Yet Another (!) School Board Liveblog

Before addressing the non-me-related things I’m supposed to be writing about, a brief announcement: I was admitted to (and will be attending!) Haverford College, beginning next year.  Those of you who read my last post may remember that I was supposed to have heard from them about my application earlier that same day, but, very frustratingly, it didn’t arrive in the mail.  It did the next day, however, and I got in!  And since I applied Early Decision (meaning that not only do I get an early response, but I am bound to attend if the financial aid offer is satisfactory), that’s where I’ll be going!  If anyone knows anything about it, tell me about it in the comments–I’ve read pretty much everything about Haverford I can find already so I’m looking for new material.

The agenda for tonight’s meeting also includes a few items from the last meeting: more information about Transitional Kindergarten, and a revisiting of the proposal for notation of non-DJUSD courses on transcripts.  New items include a discussion of whether to maintain at-large elections for school board trustees (i.e., all voters in DJUSD may vote for all school board trustees) or, in response to concerns raised in relation to the California Voting Rights Act, to move to district-based elections (in which, presumably, DJUSD would be divided into five equally-populated voting districts, each of which would elect a trustee); a review of budget reductions for next year will also take place.  Check out the link for the full agenda.  The meeting begins at 7.

7:08- A quick round of happy birthday for Associate Superintendent (and former Da Vinci principal) Matt Best, who leads us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and with no comment from either staff or the student board representative, the consent calendar is unanimously approved.  Item 5b, the at-large vs. district-based school board elections discussion, has been removed from the agenda and will not be addressed tonight.  Associate Superintendent Clark Bryant begins a presentation on the Transitional Kindergarten program.

7:47- I think important things are being said but it is very warm in here and my chair is very soft.  One thing that did stand out was that it’s entirely possible the state will cut funding for the program before it can be implemented, making these discussions rather pointless, though Lovenburg does mention that she’s surprised by the low additional staffing that would be required by the new transitional kindergarten classes.

7:51- The Board unanimously accepts the recommendation of the staff to establish eligibility for the transitional kindergarten for those who turn 5 on September 2  through December 2 of the year in which they would begin, with Daleiden making sure to clarify that this may not take effect in the event of budget cuts.  The Board is now moving on to Executive Director of Student Services Pam Mari’s presentation about the revisions made since the last meeting to the proposed new policy about additions of non-DJUSD courses to DJUSD transcripts.

8:00- In its revised form, the policy essentially states that students may request up to 10 credits (i.e., 2 semester classes) of high school graduation requirements be filled through outside providers (universities, community colleges, accredited online providers).  Furthermore, if used to fulfill minimum a-g  requirements (i.e., UC/CSU entry requirements), it must appear on a list of courses maintained by those university systems that would thus accredit it.  Any courses not used to meet graduation requirements or minimum a-g requirements will be noted not on the DJUSD transcript, but on transcripts from the appropriate providing institutions, which may be submitted as appropriate to colleges or jobs.  These changes do not apply to current high school seniors.  The Board approves the policy unanimously.  Clark Bryant begins a presentation on proposed changes to secondary course offerings.

8:52- The proposed course changes, which can be accessed via the appropriate agenda item (I’m being lazy about links tonight…), are fairly self-explanatory if you take a  look at the supporting documents.  Note that Art I has been combined with Drawing & Painting, not Watercolor, as is stated.  Some unexpected debate springs up about the elimination of the Drafting course, which Richard Harris notes could be a way to engage otherwise academically disengaged students, but Mr. Best notes that because of needed software updates it would cost $40-50k to run the (generally underenrolled) course for another year.  Daleiden suggests the possibility of grants or private donations be investigated to maintain the course.  Interest in Driver’s Education has nearly disappeared because it’s a quarter course, which tends to mess up schedules. However, Tim Taylor suggests non-quarter options for the course be explored so as to not disenfranchise students who want or need to learn how to drive.

Attracting the most discussion, though, is the last course listed for elimination, 10th Grade Independent Lifetime Sports.  The course (along with similar courses for 11th and 12th grade sports) was created a few years ago by the Board so that athletes on Davis High’s sports teams could complete an independent PE class rather than being forced to take conventional PE to graduate.  However, when a course description was drafted, it included the stipulation that students enrolled in the program be varsity rather than junior varsity athletes, a stipulation not included in the Board resolution.  (According to some of the trustees, the intent was to pilot the program with JV and varsity athletes and gradually widen to include other athletes, if the program was successful.)  However, that same stipulation was dropped in the 10th grade course description, leading to vastly increased demand.

It gets a little fuzzy around here, because apparently that led to the 10th grade course’s placement on the elimination list, despite the fact that it’s only apparently here for modification–that is, to be the same as the 11th and 12th grade course.  This leads to backlash from the Board, pretty much all of which seems irritated that the varsity requirement was inserted in the first place and that access to the program is being narrowed, rather than expanded.  Also seemingly fueling rancor are suspicions of the P.E. department’s motives in attempting to reduce eligibility for the course, as they were not receptive to the idea of the course when it was first proposed.  Vague reasons in support of its modification/elimination/whatever–that the P.E. department “cannot ensure that state standards are being met” by the course, for example–fail to persuade the Board, which refuses to modify the course for the time being.

A representative from the Davis Teachers’ Association asks the Board to keep an open mind about the reasons behind the proposed modification to Independent Lifetime Sports, saying that it’s not necessarily true that an after-school sport meets the state standards for graduation, and that though it may sound simple, verifying over 100 students’ sports participation can be very difficult and time-consuming.

Taylor says that if a specific sport does not meet state standards, then that could be a reason to modify the course, but is not what was said in the earlier presentation.  Daleiden points out, though, that in the adoption of the course the Board made sure that the students enrolled in Lifetime Sports received supplemental instruction to meet these standards, while Harris adds that Lifetime Sports students do have to meet a certain academic threshold and should therefore be able to meet its academic expectations.

The Board adopts the proposed course modifications and eliminations, with the exceptions of Drafting, Driver’s Education, and Independent Lifetime Sports.  Next up is an update on legal counsel.

8:57- I think that was my longest singly-timestamped liveblog update ever.  Board seems set to continue with AALRR for their legal services, in case you were curious.

9:08- Moving on to the budget update, DJUSD is currently operating on a $3.5 million deficit, which will increase to $10 million without the passage of Measure C (the parcel tax renewal for Measures Q and W).  This could increase further depending on impending state budget cuts.  The rest of the presentation mostly consists of potential dates for community outreach events and special Board meetings, as well as a discussion about how to best handle the distribution of layoff notices (which, if distributed too early, risk causing unnecessary stress to employees who don’t end up being laid off).

9:15- Cathy Haskell from the Davis Teachers’ Association cautions against distributing layoff notices in February based on a potential $14 million deficit, given that pink slips are not confirmed or rescinded until May, and says she is glad the Board is considering a March distribution after the passage or rejection of Measure C gives a clearer idea of the scope of the budget cuts.

Now in the announcement phase, Student Board Representative Henry Spivey urges everyone to vote for this house (which, according to Taylor, can be done roughly once every five hours) in a Christmas decoration competition that could win our school district $100,000.  (Also, bring any electronic waste you have to Da Vinci this Saturday for disposal–the proceeds from the California Electronic Assets Recovery program will benefit Da Vinci’s Senior Trip.  More info here.)

And we’re done!  Next meeting is Thursday, January 19, at 7 pm.