Members of the public may address the Board on items listed on the closed session agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes each (Board Bylaw 9323(5)).

The Board will consider approval of the minutes from the May 10, 2017, Regular Board Meeting.

The Board will consider approval of the minutes from the May 17, 2017, Special Board Meeting.

The Board will recognize Ross Thorsen for his contributions as the Student Board Member for the 2016/2017 school year.

The Board will recognize and commend our district employees retiring during the period July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017.  

This is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to the board on non-agenda items.  Comments on items that are on the agenda will take place during the discussion on that agenda item.  Members of the public may address the Board on matters within the subject matter of its jurisdiction. Please submit a Speaker Card to the Board Secretary prior to the meeting being called to order. Upon recognition by the Board President, please approach the podium. The Board shall take no action or discussion on any item not appearing on the posted agenda, except as authorized by law (BB 9323(2)). Speakers are limited to three minutes each (BB 9323(5)). Should a member of the public have comments that pertain to a complaint against an employee of the District, the Board advises that the matter should first be pursued using the appropriate district complaint procedure (BB 9323(6).

All consent items are enacted by the Board in one motion, unless a Board member requests that an item be removed and discussed separately.  

The Board will consider approval of absent Board Member(s), if necessary, due to illness, jury duty, or a hardship deemed acceptable by the Board in accordance with Education Code Section 35120.

The Board will consider approval of the personnel transactions submitted. 

Staff is presenting Personnel Transaction items for Board approval.

The Board will consider approval of the vendor warrants submitted.  The attached warrant register lists all vendors for the period 5/1/17 through 5/10/17 for a total of $2,577,333.14. 

Staff is presenting the Warrant Register List for Board Approval.

Financially significant vendor warrants that highlight the largest check or invoice paid to a particular vendor:

Warrants (Current) - May 1, 2017 through May 10, 2017 = $ 2,577,333.14
Warrants (Total 16/17 Fiscal Year) - July 1, 2016 through May 10, 2017 = $58,041,135.92

The Board will consider approval of the donations and gifts submitted.

Parents, students, community members, and businesses make donations and give gifts to the schools on a regular basis. Donations come in the form of money, goods, or services. These donations are appreciated and welcomed by the schools and departments.

Donations received since May 10, 2017 = $24,757.65
District-wide donations year to date =  $477,058.55

 The Board will consider approval of the contracts submitted.

Staff is submitting requests from various schools and departments to hire individual contracts or consulting firms to provide specified services.  For fiscal and learning impacts, see the attached summary sheet.

Total value of contracts = $42,164.00

In accordance with Board Bylaws 9150, a student representative to the Board of Education is selected annually each spring to serve during the following school year. For the 2017-2018 academic year, the student representative to the Board will be from Maria Carrillo High School.

In accordance with Board Bylaws 9150, a student representative to the Board of Education is selected annually each spring to serve during the following school year. During the months of April and May, recruitment of students interested in the position of student representative to the Board of Education for 2017-2018 took place at Maria Carrillo High School.

After reviewing the applications and interviewing the candidates, the recommendation was made for Luke Mott, a member of the Maria Carrillo High School Class of 2018, to be selected as the Student Board representative.

Previous Board Activity

Since 1978, the District has had a high school student representative to the Board. Representation is based on a rotation schedule among the six high schools.  The current rotation is as follows:

MCHS             2017-2018
SRHS              2018-2019
RHS                2019-2020
EAHS              2020-2021
MHS                2021-2022
PHS                 2022-2023

The Board is being presented with a resolution to suspend The Hope Academy for the 2017-2018 school year.

The Hope Academy housed on the Lawrence Cook Middle School served 16 transitional students in 2016-2017.

The enrollment for 2017-2018 for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten was quite low and therefore through The Best Possible Solutions, it was decided to suspend The Hope Academy for the 2017-2018 school year.

Previous Board Activity

April 13, 2016, An update on Via Esperanza and The Hope Academy

The Board will consider approval of the plan for the College Readiness Block Grant. 

The College Readiness Block Grant (CRBG) is one-time state funding that was established to provide students in grades 9-12, particularly unduplicated students as defined in Education Code (EC) sections 42238.01 and 42238.02, additional supports to increase the number who enroll in institutions of higher education and complete an undergraduate degree within four years.

As a condition of receiving funds, Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) submitted the “CRBG Required Report” to the California Department of Education by the deadline, which was January 1, 2017. The report outlined how the district will measure the impact of the CRBG funds received.  

In addition to submitting the “CRGB Required Report”, SRCS needs to develop and adopt a plan describing how the funds will increase and improve services for unduplicated students to ensure college readiness. The plan also needs to include information regarding how it aligns with the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan.

District staff has worked with stakeholders to develop the plan. Per grant requirements, the plan was shared with the Board of Education as a discussion item and is being brought back at a subsequent meeting for approval.

Summary of Previous Board Activity: 

Santa Rosa City Schools was awarded $499,474 in College Readiness Block Grant funding. Grant funding must be expended by June 30, 2019. 

The Board will consider acceptance of the second term of the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant in the amount of $633,333.

The California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG) is a state initiative with the goal of providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to transition to employment and post-secondary education upon graduation. 

All grantees will be expected to meet requirements based on the California Department of Education’s “11 Elements of a High Quality Career Technical Education (CTE) program”.  CTEIG funding will be allocated over three years to support CTE programs meeting these requirements. 

On May 16, 2017, Santa Rosa City Schools received the Grant Award Notification for the second grant term, indicating that $633,333 was awarded to the district. 

Summary of Previous Board Activity:

• November 18, 2015 - The Board received information on the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant application and the district’s intent to apply for $950,000. 
• January 27, 2016 - The Board retroactively approved the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant application in the amount of $950,000.
• May 11, 2016 - The Board accepted the first grant term for the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant in the amount of $950,000.

Santa Rosa City Schools will need to provide a match of $633,333 for the second grant term; which is July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2019. Existing unrestricted CTE funds will be used as the district match. 

The Board will consider approval of a Letter of Support for Sonoma Land Trust's grant request for the Southeast Santa Rosa Greenway acquisition.  

As the General Plan Amendment process moves forward for the Southeast Santa Rosa Greenway, the Southeast Greenway Campaign Committee is launching their fundraising efforts for the acquisition of the property.  After receiving a Sonoma County Open Space District matching grant, they want to look outside the local community for additional funding.  They are asking us for a letter of support to attach to a grant being submitted to the Californai State Coastal Conservancy.  

The Board will consider approval of a resolution pertaining to the Child Development Services contract signatories for the 2017/18 school year.

On August 10, 2016, the Board of Education approved a General Childcare and Development Program Resolution identifying contract signatories for the 2016-17 school year. 

General Childcare and Development Program funded preschool classes began operation at James Monroe and Steele Lane Elementary Schools in July 2009.  This resolution is required by the California Department of Education (CDE) in order to enter into the 2017/18 contract to expend grant funds.

Staff for this program will be employees of North Bay Children's Center (NBCC).  The childcare rooms at James Monroe and Steele Lane will house the program.  This program is grant funded through the California Department of Education Child Development Grant.

Michelle Giacomini, FCMAT Chief Management Analyst, will present the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistant Team's (FCMAT) Business and Human Resources review for Santa Rosa City Schools.

FCMAT's primary mission is to assist California's local K-14 education agencies to identify, prevent, and resolve financial, human resources and data management challenges.  In December of 2016, SRCS and FCMAT entered into an agreement for a management review.

FCMAT visited the district over several days to conduct interviews with district and school site administrators and staff regarding job responsibilities, staff workload, channels of communication, division of responsibilities, and the perceived effectiveness and efficiency of the organization structure, policies, and practices for the departments under review.  This report is the result of those activities and contains the study team's findings and recommendations.

The cost of this FCMAT review was $16,400 and was paid from base funds.  

The Board will consider approval of the Third Interim for fiscal year 2016-17.

California school districts are required to submit two major financial updates throughout the fiscal year, the First Interim Report which is based on activity through October and the Second Interim Report which is based on activity through January. After receiving the information, the Board is required to certify that the District “will” (positive certification), “will not” (negative certification), or “might” (qualified certification) meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and the two succeeding fiscal years.  If either of the first two interim reports are qualified or negative, a “Third Interim” financial projection must be prepared as of April 30.

This Interim Report updates the 2016-17 budget and revises the projections for two subsequent years. It is extremely important to understand the assumptions built into the projections, as they continue to change, and may dramatically impact the financial projections. The actual LCFF calculation continues to be updated with the latest available information. In addition, the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) guides the District’s budget.

Assumptions used in the development of the projections are described in the staff report.

Based on the current assumptions, it is expected that the District may not be able to meet the financial obligations for the current and succeeding fiscal years and will continue to address future budget shortfalls. 

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) is hallmark legislation that fundamentally changed how all school districts in the state are funded, how they are measured for results, and the services and supports they receive to allow all students to succeed to their greatest potential (Education Code section 52060 and 52066). The LCFF identifies eight state priorities that school district must address in their Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). At this board meeting, a draft will be reviewed by the Board in preparation for the Public Hearing on June 14, 2017.

The LCAPs being presented are drafts.  They still need to be vetted through DLT, SUN, DAC and DELAC and our new Director of Fiscal, prior to June 14, 2017, Public Hearing

This plan only reflects Supplemental, Concentration and Title Dollars. Where Base dollars are allocated you will see a sum of zero.

Overview of LCAP

Decreases in funding in LCAP through Best Possible Solutions:

1.       35% decrease in all contracts except

a.Humanidad Therapy Services (ACES, Mindfulness, Renewal Rooms)

b.CAP Sonoma (Parent Education, Via Esperanza, and AVANCE/PASITOS)

c .Equity (Social Justice, CTA, MOT, Ethnic Studies)

2.       Elimination of 2 District Coordinators

3.       Elimination of 2 TOSA positions

4.       Elimination of 4 Restorative Resource Workers

5.       Elimination of District Showcase

6.     One secretarial position at elementary

6.       Suspension of The Hope Academy

New to LCAP

1.     Support of Advanced Learner Master Plan (Elementary Only)

2.     Support of English Learner Master Plan

3.     Increased attention to VAPA 

Summary of Previous Board Activity

The proposed LCAP for Secondary and Elementary comprise $14,976,086 in Supplemental and Concentration funds for the 2017-2018 school year.

The Board will consider adoption of Everyday Mathematics and College Preparatory Math as the two new math programs for Elementary.

As part of the instructional materials adoption process, new California State Standards aligned math programs have been piloted in this 2016-17 school year.  As part of this process, the Elementary Curriculum Collaborative developed a Needs Assessment Survey to determine the instructional materials of greatest need to support the California State Standards.  This survey was distributed in February 2015 and results indicated that math and writing were of the highest priority for new adoptions.

After the display of several standards-aligned programs at the District, a second survey was given in April 2016 to solicit input for which math programs to pilot.  From the survey results, two programs emerged to pilot. 

• Eureka Math

• Everyday Mathematics 4

An Elementary Math Pilot team representing all grade levels and a variety of school sites was formed in the Spring of 2016.  These teachers received training in both programs piloted and implemented each for a period of approximately 7 weeks.  Using a program assessment tool developed with input from teachers who attended a Math Pilot Informational meeting in May 2016, the team members evaluated each program in great detail.  Upon completion of the pilot, the team made the recommendation that the program that would best meet the needs of Santa Rosa City School students in grades KA-5th would be Everyday Mathematics 4.

A decision regarding 6th grade was postponed until a third program, College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM) was piloted.  This decision came about upon learning that CPM was being piloted and selected for adoption in 7th and 8th-grade math classroom district-wide.  Upon completion of training and piloting of the program, the 6th-grade pilot team made the recommendation that CPM would best meet the needs of 6th-grade students in the district.

After completion of the pilot, the following strengths were identified for each program, making each the recommended adoption:

Everyday Mathematics 4 - Grades Kinder Academy - 5th

• Highly motivating and engaging for students

• Many points of entry for students

• Use of games supports practice and fluency

• Frequent use of manipulatives to support concept development

• Concepts spiral to build mastery

• Great amount of support for differentiation

• Bi-lingual materials support home communication

• Strong technology component for teachers and students

College Preparatory Mathematics - 6th grade

• Strong emphasis and focus on problem-solving and use of multiple strategies

• Engaging and age appropriate problems

• High level of questioning for students, DOK 3 & 4

• Active learning experiences with emphasis on team tasks and collaborative conversations

• Strong online resources in English and in Spanish, including homework help and access to the textbook for students and families

PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIVITY:

Feb. 8, 2017 - The Board received a Mathematics & Science Update, including information about the Elementary Math Pilot process.

April 9, 2008-Previous Math Adoption

Math instructional materials will be purchased following Board approval for implementation in the 2017-18 school year.  Per recommendation by the Instructional Materials District Committee on Feb. 6, 2017, funding for these KA-6^th grade Math instructional materials will be the one-time monies allocated for instructional materials by the District.  The purchase of these materials will not exceed $1.4 million.

The Board will consider adopting Lucy Calkins-Units of Study as Santa Rosa City Schools' writing program. 

As part of the instructional materials adoption process, the Elementary Curriculum Collaborative developed a Needs Assessment Survey to determine the instructional materials of greatest need to support the California State Standards.  This survey was distributed in February 2015 and results indicated that math and writing were of the highest priority for new adoptions.

The survey solicited suggestions for writing and math programs to consider for piloting.  After review of the materials, two programs emerged to pilot. 

• Writing by Design

• Lucy Calkins Units of Study

An invitation to attend a Writing Pilot Informational meeting went out to all elementary teachers. At this meeting, all participants helped to create a program assessment tool that would guide the evaluation of the programs piloted.  A pilot team was formed with representation from teachers in grades 1^st-6^th and from a variety of school sites.  The pilot team received training in both programs selected to pilot. Both programs were each implemented for a period of 6 weeks.  During this pilot, the team met every two weeks to evaluate the materials, using the program assessment tool they created. As part of the assessment process, the pilot team determined that the program to be most effective for the needs of Santa Rosa City School District’s students was Lucy Calkins Units of Study.

At the completion of the pilot, members of the team, including teachers and Curriculum & Instruction, made site presentations outlining the process, rationale for the program selected and next steps for implementation.

Previous Board Activity

May 25, 2005, Step up to Writing Adoption

The purchase of these Writing Instructional Materials will not exceed $80,000 and is supported through the supplemental funding.

The Board will receive information on the implementation of Illuminate Education's Student Information Platform. 

On February 1, 2016, SRCS initiated a search for a new student information system.  The timeline and major components of the search are highlighted below in the timeline table.

On June 22, 2016, the Board approved Illuminate Education suite of software – Illuminate Student Information System (iSi) and Illuminate Data and Assessment (DnA).

Current Status:

DnA

On August 1, 2016 Santa Rosa City Schools began using Illuminate Education’s DnA. DnA replaced OARS as our assessment data warehouse.

• DnA is fully functional

• Additional training and feature sets are currently underway

• DnA uses the same interface as the student information system component creating familiarity with both products.

Illuminate iSi

On August 1, 2017 Santa Rosa City Schools will begin using Illuminate Education iSi as our new student information system. Illuminate Education’s iSi will replace eSchoolPLUS.

Illuminate Education has a history of successful implementations throughout California. Following their best practices and suggested timelines, SRCS is on track and on schedule for the August 1, 2017 “Go Live” date.

Key milestones of Implementation

• Data integrity checks

• Initial cleansing of data for consistency and accuracy

• Initial transcript data uploaded

• Attendance data uploaded nightly

• Initial Health Data uploaded

• Additional core data and updates to already transferred data is being automatically uploaded nightly

• iSi System Set-up is ongoing

• Implementation Subcommittees continue to meet

• 56 district staff members have agreed to participate in one or more of the 17 Implementation Subcommittees. The majority of members were involved in the Student Information Selection Committee during Spring 2016. This continuity will help to ensure a successful roll out. Implementation subcommittees began meeting in early February 2017 and will continue to meet as needed through the implementation year. Some committees will have a short lifespan while others will continue to have a role throughout our implementation year.

• Trainer-of-Trainer training's have taken place.

• District employee led training's are underway. Initial training to date are:

• Elementary School Office Managers (ESOMS)

• Registrars/Counseling secretaries

• Library/Bookroom Techs

• Health Techs and School Nurses

• Counselors

• Vice Principals

Next Steps in alignment with Illuminate Education’s best practices

• Continued Data Migration

• IT Team continues with data integrity checks and cleansing of data

• IT Team prepares additional automation policy and procedures for nightly uploads and availability of data

• IT Team works on 3rd party integrations (e.g. Naviance, Destiny Library Software, Nutri-Kids Software, and others)

• Recreation of viable and valuable existing SRCS data reports in iSi

• Initial Training Continues

• More work-group training's in May

• Summer training / refresher training opportunities

• Ongoing Training-All Users

• The important take-away from Illuminate Education’s best practices is training must be ongoing. This is the same request that was highlighted throughout the selection process. The process for training after the initial implementation will be determined with the help and recommendation of the Implementation Subcommittees and user feedback.

• On-site Support, Implementation Year-Teachers

• As was done when the previous SIS was implemented, on site support is needed. Teacher focused subcommittee members, present at meetings, discussed using a similar model as used with previous student information system implementations for the initial year. Discussions also focused on a mid-year (17/18) process review for planning on-going training and support in subsequent years.
  
  Anticipated need of certificated staff by school level:

• High Schools-two certificated staff

• Middle Schools-one certificated staff

• Elementary Schools-one certificated staff

• This structure for certificated on-site support and and initial training needs to be cooperatively determined between the district and SRTA to include:

• Compensation

• Selection of Support Person

• Details related to responsibilities

• Ongoing training

• District level meetings

An up-to-date timeline and implementation details are available on the SRCS website. The link for Illuminate Education SIS Implementation is located on the SRCS homepage.

An up-to-date certificated training timeline is available on the SRCS website. This link for the Public Facing SRCS-iSi-Teacher Training Schedule will take you directly to the proposed (draft) list of certificated training.

Session Signups will be managed by SRCS' My Learning Plan software with the sign-up window opening May 26.

Recent Board Activity:

• Illuminate Education implementation update -  March 24, 2017
• Illuminate Education implementation update -  August 24, 2016
• Approved selection of Illuminate Education Student Information Suite - June 22, 2016
• Illuminate Education Recommendation Presentation - May 25, 2016
• Student Information System Status update - April 13, 2016

The Board will consider approval of the applications for the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for the City of Santa Rosa Elementary and High School Districts for 2017-2018.

Staff is requesting approval of the applications for the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for the Santa Rosa City Schools Elementary and High School Districts which will be submitted to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The declaration must be approved at a regularly scheduled public meeting before Limited Term Assignments and Emergency Permits are issued to certificated staff for the 2017-2018 school year.

It is a district policy to recruit fully prepared teachers for all district assignments. However, when there are late resignations, medical needs or shortages in designated areas such as Math, Science, Special Education and Speech and Language, the ability to obtain the Limited Term Assignments, Emergency Permits or Intern Permits is essential. Emergency CLAD permits are being issued while district teachers complete coursework for English Language Learner authorization.

The Board will consider approval of Board Policies 6000 through 6159.3.  The rest of the 6000 series will be brought at a later date.  

The Santa Rosa City Schools board policy is in need of major updating.  For the past year, CSBA has been assisting in the review and update of all the district's policies.  As part of this ongoing effort, the Board will be reviewing the policies by sections.  Once the policies have been approved, they will be sent to CSBA for completion and upload to the online board policy system, Gamut Online.  

These items are presented for informational purposes only.

The Board will receive an update on the High School Science NGSS model.

The adoption in recent years of the Next Generation Science Standards prompted an emphasis on curriculum changes that align with these new standards.  At all levels, K-12, efforts are being made to address these new standards and support growth in student achievement in science. The efforts to collaboratively review and adopt new curriculum and support staff with professional development in science has been and will continue to be an important part of the work we do together in support of teaching and learning in our district. Documented below are the requirements that need to be addressed:
 

• First, a mandate for all districts to decide on whether they will follow a three or four-year high school NGSS model that will not only include all the standards but be fully implemented by the Fall of 2018.This year in January, our Science Department Chairs and our NGSS HS Collaborative Team (formed to examine science high school models) unanimously decided to follow a three-year model.
• Secondly, as stated in Chapter 7, page 3 of the Framework, "Before schools and districts can fully implement the CA NGSS, they must organize the high school grade-banded performance expectations (PEs) into courses." On the March 17th Professional Development Day, our high school science teachers did extensive work taking the PEs and divided them into the CA 3-year model and a more traditional three-year model. On this day, the group also analyzed site generated course models and had time for collaboration by discipline, site, and feeder middle school.
  

The NGSS HS Collaborative Team's work also included gathering initial information about our staff, therefore a high school survey on NGSS was created and 36 teachers responded sharing their level of understanding or familiarity of NGSS. (Survey results attached). In addition, their work included examining enrollment data which included English Learners and Special Education student numbers. 

The work will continue through the next fall to decide on a specific district model, as we develop a timeline where all stakeholders are involved. A final decision will need to be made by December 1, 2017, in order to meet the deadline for new course proposals for UC and Board approval. 

All costs associated with the HS NGSS Collaboration Team meetings are embedded into the District LCAP.