SVUSD

Saddleback's new superintendent: It's all about 'we'

Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register Clint Harwick doesn't use the words "I" or "me" to describe his accomplishments or his goals – it's all about "we," he says. The new superintendent of the 33,000-student Saddleback Valley Unified School District says the challenges faced by the district – including mounting financial problems and recent employee unrest over an imposed 13.5 percent pay cut – will only be resolved if he can bring everyone together to work as a team…

Class sizes, custodians hit by Saddleback's $33 million in cuts

Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees on Tuesday passed a $229 million budget for 2010-11 that calls for increasing class sizes at all grade levels, cutting custodial services nearly in half and requiring deep employee pay concessions. The spending plan calls for $33 million in cuts in response to reduced state funding, and restores none of the deep cutbacks to programs and services made last year, including eliminating most of the district's bus routes and dramatically scaling back counselors and school library staffing…