10 September 2024 PAUSD Board Meeting Comments

4 Open Forum

I’d like the board to consider adding student representatives from both Middle College and Cubberley. There are high school students in both of these programs who are not currently represented on our board and students in both programs should have an opportunity to have their voices heard, just like our students from Palo Alto High School and Gunn.

3A. Support Staff Presentation

Very useful, but doesn’t include primary teaching staff and leadership and other support staff…I hope this is presented together to give a complete picture of our staff.

5. Consent Calendar

M. Thank you for selecting CAC representatives for our local SELPA. Too many school districts don’t bother and many SELPA’s do not have functioanl CACs even though they are part of Ed Code. I hope that the board will consider putting these positions on a staggered selection cycle and include back up representatives to broaden participation and ensure continuity. I also hope that there is better publicity for these positions… I think Rika and perhaps Janet have graciously volunteered for several years, but we should work to broaden participation.

Q. Policy and Absenteeism Update – in light of our ongoing absenteeism issues in the district, our policies should include much stronger hooks for reporting and oversight to the board. We have 7 groups categorized in the “Red” by the state for chronic absenteeism, Our overall absenteeism rate was 12.3% 2023 and increased by 2.3% from the previous year. While the numbers are even worse at the county and state-level, this should be considered completely unacceptable in Palo Alto.

6 Action Items – A – Actual Budget Report

Useful attachment.

7 Discussion Items – Public Hearing on Sufficiency of Instructional Items

It is very disturbing to note that there is no call out of sufficiency of materials for students with disabilities (unlike English Learners) even though they are particularly vulnerable to inaccessible materials. How can we have accessible and inclusive education in our district without accessible instructional materials?

When instructional materials are not accessible by default, this immediately leads to a more segregated education for students as instructional materials need to be modified on a case-by-case basis… and it is more costly for the district as well. The district should move towards requiring accessible instructional materials by default as part of its procurement process. The State Education Technology Directors Association (setda.org) has some policy guidance that may be helpful as well as the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard.

8. Information Items

Complaints should be noted. Once again, Gunn’s levels are unusual. It has 7 complaints out of the 14 that have been received this year. Is Gunn notably more transparent or is something else going on? Also of note, 7 sexual harassment complaints, 3 disability discrimination complaints, and 2 racial harassment complaints. It would be helpful if the district provided historic data and trends to see if we are getting better or not.