New assistant principals appointed at Diegueno Middle School and Canyon Crest Academy
Progress made on Torrey Pines Aquatic Center
Board adopts School Plans for Student Achievement
On August 17, 2023, the SDUHSD held its regularly scheduled Board Meeting.
This was the second Board meeting under the leadership of our new superintendent Dr. Anne Staffieri. Like last month’s meeting, this meeting was notable for being quick, efficient, and generally non-controversial.
This was also the first Board meeting since the first day of the new school year. I had the opportunity to attend opening day at Canyon Crest, Torrey Pines, Carmel Valley, and Pacific Trails. Thank you to the Principals for facilitating a fun and exciting day for everyone.
New Assistant Principals at Diegueno Middle School and Canyon Crest Academy
The Board approved the appointment of Staci Ortiz-Davis to Assistant Principal at Diegueno Middle School and Kathryn Freeman to Assistant Principal at Canyon Crest Academy. They both attended the meeting with members of their family and everyone in the room was happy for their promotions.
Progress on Torrey Pines Aquatic Center
The Board unanimously approved a contract to continue the architectural design work for the Torrey Pines Aquatic Center. This allows the District to complete all the necessary work to obtain a final design and cost estimate to build a swimming pool at Torrey Pines High School.
I expect that we will have full set of plans and an updated cost estimate for the TPHS pool before the end of this calendar year.
Approved School Plans For Student Achievement
Every year the Board considers a “School Plan for Student Achievement” (SPSA) which outlines a list of goals for each school. These plans were approved unanimously by the Board at this Board meeting.
However, I have some issues with both the process we used and the substance of our plans.
Our Board was asked to approve these goals without discussing them or giving input. These important goals drive the direction of our schools, but by the time they are presented to our Board they are essentially “a done deal” and cannot be changed without substantial disruption. This is not the first time our Board has been told, effectively, that “We need this approved by the Board, but you really can’t say no because it's too late to make any changes”. We’ve seen this in curriculum adoption, the bell schedule, and other Board decisions, and now with our goal setting process.
The solution is simple and straight forward – involve the Board earlier in all of these discussions.
Let me provide an example using this SPSA.
The number one, most important goal at Canyon Crest Academy is this:
“All students will demonstrate academic growth and maximize their individual potential”.
There is a lot of good content in this one sentence. It focuses on students. It is about academic growth and improvement. It says we focus on stretching each individual student to do their best. We should be able to measure how well we are doing against this goal.
The number one goal at Carmel Valley Middle School is “Equity & Access - Identify and address inequities in our school system, programs, policies, and practices to ensure every student has equitable access to educational programs to meet goals toward preparation for high school and beyond.”
This goal does not focus directly on student performance. It doesn’t mention academic learning growth. It isn’t about stretching each student to their capabilities. Instead, it is about internal district processes - identify policies and practices that limit access to our programs. If we had any policies or practices that limit access, we should certainly identify them and fix them, but our District has had this as a goal for several years, and no one has shown me a single policy or practice that limits access to classes or programs.
I’m sure our new Superintendent will do a much better job at involving the Board earlier when we are asked to vote on approving district direction and policy.