Courtesy of the Hollister School District:
The Hollister School District Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) community engagement process is under way. The school district is holding a series of community meetings at the Hollister School District Office. Meetings have been held on Wednesday evenings at 6pm; held in English and Spanish simultaneously. Upcoming meetings will take place on January 22, 2020, February 12, 2020 and February 26, 2020.
Superintendent Diego Ochoa led the first two meetings with parents and community members in December and on January 8, 2020. The meetings focused on the LCAP process and a review of district performance results. “We have to begin by talking about how the LCAP is developed and by examining student achievement results,” said Ochoa.
The members in attendance discussed how the LCAP serves as the district’s roadmap for educating all students. Members discussed how the district’s previous LCAP focused heavily on technology and included very little in terms of providing counseling support for needy students. “As a parent and educator, I would expect for the school district to ensure that all children have their social, emotional, and academic needs met. This means that we need to discuss directing more funding and services to support the social and emotional needs of children,” Ochoa stated.
Members in attendance at the January 8, 2020 meeting were provided with academic data focusing on each school, all grade levels tested (3-8), English learner students, and students with special needs. Superintendent Ochoa fielded questions about the tests, the test results, and how the results compared to the State of California. The group then discussed how the district’s current LCAP supports or does not yet support student success. The group members lauded the efforts of the hundreds of teachers, principals, and staff who support our students. However, a common theme emerged regarding the importance of focusing more on creating safe school climates and providing more social/emotional support for students. The process culminated with members in attendance identifying “Areas to Celebrate” and “Areas of Focus”.
Areas to Celebrate:
Student test scores at HDLA, AAA, and Calaveras 6-8
Middle school cell phone policy and reduced screen time
Parent involvement efforts
Saturday Scholars program
Staff continuity
Effective classroom teaching
Strong leadership
Areas of Focus:
Academic growth over time
School climate
English Language Development (ELD) for all children
Middle school test score stagnation
Parent education
Pupil Attendance (including considering a three-week Winter Break)
Excessive pupil suspensions and few opportunities for student counseling
Superintendent Ochoa explained that the upcoming Community Input meetings would start to focus on making recommendations about how to address Areas of Focus. “These first two meetings have been a wonderful start to the LCAP Process. It is now time to send all parents and staff an LCAP survey. Through survey instruments, faculty meetings, community meetings and school board meetings, our district will gather the very best ideas from parents, staff, teachers and administrators to begin drafting the new LCAP for 2020-2023.”
For more information, please contact Superintendent Diego Ochoa at [email protected].
