SACRAMENTO, CA - The Natomas Unified School District Board voted to act on a highly-critical report it commissioned that described a "culture of entitlement" at the district and called for management reforms and a "top down focus" on students.
Natomas Unified Interim Superintendent Walt Hanline said the district is not in crisis, but that the report highlights a sweeping need to reform the organization and operation of the district.
"I think it's more of a district that needs to catch up to the realities that it needs to invest in it's students, focus on investing in students and become more efficient and effective," Hanline said.
The $80,000 report by School Services Inc., a private consulting firm, describes a district that's technologically behind and that has to stop a revolving door of top managers.
School Board President Lisa Kaplan said she agreed with the reports conclusions. She said that the district is acting on many of the recommendations and that student test scores have been improving.
"One of the things you have to look at in every year in the past four years that we've had a cut in our budget and the state has cut our budget, test scores have gone up in this district, so our kids are resilient," Kaplan said.
The report said 36 percent of the district's employees used all their sick days in the last year and that 18 percent used all their extended sick leave.
During public comment, several teachers blasted the report and said most teachers do not abuse the sick leave policy.
"Do you want to know why people are taking extended leave time? It's because they're stressed out not having enough materials to do the damn job that they're supposed to do," veteran teacher Ken McPherson said.
The board voted to adopt and approve the list of recommendations even though members emphasized many of the suggestions were already being acted on.
News10/KXTV