The Cloverdale Unified School district is meeting Wednesday, Dec. 15, and covering a lengthy roster of items including the reorganization of the board, a discussion about the state’s vaccine requirement for schools, possible approval of the district’s first interim report and the educator effectiveness block grant, as well as items related to the district’s Measure H bond and its bargaining agreements. This week’s board agenda is lengthy and can be found here. The meeting is being held at 6 p.m. (pending the completion of the board’s closed session) at the Cloverdale High School Maker Space.
At the top of the meeting, the school board will be viewing a presentation about the district’s writer’s workshop and momentum in teaching programs. The presentation is part of a new board initiative to highlight district programs during board meetings. The writer’s workshop is “a student-centered framework for teaching writing that is based on the idea that students learn to write best when they write frequently, for extended periods of time, on topics of their own teaching,” according to the board agenda.
At the start the board is set to reorganize, naming its new president, clerk and appointing the superintendent as secretary to the board. The board is also going to divvy up who will be on what district committees, as well as consider adopting the board calendar for 2022.
Vaccine requirement
During the November school board meeting, multiple parents spoke during public comment to request that the board agendize a discussion about the state’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine requirement. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccinations required for middle and high schoolers to attend school in-person once the vaccines received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration for those ages — likely to become effective at the start of the 2022-23 school year.
According to the board agenda packet, “Students in grades K-6 would likely fall under a different timeline, since the pediatric vaccine has yet to be fully approved. While there is no vaccination mandate at this time, the issue is being discussed and we anticipate a legislative decision to be made in the coming months.”
During this item, the board will review information regarding current COVID conditions, as well as possible future requirements and impacts.
Measure H
The district’s Measure H projects take up a few agenda items for Wednesday’s meeting, first with a presentation updating the board members on the current district construction projects. After that, the board will be asked to consider and possibly approve a lease leaseback agreement with Wright Contracting for the John H. Allen field in order to move forward with a project involving the relocatable buildings on the CHS campus.
Additionally, the board is set to consider and possibly approve the landowner annexation consent agreement that will pave the way for the district’s undeveloped property on the south end of town to be annexed into the city — they approved the agreement last year, but have to do it again since too much time has lapsed. The district’s south property is being annexed along with a grouping of other properties in the same area that are moving through the development process with the City of Cloverdale. While the district has yet to draw up plans regarding what they want to put on their property, annexing it in at the same time as other applicants will make the development process easier for the district in the long run.
According to the board agenda, “The next step to complete the annexation is an application to the Sonoma County Local Area Formation Commission. In the application, a Landowner Annexation Consent Agreement is requested to be included. This agreement was board-approved and signed in June 2020, but the signature and date can be no more than six months old, so it is requested the Landowner Annexation Consent Agreement be signed again.”
Budgets, block grants and fund balances
As the first chunk of the school year winds down, the board will receive a presentation about the district’s first interim report, updating them on district finances as of Oct. 31. The report includes budget projections for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 years.
The board will also consider the fund plan for educator effectiveness funds, one-time funding that districts receive to provide professional learning for teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and classified staff in order to promote educator equity, quality and effectiveness. The board is required to adopt an expenditure plan for the funds by Dec. 30.
Later on in the meeting, the board will consider increasing the board minimum reserve balance goal to 10%. The increase in minimum reserve amounts is being recommended because of the “volatility of California school funding, recent funding deferrals by the California Department of Education and the current context of one-time funding,” according to the agenda report.
Also on tap for the agenda is the possibility of establishing committed fund balances for deferred maintenance, track and field turf replacement, technology device and infrastructure replacement and classroom furniture replacement.
The board will also be discussing the possibility of revising its bylaws to increase board trustee compensation. The current bylaws state that the board can receive monthly compensation of $250 or can have the same amount applied toward health and welfare benefits. According to the board agenda, the board’s compensation amount hasn’t been increased for several years, though the board is able to increase it by 5% each year. If the board decides to increase its compensation by 5%, trustees would receive $262.50 per month.
Additionally, during the meeting the board will be receiving a presentation and considering approving the Plan for Student Achievement for the Johanna Echols-Hansen Continuation High School. It will also be considering the approval of the collective bargaining agreement and memorandum of understanding with the Classified School Employees Association, a collective bargaining agreement with unrepresented certificated management and confidential staff.
