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Legal Services clients have exclusive access to:
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The quality of the resources provided by CSBA’s Legal Services program is outstanding, but by far the greatest benefit has been the incredible customized client services offered. Our attorney’s level of knowledge, communication skills and legal expertise has proven to be an invaluable asset to our district.
Superintendent, Valle Lindo School District, South El Monte
Visit us at legalservices.csba.org or email legalservices@csba.org to sign up or find out more.
The quality of the resources provided by CSBA’s Legal Services program is outstanding, but by far the greatest benefit has been the incredible customized client services offered. Our attorney’s level of knowledge, communication skills and legal expertise has proven to be an invaluable asset to our district.
Superintendent, Valle Lindo School District, South El Monte
Visit us at legalservices.csba.org or email legalservices@csba.org to sign up or find out more.
Fall 2024
The California School Boards Association is the essential voice for public education. We inspire our members to be knowledgeable leaders, extraordinary governance practitioners and ardent advocates for all students.
Districts across California are helping all students forge a path toward the future
by Alisha Kirby
Dual language immersion programs proven to benefit English learner students
by Kimberly Sellery
CEO’s note
by Vernon M. Billy
chools are microcosms of the communities they serve and as society grows more complicated, so do the challenges confronting public education. If we hope to keep pace with the demands of the modern world, we must innovate and refuse to set limits on our ambition. Repeating the same practices and hoping for different results is not a plan, nor is waiting on government and corporate leaders for deliverance that may never come.
CSBA 2024 Board of Directors
- Tyler Nelson
Region 1, Ukiah USD - Bruce Ross
Region 2, Redding ESD - David T. Gracia
Region 3, Napa Valley USD - Renee Nash
Region 4, Eureka Union SD - Alisa MacAvoy
Region 5, Redwood City ESD - Jackie Wong
Region 6, Washington USD - Rachel Hurd
Region 7, San Ramon Valley USD - Christopher “Kit” Oase
Region 8, Ripon USD - Roger Snyder
Region 9, Scotts Valley USD - Kathy Spate
Region 10, Caruthers USD - Sabrena Rodriguez
Region 11, Ventura USD - William Farris
Region 12, Sierra Sands USD - John McPherson
Region 14, Monterey COE - Susan Henry
Region 15, Huntington Beach Union HSD - Karen Gray
Region 16, Silver Valley USD - Eleanor Evans
Region 17, Oceanside USD - Bruce Dennis
Region 18, Riverside COE - Devon Conley
Region 20, Mountain View Whisman SD - VACANT
Region 21 - Nancy Smith
Region 22, Palmdale SD - Helen Hall
Region 23, Walnut Valley USD - Jan Baird
Region 24, South Whittier ESD - Chris Clark
Director-at-Large African American, Folsom-Cordova USD - Christina Cameron-Otero
Director-at-Large American Indian, Needles USD - Sylvia Leong
Director-at-Large Asian/Pacific Islander, Cupertino Union SD - Michael Teasdale
Director-at-Large County, Ventura COE - Joaquín Rivera
Director-at-Large Hispanic, Alameda COE
legal insights
by Kristin Lindgren-Bruzzone
CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance honored with outstanding achievement award
In September, CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance (ELA) and its partner law firm F3 were awarded the California Lawyer’s Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Law for the amicus brief the ELA filed in the U.S. Supreme Court case, O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier. The award is a testament to the ELA’s continued work and success in protecting the rights of school district and county board of education members and their local educational agencies.
Troy Flint, tflint@csba.org
Editorial Director
Kimberly Sellery, ksellery@csba.org
Senior Staff Writers
Heather Kemp, hkemp@csba.org
Alisha Kirby, akirby@csba.org
Director of Graphic Design and Branding
Kerry Macklin, kmacklin@csba.org
Director of Marketing and Communications
Monica Griffis, mgriffis@csba.org
Senior Graphic Designer
Amanda Moen, amoen@csba.org
Graphic Designer
Thairah Singharath, tsingharath@csba.org
Circulation and Advertising
csba@csba.org
CSBA officers
Albert Gonzalez, Santa Clara USD
President-elect
Bettye Lusk, Monterey Peninsula USD
Vice President
Debra Schade, Solana Beach SD
Immediate Past President
Susan Markarian, Pacific Union ESD
CEO & Executive Director
Vernon M. Billy
Articles submitted to California Schools are edited for style, content and space prior to publication. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent CSBA policies or positions. Articles may not be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. Endorsement by CSBA of products and services advertised in California Schools is not implied or expressed.
By Mary Gardner Briggs
And while you may have heard grumblings about “the plandemic,” the story of the cumulative impacts of these requirements remains largely untold.
I will have completed my third term at the end of this year. I will start my fourth term in December, as I am running unopposed. I’m a retired educator after 42 years in the field. Many of the programs and students served by the county office are the same marginalized students that I have worked with over the years. I was also a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) administrator, so students with disabilities are of importance to me. And of course, our youngest students being served in our Head Start program, ensuring that a solid foundation for their future is established.
Family. It’s a true statement that “it takes a village” to raise each child. My father passed away when I was 8 years old and it was left up to my mom to raise four children. She was a strong lady. She grew up in Trinity, then Colusa County where she was able to earn her eighth-grade diploma. Consider this … a young Chinese girl, fighting her way through school to earn her diploma. She then broke another barrier when she was elected President of the PTA of the school that my siblings attended. When my father died, she then took over the family business. Mom never complained through the years and lived to be 102 years old.
Listen, listen, listen. Listen to your students, staff, families and communities. It’s amazing the things you can learn if you listen.
We are in phase two of a project called The Roadmap to the Future for Yolo County Children and Youth. The roadmap is a countywide initiative to achieve the vision that each child born, cared for and educated in Yolo County has an advantage because of the community’s response to their developmental needs. The mission of the Roadmap to the Future is to develop, implement and consistently evaluate a long-term plan to help effectively coordinate and improve the community assets and services children, youth and families in Yolo County need to thrive, as well as to establish a shared framework to ensure their healthy development. This initiative is a collaboration between the COE, board of supervisors, city councils, each district, county behavioral health, other county offices and other nonprofit organizations.
I believe that COEs have unlimited opportunities to be creative and create programs for our population with cooperation and collaboration with partners.
I will have completed my third term at the end of this year. I will start my fourth term in December, as I am running unopposed. I’m a retired educator after 42 years in the field. Many of the programs and students served by the county office are the same marginalized students that I have worked with over the years. I was also a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) administrator, so students with disabilities are of importance to me. And of course, our youngest students being served in our Head Start program, ensuring that a solid foundation for their future is established.
Family. It’s a true statement that “it takes a village” to raise each child. My father passed away when I was 8 years old and it was left up to my mom to raise four children. She was a strong lady. She grew up in Trinity, then Colusa County where she was able to earn her eighth-grade diploma. Consider this … a young Chinese girl, fighting her way through school to earn her diploma. She then broke another barrier when she was elected President of the PTA of the school that my siblings attended. When my father died, she then took over the family business. Mom never complained through the years and lived to be 102 years old.
Listen, listen, listen. Listen to your students, staff, families and communities. It’s amazing the things you can learn if you listen.
We are in phase two of a project called The Roadmap to the Future for Yolo County Children and Youth. The roadmap is a countywide initiative to achieve the vision that each child born, cared for and educated in Yolo County has an advantage because of the community’s response to their developmental needs. The mission of the Roadmap to the Future is to develop, implement and consistently evaluate a long-term plan to help effectively coordinate and improve the community assets and services children, youth and families in Yolo County need to thrive, as well as to establish a shared framework to ensure their healthy development. This initiative is a collaboration between the COE, board of supervisors, city councils, each district, county behavioral health, other county offices and other nonprofit organizations.
I believe that COEs have unlimited opportunities to be creative and create programs for our population with cooperation and collaboration with partners.
class act
Best practices in action
rom providing input on potential walkways for pedestrians to contributing to beautification efforts around the city, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District’s Project Life Experience About Democracy (Project LEAD) is shaping the next generation of civically minded citizens.
The program, which won a Golden Bell Award in 2023, has introduced students at participating elementary, middle and high schools to local government and teaches them that their voices can make a difference, Jimenez explained.
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Get 15% off the first year of subscription service when you add a second GAMUT module this fall.
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Subscribe today! To learn more or for a free demo, call (916) 669-4686 or email gamut@csba.org
by Chris Norwood, Mike Walsh and Sepideh Yeoh
n the complex landscape of public education, relationships within governance teams — especially between superintendents and their boards — are foundational to a district or county office of education’s (COE) success.
Understanding the differences in roles and responsibilities between district and COE governance teams is crucial, as these distinctions shape decisions and how effectively educational goals are achieved. Additionally, strong communication, adherence to the Education Code and state regulations, and a commitment to equitable budget decisions are all critical to the success of these governance teams.
csba at issue
The budget adopted this summer for California schools may seem unremarkable compared to previous years, primarily reflecting a status quo with a minimal cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 1.07 percent. However, the negotiations surrounding the constitutional minimum guarantee for schools, known as Proposition 98, were anything but mundane. They included the Newsom Administration’s unconstitutional proposal, closed-door negotiations, the largest suspension of the Prop 98 Guarantee in history, the draining of the state’s rainy-day fund for schools, the creation of $8.3 billion in future obligations to schools, and an unconstitutional maneuver that may permanently change the Proposition 98 calculation, followed by a CSBA lawsuit.
guidance counselor in the Central Valley wonders what academic or career paths her students take after graduation day. A high school student wants to learn more about his earnings potential after completing a certification program versus an associate’s degree.
Right now, answers to these questions remain elusive. Counselors lack information that shows students’ paths from high school to career in one place. Students and families must navigate the complex web of the college application and financial aid processes.
nsuring people are as safe as possible on campus is one of the most critical responsibilities local educational agencies are tasked with.
Like many other issues school districts and county offices of education handle, safety is complex and requires a multifaceted response.
Facilities and use of technology; planning, policies and procedures; and behavioral health are just some of the factors that LEA leaders must consider — oftentimes with minimal resources at their disposal.
Advertorial
The museum’s national education initiative, Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°), provides online educational materials and teacher training to help educators and students learn about the rich, complex and dynamic histories and cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. NK360° classroomready resources incorporate Indigenous narratives and comprehensive histories with primary and secondary sources, videos, maps, illustrations and recommended resources.
Steam
Ahead
Many regard STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) as an essential component of 21st-century education, and the earlier students are exposed to STEAM disciplines, the better.
Throughout California, local educational agencies are working to change that.
Advertorial
A SCHOOLWIDE STRATEGY FOR EQUITABLE AND EFFECTIVE EDUCATION
Advertorial
BY DR. STEVEN KELLER, SENIOR CONSULTANT, PARS
About Dr. Steven Keller: Steven served as the Superintendent of Schools in the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) for over 16 years and retired on January 1, 2023. Prior to his leadership in RBUSD, Steven worked in the Laguna Beach Unified School District as an assistant superintendent, in the Baldwin Park Unified School District as a director, in the Fullerton School District as a middle school principal, and in the Cucamonga School District as a principal, assistant principal, teacher, and coach. Steven Keller is also a consultant for Education Support Services (in affiliation with Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo), which conducts executive searches as well as cabinet-level and Board of Education support services.
In short, a Supplementary Retirement Program (SRP) offers seasoned staff members a financial incentive to retire from the district, oftentimes years before they had previously planned. Typically, a district will target certificated staff members due to the significant financial delta between a new hire and the retiree. However, sometimes it makes sense to include classified staff and/or management, especially if there is a plan to “right size” district staffing.
Bilingual Education
Dual language immersion programs proven to benefit English learner students
n 2018, the California Department of Education set ambitious goals to expand and improve students’ access to languages other than English in Global CA 2030, including that half of K-12 students would be literate in at least two languages by 2030. To support this initiative, the state set a target to increase dual language immersion programs from 407 in 2017–18 to 1,600 in 2030, and to quadruple the number of programs offering a bilingual teacher authorization from 30 in 2016 to 100 in 2030.
a conversation with…
In July, the FCC approved a proposal to allow schools and libraries to use E-Rate funding to provide WiFi hot spots and wireless internet services for off-premises use as part of Rosenworcel’s “Learn Without Limits” program.
a conversation with…
In July, the FCC approved a proposal to allow schools and libraries to use E-Rate funding to provide WiFi hot spots and wireless internet services for off-premises use as part of Rosenworcel’s “Learn Without Limits” program.
ad index
- Allovue46
- Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo33
- Burke, Williams & Sorensen6
- California Statewide Electrical JATC16
- Capturing Kids’ Hearts24
- Carson Dellosa Education20
- Climatec36
- CSBA Coast2Coast Washington, D.C. Federal Advocacy Trip12
- CSBA GAMUT14
- CSBA Legal ServicesIC
- CSBA Masters in Governance4
- CSBA Safe Schools Toolkit8
- Dale Scott18
- Dannis Woliver Kelley2
- Engie52
- Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost21
- Isom34
- IXL Learning10
- Jones Hall38
- Keenan & Associates50
- Leadership Associates37
- Lincoln Learning Center1
- Lozano SmithBC
- Mobility Blueprint54
- National Demographics53
- Northern California Carpenters Regional Council55
- OPEBIBC
- Orbach Huff + Henderson LLP47
- PacificWest41
- PARS28
- Piper Sandler29
- SELF44
- Smithsonian45
- Southwest Mountain States Regional Carpenters49
- Spot.ai25
- Varsity Tutors32
- Woodcraft Rangers35
Thanks for reading our Fall 2024 issue!