Agenda packed night also discusses new high school classes and graduation requirements
The official reshuffling of the seats of the Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees took place Wednesday night when old and new school board trustees were sworn in and a new board president was appointed.
Incumbent and seasoned board member Donna Del Rey and newcomer and educator veteran, Mike Potmesil were sworn in and installed.
Former Board President Judy Velasquez issued the oath of office to Del Rey and Potmesil and welcomed the two to the dais.
Healdsburg Unified School District Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel also offered a warm welcome to the two, “Welcome aboard and congratulations to Donna and Mike.”
Del Rey was appointed the position of board vice president after a unanimous vote and former vice president, Jami Kiff, was appointed to the role of board president following a nomination, motion and vote during the Dec. 19 meeting.
Before the new board members took their seats, Vanden Heuvel thanked longtime trustee Vince Dougherty for his time and service.
“Thank you very much for all of your time and effort,” Vanden Heuvel said. Dougherty served on the board since 2010 and then again from 2014 to 2018.
Del Rey and Potmesil won the two board seats when they grabbed the most votes during the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Del Rey garnered 3,233 votes and Potmesil grabbed 3,135 votes according to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters.
Del Rey has served on the board of trustees since being appointed in 2012 and re-elected in 2014.
Running on a platform of academic programs for children and a “guardian of trust,” Del Rey, 55, hopes to tackle the issue of low math scores by perhaps implementing new curriculum.
Del Rey told the Tribune in November after the initial election results, “I am very excited. It was a rigorous race, which is great, but it is a relief to know that I get to keep my seat.”
Potmesil, 71, ran his campaign with the idea that professional development is key for both good schools and good leadership.
This is the first time Potmesil will serve on a publicly elected school board seat.
Other business
After the new board members were installed and seats changed, trustees got to work breaking down the packed full agenda.
Healdsburg High School Principal Bill Halliday introduced the first reading of a proposal to introduce two new classes at the school — Spanish 4 and College and Career Seminar for juniors.
HHS Spanish and literature teacher Carolina Diaz said often times many students want to continue past Spanish 3 but are hesitant to dive into AP Spanish.
A Spanish 4 class would allow students to get that extra year of instruction without having to tackle an AP course.
“Another reason we really want Spanish 4 is because we look at statistics and on average it takes a high school student seven years to become fluent in a language and right now we are asking students to start in Spanish 1 and go to AP in three years — we’re really not giving students enough time to become fluent in the language so a fourth year of Spanish would be great, especially for our seniors who want to take four years and may not necessarily want to take AP,” Diaz explained.
She also added that having a Spanish 4 could encourage kids to start taking Spanish in middle school with an introductory class.
A Spanish 4 class would also benefit heritage speakers who may also want to get four years of a language.
The other proposed class would be offered to juniors who want to get an early start on college and career prep. Thomas Wharf, social studies teacher and Sharon Pollack, English teacher, would offer the class, which is not so new to HHS.
Wharf and Pollack said the class would be revamped to be more rigorous and would include activities such as budget planning, learning how to do taxes and enroll in health insurance and putting together portfolios for job and college interviews.
Students would work on these life preparation activities throughout the semester in addition to the usual interview practice and internship program the class offers.
Board members expressed thanks for the teachers who presented and seemed to support the proposals for the class additions.
Potmesil said of the college and career seminar, “You are making kids more well rounded and I appreciate that, thank you.”
The proposal will come back to the board as an action item after Jan. 1.
New Graduation Requirements
Vanden Heuvel also presented to the board a proposal for new graduation requirements for both the high school and the continuation school.
At the high school level, students would have to complete 240 credits and students at the continuation school would complete 210, a lower requirement that would make graduation more feasible for students who are behind in credits.
The school district is also floating the idea of offering more information, whether it be through classes or programs, about vocational career options for students who may not want to go to college or who may want to become an apprentice in a certain vocation such as construction.
In terms of individual classes, students at HHS would have to take an extra year of language, yielding a total of two years of language.
Also in the proposal is the implementation of a third year of an elective.
Yet perhaps one of the biggest proposed changes is the idea of eliminating the senior service project and instead reintroducing the requirement of 40 volunteer hours — 10 hours for each year.
Vanden Heuvel said the aim of this requirement would be to give students a chance to give back to the community in a meaningful way, plus, colleges often like to see volunteer time on student applications.
The overall impetus for proposing the changes is to more closely align high school requirements with UC and CSU entrance A through G (history/social studies, English, math, laboratory science, language other than English, visual and performing arts and college prep) requirements, according to Vanden Heuvel.
In addition to new requirements, new forms of student support, such as additional math and language tutoring, would be offered in order to ensure that students could still thrive under the new credit load.
Board members generally seemed to support the changes, however, Kiff expressed concerns about the volunteer hours. “We want them to do something meaningful and not just pick up trash,” Kiff said.
The proposal will also come back to the board in the New Year as an action item where board members will vote on the change.
