Glenn County Office of Education board members ushered off two Willows campuses

You've got to be kidding me. Is this story for real? Only in a small town like Willows. I feel badly for anyone intelligent who happens to live in that town. Small people, big heads. People on power trips. People who need to be important. How embarrassing.

taking pictures of kids without permission?? Good thing my child was not there!

School districts run the schools, in some cases badly. If they are too irresponsible the state takes over, see pending disaster at CUSD. What is the point of County Offices of Education? Isn't it just an outdated bureaucracy that lives on because no legislator has the guts to cut it? The State Superintendent of Schools makes some sense providing oversight. If that is what he does? But why have one in every county? The governor also appoints a Secretary of Education, what indispensable function does he perform? Why have a State Board of Education at all?

Here is an idea. Cut out all of the bloated bureaucracy, middlemen and duplicative offices. Then give that enormous savings to the school districts. We already pay enough taxes to have the best schools on earth. It is the way that the money is wasted that is part of the problem.

How our school districts spend the money can rightly be addressed locally. Although CUSD's failure doesn't bode well and I doubt that there would ever be enough cash to solve that problem. Most school districts work. Not surprisingly, the districts in Nevada County [local control] get some of the best results with some of the lowest funding and LA Unified [sate control] with the greatest funding is quagmired in perpetual disaster.

What a load of beaurocratic B.S.!

Mr. Barrera, instead of contacting Jerry Brown contact Dr. Olmos and set up a date for you and your board to visit the schools. If you notify the district by email at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon that you are coming the following Monday morning it is not suprising that it didn't work for the district. 6 people walking into classrooms is a distruption and it would have been nice if the teachers could have had a heads up that you were coming....it's called courtesy. Also, did you have permission to photograph the children?

Maybe Mr. Barrera should make sure he wasnt violating the Brown Act before he talks to the AG.....

This whole mess sounds like a power play with the students as pawns, like which education group has more authority and when. Generally surprise visits turn up information to benefit all in the long run. As far as photography, public schools are just that, PUBLIC, use of is a different issue. But given that all officials were there on county school business, it seems a mystery as to the opposition. What was it that they weren't supposed to see?

Unless this visit was properly posted and the visit scheduled, it is definitely in violation of the Brown Act. Anytime you have a majority of a governing body together in an official capacity, the Brown Act rules apply.

It sounds like the county superintendent has an ego problem that allows him to behave like this. The county superintendent has EXTREMELY LIMITED authority over school district, mostly in monitoring financial stability. The county office is an outdated, unnecessary layer of beaurocracy in this highly technology driven time. It may be time to look at eliminating them to save money.

I think the district superintendent was totally within his rights to show them the door. The threats that the county superintendent made show that he has no boundaries to his ego and should be shown the door OUT of his own office. The county board members should be embarrassed and ashamed that they allowed him to use them this way.

The agenda for their October meeting, which is posted at http://www.glenncoe.org/__admin/Board.html

does not mention a visit to the schools. The State Attorney should be notified immediately about this obvious violation of the Brown Act and the superintendent and each board member held individually responsible for violating it. SuperDude is absolutely right on this one. There is no wiggle room in the Brown Act for this type of activity. Of course, they could say that there were no decisions being made, but the only exclusion the Brown Act makes in regards to a quorum being present is for social situations where no school work is discussed; obviously this situation doesn't apply to that exclusion.

In California, each person who violates the Brown Act is individually held accountable and can be charged with a misdemeanor. I hope some signal is sent to this county superintendent that his job is his job - which is not to bully others.

I thinkg this is just another example of Mr. Barrera being a control freak with out any power. This poor district has tried time and time again to be supportive of GCOE. Barrera isn't qualified to hold this position and should be voted out. I feel sorry for the people that have to work under Mr. Barrera and have this kind of leadership...

AB doesn't follow any rules and the Board members are all YES people, all of them.

Dear art, i would have gotten your email about the visits but sheri was busy deleting them so i missed it sorry for any inconvenience lets have lunch sometime, hugs n kisses steveo

FOR RENT: one really big sandbox available immediately for superintendents to play in and throw sand at each other instead of being productive and working toward the common goal of educating children in Willows. Grow up children, er uh I mean supts.

This is they type of thing that causes schools to implode. What is going on here really? Barrerra's name sure seems to be coming up with a lot of school problems, it seems like Glenn County traded one corrupt fat cat for another.

pypr wrote:

School districts run the schools, in some cases badly. If they are too irresponsible the state takes over, see pending disaster at CUSD. What is the point of County Offices of Education? Isn't it just an outdated bureaucracy that lives on because no legislator has the guts to cut it? The State Superintendent of Schools makes some sense providing oversight. If that is what he does? But why have one in every county? The governor also appoints a Secretary of Education, what indispensable function does he perform? Why have a State Board of Education at all?
Here is an idea. Cut out all of the bloated bureaucracy, middlemen and duplicative offices. Then give that enormous savings to the school districts. We already pay enough taxes to have the best schools on earth. It is the way that the money is wasted that is part of the problem.
How our school districts spend the money can rightly be addressed locally. Although CUSD's failure doesn't bode well and I doubt that there would ever be enough cash to solve that problem. Most school districts work. Not surprisingly, the districts in Nevada County [local control] get some of the best results with some of the lowest funding and LA Unified [sate control] with the greatest funding is quagmired in perpetual disaster.

This is all true and goes a long way to explain why schools are falling apart, but bloated administration never dwindles. California has a Department of Education and a State Board of Education. Why? What do they do? Orland has a school superintendent, Willows has one, why a County Superintendent? All with full staff. Same in Chico and Butte County. What does a County Department of Education, with highly paid administration staff even do that local districts don't?

Too True wrote:

The agenda for their October meeting, which is posted at http://www.glenncoe.org/ **** admin/Board.html
does not mention a visit to the schools. The State Attorney should be notified immediately about this obvious violation of the Brown Act and the superintendent and each board member held individually responsible for violating it. SuperDude is absolutely right on this one. There is no wiggle room in the Brown Act for this type of activity. Of course, they could say that there were no decisions being made, but the only exclusion the Brown Act makes in regards to a quorum being present is for social situations where no school work is discussed; obviously this situation doesn't apply to that exclusion.
In California, each person who violates the Brown Act is individually held accountable and can be charged with a misdemeanor. I hope some signal is sent to this county superintendent that his job is his job - which is not to bully others.

Doesn't the Brown Act only apply if there is a majority of members? I know two board members from Chico could appear at a parent meeting with the Superintendent but three members is too many.

I hope the school board is prepared to explain what the urgency of their visit was, why there were there and what they were trying to accomplish that was worth disregarding the wishes of the school district superintendent. I'm sure it was very pressing business.

The first thing I thought of when I read this article and all FIVE board members were with Mr. Barrera was to wonder if this "meeting" had an adjenda since he definitely had a quorum present. My understanding of the Brown Act, is that it certainly would have constituted a "meeting". I voted for Mr. Barrera and regret it...he is not the superintendent he said he would be. The first thing he did, after getting into office, was to give himself a raise and in no time at all, we began hearing how our schools were going to have to lay off teachers. What happened to his platform of getting back to what is best for the children in our schools? I don't think fattening up his checkbook and then getting rid of teaches is it. We did try and petition to recall him but it didn't work out. I'm not sure of the reason why either because so many voters in this county that voted for him now want him recalled.

maybe Barrera and his crew were trying to document the aftermath of the cuts approved by the WUSD board. It will come in handy when they have to take the district over in a few months...the clock is ticking. This is what happens when you hire two people with no administrative experience and and overdeveloped egos, but hey wasn't Olmos the hack that swore Barrera in to begin with? They both need a time out.

California's public schools are the shared responsibility of state government and local school districts. The legislature requires the formation of local districts and grants certain powers to them. State laws require specific programs and courses of study and provide a growing percentage of school funding. County offices of education operate their own educational programs such as schools, juvenile halls, regional occupation centers providing job-related training, special education classes and schools for handicapped students, and environmental education schools. In addition, county offices provide administrative and supportive services to small local school districts. The county superintendent of schools is the chief executive officer of a county office of education and the state constitution provides for a superintendent of schools in each county. The school board sets local educational policies within the limits of state law and determines the curriculum. Sounds like the Willows School Superintendent had something to hide.

I cannot believe that our Superintendant would not welcome anyone to come and see the great teaching that is being done by Murdock teachers. The teachers are making ends meet reguardless of the lack of support from the Superintendant, who pretends to support and wants what is best for kids and in the next breath will bad mouth the teachers, sit in his office and not acknowledge that the safety of that school is horrible. Their classroom supplies have been cut and student numbers almost doubled. Despite the challenges the teachers face, he should welcome anyone to the campus at any given time because there is nothing to hide. It is disgusting that he spent tax payers dollars on this rather than moving forward to help children and provide the best education possible. As for Ms. Brott who claims she is a well educated person and isn't, needs to do her job, get rid of the superintendant, who is making six figures while his own child attends another school, and GET US A NEW ONE!!!