The Healdsburg Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees will be taking care of several district housekeeping items at their next meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m.
The school board will consider approving the district’s revised COVID-19 prevention program, which includes revisions to the COVID-19 guidance checklist, and will discuss the A-G completion improvement grant plan. The board will also receive reports on revised course outlines for several high school courses and for the 2022 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).
The meeting will be held via Zoom.
COVID-19 Update
HUSD Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel and Director of Student Support Services/COVID Coordinator Diane Conger will present to the board an update on COVID-19 and COVID related guidance and mitigation measures for schools.
The board will consider approving updates to the COVID-19 prevention program and to the COVID guidance checklist.
“HUSD is continually following the most current health and safety guidance from the state and county to assure our students stay in school and maximize their instructional time to help with learning loss brought on by the COVID pandemic over the past few years,” the agenda report states.
The district’s prevention program was last revised on Jan. 27.
A-G grant plan
The HUSD will be receiving an estimated $150,000 allocation as part of the A-G completion improvement grant. The funds must be spent by the 2025-26 school year.
A-G is to meet minimum admission requirements for the UC/CSU. To complete A-G, students must complete 15-year-long courses with a letter grade of C or better and at least 11 of the courses must be completed prior to the start of the 12th grade.
As part of AB130, the State of California Legislature authorized the A-G completion improvement grant program for the purpose of providing additional supports to local educational agencies to help increase the number of California high school students — particularly low-income, foster youth and English learners — who graduate.
With the grant money, the district plans to increase opportunities for low-income students, foster youth and English learners to recover credits in A-G courses through:
– Learning center courses during the 2021-22 school year (staffing costs).
– Increased use of Plato and EdOptions online coursework (software costs).
– Additional sections of A-G courses during the school year and during summer school (staffing costs).
– Providing fee waivers for advanced placement (AP) course exams.
For the 2020-21 school, Healdsburg High School’s overall A-G completion rate was 71%. Sonoma County’s overall A-G completion rate for that year was 33%.
“While HUSD certainly has more work to do, we are proud that HHS now has the highest A-G Completion rate of the public high schools in Sonoma County,” the agenda report states.
Revised course outlines
Also on the agenda is a discussion on revised course outlines for four new high school courses, AVID 9/Ethnic studies, advanced culinary and English Language Arts 9.
For freshman students who don’t take AVID, they will take one semester of the freshman compass course and one semester of the new required ethnic studies course. For those who do take AVID 9, components of the ethnic studies curriculum will be weaved into the AVID course.
“Students will work on academic and personal goals and communication, adjusting to the high school setting. Students will increase their awareness of their personal contributions to their learning as well as their involvement in their school and community. This course meets the requirement for an ethnic studies class while also providing support for the major aspects of the AVID program,” according to the agenda report.
Advanced culinary will provide students with a second year of culinary arts and will include more sophisticated course content, safety and hospitality aspects.
The revised outline for English Language Arts 9 incorporates a broader range of texts that includes more contemporary texts and more diverse representation of authors, stories and backgrounds. The course will prepare students for future English language arts courses such as Honors English 10 and AP courses.
LCAP and LCFF
Erin Fender, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, will provide a mid-year update on the district’s LCAP, a strategic plan that describes which actions and services will be provided to maximize educational opportunities for every student, especially those facing challenges associated with poverty, foster care and learning English as a second language.
The plan is revised and adopted annually and combines student, parent, staff, community and other stakeholder input with evidence-based strategies to create a robust and comprehensive action plan of services.
The HUSD LCAP has three goals and each goal has a set of actions to help achieve that goal.
– Using the current content standards and frameworks, ensure that all students progress in their ability to communicate, collaborate and think critically while addressing the traditional predictors of success.
– Learning and instruction are active, student-centered, based in inquiry and connected to the world outside of school.
– All students — including students with disabilities, English Language Learners and foster and homeless youth and families — are well supported, their voice is valued and our learning environments foster equity, empathy and engagement through listening, trust and respect.
The LCAP is also a component of the calculator for the LCFF. Under the LCFF, school districts receive a uniform base grant for every student adjusted by grade level. School districts receive additional supplemental grants for students with greater challenges, defined as low-income students, English learners and foster youth.
Districts receive additional concentration grant funding when the numbers of these students enrolled in a district make up more than 55% of a district’s total enrollment.
Total LCFF funds amount to $23,065,699 and the total in LCFF supplemental/concentration grants is $1,861,618.
To view the full agenda and the LCAP and LCFF report, click here and click on “02-16-2022 board packet.”
