It has been established recently that District staff (the Education Services team) essentially violates academic integrity and steals/plagiarizes entire written content like "Diversity of thought is not only welcome, but is central to the goal of educating students to be able to critically and compassionately navigate the complexities of our global society" from other school districts such as Albany Unified.

Now I wonder if the District, other than stealing the thoughts/writings of Superintendent Valerie Williams (Albany Unified) can also not read. It is well known State Law for school districts for composition of Bond Oversight Committees clearly state they may not include any employee or official of the school district or any vendor, contractor, or consultant of the school district.

However, they just picked Jill Buck to be on the Bond Oversight Committee as the Business representative from Pleasanton even though this violates State Law. She is a consultant for the District and choosing her for the Bond Oversight Committee violates State Law. She was just before the Board in January 2017 (just a few weeks ago) in fact, as a consultant implementing a Waste / Environmental curriculum for classes at the high school level.

Either the ethically challenged District and Board cannot read State Law, knows what it is and just doesn't care, or simply has suffered mass amnesia.

Or they are too busy plagiarizing work from other Districts and Democratic party operatives to actually adequately screen and choose a Bond Oversight Committee that conforms to State Law.

How can we trust that the Board can actually hire and screen anyone like a Superintendent when they can't even pick a Board for a Bond Oversight Committee that conforms to State Law?

Fantastic. Another extremely difficult schedule for working parents who don't have the luxury of a third driver in the house. The school district seems to have forgotten we're no longer living in the 1970s and there's a parent in every home able to meet each school's whims. K-12 school impacts the entire family, not just the students, and I wish the district took a more family-centric view of things.

This sounds like a nice option for kids who are struggling, but how does it help those who are not?

I wish AVHS had chosen a block schedule for all five days. I suppose they have to start somewhere and piloting is a favorite approach--unfortunate. Two of our kids had five day block 20 years ago. They loved it and were happier students for it. It was a negative adjustment when we moved back to PUSD.

If our students are struggling to keep up and/or stressed and/or taking multiple APs and Honors courses, then changing to block and having at least one advisory gives students the gift of time.

Hopefully the district is working with Wheels and the City so there are a variety of options (better bus routes, better cycling lanes) for getting to Amador. How about motorized scooters? Maybe we can get that worthless and often broken law changed while we are at it (must be 16 and a licensed driver to go 12-15 mph).

More first world problems and first world level of complainers.

Every kid will appreciate some free time to break up the day and each child will make use of it as they see fit. Private industry generally has more breaks and flexibility than a high school schedule.

Good job on the decision. The mental health of these kids will improve and that is more important than most other factors.

This schedule is a disaster. They should jump into a real block schedule not just a crazy schedule that is difficult to follow. A real block schedule would allow for large blocks of time that can be utilized for group projects as are the norm with common core. I'm so glad my kids attend/graduated from FHS.

If you compare the statement from Albany to the date Pleasanton published their document you can see that Albany lifted from Pleasanton. It is a pretty good statement they stole, think about it.

I wish that Foothill was also considering this schedule. Amador kids will get a chance for longer science labs, more time to collaborate on group projects, and homework time with peers. This schedule is intended to reduce school stress by giving kids more time to complete their work with teachers available to help them if they need it.
While I can see that some parents may have issues with the driving schedule, the benefit is for the kids. I know a number of kids at Foothill who want this change too. The two high schools are supposed to be the same, yet Amador seems to be more pro-active about trying new ideas, leaving Foothill to catch up. Let's be fair and help all of our high school kids. Why can't we do this at both schools?

I think this will play havoc on the sleep patterns of all involved.

@Foothill Parent-- FHS teachers did not support changing to a block schedule, so they did not proceed with proposing a change. As a block schedule, the new AVHS schedule is not a true block schedule. The two HS don't have exactly the same schedule as FHS does not have brunch. I'm glad FHS is not trying this half baked schedule.

In response to Yet Another Botch's comment, the Weekly contacted the district about committee member Jill Buck. PUSD spokesman Patrick Gannon denied the assertion that Buck is a paid consultant for the district, saying, "Jill Buck is a volunteer in the District (like many of our parents), but is not a paid vendor or consultant. We double checked our vendor system back to the year 2000, just to be sure."