Bring accountability, transparency, and responsible fiduciary management to the $39,000,000 revenues of the school district

By Marilu L. Serrano

I will provide true -- not smoke and mirrors, political talk, shrugging off my responsibilities to bring accountability, transparency, and responsible fiduciary management of the $39,000,000 revenues of the school district.

If elect I would insist on an independent audit of our $39,000,000 budget as I have long ago lost confidence in the current superintendent's integrity, having witnessed that she makes budget decisions based on politics.

It is a betrayal to the students of Ravenswood for some on school board to shout that they "Don't micromanage".

Insisting that the current superintendent be held accountable for her lack of integrity in put the students of Ravenswood first in the expenditure of the $39,000,000 student's revenue is not engaging in micromanaging. To the contrary it is being a diligent and a watchful caretaker of the $39,000,000 school district children's revenues.

Every dollar should be targeted like a laser beam on the education of our students.

Here are just some examples of why I do not have confidence in the integrity of the current superintendent and will fire her.

We go without a desperately needed child psychologist because:

The superintendent for the past six years has held on to her $98,000 Director of Maintenance and Facilities -- a man who never went to high school; does not know how to use a computer, can't write and with difficulty speaks English, supervises 22 employees + because he is her favorite employee, is strongly supported by a mutual friend, a current East Palo Alto City Councilman who lost his reelection bid to seat on the school board in 2002, and who all three are still loyal to former Ravenswood Superintendent Charlie Mae Knight who was fired in 2002 by the newly elected school board. All three are Latinos.

The superintendent refuses to consolidate -- something I have suggested repeatedly at school district meetings -- the $103,000 Director of Transportation, an extremely capable and intelligent employee, supervising 7 employees and the $98,000 Director of Maintenance and Facilities into one Director, supervising both departments. At a savings of $98,000, enough for a child psychologist.

But to consolidate the two departments into one she would need to layoff her favorite employee; and she would rather put her job at risk than lay him off.

In the 2011 budget discussions, the superintendent proposed to cut our library aid technicians who keep our children's libraries open.

But at the same time an employee with the job title of "glasier" is paid $63,000. Glasier means that his job is to fix broken windows.

The superintendent has ignored my recommendation that she outsource the repair of broken windows.

The likelihood is that she is deferring to the wishes of her favorite employee, Director of Facilities and Maintenance, who supervises this position, not to layoff this individual. But this Director has laid-off the painters and delegated the job to the custodians, gardeners, custodians.

About six months ago, 12 windows were broken at Costaņo Elementary overnight and in one day; likely staged to justify the "glasier" position.

In 2012, the contract of the $120,000 principal of Bellehaven Elementary School was not renewed. But the superintendent rather than releasing her, created an administrative job at the Office of the Superintendent for her friend who has spoken in support of renewing the superintendent's contract. Both women are Latinas.

Never since I began attending school district meetings in 2002 has a fired principal been retained by giving that principal a new job.

In 2010, the superintendent created a job for her -- hired the mother of an East Palo Alto City Councilwoman. This person had lost her job with the Stanford Elementary Charter School when the school board revoked the school's charter and the school closed. All three women are Latinas.

But a very talented and much respected Latino principal, a year at the charter school and who had brought up the APIs of the charter school in its last year as a school, applied for a job at Ravenswood, but was turned away and not hired.

A great loss, in my opinion, for Ravenswood who would have done great things for Ravenswood at the dismally failing middle school, Ronald McNair Academy.

I ask for your vote. Please elect me, Marilu L. Serrano, to the Board of Trustees of the Ravenswood City School District.