LASD Board Highlights

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

The Board honored several valued employees who are retiring this year. Retirees include Judi Azzarello, Blach Secretary; Susan Evard, Covington Secretary; Gail Wade Gelfand, French and Chorus teacher; Trisha Mackenzie, Blach English and Journalism teacher; Lisa Swarbrick, Loyola teacher; and Jolene Welch, Covington teacher.

Thank you to all of you for your dedication to our students and community. We will miss you and wish you the best in all future endeavors.

Superintendent Baier presented the results of the recent parent, student and teachers surveys regarding Virtual School. We all want a return to normalcy. While our preferred option is for children to be in classrooms with teachers next year, public health circumstances may require some form of Virtual School.

For that reason, the survey collected information regarding experiences in Virtual School this year, as well as feedback to improve distance learning for the 2020-21 school year. While much of the feedback was positive, including a lot of praise for our amazing teachers, there were consistent themes that suggested specific ways to improve LASD's Virtual School, including:

• More teacher feedback and progress updates to families, as well as tools to assess student progress and learning in Virtual School

• More “live” teaching in small groups, one-on-one, and/or full class

• More social time for students to engage with peers

• Improve consistency in student experience with “live” instruction across the district

• Faster response-time to assist students with questions

• Executive-functioning, time-management skills for students; clear organization structure, assignments and deadlines

• Tech support, training, improvements for teachers, students and parents

• Training for teachers to improve efficiency, improve learning experience for students

We recognize that the quick transition to distance learning during this global pandemic has been hard on our students, families and teachers. We value and appreciate your feedback. As we continue to analyze various instructional scenarios for the 2020-21 school year, your input will guide our planning to ensure students continue to thrive. The Board will be continue discussing plans for next year on June 22, with preliminary plans presented for approval on June 29. We hope you will join us for these meetings.

For the full presentation of survey data, please check out item H.1. on our agenda online.

The Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance (CACF) presented a preliminary update on financial planning for the 2020-2021 school year to the Board of Trustees. The update reviewed lessons from previous recessions, reviewed various recovery scenarios and discussed recommendations. The report suggested that the economic recovery could take several years and analyzed the impacts of a potential "deep V curve" scenario, causing financial impacts to the district beginning next school year. The committee made some recommendations to the board to protect academic programs and retain staff, as well as fund ongoing facilities maintenance with shrinking revenues. To review the report, please check out item H.2. on the agenda online.

During a public hearing, Mr. Kenyon, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services provided a draft 2020-21 school year budget, including financial impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. LASD is required to adopt a budget by June 30, yet with so much fiscal uncertainty, the budget will need to be revised in coming months as more information is known. For now, the current budget proposal envisions maintaining the current educational program and spending levels.

The Board is scheduled to adopt the budget at its June 8 meeting. The district anticipates a decline in revenues from state and local sources beginning in the 2020-21 fiscal year. To ensure financial stability, Mr. Kenyon suggested that finding cost savings now will help mitigate the need for even more substantial cuts in the future. After adopting the budget on June 8, Mr. Kenyon suggested the Board should consider revising the budget in September once more economic data is available. To review the draft budget and presentation, check out item H.3. on the agenda online.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees will take place on Monday, June 8 at 7:00pm via Zoom. To attend the meeting please visit our Board web page and register for the meeting using the provided link.

In addition, the Board decided to schedule additional meetings for June 22 and 29, and provisionally for July 13 and 27, to ensure there is ample time to discuss and receive community feedback regarding the instructional plans for the 2020-21 school year as conditions evolve.

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