Schools
by Around Dublin Team on September 29, 2010 | 
32 Comments | Topics: Opinions · Schools
Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) is struggling to accommodate the “explosive growth” of elementary school student population in East Dublin. The actual student population in East Dublin has consistently outpaced the demographic projections by the SCI Consulting Group over the past decade. The cost overrun of various school construction projects has resulted in the delayed opening of H.W. Kolb Elementary School, which inevitably led to the unacceptable overcrowding at John Green Elementary School, as this neighborhood school in Dublin Ranch becomes oversubscribed. The current recommendation from DUSD staff is to reconfigure John Green Elementary School and H.W. Kolb Elementary School into K-4 schools. Meanwhile, Eleanor Murray Fallon School would become a middle school serving 6th-8th graders, along with the 5th graders from both John Green Elementary School and H.W. Kolb Elementary School. Students at James Dougherty Elementary School are not part of the proposed reconfiguration at this time.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 27, 2010 | 40 Comments | Topics: Opinions · Schools
Through poor planning Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) has run out of space to operate John Green Elementary School. The current recommendation from DUSD staff is to put all fifth graders from John Green Elementary School and H.W. Kolb Elementary School with the middle school students at Eleanor Murray Fallon School. Students at James Dougherty Elementary School are not part of the proposed reconfiguration at this time.
Past decisions by the DUSD Board of Trustees have led to persistent classroom shortages in East Dublin schools. In September 2005, DUSD staff recommended the construction of John Green Elementary School with a capacity of only 600 students. Adamant opposition by then Board Trustees Randy Shumway and David Haubert eventually resulted in two additional classrooms at John Green Elementary School, but that compromise was clearly insufficient. Enrollment projections in East Dublin have consistently exceeded even the high growth scenarios presented by the SCI Consulting Group, DUSD’s demographer. Even with the perpetual underforecasting of East Dublin growth by the demographer, the presentation given by the SCI Consulting Group on January 24, 2006, accurately showed the need for the opening of H.W. Kolb Elementary School in the 2008-2009 school year and the opening of the yet-to-be-named elementary school in Positano at Fallon Village for the 2010-2011 school year. The same presentation also demonstrated the need for the conversion of Eleanor Murray Fallon School to a middle school.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 22, 2010 | 22 Comments | Topics: Schools
Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) is known to be a very generous employer in comparison to other school districts in the Tri-Valley. According to a CBS 5 report of 2009-2010 salaries, the average DUSD teacher earned roughly $70,000 for 2009-2010*. In addition to paying these base salaries, DUSD will also be contributing roughly $4.7M to employee pension plans during the 2010-2011 school year. Teachers are expected to receive $3.3M in pension contributions, while support employees are expected to receive $1.3M in contributions.
DUSD contributes an additional 12% of each teacher’s salary to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS) and “Alt Retirement” pension plan. For an average DUSD teacher who earns $70,000 a year, this amount works out to be $8,400 extra on top of the base annual salary. DUSD also pays an additional 16.77% of each support employee’s salary to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and “Alt Retirement” pension plans. For a maintenance worker who earns $50,000 a year, this amount works out to be $8,385 extra on top of the base annual salary.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 20, 2010 | No Comments | Topics: Schools
Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) commissioned a survey during the 2009-2010 school year to assess the perceptions and feelings of students and parents in Dublin, CA. This district-wide effort was a cost effective approach to obtaining quick and earnest feedback from the community DUSD serves. More than 2,780 K-12 students, 670 parents, and 260 DUSD employees participated in the survey. The DUSD’s 2010 survey produced some interesting findings.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 15, 2010 | 37 Comments | Topics: Schools
Nearly every Tri-Valley school posted gains in the California Department of Education’s 2010 Academic Performance Index (API) reports. The San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) posted the highest consolidated API score of 916. The Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) was a close second with a combined 2010 API score of 906. The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) API increased by 24 points to earn a score of 878. The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School Distrct (LVJUSD) placed last in the Tri-Valley with a combined 2010 API score of 822.
San Ramon’s Dougherty Valley led the way for Tri-Valley high schools with a 2010 API of 909. Monte Vista (894) and San Ramon Valley (891) rounded out the top three high schools in the Tri-Valley. Livermore High School posted a 33 point increase, but it remains the lowest performing high school in the Tri-Valley with an API score of 802 for 2010. Granada High (840) and Dublin High (868) rounded out the bottom three high schools in the Tri-Valley.
Dublin’s top performing schools for 2010 were Dougherty Elementary (939), Green Elementary (933), and Fallon School (910); however, excluding Valley High Continuation School, these three schools actually posted the smallest API score improvements. In fact, Dougherty Elementary’s API score actually decreased by 5 points compared to 2009. Wells Middle School posted the largest gain, catapulting by 49 points to 838 in 2010 from 789 in 2009.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 14, 2010 | 2 Comments | Topics: Schools
School districts hire demographers to forecast student enrollment growth. Doing so helps school administrators and Board members determine how many schools are needed to serve their future students and where those schools should be located. The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) received a demographic study from the SCI Consulting Group on March 23, 2010 to assess these critical questions.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 7, 2010 | 16 Comments | Topics: Schools
As part of Measure C, the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) issued $184M of bonds to fund renovations at the district school facilities. Dublin High School received $120M of the funding for renovations. According to Dublin-based Local Union 595, DUSD enlisted the help of Dublin’s labor unions to help campaign for the additional property tax, which is also known as an ad valorem tax, in order to win support for Measure C. In exchange, DUSD promised to hire union contractors as a means of providing jobs for union laborers in the community. At least one labor union has alleged that DUSD may not have hired union contractors to complete renovations at Dublin High School as it had initially promised.
California prevailing wage laws are triggered, in general, whenever public funds are used on a public works project. Prevailing wage is defined as the median wage paid to workers in a specified locality. A goal of mandating prevailing wages is to ensure that locally-funded projects create jobs in the community. Non-union contractors looking to save money will often ignore prevailing wage laws and hire laborers from lower wage areas like the Central Valley and Salinas Valley.
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by John M. Zukoski on September 2, 2010 | No Comments | Topics: Schools
The Bay Area is home to many top colleges and universities. This abundance of world-class higher education institutions is a key factor ensuring that the Bay Area will continue to innovate and thrive in the years ahead. A college education is one of the most important and costly investments that prospective students will ever make. For this reason, the editors of U.S. News provide students and their families with as much information as possible about the comparative merits of the educational programs at America’s colleges and universities. Many Bay Area and Central Valley institutions made it to U.S. News’ top colleges listing for 2011.
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by John M. Zukoski on August 29, 2010 | No Comments | Topics: Schools
On September 1, 2010, Chevron will be launching its one-month-long Fuel Your School program in partnership with DonorsChoose.org. Chevron hopes to provide public schools in Alameda County and Contra Costa County with funding up to $1M for projects that focus on science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). Obtaining funding is easy. Teachers simply submit their science, technology, engineering, or math projects to DonorsChoose.org. Projects are approved and funded by DonorsChoose.org up to $2,000 per project in the order that they are received. Participating Chevron stations donate $1 for every 8-gallon or more fill-up to the projects in the city where the gas stations are located.
Dublin, for example, has two participating Chevron gas stations at 7007 San Ramon Valley Boulevard and 7100 Dougherty Road. If 10,000 customers fill-up at these two stations, Chevron will contribute $10,000 to classroom projects in Dublin’s public schools.
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