Here is the WCCUSD budget "trigger" document.

http://www.wccusd.net/2277106316311100/lib/2277106316311100/Budget%20Information/2011-2012%20Budget/10-26-2011%20Special%20Board%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf

Cutting school security officers (as proposed by the board) is unacceptable unless it has been discovered that their role was never truly has been essential in ensuring the safety of our children. From what I observed at one campus, such safety personnel is needed.

This might lead one to ask are our district schools now assuming the role previously held by the county and state, that of overseeing youth who are engaging in criminal and violent behavior?

Or have our schools always needed such a presence of law enforcement? It might be useful to see a security-police log of all WCCUSD incidents requiring the assistance of these employees.

As for Adult Education and Community College (also part of the WCCUSD), these classes have always been a bargain compared to the cost of state and UC system colleges, so increasing tuition might be acceptable.

The school district (board) has already approve going after the citizens for another parcel-tax in june. NO MORE PARCEL TAXES

It's time to open the books and find out how much the Administration is wasting in funds with items and people they think they need, but do not. The money needs to go to the actual schools and teachers, not bloated administration "costs" at the top. Why isn't the superintendent taking a pay cut, so that schools like Ohlone can have a paid traffic officer present in the morning and afternoon at the school parking lot? With the construction going on, there have been accidents, rude and illegal driving, and anxiousness when doing something as simple as dropping your child off for school. We are lucky to have volunteers whom do this free of charge, but that doesn't make it right.

I attended the meeting last night, which was intended to be a political rally in support of this property tax.. I support the schools and have volunteered at HMHS, but I'm not convinced that the School District is working a lot smarter, and that cuts in admin pay and benefits or services, or other creative means to save $) have been or will be taken. No slide showed deep admin cuts. I would need to see data on the most highly paid (top twenty perent of District ees) , and the percentage cuts they've taken in the past year or two. Protect teachers, but cut wasteful spending in Administration. Agreed with the one comment that the school needs to work in a much smarter way, I just have to believe there is a more efficient way to do business than just continuing status quo. As a home owner, I don't want one ore tax -- though we want a great public school education for Hercules kids, which, until last year, included our son. It feels like Hercules voice on this won't be heard.

I was there as well. The turnout was decent, but it seemed like the majority of people in the crowd were teachers. I think the lack of community and parent representation says a lot about the level of apathy towards educational funding problems. It could also mean that many parents have given up and just accepted the status quo. Regardless, it is clear that things have not gotten bad enough to raise the ire of the community or parents. When that happens, I suspect there will be meetings filled with concerned parents asking the obvious questions like "How did we get here?" "What can we do to fix this?" etc. One of the teachers, who was upset about the idea of a parcel tax, said something that resonated with me. He said (paraphrasing) it was time for the village to step up and take some responsibility in regards to helping the schools. I think he mentioned that when he was younger it was common for teachers to elicit the help of parents to do simple things like help grade papers, volunteer in the classroom, etc. I suspect many parents would happily do this, but I don't know if there are policies in place that would restrict such actions. Either way, the economic road ahead is not looking promising (no matter what kind of rhetoric we hear from politicians) and I imagine more cuts are going to come and more of our schools are going to suffer. We will certainly have to do more with much less. We must prepare now for these changes.

Last night, I did not see the leadership necessary to lead the way during these difficult times. I saw someone who was very flat, timid, defeated, resigned to not rocking the boat or thinking outside the box. He's supposed to be a voice for our kids, but I heard no voice. He seemed to be on auto-pilot.

I needed to hear his own assessment of what we could expect with any of the proposed cuts, including safety. I didn't hear it. The presentation was lazy.
The solutions and energy came from the audience, not from him.

Both he and the associate Superintendent made reference to "policy makers" yet I had mistakenly believed the Superintendent and the Board were THE policy makers. I am holding them accountable.

A teacher proposed bringing back the trades classes, a great idea, but one that was dismissed by the Superintendent who cited the current economic slump, that no one is hiring electricians and carpenters and welders. With that approach, why not just suspend school, as most professions are not hiring right now. It's a recession.

When an audience member brought up the idea of more roles for volunteers, the Superintendent should have jumped on it, saying "Great idea! Let's brainstorm as to where we want to place volunteers and how to do it!" Nothing. Lifeless.

In the end, it just seemed that the purpose for the meeting was to prepare us for another parcel tax.

@G.C- No, Patch was unable to attend Wednesday's meeting. We will try to report on one of the upcoming similar meetings to be held at nearby schools.