(l-r) School Board Vice President John Garnica and Students First award recipient Tony Newhall of the Henry Mayo Foundation.

On Tuesday February 1, 2011, School Board Vice President John Garnica presided over a regularly scheduled meeting since President Virginia De La Piedra was not in attendance. Superintendent Jeff Sweeney was also not in attendance due to illness.

Board Members Tony Prado, Dave Wilde and Lucy Rangel reported they attended the District’s meeting regarding math essential standards, and all enjoyed the video shown (to view this video got to www.fillmoregazette.com/school-matters). Rangel went on to mention an event she attended at the high school, where parents were informed about “Zangle”, an online resource where parents can now log in, and have access to up to date information on their children’s homework, grades and attendance. She also attended a dinner hosted by the Ventura County School Board Association finding it “very informative.” Rangel explained that a topic discussed was the future with charter schools and the VCSBA recommending that all board members get educated about them because “it’s not going away, if anything it’s growing.” According to Rangel there are fourteen charter schools in Ventura County, “about half of them aren’t necessarily better than our public schools…[based on API scores] but that middle and high school [charter schools] are doing much better [than many non charter secondary schools in the County].” She explained one issue is that the charter schools tend to “attract the high performing students.” Rangel emphasized the recommendation made by the VCSBA of getting additional training regarding charter schools “for any future petitions that come up.” Another important topic presented was about marketing the Districts schools. “We really need to sell our school to the community… they encouraged us to attend meetings with parents [and community groups] like Tressa [Saviers] was saying,” and include unique aspects of FUSD on the homepage of the districts website. Rangel also attended the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) meeting following the meet and greet at Fillmore Middle School on January 28. “I didn’t realize that the teen pregnancy rate… [in our District] is so high…it’s second in the County …[at] 13.7%.” She praised a mother-daughter program targeting ages 12 to 13 put on by the Public Health Department ran by Claudia Benton and Rhonda Reyes-Deutsch aimed at preventing teen pregnancy further stating that “we should showcase” this program.

A Students First Award was granted to Tony Newhall of the Henry Mayo Foundation. Newhall told how his great-grandfather came to the area 125 years ago and purchased the Rancho San Francisco. He proceeded to prosper, and the family later created a foundation to “benefit the people and communities where he worked and earned his money.” According to Assistant Superintendent Mike Bush the Henry Mayo Foundation has given the Fillmore Unified School District $630,000 for arts programs at Piru and San Cayetano Elementary Schools as well as scholarships to Fillmore High School graduates who went on to college.

During public comment Fillmore residents Cynthia King and Lynn Edmonds came to speak about the One Step A La Vez mentoring program for youth ages 13 to 19 in Fillmore and Piru and the partnership with FUSD. Edmonds spoke to the Board regarding a service they provide working with FUSD to help families become more comfortable working with mental and behavioral health services, with an initial goal to reduce the stigma associated with the need for counseling. The organization also provides health and nutrition counseling and activities. Edmonds directed those interested to their website www.myonestep.org for more information. According to Edmonds The organization serves 45 to 50 young people each day, they are expanding beyond their current space. The Board chose to add this item to the agenda on a future meeting so that they can have a public discussion. Next the Board heard from Tressa Saviers a parent and member of the Fillmore Middle School, School Site Council. Saviers spoke to the board regarding parent involvement in the District and brought a suggestion of how the Board might work to encourage and support parents in becoming more comfortable in bringing questions and concerns to Board members. “In [the eight years that I have been active in FUSD] I have never seen the morale at this level… it is very sad and at all schools.” She explained that she does not feel it is at all related to any budget issues, and named “bad press” the District received over recent years as one possible reason for the low morale. Saviers emphasized, “Parents are very very intimidated. I know all of you and this is scary to sit here.” She went on to describe her view of the structure of a school district. “I think of the school district as a corporation.” Saviers explained the owners of the corporation are the community members “The Board is elected by the owners to run the corporation. The Board answers directly to the community and parents. The Administration and staff are employees of that corporation… and they answer directly to the Board. Our consumers are our students. They are the reason the owners have interest in this corporation … the students are the only reason the corporation exists.” She went on to outline a suggestion aimed at correcting the “breakdown in the system”. Her suggestions involves having each Board member act as a liaison to a different segment of stakeholders in the community including segments of staff, parents, and so on. This structure, she explained, would allow individuals to contact one Board member and present their concern in an informal one on one setting, which may encourage more involvement. Recognizing the Board may not choose to act on her suggestion she commented “… I would like you to consider [creating] a direct line of communication between parents and the Board.” She then switched topics to bring the Board’s attention a concern regarding the lack of a railing along the bleachers creating an unsafe situation.

Student representative Sean Chandler reported on the recent beautification day at Fillmore High School. “We cleaned up campus, scraped up gum [stuck] on the ground.” Benches purchased by the Associated Student Body were installed. Sophomores are currently taking the California High School Exit Examinations (CAHSEE) and the Pennies for Patients drive is underway. The next two weeks are relatively quiet, but “March, is [going] to be really busy.”

The Board said it is interested in hearing more information regarding what is involved in moving the 4H “pens” onto the Future Farmers of America (FFA) site at the FUSD school farm. 4H wants to expand and have room to grow. This information will be presented at a future meeting.

All action items were approved, except for item I-6 involving the Interdistrict Attendance policy and application form. According to Bush proposed changes “[will bring the district] into compliance with current law that became effective in January.” The Board and members of the public had questions regarding the wording pertaining to when parents would need to reapply for transfers out and into the District. Garnica and Rangel pointed out that Board policy seems to be in conflict with what is on the form. Garnica inquired about reasons for requiring annual reapplications, and Prado inquired about whether or not the District can deny transfers out. Bush responded “State law has a list of reasons… why we [would] grant a permit to attend a different district, other than a district of choice…if [the transfer request] is not for one of those valid reasons then we would deny it.” If a district has designated itself as a District of Choice, as FUSD has, that District is not required to have a “permitted process” regarding those transfers. Bush clarified that any students accepted to FUSD under District of Choice “becomes [our student]” and does not need to reapply each year. Bush went on to explain that part of being a District of Choice is “we only take so many students from neighboring districts plus we only send so many out. That is a 3% cap… a few years ago that was an issue but more recently [the cap] hasn’t been an issue at all.” Prado asked, “What happens with NCLB [No Child Left Behind] does that come into play?” Bush responded, “Not so much NCLB but Program Improvement can come into play… program improvement can be a negative consequence of NCLB.” At this point Assistant Superintendent Katy Hadley explained “[FUSD] was told to set up the parameters of students that we would prioritize to go out, in some cases [the Board] voted it was not practical. The most recent legal ruling that we’ve had is that if a parent requested [a transfer based on PI status of their school] to just let them go. So that’s where we are at this point.” While the Board did table this pending clarification, it was noted that some applications have already been distributed to parents. The Board clarified that when the new application is approved parents will have to fill out any updated application, but that the date which the first application was submitted shall be recorded as the application date.

The Board set its next Study Session for Tuesday February 22 at 5:00pm. This session will be open to the public and be a further examination on Program Improvement and how FUSD is working to increase the number of proficient students, examining some specific areas with a focus on the middle and high school. Rangel proposed a possible future study session on the Accelerated Reading program and to hear reports and evaluations from the English department, teachers and others regarding the AR program. The other members shared Rangel’s interest and the topic was added to the list of future study session subjects.

Following relatively brief updates from Hadley and Bush regarding an information night at San Cayetano, and a tech grant application that has been submitted and the plan to create three budget scenarios depending on what happens with the state budget the Board adjourned to Tuesday, February 15, where it will have it’s meeting at Piru Elementary School following an Open House and Dedication of the new marquis for the school. The meeting will begin at 6:30 with the Dedication start time to be announced.