LETTER OF THE WEEK

Once again, we are engaged in a discussion as to the best way to

deliver instructional services to our children. For several years now,

the Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees has been asked by

the community to open this debate and to begin the study of a possible

reorganization into a kindergarten through 12th-grade district.

In response to the community’s interest, the board chose to focus much

of its attention on this issue last fall. The board knows that this would

involve a major governance change, and we certainly acknowledge that

change is difficult. Moving outside one’s comfort zone isn’t easy, but

when it comes to meeting the educational needs of our students, we should

be guided by what is right, prudent and educationally sound.

Our two fine districts have been servicing students for many years.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District will soon be celebrating

its 100th anniversary. However times have changed over the past century.

New challenges rest on the horizon, and we should obligate ourselves

to at least looking at better and more efficient ways to educate our

children.

The Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees has not yet made

a decision to proceed to the next phase of unification. The board and

staff are studying the financial reports and feasibility studies that

have recently come in from our consultants. During the course of this

year, the board has held study sessions and public hearings. We have

surveyed our parent community, and we have received staff reports on the

nine statewide criteria that we would need to meet in order to unify.

Preliminary reports would indicate that a unification effort on our

part could very well be successful. However our board and district staff

continue to seek additional data on the fiscal impact such an effort

would have on the high school district and on current programs offered at

Fountain Valley High School.

We are attempting to validate the modernization and deferred

maintenance needs of the high school and we have opened up communication

with the high school’s staff.

The times indeed have changed. We are being held accountable for

student academic progress as never before in recent memory. The high

stakes era of proving our effectiveness on rigorous academic assessments

is here to stay. We are looking straight into the eyes of high school

exit examinations, Academic Performance Indexes and state standards tests

that demand our students show proficiency before moving from one grade to

another and most critically before receiving a high school diploma.

We must begin preparing students to pass the high school exit

examination as early as the primary grades. This means that more than

ever we need a well-defined, articulated and rigorous kindergarten

through 12th-grade curriculum that doesn’t exist at present. While we

attempt to articulate with the high school, there is no formal

articulation policy between the two governing agencies.

This is why a unified school district is the preferred organizational

structure. One set of governance policies under one management and

teaching philosophy makes sense.

The issues of program and attendance policies, salary schedules and

facilities may cause us to continue doing the same thing we have done for

nearly a century. But these are issues that can be readily resolved. We

live in a time where choice is good. We hear about the blurring of

attendance boundaries and more of a free flow of students between

districts. That is why the Fountain Valley School District has an

open-enrollment policy. We are concerned that any school district would

take a position to deny families the right to pursue public educational

choices outside its district boundaries.

Charter schools have become popular and choice among public schools is

strongly supported by the electorate. A strong community will support a

unified school district and continue to build upon the successful high

school programs now in place. Our community is as proud of Fountain

Valley High School as it is of the successes of the Fountain Valley

School District.

It makes sense to so many people that these two entities should be one

and the same.

The trustees of the Fountain Valley School District have not yet made

a decision. This exploration is not intended to be personal or

vindictive. Our interest stems from our community and is driven by our

desire to be the best. So, we ask people to dream. We encourage people to

think outside of the box, to consider what might be and not be

constrained by comfortable, but old practices. Our students in our

community deserve the same resources that their counterparts enjoy in

other parts of the county and state.

Unification will bring that to them. This effort is about building,

strengthening and enriching our educational programs. If the studies show

that this is possible, why would we hesitate? It takes strength and we

are strong!

TONY MCCOMBS

President

Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees