LASD Board Highlights

You may also read the Board Highlights on our homepage in the "Latest Headlines" section.

Para traducir, haga clic en el enlace "Ver en el navegador", luego haga clic en el enlace Traducir al final del boletín.

要进行翻译，请单击“在浏览器中查看”链接，然后单击新闻稿末尾的翻译链接

Чтобы перевести, нажмите ссылку «Просмотреть в браузере», затем нажмите ссылку «Перевести» в конце бюллетеня.

翻訳するには、「ブラウザで表示」リンクをクリックしてから、ニュースレターの最後にある翻訳リンクをクリックしてください

If you missed the meeting, you can view the video here. The highlights of the meeting are below.

Student Learning the First Three Days

The first week of school began on Wednesday August 19th, and the first three days were filled with community building activities in both elementary and junior high schools.

At the elementary level, each classroom held morning meetings, a ritual that will continue through the school year, to build relationships, teach routines and set students up for successful learning online. Families also came to school sites to pick up learning materials for off-screen studies for the first few weeks of the school year.

At the junior high level, students also focused on building community and relationships, learning norms and expectations, and had some lessons in executive functioning to build independence in online learning. Students also had advisory meetings to get to know staff and the emotional and social support available to them for the school year. Families also dropped by the junior highs to pick up learning materials for the first few weeks of school.

This week, students at all grade levels will be focusing on social and emotional learning as our teachers completed professional development this summer to support all students during this difficult time. Classes will also focus on Digital Citizenship, learning important skills for digital safety and positive online engagement. Finally, students will engage in academics and assessments so that teachers understand and students' academic needs for support and challenges. In junior high, students will be assessed for appropriate math placement. More information will be sent to parents this week.

Health and Safety

Although students are not physically present on our campuses, most of our classroom teachers and staff are back at school. To prepare for a safe return, summer cleaning and maintenance work was completed. Fields and playgrounds remain closed to the public. All PPE supplies were ordered, cleaning protocols put in place and ventilation issues addressed for staff safety. Additionally, LASD has instituted the daily symptom tracker for all those on campus, including daily reminders. By implementing these protocols now, operations should be running smoothly and safely by the time it is safe and allowable to bring students back to campus.

For more information, check out item H.1. on our agenda online.

LASD is fortunate to have an amazing and creative team of STEM ISTs who have created a series of grade level STEM projects or builds for each trimester of school. This trimester, there will be 15 design challenges for students to dig into STEM, explore their creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. The first challenge is an Architectural Build! We can't wait to see what our students create!

For more information, check out item H.1. on our agenda online.

Supervised Distance Learning

To support our staff as they return to work, in addition to students of essential workers or those who require additional support, LASD has been exploring many options to provide supervised distance learning on our campuses. With LASD staff and partners from local agencies like the YMCA, we're exploring options to provide supervised academic support during our distance learning program for school aged children. We hope to get this program up and running for children of LASD staff in September. For more information, check out item H.4. on our agenda online.

Waiver Process for a Phased Return of Students to Campus

Per prior and ongoing Board discussions, LASD is submitting a waiver application to Santa Clara County and the state, in coordination with our employee groups, to bring targeted elementary school students back to campus in a phased and measured approach to protect health and safety for all. If approved by the county and the state, LASD’s phased approach would focus first on the students with the highest academic needs. The first group to return would be students with special needs, English language learners and students with additional academic support needs. Next, the district would ascend the grade levels to bring back our youngest learners in a Blended learning model (with students on campus 2 days a week in A/B groups). This will include students in grades TK-3, with three weeks separating each grade-level phase. We believe a slow reopening will provide the highest level of safety and the most continuity, as public health procedures will be more easily adhered to with a slow building of students on campus. We will continue to off our Virtual School option for all families who request it, and will keep you apprised of this process as we continue to move ahead. For more information, check out item H.2. on our agenda online.

We want to thank all of our LASD teachers for their dedication and hard work as we moved from emergency remote teaching in the Spring, to professional development in the summer, to our new and improved online program this fall. We're proud of our collaborative community that works hard to ensure all students succeed. With that lens, the Board unanimously approved two Memoranda of Understanding with our teachers for the school year that outline expectations, safety and instructional practices for the 2020-21 school year. We're looking forward to an amazing year together. For more information, check out item H.3. on the agenda online.

The next meeting of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees will take place on Monday, September 14 at 7:00pm via Zoom. To attend the meeting please visit our Board web page and register for the meeting using the provided link. The link will be posted on Thursday at 5:00pm the week prior to each meeting.

If you would like to stay updated regarding upcoming Board meetings, please email mbirnie@lasdschools.org, providing your name, email address and a request to be added to the email list for Brown Act updates, including upcoming meetings and agendas.

Website: www.lasdschools.org
Location: 201 Covington Road
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LASDK8/