South Whittier School District held their monthly board meeting on Tuesday, April 18, in person at the district office and via Zoom.
During this meeting the board and attendees were able to hear a student testimonial and five presentations. Presentations included the WASA Community Service award, McKibben Art Contest winners, Graves Middle School Student Achievement award, Special education update, and Academic Data update.
Student Testimonial: Gabriel Sanchez
The board and attendees got to hear an inspiring testimonial from former SWSD student, Gabriel Sanchez.
Gabriel, who has autism, shared how SWSD supported, advocated, and encouraged him in his studies. Gabriel attended McKibben Elementary and had a one-on-one aid through 8th grade, when it was determined he no longer needed one. As he transitioned into high school, the high school believed Gabriel needed to start at a lower math class. His GMS teacher advocated for him to take algebra 2 as a freshman, knowing he could handle it.
Gabriel graduated in the top 15% of his high school class and is attending Whittier College to pursue a bachelor's degree in Math and minor in Business.
Congratulations, Gabriel!
WASA Community Service Award
SWSD Superintendent and the board honored parent and WASA Community Service award recipient, Mrs. Franco.
WASA, or the Whittier Association for School Administrators, recognizes exceptional individuals annually. Their award “recognizes outstanding educational administrators and individuals in other professions who have made extraordinary contributions to K–12 education.”
Mrs. Franco is a parent to students at both McKibben and Carmela Elementary. She is actively involved in both elementary school’s events and district events. She regularly attends Coffee with the Superintendent, the Title 1 Parent Conference, and monthly board meetings. Franco also holds Counsel positions at both McKibben and Carmela Elementary and volunteers her time in addition to her Counsel requirements.
Thank you, Mrs. Franco, for your hard work and dedication to the students and families of South Whittier School District!
McKibben Art Contest Winners
McKibben Elementary held an art contest on the topic of “Why Attendance is Important” for students last month. At the board meeting the board honored the top five winners.
The winner of the art contest was Angelina Sanchez, and her art is currently on display on McKibben’s marquee.
Awesome job, students!
Graves Middle School Student Achievement Presentation
Graves Middle School principal, Mr. Marquez, gave attendees and the board a presentation regarding GMS and student achievement.
Marquez gave an overview on the demographics of Graves Middle School. He then shared about a variety of topics that GMS is focusing on including their attendance and chronic absentee data, their site monitoring plan, behavior data and positive behavior and intervention support, and student of the month assemblies.
Principal Marquez then went on to share data from ELPAC, CAASPP, and Star360. He showed test score data for Math and ELA and gave data for all English Learners as well. He also shared that GMS has been able reclassify eleven seventh graders and twenty four eighth graders this year.
After sharing about the data, he gave the board a look into what interventions they have in place to support academic success for students. They have a three tier monitoring system and support students based off of their need. They monitor students in academic and instruction as well as emotional and behavior.
Lastly, Marquez shared enrichment programs that GMS has implemented. This includes the TLC Dog Training program, East Los Angeles College/Panther Path to College, Panther Time, AVID Portfolio Day, and more.
Special Education Update
Director of Special Education & Student Services, Diana Huizar, gave a presentation regarding SWSD’s special education program and students.
She shared a breakdown of demographics of students within the program and the programs that are currently implemented throughout the district. She also shared the programs that are not currently offered on district campuses but that are offered to SWSD students.
Huizar also gave insight to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted special education. She shared that there has since been a significant increase in need to support mental health, behavioral, academic and health. These increased needs have a direct impact on instruction, delays in completion of assessments, and significant increases in assessment requests.
Lastly, the presentation shared the supports that are currently in place and provided to students and the departments goals. These goals include interventions to address learning loss, improve assessment techniques and increase tools, increase community outreach to parents, increase collaboration, and much more.
Academic Data Update
Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, Dr. Rebecca Rodriguez, and Director of Assessment, Accountabilit,y and Parent Engagement, Dr. Reanna Mendoza, gave a presentation regarding a students academic data update.
The updated included sharing Star 360 testing data for both math and reading for all students including Dual Immersion and English Learners. With each breakdown the data showed the grade level and student group along with their test scores. At the end of each data point showed year to date growth.
After the presentation gave all the data, they shared how they plan to address needs and respond to the data. This included professional learning communities, instructional leadership teams, data chats, writers workshops, essential standards, and much more.
The district will hold their next board meeting on Tuesday, May 16th, 2023, in the district board room and via Zoom.