The Monday, September 9, 2024, 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. We use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home. 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]. 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, Greg Drummond and Denise Khalid will give a Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Program Update. This is a discussion item and their presentation can be found under agenda item H.1. In 2021, the state mandated (with no additional funding to LASD and other community funded/basic aid districts) that TK be rolled out to all 4 year olds and codified how it would eventually be rolled out. We are in the 4th year of the roll out with students turning 4 from September 2 through June 2nd of 2024 eligible for TK. I look forward to hearing how LASD's rollout is progressing. Then, Erik Walukiewicz will present the Facilities Master Plan for approval. This is an action item, and the plan can be found under agenda item H.2. The District engaged with CAW Architects to do an extensive assessment of facilities across the district including data collection, site tours, online surveys, focus groups, and community outreach, and then instill that into master plan for facilities in the district. I highly recommend your reading it yourself, as it is pretty exhaustive and honestly too much for me to summarize in a meaningful way for you. Next, the Board will be given a chance to openly discuss the Bullis Charter School (BCS) Renewal Petition Update. As discussed before, On 7/17/24, BCS had its charter renewal hearing where the SCCOE, BCS, and LASD all had 10 minutes to speak regarding the matter. At that same hearing there was lots of public comment followed by lots of questions, comments, and requests for more information from both LASD and BCS made by the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE). LASD submitted responses to those requests with all the data requested. BCS sent the SCCOE marketing material and stated the data was not needed by the SCCOE/SCCBOE and that they lacked the capacity to get the data to them. On August 16th, as required by law and in preparation for the SCCBOE's renewal decision hearing scheduled for August 26th, the SCCOE's Charter Department published its renewal decision recommendation. You can find that recommendation here. In short, the SCCOE Charter Schools Department, even though it found BCS's charter renewal documentation and presentation deficient and not responsive to their Notice of Concern, recommended the SCCBOE approve renewal of BCS for 5 years (not 7 years) conditioned on them executing an MOU with the County Superintendent of Schools with many requirements for said MOU outlined. On 8/26/24 (going into 8/27/24), the SCCBOE approved a modified version of the SCCOE's resolution requesting that the MOU come back to the SCCBOE for approval by 12/18/24 and the charter school remove its cap on free and reduced lunch (FRL) students. On 9/4/24, the SCCBOE evaluated reconsidering its 8/26 to 8/27 decision, based on a new recommendation that BCS and SCCOE put forth, that incorporated a lot of the requests/conditions into BCS's charter renewal petition, including removing the cap on FRL students, but erased consequences for not complying and any mention that the charter school was deficient in at least 2/3rds of its charter renewal application. The SCCBOE decided to not reconsider their decision of 8/26 to 8/27, with that decision remaining final. Erik will then present LASD's 2022-23 Unaudited Financials. This is an action item and his presentation and the unaudited financials can be found under agenda item H.4. LASD's financials are looking quite sound thanks to the passage of the Parcel Tax, right sizing of staffing after COVID, and strategic usage of one time monies received. That being said, we still have concerns about inflation, unfunded and underfunded mandates, and fixed costs increasing for the district. We are asked to approve the unaudited financials so it can be sent to/filed with the SCCOE. Next, Erik will present a Resolution Adopting the Gann Limit. This is an action item and the resolution and backup materials can be found under agenda item H.5. Erik asks the Board to approve this resolution which is basically procedural and sets an appropriations limit on the District based on last years actual appropriations and expectation for this budget year. Then, Sandra will present Appointments to Northwest Special Education Local Plan Area Community Advisory Committee (SELLA CAC). This is an action item and the applications for the requested appointees can be found under agenda item H.6. SELPA CAC is an advisory body to the District and greater Santa Clara County community on Special Education needs of students and their families. The applicants are current LASD Special Education parents. Next, Sandra will present a 2024-25 Mentor-Tutor Connection (MTC) Memorandum of Understanding. This is an action item and the memorandum of understanding can be found under agenda item H.7. The Board is asked to approve this agreement with MTC for them to continue to supply the district with much needed, well trained volunteer tutors for our students needing extra help. Sandra will then present two resolutions relating to LASD staffing: one for those teachers with a Multiple Subject Credential and the other for those teachers with a Single Subject Teaching Credential. This is an action item and the resolutions can be found under agenda items H.8 and H.9. Approval of these resolutions will allow teachers with a multiple subject credential teach a specific course, and those credentialed in another subject matter, teach a different subject, as long as they completed a certain amount of classes in the new subject matter. Last, but not least, Sandra has a bunch of Board Policy Updates for the Board to review. Two are an action item and the rest are discussion items and they all can be found under agenda items H.10, H-11 and H-12. 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, these are just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/9/24 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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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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