Consolidate our county's 24 school districts

It is time to consolidate our county’s 24 school districts encompassing 66 schools just as we have selectively consolidated some police and fire services.

The county superintendent will oversee the district superintendents; principals will be the caretakers of their respective schools under a new reduced district superintendent model. The county superintendent will oversee a superintendent’s round table to assist district superintendents, provide special needs and support by bundling financial services and continue supervising court and community schools, Regional Occupational Program and special education for the more severely affected students as they do now. Bundling tax measures for building schools and uniformity of salaries — up and down the various classification should be negotiated by the County Office of Education and arbitrate for all districts. Unions will have to negotiate uniform collective bargaining issues including a uniform pay schedule — all teachers in the county get paid the same according to education and experience — with the COE, streamlining all disciplinary action, no strike clause during the school year.

However, unions have to announce a pending strike at the start of the first two weeks of the summer hiatus, tenure should be on the table for reform. If the strike continues into the opening session, no work, no salary or wages until work is resumed. If the dispute continues in disciplinary matters and are not settled within 60 days, salaries are placed in escrow and released to the employee or returned to the COE based upon the outcome. Union dues must be collected by the union and not by the payroll entity. Right to work for all employees is a right; secret ballot must be preserved as it is respective of one’s personal belief. Despite the turf wars and the onslaught of bickering, the time has come to accelerate regionalism within the county.

Jack Kirkpatrick
Redwood City