Update: Planning for Our Future
Building the Plan with Our Community
Update: Message from Superintendent Baker
Dear Redwood City Community,
I want to acknowledge what a difficult couple of weeks it has been for everyone in our community: parents, students, staff and district leaders. As I have shared at several of the community forums, I regret very deeply that we are in this place. When I became superintendent after many years serving this district, the last task I wanted was to make drastic budget cuts. I certainly did not want to close schools.
Yesterday we heard hours of testimony from parents, students, and teachers who love their schools. I’m proud that our schools have been serving our families so well, and that is because of our great teachers and staff, and involved parents. I am aware of the strong sense of community at each and every school; I have seen it myself over the years of serving in RCSD. Knowing that our decisions will affect the lives of students, families and staff makes the tough decisions ahead even more painful.
We are in this difficult position due to a number of unrelated factors that are converging: lower enrollment (which reduces funding) due to three new charter schools, families leaving the area due to rising housing costs, years of the state not providing adequate funding, and the state increasing the amount of money that we are required to contribute to the pension system that supports our retired employees.
I want to thank the Superintendent’s Advisory Council, which had representatives from every school in the district, for taking a difficult task very seriously, for studying mounds of data on our finances, enrollment trends and facilities, and for having the courage to suggest ideas that were unpopular. We asked for their input because we knew they would bring a fresh perspective and not feel constrained by thinking of all the reasons an idea might not work or might meet resistance, as educators sometimes have the tendency to do. In fact, the Council came up with some ideas that had not previously been suggested, such as moving the District Office.
We began the planning process last spring and the Council began meeting in mid-August, and has met almost weekly since then. Now we are moving into the phase where I will work with my staff and the board to make recommendations and draft an implementation plan. The final recommendations to the Board are my responsibility, and are not the responsibility of the Council, and it is up to the Board to vote on moving forward with my recommendations.
We have done our best to listen to the community during this phase of gathering input and ideas on how to best right size our district given lower enrollment. We have heard valid critique of some ideas, and new ideas have come forth. We know that some have questioned the process used to engage the community, and yes, it has been bumpy at times. We have tried to be responsive and adjust to suggestions throughout, such as adding two additional board meetings on November 1 so that the Board could hear public testimony before I began drafting my recommendations, and hear testimony again when the recommendations come to the Board on November 14. I do want you to know that the intent of the process was to give every parent, teacher and staff member a voice and an opportunity to weigh in on ideas under consideration.
We have collected and are in the process of reading hundreds of pages of comments, and emails, and we listened to seven hours of testimony yesterday. We are taking all feedback very seriously, and your viewpoints are being considered. I wish I could tell you that there was another way to solve our financial challenges and not close schools. However, the harsh reality is that we need to make reductions in the millions starting with $4 million for next school year, and there is no way to get to that number with our current structure of 16 schools. We are going to have to make difficult decisions and we know that our decisions will not be popular with everyone.
I ask you to remember that we are one community and encourage you to support each other during this time of transformation in the district. We will provide as much support as possible to make this process easier.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Baker
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Redwood City School District
Website: www.rcsdk8.net
Location: 750 Bradford St, Redwood City, CA, USA
Phone: 650-482-2200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedwoodCitySchoolDistrict
Twitter: @RWCSchools