The Monday, October 3, 2022, LASD Board meeting will start its open session at 7:00pm and contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the LASD Board Room. If you plan to participate in person, wearing a mask is recommended in accordance with CDPH guidelines. We will continue to use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home, but public comment will not be allowed on it. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the LASD Board to consider in its decision making, please email all of us at [email protected] by 5pm on Saturday, 10/1/22. To register to watch the board meeting from the comfort of your home, click here. The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this week's meeting can be found here.
First up, Laura Wiley, the new Categorial Programs Coordinator will give a Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Update. This is a discussion item and her presentation can be found using the link above under agenda item H.1. Per state mandate, all public schools in CA must phase in TK for all 4 year olds over the next couple years with full implementation in the 25/26 school year. In this school year, TK was expanded to children who turn 5 as of February 2nd, next school year (23/24) it will expand to those children who turn 5 as April 2nd, with full implementation set for the 25/26 school year accepting all children that turn 4 by September 1, 2025. This year LASD has a grand total of 81 TK students at 4 campuses, Almond, Loyola, Oak, and Santa Rita. The purpose of TK is to set a foundation for students to succeed in Kinder, elementary school, and beyond. Next, Dr. Carrie Bosco will give a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Update. This is a discussion item and her presentation can be found under agenda H.2. In the Spring of 2021, LASD approved an Anti-bias Framework. Carrie will give the Board an update on its implementation across the district. Since the last update to the Board, teachers and staff across the district participated DEI training conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) during their professional development day on 9/23. Separately, LASD is working on curating Social Studies lessons that are culturally responsive and fit within our anti-bias framework. Then, Erik Walukiewicz will present a Contract with Davis Demographics to the Board for approval. This is an action item and Erik's memo in support of approving the contract and the contract can be found under agenda H.3. The district's prior demographer is retiring and LASD had to look elsewhere for such services. It has been years since a comprehensive demographer's report has been done for the district and it will be useful information in the Board's decision making involving facilities going forward. Erik will next give a Classroom Lighting Project Update. This is an action item and Erik's memo in support of approving the contract and the contract with Best Electrical can be found under agenda item H.4. In the Spring, the Board directed Randy (the old Erik) to go out to bid for lighting replacement at Almond, Blach, and Springer Schools. These schools have failing fixtures that are beyond repair. Recently the District advertised for bids, had walk throughs by bidders, and received 3 bids for the work. Best Electrical came out on top in terms of price and has done good work for LASD in the past. The Board is asked to approve a contract with Best Electrical, the contract is for $854,311 and the funds will come from the Lease Revenue Fund (lease payments from the commercial tenants on the 10th site). Last, but not least, a Joint Use Agreement with Stepping Stones Preschool will be brought before the Board. This is an action item, and the agreement can be found under agenda item H.5. This is a Lease with Stepping Stones Preschool, located on the Covington/District Office Campus. The lease runs from 11/1/22 to 6/30/27 for $26,610/month. Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 10/3/22 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions.
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The Monday, September 19, 2022, LASD Board meeting will start its open session at 7:00pm and contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the LASD Board Room. If you plan to participate in person, wearing a mask is recommended in accordance with CDPH guidelines. We will continue to use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home, but public comment will not be allowed on it. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the LASD Board to consider in its decision making, please email all of us at [email protected] by 5pm on Saturday, 9/17/22. To register to watch the board meeting from the comfort of your home, click here. The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this week's meeting can be found here.
First up on the agenda, members of the LASD Wellness Team will give the Board a Wellness Update. Erin Green, Kathryn Azevedo, Claire Griffin, and Wade Spenader will cover how the district is connecting LASD students, staff, and families to wellness services and scaffolding. This is a discussion item and the presentation can be found under agenda item H.1 using the link provided above. I look forward to learning more about our wellness initiatives across the district during this presentation. Next, Sandra McGonagle will give a 10th Site Community Engagement Update. This is a discussion item and her presentation and supporting documentation can be found under agenda item H.2. You can also read more on the LASD Website here. The presentation and supporting documentation highlights where we were and ask for next steps in the process. After securing a short term facilities agreement with Bullis Charter School in May 2019, LASD worked vigorously on putting together and executing a Community Engagement Process in the Fall of 2019. During that process, all participants were educated about the history and context of the facilities issues between the District and BCS, gave solutions to the facilities issues and were eventually surveyed as to their comfort with the over 50 solutions. In early 2020, the Board received a report on the process from our consultant (MIG) and took over the process from there. LASD went through the over 50 solutions and weeded out ones that did not meet the District's Guiding Principles and/or whose popularity was found to be low during the Community Engagement Process. The last meeting in which the Board discussed Facilities Planning was on February 10, 2020 with plans to meet on March 12, 2020 for a Facilities Planning special meeting. Then the COVID-19 global pandemic hit and forced us to focus all efforts on educating TK-8 students under such circumstances. The District has finally come up for air and school started like any other school year prior to the pandemic this year with things mostly back to normal with COVID-19 handled. The Board discussion will be focused on next steps in 10th Site Community Engagement and Facilities Planning. Nothing will be decided at this meeting, we are simply starting to get the ball rolling and determining what more information we need and how much more of a process we will need before making a decision. All your board members would love to hear your input! Then, Sandra will present the 2022-23 Negotiating Interests for the Los Altos School District and the Los Altos Teachers Association. This is a discussion item and LASD and LATA's negotiating interests can be found under agenda item H.3. LASD and LATA participate in Interest Based Bargaining which require us both to "sunshine" (i.e. disclose) our most valued interests and what section of our negotiated agreement coincides with the interests. Erik will next present the Santa Clara County Treasury Investment Portfolio Status. This is an action item and his memo explaining it and the county's Quarterly Investment Report can be found under agenda item H.4. The portfolio is highly regulated for risk by state law and the depositors are the County of Santa Clara, all the school districts, and most of the special purpose districts of the county. The Board is asked to accept the portfolio's status. Erik will then present two resolutions for the Boards approval. One to be Become Subject to Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Procedures (CUPCCA) and another (prompted by adopting CUPCCA) adopting a Conflict of Interest Code. These are action items and the resolutions can be found under agenda item H.5 and H.6. At the last board meeting Erik presented why CUPCCA is beneficial to adopt for our district and this week he is asking us to adopt it. Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/19/22 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions. The Tuesday, September 6, 2022, LASD Board meeting will start its open session at 7:00pm and contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the LASD Board Room. If you plan to participate in person, wearing a mask is recommended in accordance with CDPH guidelines. We will continue to use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home, but public comment will not be allowed on it. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the LASD Board to consider in its decision making, please email all of us at [email protected] by 5pm on Saturday, 9/3/22. To register to watch the board meeting from the comfort of your home, click here. The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this week's meeting can be found here.
First up, Dr. Carrie Bosco will conduct a public hearing on the Sufficiency of Instructional Materials. This is an action item and the resolution Dr. Bosco asks the Board to approve can be found under agenda item H.2 using the link provided above. This is a process and resolution the Board is asked to approve every year in accordance with state law. Next, Erik Walukiewicz will give a Financial Update. This is an action item and Erik's presentation and LASD's 21/22 Unaudited Actuals can be found under agenda item H.3. Erik asks the Board to approve the unaudited actuals so that he can file it with the County of Education (SCCOE). With our books closed for the 21/22 school year, our bottom line looks good with a healthy reserve to weather any unforeseen financial hardship and the ever increasing unfunded and underfunded mandates instituted by the state for the time being. Then, Sandra McGonagle will give a 10th Site CEQA Update. This is a discussion item and her presentation can be found under agenda item H.4. In order to eventually build a school on the 10th site, we must go through a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process to get approval from the state. Her presentation highlights where we are in in the process. It is important to note, that as part of the CEQA process, we must file a Environmental Impact Report (EIR) which required the Board to determine the greatest possible impact of the site to allow us to have the greatest flexibility in the future (and not have to go through the process again). This includes projecting a max of 900 students, installing a turf field and the possibility of lights on that field. While no decisions have been made as to what type of school will be placed on the site, this gives us less constraints in our choices. Erik will next give us a presentation on the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (CUPCCAA). This is a discussion item and his presentation and a resolution that he will ask us to approve at out next board meeting can be found under agenda item H.5. I look forward to his presentation about CUPCCAA and how such may be beneficial to LASD in its maintenance and construction of facilities. Last, but definitely not least, Sandra has a bunch of Board Policy Updates for the Board to review. This is a discussion item and all of the Board Policies Updates can be found under agenda H.6. The California School Boards Association (CSBA) frequently advises local school districts on updates and deletions to board policies, bylaws and regulations based on recent changes to California state law and regulations and our Board gradually updates our policies based on CSBA's recommendations. Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/6/22 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions. |
Jessica SpeiserThanks to your support, I joined the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board of Trustees in December 2016. I finished my tenure as Board President after serving as such from December 2018 to December 2019. I am currently Board Vice President. As usual, I will use this blog to continue updating you on upcoming Board meetings and make you aware of upcoming office hours and community events. Archives
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