Class of 08 wrote on Sep 25, 2008 11:28 PM:Although I think the plan for another school like this is always nice, I truly believe the focus should be on opening the new magnet high school first. The two high schools in Vista are way too overcrowded. I just graduated from RBV and know first-hand the problems overcrowding causes. The test scores were improved, but it's very hard to achieve the highest academic success under these circumstances. It is always nice to have a school for those who want more of a "challenge", but at the same time, you have to look ahead and see what future the students have if the problems aren't resolved. Just my veiw on things. I don't know the whole story behind this, but Im guessing its just more money that could be used to help a bigger group of people.

Curious wrote on Sep 26, 2008 5:15 AM:So Mr. Gibson thinks the Board and the Superintendent are responsible for the scores going up? When was the last time he was even on a campus? Kudos should go to teachers, students and parents, not the Board and Sup.

Vista Mom wrote on Sep 26, 2008 6:24 AM:Is obvious that Mr. Lilly is "anti-charter". The best thing to happen is to have the classical academy come to Vista. Their scores are high, their teachers are excellent, kids LEARN. He won't be getting MY vote!

Lisa wrote on Sep 26, 2008 6:25 AM:Jim Gibson is proud to be a part of VUSD, even though he is running for O'side City Council. Now that's funny!

Concerned Parent wrote on Sep 26, 2008 7:54 AM:What a shame. The Classical Academy has a solid proven track record of student success. There are over 200 kids from Vista already attending The Classical Academy. This would have been a great opportunity to more conveniently serve those families. This "Board" is not able to recognize true success. Instead, it has approved other charter schools on a whim, with no proven track record--for example, Trade Tech, the latest charter to open in Vista, has less than 40 kids attending, and LOTS of problems. Maybe the Board should consider revoking the Trade Tech charter and approving The Classical charter if their concern or fear is having "too many" charter schools in the district.

No Charter wrote on Sep 26, 2008 8:44 AM:then how about vouchers? Charters work and should be encouraged.

To Lisa wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:00 AM:Jim Gibson has every right to be proud of what is going on in VUSD. He has helped to bring about change by helping to bring Dr. Bales to VUSD and supporting her work here at the district.

To Curious... wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:05 AM:Mr. Gibson has been a supporter of Dr. Bales who in turn has supported the teachers of this district. He has always said that it is the teachers who are "in the trenches" who deserve the credit and of course the students, but if he hadn't supported bringing Dr. Bales to VUSD and her track record of turning around past school districts we would be stuck with an administrator who was only interested in padding his own retirement package and not the children of VUSD.

To No Charter wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:12 AM:You are right. I support anything that would encourage student learning, especially vouchers. If we had vouchers, the parents would be in control of their child's education and not the bureaucracy we call a school district. The school districts would have to vie for the money and actually show a return for parents to put their children in that district. This would be a great incentive for schools to improve.

to curious wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:38 AM:I was at the board meeting, Gibson recognized and thanked teachers, parents, students, and administrators. sometimes the paper does not have room to print every word.

Supported Really wrote on Sep 26, 2008 2:02 PM:To "To Curious" @10:05 re: "...Dr. Bales who in turn has supported the teachers..." I wonder how many teachers feel supported by Dr. Bales and the board. From what I'm hearing, it's not very many.

Jane wrote on Sep 26, 2008 2:35 PM:Supported Really- the NCT has plenty of ink and the reporter sure sat there for many hours was it over four hours?

I think this article could have been a little linger.

Fed up wrote on Sep 26, 2008 3:43 PM:Here we go again. Another North County district bullying a successful charter school. When are they going to acknowledge that parents need educational alternatives?

To Supported Really wrote on Sep 26, 2008 5:06 PM:Ever sat in a position where you are not directly in contact with a senior person, but continuously hear a vocal group bad mouth that person? As a sociologist who has studies group dynamics I can tell you that some of the best people at doing a job can be routinely seen as doing a poor job when a small vocal minority spends significant amounts of effort to demean everything that person does. In fact, we can look through History and find that the writings of the times concerning President Lincoln would have a large majority of the people in the North clearly disappointed with his administration and his execution of the war. However, he is now considered one of our greatest Presidents.
So, to answer your question about how many teachers really feel that way about Dr. Bales... Well, are these the teachers who have been brainwashed by their Union or are these the teachers who have taken the time to talk with Dr. Bales and learn firsthand what she is doing for them and their students? You will also find in group dynamics that the clear majority of people simply want to do their job and actually fear going against any vocal group who continuously puts out one opinion or another. In Fact, often times they can be very easily intimidated simply by the fact that any time they even begin to question or disagree with members of the vocal group they are shouted down by others. However, if you were to take the majority of the members aside you'd find they don't agree with the vocal minority. But, since each one is afraid to speak their mind, due to the abuse they receive from the vocal minority, they never find out that they are actually among the majority (yes, the silent majority). It is too bad that we have teachers who would rather spend their time playing politics than doing their job of teaching. But, until the silent majority is willing to speak up against the vocal minority we are bound to continue to see good teachers forced out of the classroom by the radical few.

Not Supported wrote on Sep 26, 2008 5:47 PM:As a teacher in Vista I can say that I do not, and have never felt, supported by Dr. Bales and team. The district may be moving in the right direction with test scores but what I hear from teachers everywhere is how demoralized they are. This administration believes they are the only ones who know anything. I am always willing to accept change and direction but it is helpful to have things explained and not just dictated to. We have lost many excellent administrators and teachers in Vista the past few years. Dr. Bales may be great for test scores but her administration just doesn't get personnel motivation. Fear is not a strategy to motivate your employees.

Vista Resident wrote on Sep 26, 2008 6:21 PM:This makes no sense, they do not have a lot of unanswered questions, the Classical Acadamies have history to back them up. This school grows and overflows with families and students that are motivated and work very hard to keep their State scores up. This could only help Vista. Makes me wonder if the Vista School District is afraid of being outdone. Kids are more imporant and what this specific charter school is doing works. Just look at the history!!! Can't we keep politics out of something?

Aarons Grandma wrote on Sep 26, 2008 11:36 PM:In the beginning, Californians (and other states’ citizens as well) became very concerned about the deterioration of a once exemplary public school system, and they came up with the concept of encouraging the development of “Charter Schools”. The idea was to remove the encumbrances of the existing public school system and allow for an entrepreneurial approach to education. They hoped that new ideas would flourish and that children would profit by receiving the best possible education. Most “good” teachers believe that they embrace that concept. And so the experiment began. There have been successes and there have been failures. The good thing about Charter schools is that the failures actually fail and become nonexistent. The successful charter schools, those that receive exemplary school awards from the state department of education, those that receive WASC accreditation, those that score among the highest in the district… those charter schools flourish. Apparently VUSD Board members haven’t figured that out. I would venture to say that school boards like this are a very large part of the reason that there ever was a need for the charter school concept… in the beginning. Keep up the good work, board members, continue to protect that status quo. No doubt you’ll encourage more great ideas, similar to charter schools, as people realize there are better ways to educate there children.

Disturbed wrote on Sep 27, 2008 12:44 AM:I teach in VUSD at a program improvement school. We have been making good growth with the support of Reading First which we started before Dr. Bales came to Vista. Yet Dr. Bales and Dr. Gecewicz visited our staff for the first time after spring break. They came to give us a pep talk before testing. However, many of us felt their comments were threatening and disturbing. Our efforts were not recognized. Now Mr. Gibson is taking credit for our success? That's not right!

To Not Supported and Disturbed wrote on Sep 27, 2008 9:53 AM:I too teach in VUSD and have seen firsthand the successes of the new administration. But, I also continue to hear those who resist change. In fact, the few times I've attempted to make any positive comments about Dr Bales to some of the other teachers in my school I find them so opposed to Dr. Bales that I have to bite my tongue and remain quiet. I have to agree that the atmosphere at VUSD has been one of hostility ever since Dr. Bales arrived. But, having met with her personally on many occasions I don't believe she is the problem. Maybe she needed to clean house a bit faster and remove anybody who talked bad behind her back. But, that requires a supportive board which, even though she was hired with a 5-0 vote, she does not seem to have. I have also routinely heard her bad mouthed at the VTA. So, I can easily guess where the bulk of the resistance is coming from. Finally, having checked the books myself, I know that what my Union reps keep saying about LMB taking away my pay raises is totally false. Most of the money being used for LMB is not allowed to be used for pay raises, and must be used for programs such as LMB. So, if the VTA would only stop playing politics with the children, then maybe we teachers could get down to business and teach.
Vista Teacher, where do you stand on all this?

Vista Teacher wrote on Sep 27, 2008 1:42 PM:I think it is a shame that the Board chose to deny the petition for the Classical Academy Charter. But, the typical 3-2 split will change in Nov. So, Classical Academy, come again next year and re-apply; Things will be quite different.
VT

Disturbed wrote on Sep 27, 2008 2:58 PM:If you were to talk to teachers at the elementary schools that made good growth on their API this year they would attribute their progress to Reading First not to Lindamood-Bell or SuccessMaker. Lindamood-Bell is not state adopted because it's not a complete program. Yet when kids are pulled out of the class that's all they get. SuccessMaker is a math drill program that kids use on the computer. Direct instruction in math provided by the teacher is much more valuable. If people oppose Dr. Bales it's because we are frustrated that she doesn't communicate with us. Her expensive programs have taken away resources from our students. In addition, our district has lost a great deal of funding from grants like in science because Dr. Bales doesn't support us.

Curious wrote on Sep 27, 2008 5:31 PM:If you took a straw poll I think that you would find that teachers in Vista have not, and do not feel supported by Dr. Bales. To TO: Curious, you couldn't be further off the mark.

and please, VT, you are SO not a teacher in VUSD.

Charter Schools wrote on Sep 27, 2008 5:42 PM:I taught at a charter school for many years and have been teaching in VUSD for as many, which I believe makes my comments more relevant than most. While I loved the charter school I was working at, there were many problems - too many to list in this short space. And that school is considered a "gem" in CA. It's a gem because the people who founded it set it up that way - but someone else came along years later and made a mess of things. The problem with charter schools is that there is not enough oversite or accountability, which can lead to a host of problems.

I find that as a teacher I have much more support in the more "conventional" school, which trickles down to my students and makes them successful. This support comes from my dept, my principal, and the admin. staff at my site - not the DO.

Vote Gibson wrote on Sep 28, 2008 12:24 PM:Vote for Mr. Gibson as Councilman for the City of Oceanside. He will do right by the residents of Oceanside and make sure that tax dollars are not wasted!!