South Whittier School District held their monthly board meeting Tuesday, March 12, at the district office. Mckibben Elementary had student recognitions, Loma Vista Elementary principal gave a presentation about Loma Vista’s goals and best practices, Associate Superintendent of Business Services gave a presentation on the district’s second interim report for 2018-2019, and SWSD held a public hearing and gave important information regarding the California Voting Rights Act.
McKibben Elementary Student Recognition
McKibben Elementary principal, Jan Tyrone, recognized a group of students for their achievements. Students were recognized for being winners of a Reflections contest, for being in the Junior High Achievers Club, and the High Achievers Club. awesome job students!
Loma Vista Presentation
Kristine Carreon, Loma Vista principal, gave a presentation regarding Loma Vista’s best practices, instructional goals, parent involvement, student data, and site enrichment opportunities.
Carreon shared academic goals and best instructional practices to be able to meet those goals. Loma Vista’s goals for grades third through sixth include improving in the math concepts and procedures and improving in Language Arts reading claim. Their focus for first and second grade is to improve fluency skills and for kinder they focus on foundational skills. She then shared best practices and instructional agreement which include designated ELD time, writing focus, CGI math strategies, and much more.
The presentation also included current fluency data, Accelerated Reader data, and Universal Screener data. Carreon then shared about Loma Vista’s intervention and enrichment opportunities that are available to all students.
2018-2019 Second Interim Report
Associate Superintendent of Business Services, Mark Keriakous, gave a presentation on the district’s second interim report for 2018-2019. The Second Interim Report reflects actual transactions through January 31, 2019, and must be submitted to the County Office of Education for Review in March 2019.
Keriakous shared that the district is submitting a positive certification of the report.
California Voting Rights Act Public Hearing
The South Whittier School District initiated the process of transitioning the method by which Governing Board members are elected. The district and community were able to hear from Jonathan Salt, an attorney specializing in the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) and a demographer from Cooperative Strategies, who shared important information about the transition.
During the presentation, it was shared that under the current “at-large” system, all registered voters in the District’s boundaries can vote for candidates for Board member seats. Under the new proposed system, candidates will be elected by “trustee areas.” This means only voters within a given trustee area can vote for candidates who reside within that same area. All current Board members serve the remainder of their elected terms. The intent of this proposed system is to offer greater opportunities for Board representation for candidates that might not otherwise be elected under an at-large system. Public hearings are being held to allow the community to share their input concerning the composition of the new trustee voting area maps – which will be created in April. The boarding meeting held on March 12 was the first public hearing prior to map creation.
They also explained what the California Voting Rights Act, or CVRA, is, and how the CVRA prohibits the use of “at-large” elections when such an election system, “impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election.” (Elections Code §14027.)
They shared the timeline for the transition and gave data on the district’s demographics. They also showed a map overviewing the district's jurisdiction. After the conclusion of the presentation, the public hearing was opened, where members of the community gave their input on this transition.
For more information regarding the CVRA transition please visit:
https://www.swhittier.k12.ca.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=56114&type=d&pREC_ID=1644764
The next board meeting will be a public hearing regarding the California Voting Rights Act held tomorrow on Tuesday, March 19, at 6 PM at the district office.