1. BOARD WEEKLY UPDATE (11-1-13)
Student Learning: I visited the 7/8th grade classrooms this week and could not have been more impressed. I observed
project-based learning, positive classroom culture, engaged students and enthusiastic teachers. The Terrace School team
is doing a wonderful job!
School Culture: Halloween went off without a hitch this year with many of our staff exhibiting their Halloween spirit.
The downtown parade, led again by our incredible CLHS marching band was terrific, the Kiwanis evening event had
record attendance and we made it through the night with no vandalism in the district.
Financial: Linda is in the process of building the district budget with the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).
There are still unknowns regarding the funding and information keeps changing. Linda always has high expectations for
her own accuracy in the First Interim budget so it has been very frustrating for her. In light of that, she has asked the
LCOE Director of Business to audit her work to make sure that she hasn’t missed anything in the transition of eliminating
the revenue limit funding and incorporating the LCFF. Once she feels confident with her figures, she and I will being
presenting our annual “budget road show” to each of the sites and both associations so that staff has a basic understanding
of the requirements of the new funding model.
Student Services: As I’m sure you remember, our special education department conducted the 2012-13 Special
Education Self-Review (SESR) under the guidance of LCOE director Ruth Aldrich last year. Joe Aldridge began his
position as LUSD Director of Student Services at the tail end of the process (just in time to conduct the three month
follow-up review). That portion of the SESR is particularly cumbersome because it includes individual file reviews for
students who have IEP’s. Joe and secretary Tami Carley did an exceptional job and I recently received a notice from the
CDE that we are in 100% compliance so the 2012-13 SESR is now complete.
Wellness: Our two Golden Gate University dietetic interns completed their school rotation yesterday and have now been
reassigned to the local hospitals. Their experience in our district was mutually beneficial because our food services staff
learned as much from them about nutrition as they did about working in a school cafeteria. Interns Olivia and Lindsey
quickly became a valued part of the LUSD team so we will be recognizing them at the November Board meeting.
Technology: All of the Lake County school districts will be transitioning from our current Zimbra email system to Gmail.
LCOE has served as the host of the old system so they are leading the charge to make the change since the districts have
had many challenges with the Zimbra system. We have created a staff development plan for the initial transition between
email systems and then LCOE will provide training to selected staff on the use of Google Docs for Educators. The LITE
team members will serve as the “Google Go To” experts for all of our LUSD staff.
M.O.T.: I signed the “Notice of Completion” for the modernization projects at Lakeport Elementary, Terrace Middle
School, and CLHS and had the documents notarized today. We are very close to project close out…finally! Solar City
had their construction trailer removed from our campus today. We are still on target to tie our new solar arrays into the
grid either the first or second week of November. The public will be able to view our daily power production through a
portal on the district website.
Community: The Schools of Hope (SOH) volunteers have been tutoring their first grade students for three weeks. There
are now thirteen regular tutors donating their time two days per week and two are serving as substitutes (including our
Board member Lori) to fill in when a volunteer must be absent. Our volunteers are exceptional and we are also fortunate
to have a number of retired teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals dedicating their time to the program. If you get
a chance, it would be worth your time to visit the SOH sessions any Tuesday or Thursday from 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Upcoming Events:
Lake County Educator of the Year event is on Nov. 2nd at 6:00 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theater.
The countywide LCFF/LCAP presentation is on Nov. 4th at Kelseyville High at 5:30 p.m.
Our next regular Board meeting is on Nov. 14th at 6:00 p.m.