26 March 2024 PAUSD Board Notes
4. Thank you again for starting the discussion on Special Education last week. Here are some important points in the report that were not discussed:
* PAUSD is becoming more segregated. More students are in our most segregated class setting while fewer are in our most inclusive setting. This is a steady trend over the past 4 years and is inconsistent with data in California and the US as a a whole.
** At the same time, we have shut down two of our 7 classes for our “mod severe” students from least year. This seems to have led to overloading “mild mod” programs at other schools with students with extensive support needs rather than actual consolidation. Do not be surprised if issues are going to come from this.
** Both staff and parents highlighted concerns with staff and teacher churn and staff levels.
** We also closed an SAI class at JLS. So, it looks like PAUSD shuts down special ed programs at the same time we are casually expanding resources elsewhere – such as adding a strand at Barron Park while we are losing the equivalent of a Barron Park’s worth of students every year in our school district
* None of this appears on the board agenda through the end of the year.
3A – Greene Equity Report – PAUSD Promise – First, thank you for talking about our underrepresented groups during your equity presentation and thank you for calling out your work in inclusion and Universal Design… I look forward to hearing progress on implementation. By the numbers, 9 to 10 total suspensions, 5 SWD. 3 EL, 3 SED.. all substantially over-represented. Hispanic students and SWD at 20% plus absenteeism…(when is the district going to tell the board and public what is going on with absenteeism?). ELA – SWD 64.7 points below standard and 99 point below standard for Math… this may be because of the programs that are housed at Greene (and they have the most SWD of all the middle schools… I do look forward to a presentation on what SPED programs are where someday). I also understand that Evidence Based Grading has serious equity implications – so I wonder when PAUSD is going to embrace it completely.
3B – Strong Bonds – I am a huge supporter of the bonds and parcel taxes that support the excellence of our PAUSD schools and look forward to helping when the next set of measures come up for a vote. However, I am greatly concerned that the loss of 1300 to 1500? students from our peak enrollment and the continued projected losses of 200 students per year needs to be better reflected in our spending and investments. We should not take the current excellent financial health of this district for granted to avoid dealing with these major demographic changes. It does not serve our students or community well and reflects poorly on our stewardship.
5. Consent Agenda – Thank you for including information about which schools teachers are associated with. I hope you will include information for which teachers are part of special education and provide summary metrics for vacancies, resignations, hires, and comparisons with last year to give a context to these very important reports for the board and community. And 5G, while I am glad that PAUSD continues to provide a home for the Athena Academy and its support for dyslexic learners, I do wonder about the strategic use of PAUSD property… are we making smart decisions with all of the land that we hold for benefit of the Palo Alto community.
7A Budget Assumptions. I am curious about the lack of discussion about the addition of a second strand (Set of teachers K through 5) at Barron Park. We are literally losing a Barron Park (211 students) every year in reduced enrollment in PAUSD and have been for some time, so the addition of a new strand at any school is puzzling without some overall staffing strategy. I also wonder about this in context of special education where we have reduced our “mod severe” or “extensive support needs” program from 7 schools to 5 and closed an SAI math class at JLS even though this student cohort may be the only “growing” part of our educational program… and there is a mentioned “Special Education Restructuring Plan” that isn’t on the agenda.
8A Title IX – what’s up with Gunn? If I did my spreadsheet right, it looks like 65 of the 199 entries were for Gunn. 8D – Looking ahead, I see no mention of special education on the agenda for the rest of the year. Last meetings presentation was just a tiny part of the program. If PAUSD and the board is actually committed to real change in special education, it will take persistent presence in front of the board and by the district to make change happen – just as it has for equity and reading.
