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Health & Fitness

Monrovia School Board Recap - April 18th

A recap of April 18th's School Board meeting.

The Board of Education only met once in April, but April has been eventful. The State of the Schools Event and a series of Budget Town Hall forums are keeping everyone busy. If you haven’t made it to one of the first two budget meetings; 15 parents came to the April 10th meeting and 7 parents attended April 16th – you still have one more chance to be part of the process: Weds., April 25th at 7:00pm at Santa Fe Middle School.

Bring your questions that are posted below Dr. Wagner’s op-ed; like what cuts can be made at the District Office, what cuts we have already made and what suggestions you have to cut further to this final meeting or our next Board meeting…or email it directly to me another member of the Board or the Superintendent.

The snapshot of the evening:

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  • The Board honored the incredible work done by the Canyon Oaks High School for being awarded the State distinction as a “Model Continuation High School”. Congratulations on such an incredible job!
  • Presentation from the Monroe Dual Immersion Program. Principal Cindy Lathrop and several of her students and parents spoke about all of the great aspects of the program. Principal Lathrop also mentioned the 2012-2013 kindergarten classes are almost full, so if you have an incoming kindergartener – get down to Monroe soon!
  • Paul Mitchell from the Redistricting Partners gave a presentation on the CA Voting Rights Act. Originally signed in 2002, it affects all at-large districts, like Monrovia, and transitioning to “by-area” districts to create seats in which ethnic group could influence the election and have representation on the Board. A current breakdown shows MUSD is 9% Asian, 8% Black and 28% Latino (these are all people of voting age). The issue will be brought back after the November elections and determine if MUSD wants to proceed. There is a cost with transition, about $35,000 for the cost of the consultant work, but the risk of litigation is substantially more, as other districts like Compton, Escondido and Cerritos have discovered. The “at-large” districts that proceed voluntarily and pro-actively, have more control over the process.
  • The Board looked at the agreement the District has with the Foothills Educational Technology Partnership (FETP), a non-profit organization. This partnership, started in MUSD by Bob Geiger, Clint Taylor and Sheri Callen, provides MUSD and about a dozen other districts with extremely low-cost high-speed internet connection (a comparable service provided through Los Angeles County of Education costs approximately $100,000 more). There were numerous concerns with the original application in 2003; how equipment is stored on Monrovia property and audits done prior to 2007 showing some errors in reporting for starters. This was part of the Superintendent’s report, so it will be brought back in full at possibly the May or June meeting agenda, to fully flush out if the District is at risk of being exposed to any litigation or potential problems.

 

All of this was before we even got to the Public Comment portion of the meeting! Phew. Now to the agenda:

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  • The Board received a report on Transitional Kindergarten (TK). This is being used by many districts to handle the loss of students created by the earlier entry date for kindergarten in the “Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010”. Before this year, students could enter kindergarten if they turned 5 on or before December 1st. That added a lot of 4 year olds to the classroom.  This year students must be 5 by November 1st, next year it’s October 1st and in 2014 it will be September 1st. The TK program will be offered at Plymouth Elementary and it is the first year of a two-year program designed to be a bridge between pre-school and kindergarten. Board member Hammond complimented staff on their “entrepreneurial” spirit, finding ways to offer programs to increase enrollment. The program needs a minimum of 22 students and we are watching the budget discussions to see how and when it will be funded.
  • The Board approved a bid to have the remainder of MHS painted, which will be done by Tony Painting for $628,000 and take place over the summer.
  • The Board approved using Glendale USD’s Apple contract to purchase hardware for staff and some programs. These restricted funds are coming from the 1997 and 2006 Bonds, which can only be used for equipment, buildings, etc – not people.  
  • CBO, Connie Wu, gave a similar budget report to what is being presented in the community at the Town Halls, with a few added pieces of good news: an unspent carry-over to help with the deficit incoming years as the State withholds more funds, a decrease in the District portion of health care costs (we budgeted for an increase of 15%, which has been standard, and instead it only increased 12%), and the increased enrollment AND A.D.A (Average Daily Attendance) – with only 40 extra days of kids in school, that netted the District an additional $200,000! Keep up the good work!

The meeting was adjourned in memory of Clifton Language and Speech Specialist, Vivian Mustain, who died suddenly on April 12th.

Our next meeting is Wed., May 9th at 7:00pm and we will have a Board Accountability Visit at Plymouth on Friday, May 4th at 8:00am.

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