South Whittier School District held its monthly board meeting on Tuesday, February 18th, in-person in the district board room and virtually via Google Meet.
The Board and attendees heard four presentations. Presentations consisted of a recognition of the 2025 Spelling Bee winners, an Above & Beyond award, Carmela Elementary Student & Academic Achievement report and student recognition, and a LCAP mid-year update.
Recognition: 2025 SWSD Spelling Bee Winners
The District honored its top three spellers from this year’s annual Spelling Bee. Each honoree was awarded a certificate.
First Place: Leah Guillen, 5th Grade
Second Place: Damian Cordero, 4th Grade
Third Place: Savannah Thompson, 4th Grade
The Spelling Bee winner, Leah Guillen, will move on to represent South Whittier School District in the LACOE Spelling Bee that will be held on March 19, 2025.
Congratulations students!
Above & Beyond Award
SWSD honored Graves Middle Custodian, Ron Smith, with an Above & Beyond award.
A colleague of Ron’s nominated him and shared how Ron meticulously cares for Graves Middle School and does so with a can-do-attitude. They spoke of his positivity, his kind manner, and his exceptional work ethic. They also shared how Ron played a key role in assuring the success of the District’s KinderFest event that took place last month.
Congratulations, Ron! Thank you for all you do!
Carmela Elementary School & Student Academic Achievement Report
Carmela Elementary Principal, Dr. Patricia Magaña, gave a presentation regarding student and academic achievement.
Dr. Magaña shared Carmela’s CAASPP data and student scores. She shared where students showed improvement and areas they identified for opportunities of growth. She went on to discuss how teachers have worked together to strategize to support students so that all students will meet or exceed grade level standards. One area of focus at Carmela is improving writing. Dr. Magaña shared how they plan to advance student writing which includes daily writing, collaborative planning, tracking personal growth, using data, and much more.
After her presentation two students read a writing piece that they had written. Then Dr. Magaña presented all students who met or exceeded their grade level standard on the CAASPP test. Each student recognized received a certificate.
LCAP Mid-Year Update
Director of Assessments, Accountability and Parent Engagement, Dr. Reanna Mendoza, gave a presentation regarding a mid-year update of the LCAP.
The LCAP stands for the Local Control and Accountability Plan. This LCAP plan and budget was adopted in June 2024. This presentation discussed mis-year outcome data related to metrics identified in the current LCAP, and all available mid-year expenditure and implementation data on all actions identified in the current LCAP.
Dr. Mendoza went over each LCAP goal which consists of culture and climate, continuous improvement, educator leadership, family and community engagement, and multi-tiered support. She shared action items in each goal and shared whether they were in progress or complete.
The District will host their next monthly board meeting on Tuesday, March 4, in-person and via Google Meet.