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The Pleasanton Unified School District announced late Wednesday afternoon that Santa Ana schools administrator David Haglund, Ed.D., is the school board’s pick as the finalist for the district’s superintendent vacancy.
Haglund currently works as deputy superintendent of educational services and chief academic officer for the Santa Ana Unified School District, a position overseeing the academic programs for the district’s 60 school sites.
Pleasanton school board members, along with PUSD officials and employee union representatives, are set to head to Orange County to visit Haglund’s district on Friday and Monday. If the site visit is successful, contract negotiations would follow and the board would consider voting on that employment agreement June 13.
PUSD officials called Haglund, who has a 29-year career in education, a “proven instructional leader” with a passion for “nurturing personalized learning environments to help all students achieve their unique potential” in the press release announcing his selection as finalist.
“From this wide range of experiences, he demonstrates genuine respect and empathy for all functions throughout the district,” school board president Joan Laursen said. “We believe that his warm and personable nature will help him connect with the staff, students, parents and community leaders throughout our district who work together to make education a great experience for all students.”
Haglund began his career as a social science teacher in the Rialto Unified School District in San Bernardino County, teaching there for 11 years.
He then moved to the Riverside Unified School District, where he worked for more than 16 years, starting as a classroom teacher before becoming instructional services administrator for kindergarten through sixth grade, then founder and principal of the Riverside Virtual School, director of educational operations and assistant superintendent of instructional support.
Haglund transitioned to his current role in the Santa Ana school district in 2013. He also earned a Doctorate of Education from the University of Southern California.
The Pleasanton school board, along with district administrators and representatives from the classified and certificated employee groups, will meet with Haglund’s current colleagues and school community members during visits to Santa Ana scheduled for this Friday and Monday, according to district officials. Those meetings will be publicly noticed special board meetings.
“Visiting the site of the superintendent finalist is part of the Board of Trustees’ commitment to conduct its due diligence before finalizing a contract,” PUSD officials said in their statement Wednesday.
The board has said it plans to vote on the superintendent appointment and contract at its June 13 regular meeting, with the goal of having the new leader begin working July 1 for the start of the 2017-18 school year.
The new superintendent will be the district’s fifth leader since spring 2015, following Parvin Ahmadi (who left to become Castro Valley’s schools superintendent after 2014-15), PUSD’s 2015-16 interim superintendent Jim Hansen, six-month superintendent Rick Rubino who was fired in January and current interim superintendent Micaela Ochoa.
Why are employee union representatives traveling to Orange County?
Is the tax payer paying their expenses?
From the Santa Ana website:
“In the past seven years, Saddleback’s graduation rate has grown 24.2%, from 67.3% to 91.5%, which is higher than the state and county averages.”
Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t the growth rate actually 35.9%?
Math: 91.5-67.3/67.3=rate of growth
I agree with res2 on both points. The union traveling to interview him is absurd.
Also, Ahmadi had no experience being a superintendent.
They could not find someone with experience being a superintendent already?
So they are putting an offer to someone without superintendent experience?
As last week’s editorial said: “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly expecting different results.”
David Haglund is interested in every aspect of the school district he is employed by. Starting with support of each staff member, providing encouragement for every student, to increasing parent involvement, and being extremely knowledgable about finances. Do not underestimate him. His resume notes his many years of experience. With experience comes wisdom. PUSD will be elevated by his leadership. Support him. Haglund will DEFINITELY rise to the occasion.
Marie Anter:
What is your credential?
There will be no rush to support this candidate.
The PUSD Board firstly, must step up and answer questions.
See definition of insanity above!
According to the Orange County Register, Santa Ana Unified is one of the worst performing districts where people flocking to Charter schools. “SAUSD has more failing schools – and a higher percentage of failing schools – than any other Orange County district.”
It states Heglund secretly worked with a labor union organizer, Gloria Alvarado, from the Orange County Labor Federation to mis-inform parents about the laws that allow parents to form Charter schools and have their kids attend Charter school. The quote is: “We attended the meeting to learn about the Parent Empowerment Act. Instead, we got a union organizer posing as our partner who opposes the very law that gives us rights.”
When the newspaper did a Public Records Act request or got emails to find out the true story, it found that Heglund, the one that PUSD wants to hire, is the one that brought in the union operative to deceive the parents.
The quote is: “But an SAUSD email contradicts Miller, revealing Alvarado’s presentation was directed by Miller’s assistant, Deputy Superintendent David Haglund.”
Read all about it here in the article “Labor group joins effort to misinform school parents”
http://www.ocregister.com/2015/12/01/labor-group-joins-effort-to-misinform-school-parents/
HAGDOGUSC? What is that, you might ask?
David Haglund’s Twitter account shows that recently he sent out 4,879 Tweets…https://twitter.com/hagdogusc/media
From all the photos, is it typical for school administrators to attend hundreds of conferences? That sure does seem to signal a lot of time attending conferences and tweeting about them.
One Tweet is:
David Haglund @hagdogusc 27 Jun 2016
More
Fun session RT @tyhag104: Ran into this old guy at #ISTE2016! @hagdogusc proud of you!
Of course, from the Rubino experience, any comment about “old” (e.g., “You can’t be that old”) in Pleasanton is likely to end up with an email to the Board and a hostile environment investigation. https://pleasantonweekly.com/news/2017/03/19/emails-show-ex-pusd-superintendent-accused-of-inappropriate-conduct-before-firing
You all wonder why you can’t find an experienced, qualified Superintendent to work for you. Perhaps they all know how to use Google. Read the comments in this thread, let alone the rest of the Weekly, and let me know if you’d subject yourself to this community.
Here we go again another fat contract just waiting for the next controversy resulting in a swift boot to the sidelines then on to the next school district with a pocketful of cash courtesy of Pleasanton tax payers! Oh well at least a select few got an all expenses paid trip to Santa Ana for at least 4 days, it’s good to be at the top of the tax payer funded food chain!
Why do I feel like you all would have had the same reactions no matter who was picked?
Sandy, the article does not say he was in the meeting. It says he was in charge of coordinating false information to parents through the use of a union operative. The last part of the article says: “Falsifying information about California laws to deceive parents is pathetic. Siphoning taxpayer dollars toward that end should be grounds for firing. Will SAUSD officials now tell the truth to their own parents?”
Speaking of taxpayer dollars, also I am wondering why PUSD is interested in hiring someone who was a principal at a virtual school and previously authored a California initiative regarding on-line courses from providers not originating from the school, and redirecting ADA money to schools even if the student is not really attending that particular school. Here is the information -http://www.gettingsmart.com/2012/03/california-student-bill-of-rights-access-for-all-students/
The gist of this as I read it was that this initiative was designed to allow a school district to get ADA money funneled to it even if the students are sitting at home taking online classes offered by a different set of providers. Here is the text- http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1005_11-0062_%28student_rights%29.pdf
Basically, this sounds like a money grab to me. The third letter of ADA is “Attendance” and if someone is taking on-line courses through a provider not part of the school district, I don’t see why that school district deserves any ADA money because the instructors are not part of the school district and the instruction is provided by another institution.
It seems to me that who should get the money is the institution that actually produces and provides the on-line courses and content.
If PUSD wants to hire Haglund, they might have an agenda to turn some Pleasanton schools into virtual schools perhaps?
With the demographics we have, I could see a reason a virtual school could be appealing as a potential revenue stream. Could see a spike in registration from out of country students using relatives/friends/etc addresses here to attend virtual classes using Pleasanton addresses
@Kathleen: But is the union rep(s) going on their own dime and correct me here but the union has no say in the hiring?
Probably could have gotten the same info off the internet for free, but I too would rather have the free trip with transportation and probably meals included, why not plenty more money in the piggy bank.
Union membership traveling on tax payer expense must be identified by name, what is their positon relationship with PUSD.
I believe if there is factual information that union membership can gather to enhance and improve PUSD, it can be completed with a video conference call at PUSD expense.
That is SO WRONG to have the unions on this trip and we had better not be paying for them.
Unfortunately, his resume looks very similar to Parvin’s. I find that those with only academic experience do not have the oversight and financial experience to run an organization. That concerns me a bit. Parvin’s passion was educational programs but when you are the superintendent, you need to give that director the direction and not be involved in the details/implementation. There are so many other things the superintendent needs to be involved in and understanding the finances are a huge part of the job.
“Oh, not again” — please note that the link you provided to the Orange County Register is not to an article — it is to an opinion columnist, Gloria Romero, a former California State Senator. That’s why the piece ends with innuendo. The person who gave the presentation to parents may have been instructed to do so by Dr. Haglund, but there’s no evidence offered that he was at the meeting or aware of how his subordinate was carrying out her assigned work.
I’m not ready to say that Dr. Haglund is a good pick, but I’m also not willing to rule him out based on a single opinion piece that you tracked down. Certainly, it would be the basis for a useful question to ask of others during the site visit.
Let’s let the board do their work. I suspect it is far cheaper to fly people down twice (or in two shifts?) than to have people stay in hotels three or four nights, especially over a weekend. The agendas are not posted yet, but if it was one four day trip, they would have to post it that way. If it is two trips, they will post two agendas (or should).
It is vital for the unions to send reps to speak to their counterparts. There is much that might be said, good or otherwise, that might not be readily stated to a board member.
Their opinions will matter, of course. They don’t have a formal vote, but I don’t think you want union reps to come back not in support of your choice as a board. They will not pay; this is likely coming from the board’s budget, or a budget set up separately for hiring the superintendent. When I looked yesterday, the tickets were $233 round trip; they probably booked better deals than that. It is worth it.
A free trip and meals, like they don’t have families and other demands on their time, including graduations and promotions? And I wouldn’t hire anyone solely based on what I find on the internet.
Im all for going to tjis individuals district to vet what he says and does. That should be encouraged.
Why we are letting the union participate or tag along is beyond me. I understand in practical application, but we should be looking to ways to remove the need for the union, not deepening its hooks in the schools.
They have zero skin in the game to this individuals performance.
Leadership is important to teachers and classified staff; these are the people educating and caring for our students. A superintendent determines their expectations, professional development, salaries, and sets the tone for the entire system. APT and CSEA are here to stay; best to learn how to work collaboratively to meet the educational needs of the community’s children. If 360 reviews are done, and I hope they are, the union members could have a lot to say about the superintendent’s performance.
The unions collect union dues from their members. If they feel a benefit to be there, the union should pay the way for the union leaders to go, not the taxpayers. This seems to be an abuse of taxpayer funds.
I understand the practical reason, but again, learning how to make daily life more tolerable by giving into a parasite isnt the right approach, we need decisions and actions that create an environment that doesnt need a progress preventing entity to become more intrusive and engrained in the process.
The agenda: http://agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=106&MeetingID=45280&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False Attendees listed.
Michael, I am not going to tell you my current boss is a jerk on a video conference call when I may not know who is in the room or if I’m being recorded. Face to face conversations are more personal.
I am assuming this is covered by the fund they set up for the search. You can call the DO, res2, to confirm and or to register a complaint. These people, again, are educating our children. Seems like a small concession of a few dollars to include them and their professional expertise about a person about to take the helm.
Our schools dont have money for infastructure, liabilities (that these blowhards fight for and complain about not getting), technology, programs, etc because taxpayer dollars are being spent on things like this for them. I understand the items above far exceed the cost of travel but the point remains. If these guys were liable for some of the severence in the event hes let go…ok, im more open to it.
The district doesn’t have money because of $13MM (this year) rising to $20MM by 2020, I believe, in pension payments. If you want to go after a real problem, call the Governor about his plan to borrow, invest, and hope to make bank on $6 billion to cover shortfalls on pension premiums. http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/05/18/borenstein-a-great-deal-could-go-wrong-with-browns-pension-plan/
If you have ever wondered why admins and staff leave P-town. It’s because of comments like this:
‘I understand the practical reason, but again, learning how to make daily life more tolerable by giving into a parasite isnt the right approach’
You just called the teachers of PUSD a Parasite. Who would want to work in a district where this sort of comment is common? I don’t always agree with KR but she is respectful of all the people that work with our children. Having teachers included in the process is vital. KR stated some reasons above. The loathing of Unions has created a permissive attitude toward teachers and staff that IS loathsome. This search for a Supe is not about APT or CTA. It is about getting the right person for the job. Someone that will put up with these comments and rise above it all. Good luck to ALL.