Oh OK. Now I understand why the district needs to pay Westover $200,000 AND spend $96,000 to on a consultant to train her on Voodoo Economics.

And Wheeler is showing her true colors. She whines about the low-income needs at Mistral while dismantling the program in the same breath.

The situation in this district is hopeless. Overspend on salaries for high-end earners accompanied by Board Member hand wringing about not enough money for the low-end and poor students.

And it appears that the low end and poor students are always the sole focus of the spending priorities. Let’s not worry about the kids of the parents that are actually paying the taxes that fund these schools. No wonder so many opt for private schools.

I love that the district does a significant amount of professional development at all levels of the DO. I think this is important to the health and strength of the district and it’s staff, and of course, we know this kind of training convinced people to hang around a long time...particularly important since the folks of this district seem to enjoy the hire from within philosophy.

I do hope a good alternative to beyond the bell is created for Mistral. Those families need all the help they can get.

@Cfrink,

Please list the "significant amount of professional development at all levels of the DO". You appear to be making such un-qualified and broad statements in ignorance. And there is no such training for teachers proportionate to up to a third of their yearly salary. Maybe that's why Mistral has lost a quarter of its teaching staff in the last year and the attrition rate for teachers at other schools is high as well.

And BTW, hoping for a "good alternative to beyond the bell" or some other form of quality after school program is not the same as actually having one.

The board should consider the reinstatement of inexpensive programs like ISP.

Leasing school sites to Google and a private school generate more than one million a year plus donation from Google, Realtors. Mountain View Whisman District saving account can resolve such deficit. The problem is not the money. The problem is the conflict of interest of that millions of dollars. Mountain View community deserve
an investigation. It is needed to clarify how it is spent and who benefits from this money

@cfrink your comment 'Those families' needing all the help they could get, really shows that the district and the pro-district folks, though few, are trying to dismantle and de-incentivize a program for the native Spanish speakers, therefore lowering enrollment overtime. The comment and the districts actions are at minimum, quite derogatory if not full on oppressive.

The problem would appear to be elected board members unqualified and lacking experience to manage such a large and complex organization. We have a couple of underemployed lawyers from low tier law firms, a para-legal / legal secretary, a mid-level government employee and a former teacher. Compared to the high qualified board members on the Los Altos and Palo Alto school boards, we have the equivalent a high school junior varsity team. To make matters worse we have a first time novice superintendent who has shown on numerous occasions already serious problems in owning up to his screw ups. It all just makes for an exasperating set of circumstances. The district is largely being steered directionless and now with deficit spending. This will not end well.

The charter school program would have cost the district $10K per student in funding and provided a unique service that would highly benefit the low income students who would make up 35% of its students. The $10K average cost would go down if the make up didn't include 35% low income students.

The district has such expensive programs that it spends nearly $16K per student. Programs like the charter's provide a service to the low income students at a much more affordable cost. Naturally the bozo's on the board listened to the incompetent superintendent and greeted the charter program with hostility and dismissive comments until they killed it.

@LongResident

It was Bullis Mountain View’s refusal to take steps to guarantee enrolling the students they claimed to want to serve that killed their plans. There are plenty of other concerns about MVWSD’s leadership, but they get credit for holding BMV accountable.

@Ernest

"The problem would appear to be elected board members unqualified and lacking experience to manage such a large and complex organization. We have a couple of underemployed lawyers from low tier law firms, a para-legal / legal secretary, a mid-level government employee and a former teacher."

Now that you have identified the problem, what do you propose as a solution?

“Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining.”
― Teddy Roosevelt

Charter opponents loudly warned that BMV would "drain" funds causing financial trouble for the District. The claim was misguided because MVWSD is a basic aid district.

The District collects $thousands more in revenue per-student than the charter would receive, and the District would keep the difference. The District would profit by $thousands per charter student for its own program.

Turns out financial trouble was coming anyway. Killing the charter made it worse and deprived MVWSD of a much-needed scapegoat.