Congrats to the Class of 2024! After a busy season of graduations and promotions, the Santa Clara Unified Board of Trustees had its last 2023 – 2024 school year meeting on Thursday, June 13.
Community Concerns
CSEA Chapter President Lynn Villarreal made a plea on behalf of the District’s Campus Supervisors. According to her, the new duties in their job descriptions and required training do not come with a pay increase. Community members also came to unagendized public comment to show support. Frank Giacomelli, a Campus Supervisor, submitted a letter to the Board. He read a portion of the letter that detailed their work and how it’s become more complex as they deal with more severe issues.
“We’re just asking for what is fair and what the job deserves,” Shania Ratliff, Campus Supervisor at Wilcox High School. “These kids deserve people who are being paid equally and fairly.”
Additionally, parents at Bracher Elementary School, are concerned about their children continuing to be in a combination class two years in a row. Amanda, a parent, is worried about the gaps this is creating as kids continue to struggle. They’re asking the District to hire another teacher.
The Board couldn’t respond or take action since these concerns were brought up during unagendized public comment.
Human Resources
The Board approved amending the employment agreement for Chief Academic and Innovation Officer Brad Stam. They extended his contract by two years, making his new end date June 30, 2027. His new 2024-2025 total base salary is now $303,960 which is a 2% increase as laid out in his employment agreement. Similarly, the Board approved an amendment for the Deputy Superintendent of Operations / Chief Business Official’s Employment Agreement. Mark Schiel’s contract was extended by two years as well, and his 2024-2025 base salary is now $307,020, which is a 2% increase as laid out in his employment agreement.
The 2024-2025 Executive Management Salary Schedule was approved, as were the new job descriptions for Multimedia Specialist; Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation; Wellness Coach I; and School/Community Wellness Coach II.
The Board appointed Rick Hayashi as the new Principal at Peterson Middle School; Karen Lee as the new Vice Principal at Buchser Middle School; Adam Florez as the Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation; Oscar Cazares as the new Administrative Secretary for Human Resources; and Marissa Ciardella as the Program Specialist, Special Education.
Local Indicators
The state requires that the Board get a presentation on the CA School Dashboard Local Indicators. SCUSD’s five local indicators include implementation of academic standards; parent and family engagement; access to a broad course of study; local climate survey; and teachers, instructional materials, and facilities.
This presentation by Stam focused on a self-assessment survey they conducted. This year, the District collected assessments of the level of implementation of its local indicators from site principals, the CAIO/Education Services Core Team, and the District Leadership Team. This is a broader pool than in previous years. The District scored pretty well across indicators and will use the data to look into areas needing improvement.
The District also did a “local climate survey” called the CA Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), which is a survey created by the State. Some concerning themes were related to perceived safety at school. According to the survey, Latino students have the lowest percentage of agreeing that they feel safe in school. Also, in 5th grade, students answered that they feel safer coming and going from school than on their school site.
Stam said this data is concerning. They are already digging into the data and waiting on results from a student focus group which will hopefully shed more light on what Latino students are experiencing.
Other Business
The budget they saw at the last meeting was approved and meetings for the Budget Committee are supposed to start in August. The SPSAs and LCAP from the previous meeting were also approved.
The Santa Clara Unified Board canceled their final meeting of the school year; however, they may announce a special meeting to tie up any loose ends. School Board meetings return on Thursday, Aug. 8. Meetings are live-streamed on the District’s YouTube page, and agendas are posted on their website.