Personnel Changes at Earl Warren and La Costa Canyon
Update of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs
Independent Study Committee Formed
Budget Update
The meeting on March 3rd lasted over eight hours, including closed session, but I’ll point out a few of the highlights for review.
Personnel Changes at Earl Warren and La Costa Canyon
Justin Conn is currently in his 16th year within the district and will assume the role of principal at LCC after spending the past four years as the principal at Earl Warren. Reno Medina is currently in his 18th year within the district and will return to serve as principal of Earl Warren Middle School, a site that he previously led from 2017-18.
Update of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs
Manual Zapata, Director of Accountability and Specialized Programs showed the Board an excellent presentation with a video highlighting the various programs in the District. If you would like to see his presentation, it begins at about the 3:56 mark on the Live Stream. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXefWK86S5E
Independent Study Committee Formed
The board appointed me to a committee on independent study to review our policies and procedures associated with independent study programs, including Independent Study PE (ISPE). I’ll be working with Bryan Marcus and our legal counsel. We will bring back suggested changes to a future board meeting. I’ll be paying special attention to the requirements for acceptance to ISPE and if we should adjust from our current policy to require students to be pre-Olympic or pre-professional to qualify.
Budget Update
Associate Superintendent of Business Services, Tina Douglas, presented an update of the district’s financial budget. The district is forecasted to run budget deficits of $6.3 million this academic year, $3.6 million in 2023, $3.3 million in 2024, and $2.6 million in 2025. Cumulatively, this represents a loss over four years of nearly $16 million due to deficit spending. The districts’ available reserves are forecast to fall to 4% by the end of 2025. If the district were to fall below 3%, we would be insolvent, and the County of San Diego will take over the district. We are expecting a report in April from a consulting group regarding potential cost-saving opportunities. I also asked Ms. Douglas to present a plan for consideration at the next meeting that has us breaking even by 2025.