Oh that's right. Silly us. These were last years' headlines. But wait. Superintendent Wilkinson’s latest letter leads you to believe this has just happened. 

Several times recently we've been told that Superintendent Wilkinson is being proactive. If describing Superintendent Wilkinson as "pro-active" isn't an oxy-moron, I don't know what is.  Some of her best proactive moments start with her fiscal responsibility.

Gifted & Talented - Where has the $$ gone?
Superintendent Wilkinson recently told a parent that “The money received for all of the gifted and talented kids went to the high school for the AP programs”. 

People have mistakenly been under the impression that the principals were misspending the money for Gifted and Talented. In actuality, according to Superintendent Wilkinson, the High School was the only school to receive the money and that went to the AP program. 

Wouldn’t it be fiscally responsible divide the money up by school equally for each student in the Gifted and Talented program -- not to one school for an entirely different program? 

Wouldn’t it been "proactive" to let the parents whose children participated in the program know exactly where the money was going before the district asked them to allow their children to participate? 

Could it be that this is not true? Could this statement just another example of Superintendent Wilkinson misrepresenting the facts to a parent? 

2006 Summer Camp Consolidation Fails to Save $$ ?
Last year the school board and administration consolidated summer camps and programs in an effort to reduce the amount of electricity being used over the summer.  They were quoted as saying we could save "up to $40,000 a month which was the equivalent of one teacher’s salary."  Over three months that would be equivalent to three teachers' yearly salaries.

For all the parents that went through last years change in policy, you know how many programs were cancelled and the frustration suffered by all - parents, teachers and children.

As an aside, our children participated in many school summer programs. More times than not the air conditioning was off. Given the quality of the programs put on by the teachers, our children happily anticipated each day's activities.

When asked how much previous summer utility bills cost, the school board failed to come up with a number. Did they realize that the AC was often shut down?

The school board never announced how much money they saved.  Judging by the school board president’s reaction upon seeing the electric bill amount, the answer was "$0". 

Maybe next time they will do some research into an issue before they make their next "proactive" decision.

Superintendent & Board of Education Turn their Backs on Parents
Many know of the meeting invitation declined by Superintendent Wilkinson and the School Board.  What you might not know is Superintendent Wilkinson is now telling the school board and parents that she is being "proactive" by setting up meetings with select Prairie Vale parents .

This is so wrong on so many levels we don’t know where to begin. 

1. Had she been proactive, she would have set up the meeting with the Prairie Vale parents and teachers last year to talk about their concerns. 
    
2. Even trying to be half way proactive, she would have gone to the meeting that the parents had arranged. 
    
3. Refusing to meet with the original group and then hand picking a few people to meet with on the same issues it is not proactive; though, it might be called CYA

School Wide Safety in a Re-Active Mode
Speaking of CYA, Superintendent Wilkinson's lack of action on safety issues is a gem.

Why when Prairie Vale parents and Superintendent Wilkinson met last year regarding safety issues, did she not review the safety procedures district wide?  That would have been proactive. Instead, when asked if she had, her response was, “I asked the other Principals if they had their safety books in order."

Proactive action might have, this year, cut the time it took to rush a middle school student to the emergency room by half.  Instead Superintendent Wilkinson was in the hospital room with the parent explaining how wrong the school was for what happened. She was definitely in full CYA mode.

For those of you who don’t know, a student was hurt in an accident while playing outside.  The problem was not with the accident. The problem was what happened afterwards. 

With a child lying unconscious outside, the attending teacher had no way to immediately contact the school office.  Once contacted, administration waited on sending the child to the hospital well after the possible head injury occurred. Computer based emergency contact records had been lost and were at the time being manually entered back into the system. Nobody knows how much time passed from the time of the injury to the time the decision was made. 

Had Superintendent Wilkinson started safety audits last year when the safety issues were brought to her attention, this whole situation could have been avoided.  Proactive managers know the value of routine safety inspections to ensure the safety of the people they are responsible for. Proactive managers know how important it is to do daily backups on critical computer data so that when the inevitable loss occurs they can quickly load data back in.

Current Fiscal State
Getting back to the fiscal state of the district, we have more questions than answers. From the being, the Lottery has been falling short of revenue expectations. From the time the teacher salary increases were announced, schools knew the government had not budgeted extra dollars, and money would need to be found to cover the extra expenses. It is no news flash that rising utility bills are putting a crunch on everyone's budgets, forcing all of us to re-adjust budgets so that bills can be paid.

Proactive would be not to plan on money that isn't there. Lottery money was never a guarantee. Extra tax dollars from state gas funds cannot be counted on.

Proactive would be to use all dollars not earmarked to make up for shortfalls. Where did extra bond money go? What school improvement projects were necessary and which ones were simply esthetically pleasing?

Proactive would be to evaluation school programs and see where savings can be found by planning overlapping programs in order to be able to save by sharing resources. Is there a plan in place to coordiante programs so that they can share resources amoung schools or is each working as a silo, redudantly funding overlapping programs?

Is Superintendent Wilkinson Proactive?
Maybe a trip to the dictionary will help Superintendent Wilkinson understand what "proactive" means. Once she understands the definition she can truly become proactive.  Hopefully she'll wipe the dust off her dictionary. You have to wonder, can the school district survive may more of her "proactive" decisions?  Or is her inaction a symptom of something else?