The District Board of Trustees convened for their seventh meeting of the school year on Wednesday. The Board heard Local Control and Accountability Plan reports and District School Dashboard results, which give teachers and parents information about educational and behavioral progress in their local schools and District.
Presenting Dashboard Results
SUHSD Director of Program Evaluation and Research Diana Wilmot shared the District School Dashboard results. The presentation discussed academic performance on the CAASPP test, chronic absenteeism, suspension rates, graduation rates, college and career readiness, and English learner progress. The results are grouped based on race, ethnicity, income, foster youth, disabilities, homelessness, and English learners groups.
The District saw significant improvements in both English and math performances, with an 8.1 point increase and 19.9 point increase in CAASPP scores respectively, indicating an upward trend across schools. Overall, District ELA performance is 52.8 points above state standards, while math is just 6.4 points below––compared to 26.3 points in 2023.
Concerns Over Long-Term English Learner Growth
The only group who saw a decline in their CAASPP test scores were the District’s long-term English Learners. 40.9% of Long-Term English Learners made progress and 33.2% of English Learners made progress, a decrease from 2023 performance.
“It’s very hard to graduate from high school when you get here at 17 and are unable to speak English,” Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Bonnie Hansen said.
Disability Accommodations Public Comment
During the public comment for the Presentation of the California School Dashboard SUHSD Results, community member Kit Waffle expressed her concerns, based on her son’s experiences, about the lack of accessibility to higher math education for students in the Successful Transition Achieved with Responsive Support, or STARS, program.
Currently, the STARS program only provides math instruction in Algebra I and Geometry. “I encourage the District to consider offering a disability-accessible third year of math,” Waffle said.
She described how a third year of math is only available to students taking an Edgenuity course, which is not an option for students with learning disabilities.
“It’s not fair for students with disabilities to be excluded in this systemic way,” Waffle said.
Review of Charter Schools’ Financial Report, Declining Enrollment
Director of Business Services Vinita Singh presented the first interim financial reports of the 2024-25 school year for District charter schools Everest Public High School, KIPP Esperanza High School, and Summit Preparatory Charter High School. Singh reported that all schools experienced declining enrollment in the past three years.
Everest Public High School will meet its financial obligation in current and subsequent two years and submitted a positive cash flow statement. The school also found more of its students moving out of the Bay Area than expected.
KIPP Esperanza submitted a positive cash flow statement and a positive certified first interim report, meaning they will meet its financial obligation for the next two fiscal years.
Summit Prep also submitted a positive certified first interim report. They are exploring different staffing models to support their students, as they similarly project a declining enrollment in the next three years.
Basketball Coach Still on Leave
Community member Jeremy Arey condemned the Board for their lack of communication regarding basketball coach Mike Molieri’s absence during public comment.
“It shouldn’t take more than six months to come up with an adequate response,” Arey said.
Halfway through the meeting, community member Dan Molieri joined via Zoom and asked to give public comment. Board President Sathvik Nori declined his request, saying there was no more public comment on non-agendized items.
