Did Aspen Group LLC actually help SDUSD in return for $229,000?

Schools don't need Aspen Group to micromanage them. Schools need a whole new culture. I suggest bringing in Patrick Leoncini, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.




Randy Quinn, senior partner
Aspen Group International, LLC

Much Ado About Micromanaging
EMILY ALPERT
Voice of San Diego
August 24, 2009

...After the school board picked the new superintendent, Terry Grier, it brought in a new consultant, the Aspen Group LLC, to keep working on governance issues with them in April 2008. I've tallied up $229,000 in contracts to those consultants since then, plus another $160,000 contract the school board signed with Aspen to work with them for the next school year...

But when school board member Katherine Nakamura told me that the closed meeting today gave them a real opportunity for some honest conversation about their roles and allowing the superintendent to be the superintendent, I had to ask: Wasn't that what all those governance trainings were for? What happened in that closed meeting that wasn't happening in those earlier trainings?

"The issue of Houston maybe clarifies things," she said. "We had some more honest conversations."

Exactly who are these ASPEN Group International folks that Terry Grier brought in to silence SDUSD board members?

SDUSD superintendent Terry Grier (photo) brought in consultants to design a gag rule for board members.

I looked up Aspen Group International and found this:

ASPEN Group International Inc. and American Association of School Administrators present:

"A timely seminar for superintendents who want to lead"

From School Administrator
June 2003

"...This conference will help you, as the district's CEO, and your board work together to form an authentic and respectful relationship characterized by a true trusteeship focused on increasing community support for and understanding of district efforts..

"WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT...

* If your school board members exercised collective self discipline to stay out of interpersonal game-playing, political intrigues and micromanagement?

[Blogger's note: Wonderful! Only administrators--not board members --would be involved in interpersonal game-playing and political intrigues.]

* ...If you could make administrative and operational decisions without seeking approval or being second-guessed and reversed by your board?

[How can voters and parents have any input at all, if board members are not accountable for administrative and operational decisions?]

* If your school board were focused more on student achievement and creating community support and less on operational "stuff"?

[Wait a minute. Isn't "operational stuff" precisely how student achievement is attained? What exactly would the board members focus on?]

...What a utopia! But in your lifetime?

As a matter of fact, YES!

[Public schools are NOT utopias designed for the comfort of the superintendent. They are public entities, and those who operate them must be open and accountable to voters. Conflicts should be resolved by discussion, not gagging board members and keeping voters out of the loop.]

"Many school boards and their CEOs already are experiencing all these benefits of Policy Governance[R], the governing model created by John Carver that has proven to be practical and successful in the public education world by helping superintendents and school board members understand their real roles and how to effectively execute them.

[Since when are board members merely cheerleaders for superintendents? They are bosses, not boosters!}

"This AASA/Aspen Group conference is your opportunity to learn more about Policy Governance[R], how it is being used by superintendents across the nation, and how it can produce results to match its promise in your district. Log on to www.aasa.org or www.aspengroup.org for details about Policy Governance[R] and this important conference.

"$400 for AASA members, $450 for non-members"

[Blogger's note: I agree with the commenter who said these shenanigans are a good reason to vote for John Lee Evans instead of Mitz Lee.]

Free speech now allowed by San Diego Unified board members

I'm wondering if the odd and short-lived plan to silence dissent was concocted by recently-hired SDUSD bigwigs Mark Bresee (chief counsel) and Terry Grier (superintendent). I know Mark Bresee is opposed to openness and honesty on school boards. I now suspect that Mark Bresee's hiring was done at the behest of Terry Grier, who apparently is in sync with Mr. Bresee on this issue. The two of them are apparently fans of Aspen Group International, LLC, which provided the consultants who "helped" the board write the rule.

School Board Reverses Public-Criticism Rule
Voice of San Diego

The San Diego Unified school board voted tonight to abolish a policy that barred its members from publicly making negative comments about their superintendent and staff after the policy received heavy criticism. The board also removed a policy that dissuades them from undermining board decisions when speaking publicly.

One member of the public, League of Women Voters of San Diego Co-President Norma Damashek, said tonight that the policies "short-circuit transparency and accountability in public meetings" and "deprive us of the opportunity to hear the views of our public representatives." The rule was earlier criticized by attorneys from the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the statewide open government group Californians Aware...

School board member Luis Acle was the only member to vote against removing the rule.


-- EMILY ALPERT
October 14, 2008

SDUSD consultants help design rule to silence dissenting board members

How do the people running schools stay in power year after year, while continuing to fail our students? Here's how:

New School Board Policy Forbids Criticism
By EMILY ALPERT
Sept. 25, 2008

A new San Diego Unified rule bans school board members from publicly criticizing the superintendent or his staff.

The controversial restriction is part of a new set of governance policies passed earlier this month by the San Diego Unified school board to define its powers and responsibilities. Board members hammered out the policies this summer with the help of paid consultants, hoping to stop their squabbling and the criticized practice of meddling in everyday school decisions...

[Blogger's note: I have come to believe that lawyers and the consultants they approve, not elected officials, are the puppeteers that control virtually all school board members. Even the best board members seem to bow to lawyers' wishes when the issue is money and power.]

School board members "will not publicly express individual negative judgments about superintendent and staff performance," the rule reads. "Any such judgments of superintendent or staff performance will be expressed in executive session." They must also "respect decisions of the board and ... not undermine those decisions" when speaking publicly.

Willfully violating that or any other rule can lead to penalties from a private scolding to public censure and removal from leadership positions or committees, the policies state.

[Blogger's note: Why should the opposition be silenced? School boards make lots of bad decisions, and they SHOULD be discussed publicly. Wrongdoing by schools should not be kept secret. When a board member knows of wrongdoing, he or she should speak out. Sadly, board members are threatened into silence. The same thing happens in the teachers union, where board members who are aware of wrongdoing are threatened into silence by California Teachers Association lawyers.]

...For example, Gompers Middle School Principal Vince Riveroll faced public criticism and was abruptly pulled from his position in 2005 when the school was seeking to become a charter school operated independently from the school district; Riveroll was later reinstated without explanation...

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and the California First Amendment Coalition derided the rule, saying it flouts the First Amendment and cannot be enforced.

"I'm flabbergasted," said David Blair-Loy, legal director of the regional ACLU chapter. "This is so outrageous. ... It's a complete violation of speech. It undermines democracy."

Consultant Randy Quinn said similar rules limiting public criticism "are generally in place in almost all the districts we've worked with." San Diego Unified signed a $69,000 contract in April with Quinn's company, Aspen Group International, LLC, to train the board on its role and operations. Aspen lists dozens of school boards on its website as clients, including the Guilford County school district where San Diego Unified Superintendent Terry Grier last worked.

[Blogger's note: Just because schools have these rules does not mean the rules are legal. They are merely a tool for hiding dissent, and keeping voters ignorant of problems, including violations of the law.]

Legal experts from the American Civil Liberties Union and the California First Amendment Coalition disagreed. Blair-Loy of the ACLU said the rules are "clear violations of the First Amendment" that undercut citizens' ability to hear the views of their elected officials. His views were echoed by California First Amendment Coalition attorney Terry Francke.