Oceanside Unified School District is not in compliance with state law at the moment.
State law requires a minimum of 180 days of instruction. But Oceanside Unified canceled two days of instruction during student protests and now has only 178 days on its calendar.
Superintendent Ken Noonan called off school for March 30 and 31 because he was concerned about student safety. He was afraid that students would leave campus and get into a confrontation with police. Safety, he said, was his only reason.
Although Noonan consulted with staff and the Oceanside police, he was physically in Sacramento when he made his decision. His decision to close the district's middle and high schools was a tough call to make, even tougher to delegate to someone actually in Oceanside.
We have some unease with the message the cancellation sent – that a small group of students armed with cell phones and an Internet posting site can bring a district to its knees. Still, it was Noonan's call.
We also have some unease with the imagery of the moment – teachers being told to lock classroom doors, not to protect students from some outside threat but to prevent them from leaving campus.
In explaining himself later at a press conference, Noonan sent other questionable messages:
Academics were being shut down for two days because it was unsafe, but athletic practices and games would go on as scheduled.
The district would not be hurt financially by his decision. It would ask the state for a waiver of the 180-day requirement. Only if the waiver were denied would the district schedule two makeup days.
Most parents would put academics first, athletics second. If the school was unsafe for academics, it should not have been business as usual for sports teams.
Noonan was concerned about losing two days of revenue. Never did we hear him say he was worried about losing two days of learning.
Someone stood out among the media representatives gathered for the superintendent's press conference. His blue jeans and handsome sport coat did not seem to mark him as a reporter; his white hair dispelled any illusion he was the parent of a student.
Oceanside residents probably know John M. Alvarez as president of Nautical Bean Coffee Company. He was present this day because he wanted to know why the district would even consider canceling school. He was there because he cared about his granddaughter's education. “She has a 4.0 GPA,” he said with grandfatherly pride.
And what did he think about the district preferring not to restore the two canceled days?
“I feel my granddaughter is getting cheated out of two days' education.”
We do, too. So are 10,000 other students. They deserve what taxpayers have paid for, what the state requires.
Forget about even asking for a waiver, Oceanside Unified. Add the two missing days back to the schedule.
