Wednesday: School board to vote on 30 layoff notices

Don't school districts normally do this in March? Hmmm! Wonder if the board is doing this now to scare the voters?

"Don't school districts normally do this in March? Hmmm! Wonder if the board is doing this now to scare the voters?"

ya think?

Liz, the School Board is doing this now because they have to be prepared for what they will do if Measure X doesn't pass. The timeline between the X vote and giving notice to the teachers is very tight (by March 15, if I recall correctly). Moreover, the Board and District have been exceedingly transparent in the past 6 months of meetings that these layoffs will come if X doesn't pass.

District detractors repeatedly accuse the district of mismanagement and then take every opportunity to take good management decisions and turn them against the District. Whether you are a broad detractor or just a skeptical bystandar, I cannot tell from one post. That said, to call this a "scare tactic" is precisely the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that has been characteristic of those in this forum that repeatedly try to tear down our school district to the detriment of our kids, our schools, and our community.

I for one am exceedingly impressed by the transparency and good governance that our district leadership has displayed. YES ON X!

Especially now, it is important for the truth to be published in our papers and communicated to our community. I thank the MPCSD for this transparency, Karen Dearing for the clarification and no Liz, not a scare tactic, but a reality check! Ask any teacher in the district, this layoff is REAL if Measure X does not pass. Please support this very important Measure X.

Liz writes:

"Don't school districts normally do this in March? Hmmm! Wonder if the board is doing this now to scare the voters?"

Is it possible that Menlo Park is doing this to INFORM voters? There are real implications to not passing Measure X. The public should know about what will happen in our schools if it doesn't pass.

Board approval to issue layoff notices is standard procedure. The board needs to approve this during its February meeting in order for the district to have time to issue them by the March deadline. They are really more of a notice that one could be released if needed it does not mean "pack your bags".

Although the Measure X campaign LOVES to use scare tactics in its marketing, even if Measure X does not pass, "30 teachers" will NOT be laid off or "cut" as the campaign states. Will there be layoffs, sure; however some of the reductions will come through attrition due to retirements and other factors that result in teachers resigning. That could easily be as high at 15 teachers.

Although I am in favor of Measure X (although I waiver when I read the scare tactics writen in the campaign materials), the ticking time bomb is the pension pressure that districts are now facing. This parcel tax is only a BANDAID and will not nearly provide the additional funding needed to keep the district services at 2016 levels. In three years the pension obligation for MPCSD will eat up the entire amount Measure X will bring in annually. In my rough estimate, the tax needed to maintain the current programs and services would really need to be more like $800+.

Mark my words, the board is going to come back in two or three years with an additional parcel tax.

At some point district taxpayers are going to need to make a decision if they want to keep on throwing money at the state pension black hole or stand up and force change. It is not inconceivable that in the next 10 years the total parcel tax for MPCSD only will top $2000.

Some good articles on the State Pension Problem and how serious it is.
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