At a special meeting this Wednesday, April 28, the Cloverdale Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees will be tackling a short, yet weighty agenda. The trustees will be discussing summer school, as well as eliminating the vice principal position at Washington School (instead creating a middle school dean position) and will be taking final action regarding the decision to not re-employ some district certificated staff.
The meeting begins at a slightly different time than usual, with open session at 5 p.m. To view the agenda for the meeting, as well as the Zoom information, click here.
Summer school and extended school
The board will be considering and taking possible action regarding summer school, as well as an extended school year for students whose individualized education plans include extended school years.
According to the board agenda packet, summer school is proposed to include 20 days of instruction, two teacher work days and three principal and secretary work days. Students with extended school years as part of their education plans would attend school concurrently with kids in summer school.
“Research shows that summer learning loss is measurable and quantifiable. The cumulative effects of summer learning loss contribute directly to a widening of the access gap between low-income and middle-income students. Unequal summer learning opportunities during elementary school years are responsible for about two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college. Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains. Low-income children are nearly three grade equivalents behind their more affluent peers in reading by the end of the fifth grade due to summer learning loss,” states the board summary.
“Add to this the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, and it is essential that we provide academic and Social-Emotional learning opportunities to students during the summer so that we can effectively support students as we transition back to full time, in-person instruction in Fall 2021,” the summary continues.
Washington administrator reduction
The board is also scheduled to take final action on eliminating the vice principal position at Washington School, and replacing it with a middle school dean position. According to the board packet, current Washington vice principal John Ortiz will be reassigned from his position for the 2021-22 school year.
Making the switch from a vice principal to a dean position will save the district $40,000-50,000.
Taking action on layoffs
Lastly, the board will be taking final action on the decision not to reemploy certificated employees for the 2021-22 school year. At its meeting on March 4, the board took action to issue preliminary reduction in services to the equivalent of 5.4 full-time employees (FTE). At Wednesday’s meeting, the board will be voting to issue layoffs to two positions, one part-time and one full-time. According to district superintendent Betha MacClain, there are reductions in particular kinds of service (PKS) that result in layoffs, but other reductions where the people in the positions take the roles of other, different positions but remain employed.
The positions voted on in March include:
1. Eliminate the equivalent of 1.0 FTE Special Day Class Preschool;
2. Eliminate the equivalent of 1.0 FTE Specialized Academic Instruction/ED Specialist;
3. Eliminate the equivalent of 1.0 FTE Elementary Reading Specialist;
4. Eliminate the equivalent of 1.0 FTE Middle School Reading Specialist;
5. Eliminate the equivalent of 1.0 FTE Elementary Teaching Position;
6. Eliminate the equivalent of .40 FTE Construction.
The vote on April 28 is specifically to finalize layoffs that involve staffing reductions, and involves a 1.0 FTE elementary teaching position and a .40 FTE construction position.
Want to make a public comment? Email first
Per the board guidelines, people wishing to make a public comment during the meeting must first email Kathleen Bunting:
“Attendees who wish to make a public comment must submit a request prior to the start of the Board Meeting. Public comments will only be taken during the designated time, if you wish to address the Board regarding closed or open session agenda items or items not on the agenda, please email Kathleen Bunting at bu******@cu**.org by 4pm the day of the meeting.. The subject line should read, ‘Public Comment for the April 28, 2021 Board Meeting’ and within the body of the email please list your full first and last name, and what you would like to comment on: closed session items, items not on the agenda or the title of the open session agenda item. During public comment on the requested item, attendees will be called upon, their microphone unmuted, and allowed to make their statement for up to three minutes. At the end of the three minutes, the attendee’s microphone will be muted and the next participant will be called upon.”
