Why is Tam spending over $200k on New Tech if they're not moving forward?

MAY

14

Attend Wednesday's School Board Meeting

Why attend? 

This Wednesday, the TUHSD board will discuss contracts requiring over $530,000 in taxpayer dollars for a private vendor with an unproven educational model for districts like TUHSD. Significant expenses for New Tech Network (NTN) are on the 5/14 meeting agenda:

• Approval of a $204,750 Supplemental Contract with NTN for Tam HS, a school that "delayed" implementation, yet is incurring nearly a quarter of a million dollars in ITTC costs for New Tech Network.
• Approval of over $326,700 in New Tech Network (NTN) contracts. Items 12(g) and 12(h) of the agenda call for the board to "Discuss and take action on the [$226,850 Drake, and $99,850 San Andreas and Tamiscal] Professional Development and New Tech Network Contract Request," presented by Assistant Superintendent Michael McDowell, a former New Tech employee.
• Conclusion of public input. The Drake NTN contract states in item C that the District has "secured the necessary financial and community support for implementation of the NTHS Model." We are not aware of any such public input.
• Costs for 5 days of teacher training at Napa New Tech, a school that experienced a 44 point drop in it's API scores from 2012 to 2013, and a 5 (of 10) ranking among similar schools. While Napa New Tech may have scores above the NTN average, they are well below those of TUHSD.

We have strength in numbers. Join us!

1. Ask a question during Open Comments on Wednesday at 6:00 pm. The meeting takes place at Kreps Conference Center at Redwood High School.
2. Tell the board you have concerns. Sign the new petition.
3. Forward this email to a friend—or two ... or ten. Ask them to sign up for fact-based updates.