Public comments are submitted in writing and will be made part of the record for this meeting.
Comments on COVID-19, Schoology/eLearning, and grading policies.

 

Many senior activities and other activities have been canceled. It was decided that activities that are up in the air should be canceled or rescheduled for a later date, rather than wait until the activity was canceled.
Activities are being planned to give seniors recognition.
Each class is creating activities to keep their classes engaged.
Voting online will happen when necessary.
Virtual spirit days are being planned as well.
Rick Steil inquired about the yearbook and if there is a sense that orders will be greater than usual because of the cancellation of other activities. Laney's sense is that more people will want the yearbook.
 

Reeve mentioned that the system set up seems to be working very smoothly.
Sarah mentioned that it seems that eLearning has been easier for some teachers than for others.
Dara mentioned that some parents are concerned with grading policies. 
Dr. Magee mentioned that they are waiting for an update for the Department of Education regarding advice in changes for grading policies. That advice is expected by April 2nd.

Classified employees have been put into new positions.
Special Education Assistants have been very helpful and have gone over and above to assist.
 

UTLA collected some feedback. All of the teachers right now our doing their best to deal with eLearning and technology. Paula Anderson mentioned that she has never seen a more dedicated staff. The teachers who are IT experts have been assisting other teachers. Everyone has been stepping up. Larry Wiener has noticed that the staff has been working well together and supporting one another. This is something that has come from the top. The 2 days given to faculty to launching the program were instrumental. It has been a boost to morale.
Steve Klima reported that teachers want to be part of the discussion regarding grades going forward. There are concerns about Schoology and the lag time on the site. Teachers realize that the administration is not able to control this. Some teachers pointed out that this reinforces the need for technology professional development. Thoughts about maybe not going live for the entire school day all five days of the week.
Dave Suarez also mentioned issues with online testing. While teachers could go to essays, this could become overwhelming for students and for teachers who would have to grade them.
              

Faculty have been very responsive to learn about Zoom. 
The report stands as submitted.

Report stands as submitted.

Report stands as submitted with the following updates.
CTE grant funds can roll over because it doesn't have to be spent this year.
Received some emails from concerned parents wondering how they could help. Parents gave $4000 to purchase Chromebooks. A CTE advisory member offered $10,000 to give to the school to wherever the greatest need is. 
Researching COVID-19 grants for the school. Planning on submitting a request to FEMA.
Governor's budget in May could impact funding for schools next year given the sums that will have to be spent on COVIC-19.
Reeve Chudd inquired about the Booster Club auction. Mike Rawson noted that the auction has been moved to May 31st and are hoping that it will be able to go forward that day.

 

Highlighted some areas regarding how changes in education have impacted PCHS.
Materials are included with the agenda and packet.
Tax modifications due to COVID-19.
Checks will be issued and sent to employees.
Revisions to the budget may be necessary based upon changes to the Governor's budget because of the COVID-19 crisis.
There is a state bill to cover some COVID-19 expenditures, mostly related to PPE but also for extraordinary expenses. PCHS may be eligible for approximately $50k in funding. Some funds may be released at the federal level as well.
Four CBOs of the conversion high schools have been having conference calls to share information.
PCHS seems to be ahead of the curve as compared to other schools.
Freezing ADA on month six should be a positive for PCHS but it may be dependent on the funds available and whether that is a set amount or will fluctuate if all schools ADA is higher.

 

Report stands as submitted.
Pali has done amazing. The teachers came out of the gate strong and are the reason that Pali is ahead of the curve. The students have also been amazing. Student leadership is making efforts to have everyone feel like they are still at school.
All of the stakeholders have been compassionate, kind, and caring.
The administration will carefully consider how to approach grading and will be looking at all of the options after hearing from the Department of Education. There will be an effort to avoid any penalties.
Equity is a major concern.
April 2nd webinar for AP teachers regarding the AP curriculum and exams.
Reeve Chudd inquired about the online registration applications for new students. Dr. Magee assured him that the freshman class will be full.
Sarah Margiotta indicated that she liked the hybrid grading version as some fo the highly academic kids may want to opt in to receive a grade.

Report stands as submitted.

Reeve Chudd and Paula Anderson have been talking about the elections. The timeline had to be moved. Some seats do not have applicants so the timeline has been extended. They need the Election Buddy Information. The student elections are going forward as scheduled.
A few people expressed an interest in running during this meeting. Because of this the timeline in today's materials should work.
 

Agree on the great efforts dedicated to the eLearning program.
Preparing for Phase 2 of eLearning.
Draft of eLearning Phase 2 has been prepared with input from the Curriculum Council and the Department Chairs. Hoping to roll this out after Spring Break. Grading policies are not part of this phase. A new bell schedule has been proposed with input from Chris Lee.
An emergency amendment was made to the math placement policy.
Larry Wiener discussed how the incoming May placement test will not be given; instead their middle school math grades and scores on their standardized tests to place students. There will be consideration of the possibility that the spring grades were impacted by school closures. There is a plan to administer a checkpoint test during the first week of school in order to catch placements that may not align with student ability. Using an extensive Cal State test. State law gives families 3 attempts to challenge the math placement so there have to be 3 available assessments.
Tech Coaches are available to help with tools and teachers are now more motivated to learn these tools and the school closure has enabled teachers to use professional development time to update their technology skills. Teachers have been finding some great ways to connect with students.
The one glaring issue with the students is that they are starved for human contact and the mentorship provided by teachers.
Chris Lee lauded our attendance during the school closure; most classes for Pali are in the mid to high 90s.  Check-in quizzes are a good way to stay connected and to reach out to students who are not engaging. Phone calls and emails are being sent to help these kids (about 160 kids).

 

Discussion included in Section A, above.

Chris Lee spoke about the proposed school year calendar and the possibility of including emergency days. UTLA representatives proposed date for students would be 8/19 with the teachers having professional development on 8/17 and 8/18.
Dara Williams mentioned that another option is to have the teachers come for professional development on 8/13 and 8/14 and starting school on 8/17.
UTLA is questioning whether building in days is even necessary given that school can be switched to an eLearning environment.  There are potential problems with access to technology and also whether the state would allow it to be counted toward ADA. The state typically doesn't let us know right away if we can waive the ADA for those days.
Leslie Woolley mentioned that school closure days should be built into the schedule.
The Board seems to be of this mindset but UTLA is indicating that this is a bargainable issue and from their comments, it is not clear that UTLA wants the days to be built in.
Chris Lee and Dara Williams brought up that recurring school closures are addressed by the Education Code and the possibility of closures should be addressed in the school calendar.
Steve Klima pointed out that we are not yet at a mandate. The UTLA representatives indicated that they are not taking a position on this, but would like to have a concrete calendar to take to the faculty.
Some of the minimum days at the end of the school year could be used for makeup days.
Monica Iannessa mentioned that so far the state has not adopted any eLearning measures and so there is nothing that would apply to ADA for eLearning. Other Board members expressed that building in some emergency days would be a good idea.
Chris Lee mentioned that UTLA put out a survey asking about whether school should start 2 days earlier or if pupil free days during the second semester should be used if emergency days are needed. The split was 50/50. Other days including holidays were considered as well. The bottom line is this is contractual so there would have to be a vote. So negotiations on this will be part of the school negotiations.
Further discussions about school calendar and emergency days being included. 
It was suggested by UTLA that the Board discuss this as part of a closed session negotiation session.
Negotiations are part of the closed session agenda so this can be discussed during closed session tonight.
 

Discussion about the authority the administration be given to extend school closure.
Discussion about aligning it with state or LAUSD closures, which will likely be the same.
 

40 hours is required. Some seniors wait to do it. So the thought is to waive the requirement for this year's senior class. Thought to lower the hours for all students at Pali during this COVID-19 closure.
We can still encourage kids to continue doing community service through online resources.
This requirement is not necessary to get a diploma.
 

Grade appeals can be done virtually if the parent and student agree to this format. It is not necessary to vote on that.
Dara Williams brought up that we shouldn't make any changes to the spring semester grade appeals until we have a spring semester grading policy in place.
How they will be recorded is something the Grade Appeal Committee will discuss.

Pam Magee added that our current attendance policy is something that should be waived for this year. Other Board members mentioned that this was a good idea.
There was a discussion about not failing seniors. There are concerns about students not turning anything in. But there are also problems for many students who may be sharing computers with siblings who are also attending online school. It would be very difficult to handle attendance appeals.
Some of the issues with access and grading will be addressed in later phases of eLearning.

 

Originally planned for late March be the end of the registration process. Because people sometimes wait until the last minute so the deadline for registration is now May 5th. That gives the families time to register and make the down payment and the administration to determine scholarship amounts and appeals. To date there are 90 scholarship applications. Busses for activities for this year have obviously been canceled. We are not being charged for the busses that are not running.
Students won't be charged for April and if school remains closed for May it will be the case for May as well.
 

While school is not in session, campus is not closed. So there is the ability to go to campus for faculty and others if necessary. 
Everyone is pulling together to make things run smoothly. Technology staff has gone the extra mile for everyone during this massive transition.

Materials are included with the meeting packet.
All the predictions are now off because of the COVID-19 school transition to eLearning.
Some expenditures will be lower but some may be higher.
And anticipating some major funding cuts may be imposed.
Reeve Chudd brought up that the state's revenue streams will be impacted. The cash of the school is at least in a defensive mode because not funds were invested in the stock market.
But STRS and PERS are invested.


 

Option to withdraw. We have to notify CharterSafe.

There is nothing to approve on the consent agenda. The credit card statement was included for informational purposes. Some refunds may be issued but it is not known if all activities that have been canceled will result in a refund.

Rick Steil inquired as to whether the Board was forming a task force with regard to opening in the fall. Dr. Magee thought the idea of a task force is a good idea.
In the middle of the Executive Director Principal's evaluation. Please let the committee know of any comments that they receive.

Nothing to report out.