Rescue Union School District

Educating for the Future, Together

Board Of Trustees Meeting Highlights - March 12, 2019 

 

We continue our efforts to communicate effectively and in a timely fashion with our families and staffs. We know not every parent, teacher, or staff member can attend our Board meetings, so we will provide a brief update after each Board meeting, sharing highlights and actions taken by the Board. As always, please let us know how to better serve and communicate with you! We want to be partners with you in the educational journey of the children entrusted to us.

DISTRICT RECOGNITIONS:
 
Principal, Levi Cambridge and Samantha Schlesinger provided a presentation highlighting this year’s activities at Marina Village Middle School.

Mr. Cambridge started by saying they love what they do, love where they do it and how they are very enthusiastic about the kids, parents and everything that is happening at Marina Village Middle School!  He went on to share demographic information reporting that Marina’s current enrollment is 814 students, with 36 teachers, 1 counselor, 18 classified staff and 2 administrators.  The EL population is at 1%, 6.6% of students have IEP’s and 78% of students reported feeling safe or very safe on campus.  

They have many things they are focusing on this year such as, student performance, the new facility/landscaping and district initiatives.  Mr. Cambridge went on to report student performance.  Marina’s 2017-2018 Dashboard results showed 77.53% of students met or exceeded standards in ELA (an increase of 2.45%) and 71.47% met or exceeded standards in Math (an increase of 2.56%).  Marina Village has established one of the highest scores in both areas for all middle schools in El Dorado County.  Marina’s chronically absent rate and suspension rate was also improved over the previous year.  This all contributed to Marina Village School being recognized as a California Distinguished School this year!  This demonstrates to the community and state just how hard Marina students and teachers work!

Assistant Principal Samantha Schlesinger provided an overview of the district wide initiatives and programs/activities that Marina is using to support these initiatives.  These included:
  • Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
  • OCC-Ohana Climate Committee, Conflict Managers, Breaking Down the Walls, CORE 3, Friendship
  • Coordinators, Counseling and SEL Checklist
  • Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
  • Matrix (behavior expectations in each area of the school), Videos, Posters, Discipline, and
  • Community Outreach
  • HIP/ZAP (with 5 minute interventions)
  • Professional Development
  • Color Training, SEL, PBIS, Pedagogy
  • Community Outreach
  • PC Pals, PTC, Safeway Fridays, Talent Show, International Festival, Fright Fest, Parent Information Night

Principal Cambridge gave a brief summary of the many clubs on campus that allow students to connect with things they find important.  Students can suggest ideas for clubs and many of the clubs are run by students.  He shared with the Board the ways they are reaching out to students and doing a lot of things to include different groups, providing resources for them socially and emotionally.

Mr. Cambridge went on to talk about the school counseling program and Marina Comfort Zone (in the counseling office) where students can de-escalate and re-regulate and then get back to work in the classroom.  He also shared about activities they are providing such as:  SUCCESS-(Students Using Challenging Choices to Empower School Success), Lunchtime Test Anxiety group, Lunch WRAP (Lunch With Responsible Action Planning), Arctic Sanctuary, OCZ (Ohana Comfort Zone) offers a lunchtime retreat for homework, life discussions, questions, games, connections and crisis intervention and de-escalation as needed.

The feature presentation was provided by three members of the Garden Club.  The club meets every day at lunch (each grade level) and it has quite a number of students that attend.  They build and maintain the garden and fruit trees, and create outdoor art.  The club was just awarded a grant for $1500.00 and they will showcase the school garden at the annual Garden of the Hills Tour.  Come to the Garden Club at lunch!  Make new friends and have a good time!

Difference Makers:  Marina Village presented the Difference Maker awards to Denise Colter, Teacher and John Johnson, Lead Custodian.  



UPDATES:
 
Superintendent Report
Superintendent Olson reported that we are heading into the home stretch and it is hard to believe it’s already March!  Our teachers have been working incredibly hard to complete the trimester 2 assessments, report cards, spring programs and interim assessments.  They are now focusing on the data from the assessments to review, reteach or teach standards/concepts missed on the CAASPP interim assessments.

Our enrollment is holding pretty steady, although we are down 4 students from last month.  We are up 12 from last March and up 22 since the end of last year.

Principal Bruce Peters, Principal Michelle Winberg and Assistant Superintendent Dave Scroggins promoted our district at the Chico State Job Fair.  They were very happy with the folks who stopped by our table.  We displayed our advertising board and handouts that our media consultant, Jessica Hoff put together.  She worked extremely hard on these and did a fantastic job!  Even the printer commented that he rarely sees such professional looking materials.  We will be sending another team to Sac State on April 15th.  

Board Members Stephanie Kent, Kim White and Suzanna George joined me at the El Dorado      County School Boards Association Awards Dinner.  We were honored to present Clay Abajian and Barbara Jensen with the Outstanding Community Volunteer Award.

Rebecca Gebo, parent club president at Lake Forest is the person who suggested that Lake Forest, Lakeview, Jackson and Marina Village pool their resources to bring “Wellness Together” to our district.  They provided a seminar for parents and staff on HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CHILD IN A DIGITAL AGE and it was open to everyone in the district! There were between 170 to 175 attendees and the presentation was extremely powerful.  Our parent clubs are to be thanked!  The information provided was practical, giving parents tools and strategies to use with children of all ages for communication, how to keep them safe online and how to deepen positive relationships with them as they grow older.  Wellness Together provides many different seminars on various important topics, and we are already looking into providing another one early next year.  This is the same company who provided Marina Village with the CORE 3 seminar for al the 8th grade students.

Curriculum and Instruction 
Dave Scroggins, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction provided an update on current activities within his department.

Mr. Scroggins began by saying how proud we are of Marina Village for receiving the Distinguished School Award!  In the northern part of the state, out of 11 counties only 7 middle schools received the award.  

Curriculum Committee meetings were held last week to talk about the history adoption.  They are continuing to pilot Pearson materials and have agreed to extend the history pilot at the elementary level and take a look at the TCI program next year.  The group also discussed the upcoming science adoption and most expressed the desire to have NGSS materials prior to the adoption of history materials.  A team of teachers (middle and elementary) and assistant principal Todd McGinnis attended a materials review fair at Sacramento County Office of Education.  There are almost 30 approved science programs available.  

Teachers have administered the SBAC Interim Assessments and are using the reporting system to analyze trends.  Teachers can now see an individual student’s responses, and perhaps more importantly, class responses on each question, which gives teachers vital information as to what needs to be retaught, reviewed, or taught before the summative tests in April and May.

Mr. Scroggins reported on the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) stakeholder engagement process.  California School Employees Association (CSEA) and Rescue Union Federation of Teachers (RUFT) survey data is in and the LCAP Parent Advisory Committee will meet tomorrow to finalize the parent survey.  Student listening circles have been scheduled and Mr. Scroggins invited the Board members to attend.

He finished his presentation by reporting on the English Learner Roadmap Self-reflection  meeting he participated in with Amy Bohren, Cheryl Olson, and Laura Hendrix.  They took a look at all the services we are providing and self-assessed our EL practices to support students and their families.  Although we are doing very well, there are still some areas where we can continue to grow and improve.

ACTION ITEMS:

  • The Board approved the enforcement of the expulsion for Student 18-19A
  • The Board as whole vote for Suzanna George, Incumbent for CSBA Delegate Assembly Representative for Subregion 6-C
  • The Board approved the positive certification of the Second Interim Budget Report
  • The Board approved the revised retirement incentive for non-administration certificated employees
  • The Board approved the job description and salary schedule for Certified Occupational
  • Therapist Assistant (COTA)
  • The Board approved Resolution #19-03 Reduction of Hours/Elimination of Positions – Classified Personnel
  • The Board approved:
    • February 12, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Minutes
    • February 26, 2019 Study Session Minutes
    • District Expenditure Warrants and Purchase Orders
    • Williams Quarterly Report
    • Personnel Actions
    • Safe School Plans – All Schools
    • Rural School Bus Pilot Grant Project, Purchase Order/Contract
    • E-Rate Service Agreement
    • Out-of-State Travel
    • Consolidated Application

NEXT MEETING:   Regular Board Meeting, April 9, 2019