What's on tap for 9/10/18 Board Meeting

Closed session begins at 5:30pm and the board will reconvene for open session starting around 7pm in the LASD Board Room at 201 Covington Rd.  The entire agenda can be found here.

We start the evening with a presentation by Sandra McGonagle regarding Summer School.  This is a discussion item and no action will be taken.  Her presentation can be found under agenda item H.1 using the link found above.  My preliminary review of the report shows that the district definitely moved the needle for a majority of the students who attended.  However, the report does also show that there is more work to be done (33 of 120 students that were served by summer school made no progression in their reading proficiency).  I look forward to hearing more from Sandra on Monday night. 

Next up is the presentation of the ThoughtExchange Final Report by Jeff Baier and the professionals from ThoughtExchange.  This is a discussion item and no action will be taken.  The presentation can be found under agenda item H.2 using the link found above. It is well worth a night out at a board meeting to come listen to this presentation to understand "what are some perspectives we need to consider as we make decisions about the new school in our community" from 1,012 community members from across the district and some outside the district.  

But wait, there is more... Jeff Baier, along with Manny Barbara of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, will present the 10th Site Task Force Final Report.  This is a discussion item and no action will be taken.  The presentation and supporting documentation used by the Task Force can be found under agenda item H.3.  There was not incredibly strong consensus from the Task Force regarding how the 10th site should used by the district. The group did have a stronger preference for placing BCS at the 10th site with 6 out of 9 Task Force members making it their first choice. Those six members were Tom McGovern (from Los Altos), Lara Dietz (from Springer area of Mountain View), James Reilly (LASD parent and from NEC area of Mountain View), Raquel Matteroli (Principal of Almond School), Sandra McGonagle (Assistant Superintendent) and Joe Seither (former LASD parent and Los Altos resident).  A neighborhood school was the first choice of one Task Force member (Mountain View City Council Member Margaret Abe-Koga) and moving Egan to the 10th site and giving current Egan campus to BCS was the first choice of two Task Force members (BCS parents Anthony Shortland (from NEC area of Mountain View) and Jill Jene (from Los Altos).  

If Financial Updates are your passion, I suggest you stay to hear Randy Kenyon give the Board his presentation of the 2017/2018 Unaudited Revenue and Expenditures. This is an action item and Randy's presentation and the thrilling 2017/2018 Unaudited Revenue and Expenditures Report can be found under agenda item H.4.  Randy asks the board to approve the Report so that it may be filed with the County by September 15th.   According to Randy, at a high level, the district had revenues (received) of $66 million and had expenditures (spent) of $66.1 million in the General Fund.  This left $1.04 million in the General Fund Reserves and a total of 4.78 million in the total Reserves (7.25% of the district expenditures, compared to 8.01% projected in June 2018).  

Just when you thought Randy was out, we will pull him back in to present the Annual Developer Fee Report.  This is a discussion item and no action will be taken.  The report can be found under agenda item H.5.  According to Randy's report, the developer fees collected last school year is significantly higher than years prior.  I look forward to hearing what is the cause of the jump.  

Next, the board is asked to approve Renewal of Joint Use Agreements and Findings Regarding Joint Use Agreements with 5 childcare/preschool providers located on LASD campuses.  This is an action item and the leases for the five preschools/childcare providers may be found under agenda item H.6.  The Joint Use Agreements are for: (1) Los Altos Parent Preschool (Covington); (2) KU Champions (Covington); (3) Children's House (Gardner Bullis); (4) Abracadabra (Springer); and (5) KU Champions (Santa Rita). Prior to approving/renewing the Joint Use Agreements, the board is asked to consider approving the following findings: the Joint Use Agreements and Amendments to Joint Use Agreements will not: (a) interfere with the educational program or activities of any District school or class conducted on the property; (b) unduly disrupt the residents of the surrounding neighborhood; and (c) jeopardize the safety of the children at the property.  

Last, but not least, Jeff will present a Resolution Opposing Measure C.  This is an action item and the resolution can be found her agenda item H.7.  The resolution maintains that (1) Measure C will constraint City-owned property and may impact collaborations between the District and the City and will limit the benefits from such collaborations and (2)  Measure C is likely to negatively impact property tax revenues essential to the District.  

Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/10/2018 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.