! With improving scores and the positive comments about Crittenden I'm hearing from neighbors who attend, there is a chance the district could pull us back in by middle school. Keep up the good work, keep improving.

My experience with Kevin Skelly made me feel fearful for our school districts future. The principal and vice principal at Crittenden pawned us off to Skelly because they didn't agree with me about what was being handled with my student. ( I was uninformed of bullying that was taking place and happening to my son, among a bunch of other issues that were NOT communicated to my husband and I about the well being and academic success of our student.) During an abrupt, last minute meeting that was called for my student and I to meet with Skelly, he asked if my student had a father...and where was he! (At work, because you called us in here at the last minute!) Anyway, he turned to my student and raised his voice, and saying with eye contact that they messed up and let their parents down, self down and teachers down, for not getting a high enough GPA.( WHAT?! ) I immediately corrected him that that was not so, and he was way out of line! He was cocky, condescending and ultimately wasting our time, because he wasn't even listening to our side! He pawned us back to the principal and told him to make the decision....(REALLY?!!) He had no leadership skills, wisdom or care whatsoever for the well being of a student in the school district. So sad!

As a member of the Boundaries Committee, I take issue with the portion regarding our Task Force's work. First, the District never once told us we had to do anything. Other than an initially tight timeline (which was relaxed), the District put no demands on the outcome of our work. The District never told us we had to close any school. The District did provide a guide for how they finance and resource our schools which included a preferred number of students per school which is completely appropriate. In fact, the Boundaries Committee drafted questions to the Board requesting their position on whether or not closing a school was within their scope of reasonable results. The Board responded quickly that they had no interest in closing any of our MV schools.

Second, the District hired a respected company to get data on our student population. As I understand it, this is a company the District has used before, and a company that has operated with distinction in the past for it's clients. No one complained about the data the company provided until they didn't get the decision from our work that was desired. No one challenged any of their work until the scenarios we presented didn't recommend opening a school in the Whisman area. At that point, a couple of arm chair "data specialists" cried all kinds of foul on Insight's work. Whether or not there is future growth coming to our district or not remains irrelevant. The fact is that when we count what we currently have we do not currently have the student population to support an additional school AND continue with our current school resource efforts.

However, these are choices. We can certainly, as a community, decide to fund our schools with smaller student bodies, share various resources at our schools. We can think critically about how to open a 9th school, reduce all of our student populations at each of our schools by about 100 students and pledge not to close any particular school. We can change anything we want about how we plan attendance at our schools. The Board simply needs to make that choice and the District needs to figure out how to make it fiscally responsible.

However, there is much work to be done before this should be considered. We are not currently serving our accelerated students to the best of our ability. We are not currently serving our ELL students to the best of our ability. We are not currently serving students stuck in the achievement gap to the best of our ability. Opening a new school at this time would seemingly be detrimental to all of our existing schools given the problems we currently have in our schools.

At the beginning of our process I was a staunch supporter of opening a new school because the Board clearly favored opening a new school. The work we did on the Boundaries Task Force revealed that it would be a mistake for our district at this time.

I fully believe that we can put plans in motion to open a new school in the very near future. But in order to get it done, several other things need to be figured out first. The district and the Board are doing that work now. As I've said again and again, I'm excited about the future for our district. But we must resist the temptation of sandbagging the results of District Committees' work just because the answer we get doesn't meet our expectations. That does not mean the work is flawed. It means in order to get the results we want, we need to take the steps necessary to get the preferred outcome....once we know what needs to be done. Our district committees provide those steps.

The new superintendent might as well just say that none of this stuff is going to stick to me. It's a little disappointing. I'm still trying to find the leader in this guy.

@ Observer

You're welcome to trust but verify. But if you don't see the leader in Dr. Rudolph, then you simply haven't done your homework. You haven't had a conversation with him. You haven't read his 100 day plan. You haven't seen him at our schools. You haven't seen him talking to staff and teachers and parents. You haven't seen him at meetings. Dr. Rudolph is definitely a leader. Dr. Rudolph is the leader we need. He's likable, he's experienced, he's patient, he's focused, he's prepared. Not sure what you're looking for but perhaps you should just go spend a little time with Dr. Rudolph and ask him your questions personally. Maybe that'll help.

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Struggling, I have a child at Crittenden and I do recommend that you consider it. It's a strong school with an excellent principal and some really caring teachers. I'm glad that my kid is getting to know a diverse population (which wasn't the case in elementary school). He needs to know how to work and live with people who are economically and socially diverse, as well as succeed academically and so far Crittenden is doing a good job of expanding his horizons.

I am severely disappointed in Steve Nelson and Greg Coladonato, who both seem to care a great deal more about themselves, how important they feel or appear, and their personal agendas than about anything else in the district. Public service is not for the selfish and self absorbed. I am embarrassed to be a part of this school district.

embarrassed of North Whisman wrote:
"I am severely disappointed in Steve Nelson and Greg Coladonato,...I am embarrassed to be a part of this school district."

Then may I suggest that you:
1) Take the time to gather your thoughts, write a short clear speech (1min is about all you can be sure of getting, but sometimes 3min) expressing your opinions.
2) Come to the Dec 10th Board meeting by 6pm. The next meeting is way out in January and the general public speech time slot comes early in the meeting.
3) Fill out the green card and turn it in so you can get a chance to speak.
4) Take a deep breath and relax when you're called to speak, don't let it stress you out, don't get over-emotional, just stick to your points.
5) Give your opinions.

If everyone (regardless of which side you may be on) could find it in themselves to do the above when they have strong opinions (which they can clearly express) about political issues, we would all be better off.

Remember, we live in a Republic (not a Democracy) so the people WE ELECTED cast the only votes that decide between one course of action and another. However, we still have a voice and should use it to do what we can to keep the politicians accountable for their past actions and aware of the voters wishes for future choices. Even if the politicians often choose not to listen.