Board Highlights:  March 8, 2021

LASD Plans for 5-Day per Week In-Person for 2021-22 School Year
Mr. Baier provided a school reopening updated at the March 8 Board meeting. With smooth in-person operations at all 9 school sites, declining COVID-19 case rates and increased vaccination rates--including for our teachers--Mr. Baier and the Board of Trustees agreed to plan for a 5-day per week, full in-person learning model for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. 

Mr. Baier and the administrative team will begin making plans to bring all students back to campus for in-person learning 5 days per week in Fall 2021. We will keep the community updated on this progress. 

Additionally, the Board gave direction to work with our teachers to pursue 5-day in-person learning l for the remainder of the current school year beginning with our youngest learners. Mr. Baier explained the administrative team will continue to pursue this option and its feasibility as Santa Clara County is now adhering to the K-12 statewide orders. 

We will keep the community updated on all of these efforts to return students to a full, 5-day per week in-person learning schedule as soon as we can.

For more information, check out item H.1. on our agenda online.

LASD Mental Health Update
At a time when our families and students' mental health and well-being is challenged due to the ongoing pandemic, LASD is focusing on its partnership with the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) to provide additional services to those who need support. CHAC has expanded services to provide professional development support to our educators to help students in need, additional Telehealth services for students and families, and programs available to all students in our schools to support the mental well being of our students. 

Please take a look at the in-depth presentation from Marsha Deslauriers, CHAC Executive Director for more information about LASD's partnership with CHAC. To learn more about CHAC programs, please go to www.chacmv.org. 

For more information, please check out item H.2. on our agenda online.

Local Control and Accountability Plan Update
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Sandra McGonagle, will share a proposed update to the 2020-23 LCAP goals, actions, and services, including a systematic way to highlight the district initiatives in development. The plan is focused on our student-centered educational model to promote the academic success and social-emotional well-being of all students in our school district. 

For more information, please review item H.3.

Junior High School Pursuit of Biliteracy Award
By developing an LASD Pursuit of Biliteracy Award, the district will encourage a pursuit of two or more languages, which will affirm positive attitudes towards multilingualism, validate the use of multiple languages for all students, and develop students prepared to thrive in our complex world.

The Board took the first step by unanimously adopting a resolution in support of our junior high school the world language departments around an LASD Pursuit of Biliteracy Award.

All students, including English Fluent and English Learners, enrolled in a two year world language course in LASD (Spanish (B/E), French (B/E), and Mandarin (E)) would be eligible for the award. Students receiving all 3s and 4s on report cards in world language areas (reading, writing, speaking, listening, culture) throughout their two years in junior high school could receive the award. 

LASD is excited to recognize outstanding student achievement in biliteracy through this award. 

For more information, check out item H.4. on our agenda online.

Next Board Meeting
The next regular meeting of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees will take place on Monday, March 22 at 7:00pm via Zoom. To attend the meeting please visit our Board web page and register for the meeting using the provided link. The link will be posted on Thursday at 5:00pm the week prior to each meeting.

If you would like to stay updated regarding upcoming Board meetings, please email mbirnie@lasdschools.org, providing your name, email address and a request to be added to the email list for Brown Act updates, including upcoming meetings and agendas.