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District seeks comments on school plan

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Ramona Unified School District will hold a daylong forum for the public to review and ask questions about its 2015-16 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).

The community forum will be in the district office Board Room, 720 Ninth St., on Wednesday, May 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The district invites parents, staff and community members to stop by any time during the day. Education Services employees will be there to provide information and answer questions.

Presentations on the state-required plan will be at noon, 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

In its second year, the LCAP is part of a change in how the state funds school districts. Gov. Jerry Brown initiated plan, saying it allows districts more flexibility and control in how it spends money from the state.

Before a school district can approve a budget under Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, it must approve a local control and accountability plan.

The community meeting comes after stakeholder meetings in the district office and at each school. Theresa Grace, senior director of Education Services, and members of her staff also met with student focus groups, district advisory committees, and employee union representatives.

“They monitored progress we made in the district this year and they looked at the metrics that reflect our progress during ‘14-15,” Grace told school board members May 14. “They also provided comments, questions, concerns and recommendations for the actions and services and expenditures outlined in the plan.”

Information gathered from the meetings “has been a driving force in developing the district’s LCAP,” said Grace.

While stakeholders commended the district for the professional development it provided teachers this year, especially in math and writing, “the number of days teachers are out of class is a concern...and they would like to see better prepared substitute teachers in the classrooms,” said Grace.

Stakeholders also requested more college and career awareness and more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and arts education for kindergartners through 12th-graders.

They also want more professional development for support staff and more use of technology, “not as a substitute for paper and pencil but as truly part of the learning process,” said Grace.

Students feel safe in Ramona schools and “overwhelmingly said their schools were old but clean, except for the bathrooms,” said Grace.

The plan, she said, addresses the state’s eight priorities in the district’s six goals:

•Improve learning for all students through standards-based instruction, which includes targeted interventions and extensions;

•Engage all students in relevant, personalized learning that integrates communication, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, civility and other 21st century skills;

•Improve learning for all students by employing highly qualified teachers and providing focused professional development and utilizing collaboration as a routine professional practice;

•Increase college and career readiness by providing a rich variety of relevant course offerings and engaging opportunities for all students;

•Promote community involvement in the schools and increase the engagement of parents in their children’s education; and

•Improve overall school climate through increased attention to student well-being, school safety and maintenance at school sites and offices.

The plan will be on the district website, www.ramonausd.net (click on the 2015-16 LCAP Draft link), starting May 22 so the community can review it before the May 27 forum, said Grace.

Written comments may be submitted during the community forum for the superintendent’s review.

The school board will hold a public hearing to discuss the plan on Thursday, June 11, at 7 p.m.

Grace may be contacted at 760-787-2012 or tgrace@ramonausd.net for more information.

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