San Carlos School District Announces New Preschool Program.

Open October 2010

The San Carlos School District unveiled their plans today for an all new District pre-school for the San Carlos community.    The new pre-school will be at Heather Elementary School, with the first class commencing this fall.    The creation of a tuition-based pre-school is very much in line with Superintendent Dr. Craig Baker’s plan to bolster the school district’s financial position by offering value-added services to the community.    With all of the new families that have moved into San Carlos over the past few years, I’m sure this pre-school will be a smashing success.

Here’s the email that was released by the District this afternoon, in its entirety:

Dear San Carlos and San Carlos School District Community:

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the San Carlos School District Preschool, beginning in October 2010!  This brand new preschool will be located at Heather Elementary School, however it will be open to any children in the school district and surrounding community.

Our preschool program will offer a developmental, play-based, multi-sensory learning environment, with multi-age groupings for children ages three through five.  Our teachers are highly skilled with extensive credentials in both early childhood education and early elementary education.  The preschool will offer half day (AM or PM), part day (8:30-2:30), and full day (7:30-5:30) options.

We will soon begin accepting registration for the 2010-2011 school year (October 4th start date).  Please check the district website in the next two weeks to download registration forms, as well as additional information about program philosophy, daily schedules, and tuition rates.  In addition, if you are interested and want to begin receiving updates and information about the San Carlos School District Preschool, please feel free to join our list serve.  You may subscribe by sending an email to: preschoolprogram_news-subscribe@sancarlos.k12.ca.us

Please feel free to contact any of our district and preschool staff below:

Marie Crawford, Director of Youth Programs:  mcrawford@sancarlos.k12.ca.us
Sue Dawley, SCSD Preschool Director/Teacher: sdawley@sancarlos.k12.ca.us
Sarah Orton, SCSD Preschool Director/Teacher: sorton@sancarlos.k12.ca.us
Shannon Logie, SCSD Preschool Lead Teacher: slogie@sancarlos.k12.ca.us

We look forward to a wonderful preschool opening as we embark on this exciting new program!

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Possibility of Teacher’s Strike Looms in San Carlos

Impasse, Key Vote May Lead to Strike

With all of the budget discussions that are swirling around City Hall, it’s easy to overlook another vital organization within San Carlos that is struggling to stitch together its own budget deficit:  The San Carlos School District.   As was reported on this site back in February, the District and the San Carlos Teacher’s Association (SCTA) reached an impasse in negotiations over a new contract for the upcoming fiscal year.

According to this article in the Daily Journal, the School District must vote before July 1 to retain its right to cut salaries for teachers and school employees in the upcoming year, a move the District feels is necessary to balance the budget.  If this vote happens, and discussions remain at an impasse, a strike by San Carlos teachers could be declared as soon as 3 weeks.  From a timing standpoint, according to the article, the strike would likely not take effect until the first day of school in August.

Critical Board Meeting

The above mentioned vote, as well as further discussions about the contract negotiations will likely be tabled in tonight’s (June 24) board meeting, which will be held at 7:30 PM at the Central Middle School Library (828 Chestnut Street.)  This meeting is open to the public.   With all of the anxiety that parents normally face with the first week of school, the specter of a teacher’s strike on the first day certainly will certainly make for a nervous summer.

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Town Restaurant to Host Fundraiser for San Carlos Educational Foundation

4th Annual SCEF Fundraiser

If you’re looking for a great way to kick off your summer, while helping San Carlos schools in the process – here’s the event for you.  On Sunday, June 6 Town Restaurant in San Carlos reserve the entire establishment to host the 4th annual fundraiser for the San Carlos Educational Foundation: “An Evening at Town“.  In past years, this event has sold out quickly, so be sure to reserve your spot as soon as possible.  It should be a great night for all, and the proceeds go to a great cause.

A huge thanks to the great folks at the Avenir Restaurant Group (owners of Town), who always seem to be doing something great for the City of San Carlos and our schools.  Between Spring Fling and Walk-a-Jog, they’re instrumental in keeping our schools financially healthy, while keeping the parents way too well-fed.

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School Budget Woes Cause Some Home Buyers to Re-Think Strategy.

School District is Always Important.

It’s not news that the quality of the school district is a key decision criteria for many potential home buyers as they plan the educational path of their children.  Even buyers without children pay close attention to a home’s respective school district because it has a direct relation to the value of homes in that district.  It’s one of the reasons that San Carlos home values have remained stable (and high!) over the past few decades.

The recent recession has taken a toll on just about every school district across the state.  As I reported earlier on the site, the San Carlos School District recently handed out termination/reduction notices to 28 employees for the upcoming school year that may result in the elimination of 18.5 full-time positions across the district.    That’s a tough pill to swallow for a district as small as San Carlos.

The “Fringe” Neighborhoods.

But San Carlos shares a border with Redwood City to the south and Belmont to the north, and as home buyers soon realize, the school district boundaries don’t necessarily match the city boundaries.  This results in a relatively small pocket of north-San Carlos homes that are actually zoned for the Belmont-Redwood Shores District, and a much larger pocket of San Carlos homes to the south that fall inside the Redwood City School District borders.

How have these two school districts fared during the economic downturn?  And more important, what impact does this have on the mindset of home buyers? … Click Here to Continue Reading

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A Tough Day for the San Carlos School District…

Reductions and Termination Notices.

Last night the San Carlos School Board voted to accept the recommendation to send out potential termination/reduction notices to approximately 28 certificated employees in the school district.  Even though 28 staff will receive notifications, the net impact to the District will be the possible loss of up to 18.5 Full-Time Employee (FTE) positions.  The discrepancy in numbers arises since some of the positions that are impacted are part-time positions, and others are reductions in hours rather than complete eliminations.   This recommendation was made as the District struggles to close a budget gap that is estimated to be between $1.6M-$2.2M.

Here’s a copy of the resolution which discusses the positions in more detail: San Carlos School District Reductions

Superintendent Dr. Craig Baker issued an email today that did a very good job of clarifying what these notifications actually entail:

“By law, if a school district is even considering reducing or eliminating a position currently occupied by a “certificated” employee (which includes teachers), the district must give notice to that teacher by March 15th of the prior school year.  Even though these are commonly referred to as “pink slips,” they are not termination notices.  Rather, they are a notification that the District may eliminate/reduce a certificated employee’s position for the following school year.  The District can rescind these notices at any time, as happened last year after the Measure B parcel tax was passed.  However, the law is very clear—if a school district does not deliver these potential termination notices by March 15th, it cannot eliminate those positions for the following school year, regardless of how necessary that might be to balance the budget.”

Tough Losses.

San Carlos has always been known as having one of the top public school districts on the San Francisco Peninsula, and if these positions are indeed lost it will be felt throughout the District.   More details about this staff reduction will certainly follow in the upcoming days, but for now it’s a tough day for everyone involve in the San Carlos School District.

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The Lehman Brothers Collapse: A Year (or so) Later…

The Hangover Continues for San Mateo County.

It’s hard to believe that it was nearly a year and half ago when Lehman Brothers stunned the world by announcing they were filing for bankruptcy, an event that essentially began the downward spiral of the financial markets in September of 2008.   Hundreds of millions of dollars of investments and pension funds vaporized overnight, leaving an indelible black mark on many communities — especially those in California.   It also exposed the critically flawed investment strategies of many our “experts” that foolishly decided to place a huge percentage of their portfolio with one firm.

While many communities suffered significant losses when Lehman bellied up, they couldn’t hold a candle to the damage done to San Mateo County.  And while many of these other communities have been able to patch up the damage and move on, San Mateo County is still suffering the effects of this catastrophe.

San Mateo County Bore the Brunt.

There’s an absolutely outstanding article from the Wall Street Journal that I have included at the bottom of this post that summarizes the effect of the Lehman Brothers collapse on San Mateo County  — I highly recommend reading this.  No other municipality in the nation lost anywhere near the $155M of County of San Mateo funds that evaporated; consequently the impact was felt much deeper here, particularly in the education sector.  Consider the following:

• San Mateo County’s loss of $155M was nearly 4 times greater than any other municipality.
• Education accounted for $63M, or 41% of the total loss.
• The public school system was the single biggest loser, at 25% of the total loss.
• San Carlos School District lost an estimated $630,000.

As we read about how San Carlos  and surrounding communities (such as Burlingame) and their respective school districts that are struggling to stay afloat, it’s important to remember how the hole got so big in the first place.   Here’s the article from the Wall Street Journal:  Lehman’s Ghost Haunts California.

(special thanks to blog reader Kelly for the tip on this article.)

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