JonNarcisse.com

Dear Constituent:

Members of the Des Moines School Board will attempt, on April 8th, to ban me from emailing District staff. While mass emails have been sent over the years to district staff relating to a variety of areas, including sexually oriented emails - as staff have shared with me - the board and administration feel the following email was unacceptable, intimidating, threatening and disruptive to the operation of the District.

I will let you reach your own conclusions.

Jonathan R. Narcisse
Des Moines School Board Member

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Dear District Employee:

I care what you think and value your ideas, experiences and insights.

You are in the trenches day-in and day-out. You have an understanding and a perspective of our children, their parents, and the community you teach or work in that I simply do not have. Your expertise and understandings, if shared, will make me a much better board member.

Help me to be a better board member.

As a member of the Des Moines School Board I am one of seven Directors that has the ultimate responsibility to make policy decisions, fiscal decisions, academic decisions and other key decisions that will affect the 33,000 students we serve, the more than 5,000 people we employee, and the Des Moines community as a whole.

This is an awesome burden and one I am not qualified to make by just consulting either my fellow board members, a select few district administrators, my circle of supporters, or members of the greater Des Moines power elite who have had their opinions and wishes, too often, elevated above the rest of ours despite many times not even living in our District or sending their children to our schools.

I do not have all the answers. I am not an educator. I am a citizen, a parent and a grandparent that cares deeply about this community and our children. I have a daughter in 6th grade, a daughter in 3rd grade and three grandchildren. The Des Moines School District has been entrusted with their education and made co-steward of their futures.

This District is working well for my children. My eldest daughter Integrity, earlier this year, earned the Principal's award for being a straight A student at Callanan and told me school is like a second home to her. My youngest daughter Perseverance thrives at King. She loves the staff, her teacher and the education she is getting through our District.

I want all our District's children to do as well as mine. I want our children to feel safe, and cared for, and excited about learning. That's why I won't settle for the status quo.

We can do better. We must do better!

At this point some of you will discard this communication, or be offended by it, or have negative feelings towards it. That's your right. Others of you, however, will appreciate the opportunity to participate in shaping the future of this District.

Once again, I value what you think. I want your candid insights, criticisms, suggestions and especially your vision of what education in Des Moines should look like.

In meeting School District staff working in our buildings, feeding our students, transporting our students, maintaining our buildings, etc..I have witnessed first hand your dedication to the job. None of you are getting rich. You are working for this District because you love our children.

It's that simple.

As for our teachers my perspective is that after spending tens of thousands of dollars to learn to teach, after giving up a lot of money to teach, after spending your own money to better teach our kids, after arriving to work work early and leaving late, and then after spending hours at home on the phone, grading papers and doing other aspects of your job off the clock, after all that, you can be trusted with the power, authority and resources to do your job.

That's why I want at least 90% of the money we spend as a District to get to our buildings so we can pay you better, hire key staff like librarians, reduce class sizes and fund art, music and language programs. We also need to improve your working conditions by making our schools a safer and more RESPECTFUL environment. For that reason teachers need an empowered role in making disciplinary decisions.

I want this to be a team effort. Together we can make this the best School District in Iowa and our nation. Call me day or night. I am your servant. If you have suggestions, concerns, good ideas, share those, too.

Jon Narcisse
Des Moines School Board Member

P.S. Before you open the attachments or dismiss this communication pause and reflect on my intent - it is to enlist your wise counsel to the benefit of our children.

website: jonnarcisse.com
email: jon_narcisse@yahoo.com
phone: 515-770-1218 (C) or 515-280-8092 (H)

(If you would like to be removed from this list send your name and the address to be removed. If you receive more than one of these emails or were removed but are getting this your address existed in this data base more than once so please make note of that so I can remove any extra addresses or any addresses that prefer not to be on this list.)

When I ran for office I said I would focus on getting parents involved, fiscal and academic accountability and fighting for all the children of this district. I’ve kept my word.

I also said I would serve as a conduit for information about our school district to the public. I’ve done that, too. I’ve knocked on doors, held listening posts, held one-on-one meetings, dropped in on civic groups and labor unions, met with business leaders and local officials and used print and electronic media, including weekly radio and television appearances, to get the word out.

Our Charge As Board Members
On September 18, 2007, I was sworn in as a member of the Des Moines Independent Community School District Board of Directors. Series 200 Code 220 titled “Powers and Duties of the Board” clearly spells out our charge as Directors: The Board of Directors has three major responsibilities: legislative, executive, and evaluative. In its legislative role, the board shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the district, its students, its employees, and its property, and shall adopt general goals and policies within that jurisdiction. The board shall delegate executive responsibilities to a superintendent hired and supervised by the board. In its evaluative role, the board will review and determine, on an ongoing basis, whether the administration and programs of the district are being conducted in an economical, efficient and effective manner.
My focus as a Director is to get our district to where it operates in an economical, efficient and effective manner.

The Money
In 2005-06 the Des Moines School District spent $354,622,444. In 2006-07 the District’s expenditures jumped to $394,722,492; a $40,100,048 increase in spending. In 2007-08 it is estimated the District will spend $416,979,336 or $62,356,892 more than we spent in 2005-06. Over a two year period that is an $102,456,940 increase in spending.
The District spent $48,735,000 on facilities acquisition and construction in 2007-08. It will spend $23,040,000 in 2008-09. That is a reduction of $25,695,000. At the same time our proposed budget will experience a net increase in revenues of $8,689,884 and, for the first time, officially surpass the $400 million mark. Our 2007-08 budget revenues were $396,444,955. Our projected 2008-09 budget revenues are $405,134,839. Our debt service as a District was $1,141,536 in 2005-06, it jumped to $4,247,762 in 2006-07; $5,888,238 in 2007-08; and a proposed $6,326,648 in 2008-09. It is also important to note that while our fund balance grew in 2005-06 and 2006-07 by $15,147,049 it was depleted by $20,534,381 in 2007-08.

Separate And Unequal
Des Moines consists of two separate and unequal Districts. While an adequate level of funding is spent on a small, affluent and thriving group of students represented primarily by the Central Academy track the needs of the overwhelming majority of our students are not adequately met.

As a District we have made a large investment in the Central Academy track. For example we just purchased the Wallace-Homestead Building for $4.5 million, $2 million more than the assessed market value, and will have that facility operational for the Central Academy students by August of 2008 at great taxpayer expense. The building will have state-of-the-art technology, 21st Century security and the best of what our district believes it has to offer, including the International Baccalaureate program. We found the money to fund these programs.

Meanwhile, despite the massive increase in spending the past two years, only one of our nearly 50 elementary and middle schools will has a full-time librarian. Building level safety at most of our schools will not match what the Central Academy students, the Walnut students or our Central Administrators get. Students in two dozen schools will not have their basic infrastructure needs addressed through the local option tax project. Infact, not only will these students not get the state-of-the-art technology Central Academy students are getting, their schools’ rot, mold, and leaking roof concerns will not be addressed. Some of our students are being taught out of closets; we have teachers teaching from carts; some of our toilet facilities are primitive; we even have classrooms missing door knobs yet we found money for moving the Central Administration into plush downtown offices.

In the past two years there has been a significant increase in administrative costs. In 2005-06 the District spent $16,642,315 on Building Administration. That figure will be $18,837,695 in 2008-09. In 2005-06 the District spent $7,824,493 on Business and Central Administration. That figure jumped to $10,254,130 in 2006-07 and will be $10,294,565 in 2008-09. In 2005-06 the District spent $18,899,945 on Non-Instructional Expenditures which does not include areas like transportation and plant operation and maintenance. That figure will be $20,158,663 in 2008-09. But what is most “curious” is the increase in a category that was created in 2007-08 titled “Other Financing Uses.” In 2005-06 and 2006-07 nothing was expended in this category. In 2007-08 $30,900 was expended in this category. In the 2008-09 budget it sky rockets to $11,679,273; that’s an increase of $11,648,373.

The Numbers
Since Dr. Witherspoon’s departure at the end of the 2005-06 school year we have seen two things take place in this District - a hundred million in additional spending and a massive academic decline.
This past year alone, according to the Iowa Department of Education our graduation rate experienced a double digit plummet. On February 18, 2008, Dr. Sebring’s academic report documented that we have lost ground in eight of nine 4th, 8th and 11th grade reading, math and science proficiency categories on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Iowa Test of Education Development.

Had we received raw data, as we did during the Wegenke and Witherspoon years, these figures may have even been more alarming. Instead we only received a general aggregated summary. Despite the lack of indepth reporting, the numbers still documented a serious decline in academic achievement this past year.
According to the Iowa Department of Education’s February Academic Report, only Clinton and Davenport had worse dropout rates than Des Moines and only Council Bluffs had a worse graduation rate than Des Moines. Earlier this school year the Johns Hopkins National Study named 60% of Des Moines’ high schools Dropout Factories. This past year our 11th graders declined in every category on the Iowa Test of Education Development with less than 60% of our juniors testing competent in reading, math or science - the worse outcome in the District’s history of taking the test. Des Moines also ranked 331 out of 341 Iowa Districts in 4th and 8th grade reading and math proficiency.
The state also documented very serious concerns in the areas of expulsions and suspensions. While the Des Moines District has 6.46% of the state’s enrolled K-12 students it had, in the category of “All Removal Types”:

• 11.46% of Iowa’s students removed for drug usage;
• 71.43% of Iowa’s students removed for alcohol and drug usage;
• 19.21% of Iowa’s students removed for weapons;
• 13.54% of Iowa’s students removed for fighting;
• 11.49% of Iowa’s students removed for disruptive behavior;
• 13.10% of Iowa’s students removed for property charges; and
• 18.71% of Iowa’s students removed for violence.

In our evaluative role, the board is supposed to review and determine, on an ongoing basis, whether the administration and programs of the district are being conducted in an economical, efficient and effective manner. Timely and accurate data is essential to performing this task. Unfortunately the ability to access timely, accurate and relevant data such as attendance data has been aggressively obstructed by both the Administration and a majority of the Board. A prime example has been the request for data on how many of our students are in violation of our District’s attendance policy. In October data was requested regarding this issue after reports surfaced that between 600 to 800 students at one high school alone were already in violation of our attendance policy. We are approaching April and that data has never been provided.
Another report indicated 1,100 calls had been made to police from another high school and 150 arrests had been made at that school. I have requested either confirmation or a refutation to this report but have received neither. If these numbers are true, however, we should be very concerned about both the numbers and what the stories behind those numbers are.

Structural Flaws
Beyond the academic data the fiscal and physical condition of the District is dubious. Due to gross mis-management of the local option tax project, beginning with how the District engaged the public, the goodwill of the voters and taxpayers has been squandered. While Ankeny passed an $83 million bond last year and Waukee passed a $70 million bond earlier this month the Des Moines District can neither propose a bond to fund much needed projects nor count on support for renewal of the Local Option Tax June 30, 2010.

In the State Auditor’s report regarding the Des Moines School District, released March 1, 2007, several grave concerns were raised regarding foundational matters of the governance of the District around the local option tax project. For example on page 13 the report states: “The Board’s lack of knowledge...does not relieve it of its fiduciary responsibilities.” Another example found on page 15 states: “The District did not comply with Iowa Code or District policies.”
The report actually had to explain the importance of minutes to the District in the document, for example, on page 19. On page 20 the report exposed the District’s failure to comply with Chapters 279.35 and 279.36 of the Code of Iowa. The report even addressed, on page 21, the District’s failure to comply with the Code of Iowa regarding the District’s Bills reporting.

Of course one of my serious concerns about the governance of the District is our bill approval process and the public’s timely access to this information. Our District’s official bill approval process is for one member to look at the bills and the other six members are then expected to approve them sight unseen. This was the very process that resulted in the CIETC scandal, board members approving payments without reviewing them. Exposure of this process led to national reform measures for non-profits and governmental entities. Unfortunately, the Des Moines District maintains this very risky method of bill approval. Another very troubling matter is the giveaway of scarce District resources. In the State Auditor’s report the question is raised why the District passed on the two highest bidders for the Rice Field sale ultimately awarding the property to “Rice Development Partners” which is in part owned, as the report states on page 18, by the brother of “the husband of Board Member Connie Boesen.” On page 19 the report further states due to the lack of a viable public rationale for this decision “In a period of budgetary constraints, the public purpose of accepting $100,000 less than the highest offer should be adequately documented.”

Fiduciary Failures
Fast forward to October 2, 2007; the Board not only failed to adequately explain why it rejected an offer of $100,000 more than the winning bid but it gave the Rice Development Partners an additional $130,000 despite the property being purchased “as is” with a provision that no money would be put into the development of the property. On December 18, 2007, the District purchased 1912 Grand Avenue - the Wallace Homestead Building - for $4.5 million dollars despite the current market value being assessed and published at under $2.5 million. The owner paid less than $2.5 million in 2004 for the property. His speculation did not work out. As a District we were in a position of strength. The owner was having to spend money on taxes and insurance while no viable commercial options existed for the use of the property due to the glut in office space available on Grand Avenue and elsewhere, and the over saturation of downtown housing. There was also no real interest in acquiring that property by an entity needing tens of thousands of square feet. There were no other buyers than the Des Moines District. We had cash in hand and that cash was going to soon disappear. Yet our District paid $2 million more than the current assessed value of the property at a time when the local real estate market was in free fall.

Lack Of Monitoring
Most egregious has been our failure as a District to adequately monitor staff and vendor relationships. The taxpayers have paid a premium for this shortcoming. Most troubling to me is our lack of a paper trail monitoring our vendor relationships, especially the Taylor Ohde Kitchell $20 million management deal. Not only haven’t we monitored specifics of staff activity despite being billed on an hourly basis by Taylor Ohde Kitchell but we’ve even paid the company, on a monthly basis, for Crystal Clear Water and mobile phones. The fact we have been paying for items like this without even questions being raised causes concern. What has the Local Option Tax Oversight Committee been doing all this time? What has the Polk County Tax Payers Association been doing? What has the District’s audit committee, that gave Taylor Ohde Kitchell on March 7, 2008, the thumbs up, been doing? What has the District Administration been doing? What has the Board been doing?

Doug Ohde, who is paid more by the District than even our Superintendent, billed the District $19,200 for 160 hours of work in September of 2007. There were only 19 working days with the Labor Day Holiday. Did we pay his vacation? Did he work overtime or evenings that month? What did he do for those 160 hours considering he has staff overseeing each project? And why are we using local option tax dollars to pay his company for items like Crystal Clear Water and mobile phones?

At a time when the District can’t afford door knobs, toilet seats or to replace rot and mold; at a time when we are giving students extra credit to bring dry erase markers and tissue to school; should we really be using local option tax dollars to pay for Crystal Clear Water and mobile phones for a company that has a $20 million management contract with us?

The Legislative Charge
Code 220 states: “In its legislative role, the board shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the district, its students, its employees, and its property, and shall adopt general goals and policies within that jurisdiction.”
Chief amongst our legislative duties is the role of policy maker. On November 20, 2007, the Board adopted a policy governance model that creates a dual system for this district. On the one hand we have adopted a method of policy governance that has no foundation in the state code but is based on a “new age” doctrine called policy governance.
As new board members we were not provided a copy of our 100 through 800 series Policies and Procedures. Instead we were given a copy of “Boards That Make A Difference: A New Design For Leadership In Nonprofit And Public Organizations” by an organizational guru named John Carver. The front cover endorsement is from Sir Adrian Cadbury with other international figures embracing the model.

The following was the motion, as reported in our minutes, that adopted this internationally acclaimed governance model: “Strong moved...that the policies pertaining to the governance process, management limitations and board management delegation be adopted. It is further moved that they become the sole body of policies by which the school board governs.”
The problem is our District is subject to the Code of Iowa not the theories and teachings of internationalists.
To cover our bases our District’s attorney made it clear that we will maintain our 100 through 800 series policies and procedures. If you go to our District’s webite: www.dmps.k12.ia.and click on policies and procedures it will direct you to our 100 through 800 series. Questions about our operating under two sets of rules have not been adequately addressed by our Board nor the Administration and in our meetings it is the Code of Carver, not the Code of Iowa that is most often referenced.

What our 100 through 800 series does do that our new policy governance doesn’t do is include items, required by state code, to be in the policies and procedures of school districts. Series 200 Code 221 titled “Establishment of Board Policies and Administrative Procedures” clearly states “The board shall review policies at least every three years to ensure relevance to current circumstances and compliance with federal and state laws, rules and regulations and court decisions.” It also states “The administration shall develop administrative procedures to implement board policies. The superintendent shall report proposed administrative procedures and amendments to the Board of Directors prior to implementation. All administrative procedures shall be in written form and shall be maintained in a uniform and unified manner, and shall be subject to review by the Board of Directors.”

A History Of Negligence
State code requires a review and update of policies and procedures at least every five years.
A thorough examination of our policies and procedures demonstrates years of neglect and a systematic relinquishing of our “Powers and Duties” as Directors. In some instances the Directors have not updated key policies or procedures for more than a decade. In some instances key items have not been updated in fifteen years. The failure to comply with our Series 200 Code 221 policy and state code is a profound abdication of our sworn Duties and has contributed to both the climate and condition of this District. Establishing policies and sanctioning procedures for the economical, efficient and effective implementation of those policies and procedures is essential to performing our sworn Duties as Directors.
The Des Moines School Board has failed this charge. Furthermore, Series 400 Code 400 titled “Guiding Principles” states: The Superintendent of Schools...is directly responsible to its Board of Directors for the enforcement of all provisions of the law relating to the school system under the charge of the board.

Of equal importance is that we have not demonstrated we have a viable mechanism to comply with the timely modification of essential policies and procedures. For example, the question has been raised about our failure to comply with the state’s new anti-bullying legislation as a Board. We also have had District staff change policy despite policy being the “sole jurisdiction” of the Board of Directors. This action warrants further investigation but on the surface would appear to be a grevious violation of the code.

The Boards’ failure to maintain current policies and procedures creates potential liabilities for the District at a time when resources are alleged to be scarce. We have no more sacred charge as board members than making policy and maintaining current policies and procedures. The failure to do so is without excuse.
The question now before us is this a mere case of abdication or does this ongoing failure rise to the level of negligence, dereliction of duty and malfeasance of office?

Where Do We Go From Here?
The Des Moines School District, the Board, the Administration, and our key committees like the Local Option Oversight and Audit committees have failed to adequately address the serious accountability concerns not only facing this district but mounting rapidly.

Last Thursday I met with Mr. Bill Angrick and a representative of The Office of Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman. I found the meeting very encouraging and feel a clear course of action is now before us. The time has come for the Governor’s Office and key legislative oversight committees to intervene. The CIETC scandal rocked this community yet it pales in comparision to the potential waste, fraud and abuse within the Des Moines School District over the past decade. It is also time to have the State Auditor conduct a full and thorough examination of Des Moines School District finances over the past decade beginning with the local option tax project and the Taylor Ohde Kitchell contract. We cannot do business as a District ought to be able to because trust has been savaged. Non-stop advocacy for passage of a statewide sales tax has taken place because without the legislature bailing the District out the penny tax revenues flowing to the Des Moines School District will dry up in 2010 with little hope of replacing these funds. The remedy is not a statewide sales tax, however, but District wide reform. Real accountability and quality education are the answers. Anything short of that will be a continued betrayal of our taxpayers and citizens.

Respectfully submitted;

Jonathan R. Narcisse, Director
Des Moines Independent Community School District

To Phone:
515-280-8092 (H) or 515-770-1218 (C)

To Email:
jon_narcisse@yahoo.com

"If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, from the essay "The American Scholar" (1837)

Dear Colleagues:

On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, the Des Moines School District will adopt a new "diversity plan" to replace our now defunct desegregation plan. For the record we are not being required to develop a plan. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not require us to develop a plan. The Iowa Code does not require us to develop a plan. Our district has been one of a half dozen Iowa districts to enjoy an exception to Iowa's Open Enrollment Law and we want to be able to maintain that exemption.

The only way we can maintain it, which allows us to deny students open enrollment from our district to neighboring districts (or rather deny the open enrollment of dollars from our district to neighboring districts) is to file a diversity plan by March 1, 2008.

This is a practice The Register, arguably the district's strongest bastion of support, called in their February 17, 2008, editorial titled "A Broader View Of Diversity" "holding families hostage."

Before I continue there are a few facts that need to be cleared up. Our decision tomorrow has nothing to do with racial diversity. While this issue has been wrapped in that concern it has absolutely nothing to do with the decision before us tomorrow.

Next, we are not at this point on February 18, 2008, because the state dropped the ball. Iowa's other four districts impacted by the Supreme Court's ruling have all completed the process. One district actually turned their plan in to the state in January while we, as a district, waited until January 22, 2008, to even begin the conversation at the board level and with the community, despite knowing March 1, 2008 was the deadline to submit a diversity plan.

Our board president Dick Murphy and our Superintendent made the decision not to allow this discussion to take place sooner. Two days after being sworn in, September 20, 2007, I asked Dr. Sebring to get this issue on the agenda. That same week I asked Mr. Murphy to put it on the agenda. He refused and she argued it was not time for the board and community to discuss it.

Make no mistake about it, a Diversity Plan will be approved tomorrow. At least four votes exist to ensure it. Most likely the plan will name students on free and reduced lunch "minorities" and our plan will be based on the importance of "economic diversity."

Under Des Moines' now defunct desegregation plan we never achieved true racial diversity. We did, however, achieve, maintain, and facilite economic segregation. For example six of our schools have 90% or more of their students living in poverty while Jefferson has only 7.84% of its students living in poverty and our three choice elementary schools are our district's lowest poverty schools.

As a district we cannot simply develop a plan that denies open enrollment from our district to neighboring districts in the name of "economic diversity" only to maintain our current state of profound economic isolation. Our proposed diversity plan, using free and reduced lunch status, therefore, despite being void of details at the present, will, by necessity, impact our students within the Des Moines School District by eventually mandating significant levels of forced busing and other expensive remedies.

A first draft for public review...by Jonathan R. Narcisse, Des Moines School Board Member
---Click here to view the entire "Eight Steps to a Better District" in a PDF document.

This is an excerpt from the first public draft of the full "Eight Steps" document; the full document is available by clicking on the above link. I believe these eight steps will help fix our Des Moines School District. It is the product of years of engaging the education issue in Iowa and months of focusing solely on Des Moines. At this point I will not itemize the effort. I will simply say it was thorough and comprehensive and it is a collective, not individual work. These ideas have been presented on a less formal basis through local media. Now I am releasing them to a broader public searching for feedback, input, improvements and recommendations.

Our district is broke. That’s the bad news.

Our district can be fixed. That’s the good news.

The opportunity to fix it is within our grasp. Three seats are available September 9th on the Des Moines School Board. As soon as September 16th the implementation of real solutions and the return of this district to parents, students, citizens and taxpayers can commence.

What is implemented, however, must be sound. So in addition to direct feedback through email, phone conversations and one-on-one meetings, hearings on these eight points will be held throughout the city much like my fall Listening Posts.

I ask for your feedback.

1. Allocate a minimum of 90% of the money generated at the building level to the building generating the
dollars.

This addresses two key concerns.

• First we significantly increase the dollars available at the building level. This
  is vital. For example only one middle school in Des Moines has a full-time librarian. Through this formula we could
  significantly increase staffing, reduce class sizes and address key needs like music and art programs.
• Second it would reverse a disturbing trend in public education. The further away from the child the bureaucracy
  is the more power, authority and resources we vest in the bureaucracy. We have competent educators at the
  building level. They spend hours of their free time and hundreds, if not thousands of their dollars to help educate
  our children. If we can trust them with our children we should be able to trust them with the power, authority and
  resources to educate our children.

As we decentralize the academic function we need to improve two areas of administration. First we need to
staff key positions with persons that are professionals in the area they are hired, not just former teachers or
principals. Second we need to improve our citizen input infrastructure to tap into expertise and insights lacking at
the board and bureaucracy levels.

Note: As a district we will spend an average of just under $13,000 per pupil. Only a fraction of that is currently
spent at the building level. Spending 90% at the building level would still leave between $25-30 million for the
bureaucracy. This is not an insignificant dollar figure.

2. End social promotion and move to skill based progression.

Currently in our district a student can miss 150 days of school, fail every course and promote year after year
until 9th grade. Then we start failing the students. This has proven disastrous. Instead we need to move to skill
based progression. If a student excels we should no longer limit that student to the mediocre middle but use project
based learning to maximize the potential. At the same time if a student struggles we need to work with that student
until the foundation blocks are in place. The practice of promoting poor students while we stunt the academic
growth of many outstanding students has failed us. Skill based progression linked to authentic assessments is much
superior.

3. Provide laptops and the Internet for every student.

While many affluent districts have already moved to this in parts of our country many urban districts struggle
to provide even basic learning materials like up to date texts. Students can carry libraries on their laptops, have
up to date instructional materials, preserve teachers’ notes and reduce the health consequences from carrying text
laden back packs.

Once home students would be able to access the internet, communicate with teachers, do research and compete
with their more affluent counterparts. Also by allowing them to personalize the computers they would be much
more mindful caring for them than their current texts.

A key component of this is taking advantage of state and local resources in creating meaningful curriculum.
Wherever we see local staff participate in selecting and creating curriculum the quality of instruction is superior,
the students are more engaged and achievement is significantly improved.

4. Provide Meaningful Instruction

The time has come for the district to recognize the varied needs of our students as well as key subject instruction
proven to enhance achievement while developing better members of our society.

• Get away from the teaching the test curriculum and return to a more classic education. Every student entering
  our district should have music instruction, art instruction, physical fitness and learn a second language at the early
  elementary level. Waiting until middle school is too late. These efforts added to reading, science, mathematics and
  other areas of study over the years such as geography, history, economics will empower our students to do more
  than compete in the global market place, it will prepare them to thrive.
  We teach math, math, math because it is politically palatable. We know if we teach math, music and a second
  language to our elementary students they will be better at math and science. The time has come for us to do what’s
  best, not what’s easiest. We know students that develop their creativity early on are also better scientist, better
  readers, etc...
• Full time vocational and technical education at the high school level and expanded vocational and technical
  offerings at the middle school level will provide academic and career opportunities for large numbers of students
  we are currently losing. The cost of academic failure is documentable and staggering. Some ask how can we afford
  this. How can we not when we add up the cost from the justice system, welfare system, illness maintenance system
  and lost productivity?
• A (K-12) School of Fine and Performing Arts. This is one of the offerings that could help us to compete for
  students regionally. We would also tap into the genius of many of our students where that talent is lost currently
  to both them and the world.
• An Advanced Academic Academy, including an advanced science program and an advanced capitalism
  curriculum.

5. Return to neighborhood schools and create community schools.

Students should be allowed to attend the school or school district they want in compliance with Iowa’s Open
Enrollment law, including their neighborhood school. The time has come to put an end to the failed social experiment
of busing. By doing so we will also improve on parent participation.
We must not stop there, however. Despite attempts to ignore core facts many of our students are arriving at
school at 6:00 a.m. I met with a middle school principal just days ago who struggles with this problem. So let’s
eliminate it as a problem.

Our schools have the best locations in town. Let’s open them early staffing them with volunteers. We could
have early morning fitness going on, or tutoring, or music and art instruction. We should also keep them open into
the night as community centers. Adult education offers some wonderful programs but on a regional basis. Why
not have our schools hosting parenting classes, and ball room dancing, and Monday Night Football gatherings while
the kids play in the gym, for example.

In a district with high levels of poverty community schools would go a long way towards building community,
stretching budgets, and treating the emotional and social consequences of poverty. Community has always been
a powerful remedy in impoverished areas. Let’s take advantage of this fact.

6. Volunteer Corps

Citizens volunteer in sporting leagues because their volunteerism has structure to it. We need to take a chapter
from this and create a staffed Volunteer Corp that can recruit, assign, coordinate and evaluate volunteerism in the
school district. We need to expand our thinking first. Why are we paying coaches when we have tons of Division
I athletic talent that would coach for free. Also before and after school art and music instruction could be staffed
by volunteers. Movie nights, potlucks, tutoring, even weekend custodial work could be done by volunteers.
I met with a high school principal who’s school had a Sunday youth league for early and pre-teens die because
of custodial issues. How tragic. Meanwhile while attending the dedication of the new Valley High School there
were tons of West Des Moines residents using the pool and other school facilities. Why? Because Valley is more
than a high school. It is a community center.

7. Youth Labor Force

Few things in life teach us more important life long lessons than work. Rural kids have an advantage in that they
learn this as part of their daily lifestyles, many of them. Children of business people, too, like my daughters who
have their own newspaper and have since one was in 3rd grade and the other kindergarten.
Many of our youth would profit from a structured work experience and the opportunity to earn a few dollars
cutting grass, washing dishes, etc...would make them feel a contributor to the family, especially with 60% of our
Des Moines students living in poverty. On top of this they would learn valuable life lessons that cannot be simulated
in the classroom.

Note: We’re not talking about sending them down a coal mine. And how is this any more unreasonable than
having them return from athletic competitions at four a.m. or playing video games all day and night?

8. Realign Grades

We need to go back to more traditional grade alignments. Many of our 6th graders are overmatched in middle
school. Our 9th graders are failing at staggering levels. By returning to K-6, 7-9, 10-12 we increase many fold the
probability of academic and personal success in a district graduating fewer than 50% of the students served as
9th graders four years later.

Contact Information

If you have questions I can be reached at 515-770-1218 (C) 515-280-8092 (H) or 515-471-5092 (O). My email
address is jon_narcisse@yahoo.com and my website is jonnarcisse.com.