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Trustee Reports
Trustee Nicole Gribstad would like to see a three year dashboard for SoT closures with class size, school size, attendance, facility utilization, transportation, and student success. She said that we need a baseline to determine what success looks like. She also asked how will data be analyzed and what will happen if goals aren't being met. Seth Reddy and Superintendent Nancy Albarran pushed back and said that they have a small team that doesn't have time for this work.
She also commented that schools need to teach, writing, and math and that there's somewhere else to study justice and civil rights and that the school district is not to provide political consciousness.
Trustee Teresa Castellanos wants overall achievement of all the schools and is tired of focusing on Schools of Tomorrow closures. She said that she has gone to 3 elementary schools in the last month and said that at the receiving schools the "students are so happy and joyous".
As one parent commented to us, "Trustee Teresa Castellanos and SJUSD is using the resilience of our children as a win for them." This entire process has been a debacle from the beginning. It's shameful that SJUSD is looking at our resilient children as a win when they don't see those same students telling others that they wonder if their new school will be closed next year and where they'll go to school next year. Our children have been greatly impacted by these closures despite the smiles that Trustee Teresa Castellanos says she sees.
Trustee Carla Collins said that the Board needs to get back to the focus of all the schools and not just SoT. She said that we would hire more teachers and support services if we had the money. Because we don't, we have to be creative.
Side note...California requires school districts to have 3% of budget in reserves yet, SJUSD has more than 20% in reserves. They have plenty of money to fund more teachers and support staff. SJUSD chooses not to fund them.
She also commented "I believe in free speech as long as someone isn't intentionally lying." and "I welcome difficult conversation and anyone who is willing to improve public education" She has consistently made comments about community members saying that we are lying, weaponizing our students, and calling us bullies. She was proud to state that she met with one parent since the last Board meeting...one parent.
Trustee Brian Wheatley started his update by thanking Trustee Jose Magana for speaking out against the racist and hurtful Facebook posts that another Trustee (Trustee Nicole Gribstad) had posted. He also said that Trustees need to be respectful in their language to community and speakers. (He was referring to Trustee Carla Collins comments during the last Board meeting) Thank you Trustee Brian Wheatley.
In his report, he asked when updated data for school enrollment numbers will be published and Seth Reddy said they will be updated with the minutes.
Trustee Jose Magana asked for clarification on the 148 number that Seth Reddy mentioned in his enrollment update. Seth Reddy clarified that 148 is the number of all students that are no longer in SJUSD that were at a closing school. (This equals 10% of kids from closed schools left the district.)
Superintendent Nancy Albarran said that the ALA (Academic Language Acquisition) program did not expand past Washington Elementary but it's now bigger because of the consolidations. She acknowledged that there may enough need to have a TWBI program expansion at some of the schools.
Side note...Given the popularity in the TWBI program, it would be great to see it expanded and beyond the downtown, Willow Glen, and Rose Garden areas and possibly with additional languages.
The student Board member impressed many in the community during this meeting. She consistently showed where work was being done within different schools and offered input and suggestions to AI policy review. Thank you, Alex for your thoughtful and insightful input!
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