The school boards in our area are holding their regular meetings by video conferencing. Our observers plan to attend these meetings via transcripts posted on the internet.
La Cañada Unified School District
The superintendent identified three areas that need immediate attention:
- Finding the best instructional practices through the end of the semester. These include teacher–student interactions and student–student interactions. With the use of virtual platforms there is concern around diversity, equality, and inclusion. All teachers are different, and all students are different.
- Deciding how to grade: letter grades or “course completed”?
- Deciding how to open school in the fall: The school board is considering staggering morning and afternoon classes or using alternate days of attendance. Class size may be held to ten to twelve students and may include some remote learning.
The board plans to deliver proposed guidelines to parents regarding the fall opening. They expect reduction in revenues and need to look for efficiencies now and to avoid cuts in the classrooms. The schools are distributing three hundred breakfasts and lunches per day. Construction projects are accelerating, since the schools are empty. A webinar for parents called “Navigating Remote Learning” was held at the end of April. New courses added at the high school include Medical Biology, Forensic Science, and AP Computer Science Principles.
One board member will resign because she is moving. School board elections are in November.
Arcadia Unified School District
Arcadia Unified School District (AUSD) has moved its board meetings to an online format with YouTube Live Stream. In addition to discussions of agenda items, these board meetings now include a new component, department reports. Each department gives an update and highlights of their work in progress. See https://www.ausd.net/.
Since AUSD now provides streaming or video recordings of its board meetings, it is possible that more parents and students will be able to participate in and learn from board meetings.
—Elsa Pendleton, Co-chair, Education Committee
