Board Briefs: Oct. 8, 2024

Here are a few highlights from the Oct. 8 board meeting (the agenda packet is available):

Update provided on college and career readiness

Staff provided an update to the board on San Juan Unified's progress toward college and career readiness for all students. College and career readiness has been identified as one of the seven indicators on the California School Dashboard. Over the last few years, San Juan Unified has been working to increase college and career readiness in both academic and social/emotional areas and will continue to create and expand opportunities for all students. This presentation focused on two key components of college and career indicators, Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways and college credit courses, also known as dual enrollment. 

Update provided on the strategic plan

In the 2023-24 school year, San Juan Unified engaged in a year long process to develop a strategic plan based on the voices and needs of its students, families, staff and community. Through an intensive engagement process, a plan was drafted and refined identifying the values that form the foundation of our mission, the vision that we hope to make real for our students and the strategic directions that address our most immediate and pressing needs to achieve our goal. After the drafting and revision process, the board adopted the plan in May of 2024. 

Work to implement the plan began over the summer and has continued into the start of the 2024-25 school year. The first element of implementation has been to share the plan through the use of collateral materials, inclusion of the plan as one of the district's guiding documents and introducing the plan to staff and students in a variety of settings. The second element of implementation has been to operationalize the plan by connecting actions to its strategic directions, launching initiatives across the organization aligned to the plan and problems of practice, and prioritizing specific outcome goals under each strategic direction. 

In addition to these efforts to align and implement actions to the strategic plan, staff are currently working to identify metrics for determining success of the plan as a whole. While each individual effort has specific metrics, staff are also working to consider what indicators will help identify if we are making progress toward our vision and which indicators can help us determine if changes in our efforts or strategies are needed as conditions change. 

In other news…

• The board approved a resolution proclaiming the week of Oct. 13-19 as the Week of the School Administrator.

• The board approved the submission of Variable Term Waivers to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and adopted a resolution authorizing the assignment of 55 certificated employees to areas outside of their authorized credentials during the 2024-25 school year. Additionally, the board approved the submission of four Provisional Internship Permits to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. 

• The board adopted a resolution authorizing the intent to convey a temporary construction easement at Northridge Elementary School 

The next regular board meeting will be held on Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. Visit www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting for details. You can also view videos of prior board meetings at www.sanjuan.edu/boardvideo.