School board also readying for bond expenditures
The March 15 meeting of the Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees moved along at a good clip, but that didn’t stop the board from covering a lot of ground.
Past and future bond expenditures were discussed. Director of Business Services Steve Barekman reported to the board that the audit of the expenditures of previous bond (Measure E) monies had revealed no adverse findings. Vice-chair of the current citizen’s bond oversight committee David Jones provided the committee’s annual report.
“Have not seen anything out of place or any unallowed use of funds,” he said, adding that they will be looking for additional members of the committee for the use of Measure D funds. “We are looking for members from the community and public to join. We want to be as public as possible.”
As part of the plans for the spending of the recently passed bond money, the board also approved the fee proposals from the architecture firm Quattrocchi Kwok for beginning work on the track and field modernization and the new gym and locker room project at the high school.
The board also had a presentation from North Bay Children’s Center, an organization that provides preschool programs throughout the North Bay. The board is considering a partnership with NBCC for running the transitional kindergarten programs in the school district.
“We’ve had a drop in preschool population this year, so we’re looking at ways we could improve the program and add services and address what looks to be a need for a lower middle income grant,” said Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel. “(Our TK) funded by grants and the state’s income level is too low and people who can’t afford preschool don’t get grants. NBCC has a high level of expertise with creating blended programs in other communities at all income levels.”
NBCC has been running for 30 years and its curriculum focuses on “school readiness, health and family support.” It is known for its award winning garden and healthy eating curriculum called The Garden of Eatin’ and NBCC representatives said they are excited to bring the program to the district.
While plans are not finalized, the idea would be to offer two different half-day and one full-day program, with a blended program available to all income levels. NBCC’s outreach coordinators would work with the community to craft a plan best suited to the needs of HUSD.
A first discussion of a potential new homework policy, a result of new language and guidance from the California School Boards Association (CSBA), ended with the creation of a new subcommittee to consider the ideas and all potential impacts.
“We periodically receive policy updates from CSBA that we examine, edit and adopt,” said Vanden Heuvel in an email following the meeting. “The suggested updates for homework ask for high level philosophical statements regarding the purpose and utility of homework and how it should be used to assess student progress. Furthermore, it would require each site to make a succinct plan for how homework would be used on each campus. Because this will have a great effect on our students and instructional practices by bringing more uniformity to our use of homework, we think it necessary that the board discuss this in depth with staff via a board subcommittee before bringing proposed edits forward for approval. I would say it asks districts to take stances on the role of homework, how it is weighed in terms of grades and encourages us to examine policies around late work in an effort to encourage student engagement and maintain positive academic progress.”
Finally, second interim budget reports were generally positive and in line with expectations, and a benchmark performance report from Healdsburg Junior High School principal Bill Halliday showed good progress for Accelerated English and writing programs, but that the math scores continue to need improvement. Halliday stated he believed additional interventions and continued integration of new programs would show improvements soon.
