All sorts of fun stuff happening at MPUSD

Rarely are MPUSD board meetings boring. Monday's was particularly fascinating.

Judging by the students reports to the board, things are peachy at the high schools.

The district bid farewell to military liaison Luis Villegas, and said hello to new liaison Elaine Vrolyks.

The most fascinating part was the unscripted one: Monterey High student Darrick Jory pleaded with trustees to do away with the district's current grading system. The system, which mirrors the grading on California Standarized Testing of Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic and Far Below Basic, allows students who get a 45 percentage point a passing grade, something that's rubbed people the wrong way for a while.

Robert Purcell, a Seaside High freshman who previously attended Stevenson, made a passionate plea against eliminating the current block schedule. Robert is articulate and thorough, a teacher's dream.

Apparently, he's not the only one against eliminating block scheduling, a proposal that's going around the district's halls.

Then came the former teachers. Nobody told them the district was changing health care coverage, so they were surprised to receive an email from CalPers telling them they would no longer be in their plan. They were particularly upset with the Union, whom they felt had abandoned them.

Then there was the euphoria of the Dual Language Folks. A new, dependent charter will be formed at Marshall Elementary to host the Dual Language program, and Monday was the formal presentation of the charter petition.

Ah, so much to cover in a 7.5 hour day. Eventually, I'll get to these stories. Or so I hope.