Approve Certificated Personnel Report No. 13-16 which covers 5 FTE Increases, 4 Leaves of Absence, 1 Resignation, 1 Retirement, and 10 Variable Services Agreements.

Approve Classified Personnel Report No. 13-16 which covers 2 Employments, 3  FTE Increase, 1 Promotion, 1 Transfer, 1 Retirement, 1 Resignation, 1 Unpaid Leave of Absence and 34 Variable Services Agreements. And addendum may include up to 15 additional Variable Services Agreements.

Approve the Fiscal Year 2016-17 Continued Funding Application for our State Preschool Program.

On an annual basis the California Department of Education requests the Continued Funding Application from school districts to assess the level of need for funding for these early childhood education programs.

This agreement requests continued funding for our State Preschool Program for the 2016-17 school year.  Our current contract agreement for 2015-16 is $445,847.

Approve the revised English Learners' Reclassification criteria.

English Learners’ secondary and elementary specialists and staff met and revised the criteria to best identify appropriate and current measures of academic performance when establishing reclassification eligibility.  On January 20 the school district advisory committee on programs and services for English Learners, DELAC, reviewed and approved the revised reclassification criteria.

None.

Approve the California Department of Education Child Development Services Contract for our State Funded Preschool Program for the 2015-16 school year.

This agreement provides increased funding for our State Funded Preschool Program.

The agreement increase State Preschool funding from $415,188 to $445,847.  

Approve Resolutions 42-16 and  43-16, Prepare and Submit to the Office of Public School Construction  - Applications for Eligibility Determination and Approve Authorization to Sign for Funding; Prepare Application,  Associated Supporting Documents and Approve  Professional Service Agreement with School Facility Consultants (SFC) with Application(s) for State School Facility Program Eligibility and Funding Applications

Education code Section 17070.10, et seq., provides that the board of Education of each school district shall approve a resolution supporting eligibility and funding applications under the State School Facility program and designation of an authorized district representative(s) to sign applications and associated documentation to support funding applications. 

For purposes of determining eligibility and applying for funding for various programs including, but not limited to, modernization, new construction, facility hardship, charter school and career technical education, under the State School Facility Program, the attached resolution supports the intent to file applications and designates Winfred Roberson, Superintendent, and Bruce Colby, Associate Superintendent of Business Services, as authorized district representatives to sign applications and associated documentation. 

 SFC has submitted a proposal for professional services to assist Davis Joint Unified School District with the submittal of State School Facility Program (SFP) for purposes of determining eligibility and applying for funding for the following projects; Cesar Chavez Elementary, North Davis Elementary, Holmes Jr. High School Classroom Relocation Projects, and the Davis High School All Student Center Project and establish other future facilities related projects. 

SFC will update State SFP Modernization and New Construction eligibility; assist with the submittal of State SFP Modernization Funding application for each at each of the five campuses, update new construction eligibility, and assist with the submittal of a SFP New construction Funding application of Davis High School All Student Center. 

There will be no impact to the General Fund.  The costs will be funded out of dedicated Facilities funds. Professional services costs are not to exceed $60,000 for analysis and submission of documents for potential State funding.  Potential funding is unknown but if available will well exceed the costs.  

Approval of Contract for District Audit Firm (Crowe-Horwath).

Education Code Section (EC) 41020, requires an annual audit of local educational agencies (LEAs). In 2014-2015, the County Office of Education conducted an extensive selection process for audit firms. Proposals were submitted by six firms and were reviewed and evaluated by a county wide committee of district and county office fiscal staff. After the review and evaluation, only four (2 disqualified for technical proposal issues) were deemed qualified for district/county office use.

The review and evaluation included experience, quality and price. Crowe-Horwath was rated highest in experience and quality, and second overall with price included.

The three largest districts in Yolo County (Woodland, Washington and DJUSD) have chosen Crowe-Horwath as the most qualified audit firm for their annual audits.

The DJUSD Board Finance Subcommittee has met and reviewed the audit firm review process and agrees with the staff recommendation of Crowe-Horwath as the district audit firm.

Crowe-Horwath has prepared a four-year contract for fiscal years 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 in the amount of $50,500 per year for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 (no change from last year) and $53,000 for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.

The staff has reviewed the contract and believes that the contract provisions and the proposed costs are reasonable.  Therefore, it is recommended that the Board approve the contract for auditing services from Crowe-Horwath LLP. 

This activity is already in the approved budget. The financial impact to the general fund is $50,500 -$53,000 based on the annual proposed price schedule.

Pursuant to Board Policy 3312 and California Education Code, all contracts and agreements need to be approved and ratified by the Board of Education.  The following are the current contracts and agreements which are being presented to the Board for ratification:

A Grand Affair Party and Event Rentals

All West Coachlines - Harper Jr. High

All West Coachlines - DSHS Leadership

All West Coachlines - DSHS Band

AT&T

ComTech Communications

Embassy Suites - DSHS Choir

Embassy Suites - DSHS Band

Radio Parties

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Visible Display Corporation

Washington Unified School District

Receive an update from staff regarding later start project progress. 

Why Start Secondary School Later?

There is an abundance of compelling research that supports the delaying of school start times. Key findings include, but are not limited to:

• Teens biologically change in such a way that they cannot fall asleep as early as they did when they were younger, but they continue to need more sleep than adults.
• Scientific studies suggest that teens need 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep per night, but get an average of 7.6 hours of sleep per night. (A recent DSHS student survey revealed that 69% of students receive fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night.)
• Inadequate sleep negatively impacts important brain functions essential to learning processes, including consolidation and retention of information learned during the day, working memory, and performance of abstract and complex tasks involving higher brain function.
• Insufficient sleep in teens is associated with higher rates of obesity and depression, lower levels of motivation and attentiveness, and increased rates of traffic accidents.
• When schools move start times later, research shows that teens do get more sleep and do not simply stay up later, as is often predicted.
• When schools move start times later, research also shows that teen drivers are involved in fewer automobile crashes.

Process

Since February 2015, under the leadership of the Superintendent and the Board of Education, a committee was formed  for the purposes of recommending an implementation plan that would adjust the start times for all DJUSD junior and senior high schools at or about 8:30 am. This recommendation also aligns with the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation to delay secondary school start times. In April 2015 the Board of Education received and accepted the staff recommendation to:

1. increase awareness about the importance of teen sleep,
2. explore a change in secondary schedule format,
3. explore the causes, consequences, and possible remedies for academic pressure,
4. prioritize competing Interests and
5. measure any intervention results.

Since that time DJUSD staff have been working with invested community members on these five areas of exploration through three subcommittees: 1) Awareness, 2) Scheduling, and 3) Measurement.

The Awareness subcommittee has created a Facebook awareness campaign, contributed to the various later start web site resources and worked to secure speakers on this topic (ex. Dr. Czeisler’s forum in November and Deborah Burnett at the Parent Engagement Event in January)

The Measurement subcommittee has created a survey designed for all secondary students which is adapted from several University of Minnesota studies on school start times to measure the baseline and effect of any of our treatments.

The scheduling sub-committee has explored the following areas:

• Disconnection JHS/SHS co-enrollment and the creation of JHS/JHS co-enrollment
• Adjusting JHS start times (at or about 8:30 AM) with no format change
• Limiting the number of Advance Placement and/or Honors courses a student may take per term
• Increasing parent, student, community and staff education around teen sleep
• Policy applications which would result in fewer students on secondary campuses earlier in the morning.
• Schedule format changes at the senior high schools
• Schedule format changes at the junior high schools
• Earlier elementary start times
• Homework policy enforcement and/or revision
• Grade level configuration

On December 17, 2015 the Board of Education, after gathering input from and meetings with secondary school site staffs and administrators, stakeholder groups and the schedule subcommittee; directed:

1. District staff will continue to promote the education of parents, students, staff and the community regarding the importance of sleep for teens and the factors that affect the quality and duration of teenage sleep.
2. In order to allow senior and junior high schools to have independent and age appropriate schedules, the district will work to disconnect Junior High School to High School co-enrollment and create opportunities for Junior High School to Junior High School co-enrollment. This will ensure the viability of the world language program, now made possible through co-enrollment at the High School. This change will occur no later than the 2017-18 school year.
3. Junior High School (JHS) start times will be adjusted to start school at or about 8:30 AM and retain the 7 period format. Start times may be staggered to accommodate for JHS to JHS co-enrollment.  This change will occur no later than the 2017-18 school year.
4. The senior high school campuses (DVHS and DSHS) will spend the next 14 months working to start senior high schools at or about 8:30 AM and ending at or about 3:30 PM. Senior high school schedules will account for co-enrollment between senior high school campuses. This change will occur for the 2017-18 school year, providing senior high staffs the time and opportunity to explore schedule format options, engage stakeholders and participate in relevant professional development as necessary.
5. Elementary principals, staff and parents will be consulted to determine if Elementary times would need to be adjusted to allow for a later secondary start time.

Sites could begin to implement components of any of these recommendations sooner than 2017-18 in order to ease the transition. 

Since December 2015 DSHS has formed a New Schedule Committee which is composed of around 20 staff at DHS. They have meetings scheduled through the spring in order to create new schedule options with staff, student and parent input. Junior High School principals have already begun to meet with their staff’s regarding shifting the start time and JHS co-enrollment. Elementary principals have been consulted regarding potential impacts of later start times. District staff continue to create educational materials and opportunities. District staff are also working on a potential research project partnership with UCD and the University of Minnesota to measure our results.

The district remains committed to receiving input from the later start subcommittees, teachers, staff, parents and students on this important issue.

DJUSD has created a website (http://www.djusd.net/laterstart) to educate staff, students, parents and community members about the impact of sleep on student learning and to gather valued input. You can also follow the later start conversation on the DJUSD Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/DavisJointUnifiedSchoolDistrict) #DJUSDlaterstart

None

Hear an update on the work of the Superintendent's Career Technical Education/Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Arts, and Mathematics Advisory Committee.  No action is requested at this time.  Recommendations will come back to the Board of Education at a future date.

Davis Joint Unified School District holds ongoing efforts to advance academic excellence throughout its curricular offerings.  Davis Joint Unified School District understands the need for students to develop sophisticated technical, academic, critical thinking, and problem solving skill sets that will allow them to flourish in post-secondary endeavors of college and careers.

Davis Joint Unified School District is committed to Career Technical Education (CTE) and Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) preparation as can be noted by the variety and scope of curricula that is offered.  In its efforts to expand, enhance, and improve CTE/STEM offerings, Superintendent Roberson directed special attention toward six specific objectives for the 2015-2016 school year:

• Qualify Davis Senior High School as a national STEM school;
• Integrate STEM thinking in to the school curriculum;
• Increase student interest and participation in CTE/STEM
  courses;
• Design, develop and expand CTE/STEM pathways and offerings at Davis Senior High School and other schools in the district;
• Build a CTE/STEM community support network for students and teachers;
• Seek CTE/STEM related internship opportunities for students

To assist in the efforts, the Superintendent called for a committee to convene for the specific purpose of developing recommendations on how we may best achieve stated objectives.  In July of 2015, a call went out and invitations were sent to stakeholders and individuals with specific expertise in developing, implementing and supporting CTE/STEM programs.   The Superintendent gathered a talented team of Davis teachers, parents, students, UC Davis and community college partners, STEM related business professionals, and other industry leaders. 

The talented group met for the first time on August 18, 2015 and formed our DJUSD CTE/STEA²M Advisory Team.  A list of committee members is included in the appendix of this document.  During the first few sessions, members were asked which additional stakeholders could be invited to benefit the work of the group.  Additional invitations were transmitted and attendance grew helping assure a broad range of stakeholder perspectives were included and that all areas of expertise desired were represented.

Another element of this work is the consideration and guidance of the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards.  Progress towards these standards is expected as part of our Career Technical Education funding.

Finally, it is also important to consider funding support and requirements which is currently available through our Northern California STREAM Pathways Consortium, Central Region Agriculture Education Pathways Grant, and the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant.

This report will provide an update to the Board of Education and includes possible next steps.

1. Per Board of Education direction in March 2015, discontinue Independent Study Physical Education;
2. Continue to offer Independent Lifetime Sports for students engaged in a school sponsored inter-scholastic athletic programs;  
3. Modify course title names and structure for Strength and Conditioning (approve course name changes).
4. Modify Strength and Conditioning course descriptions to Include units on yoga, Pilates and Walking for Fitness in the Strength and Conditioning courses.  

1. Per Board of Education direction in March 2015, discontinue Independent Study Physical Education.   Rationale - This aligns with California Physical Education Standards to have students participate in a balance physical education program.  Additionally, staff does not have the capacity to affirmatively determine that the outside sports activity involves substantive educational content, rather than mere physical participation.  Result - Students participating in outside clubs and organizations would not be able to earn DJUSD credit for these activities. 
2. Continue to offer Independent Lifetime Sports for students engaged in a school sponsored inter-scholastic athletic program.  Rationale – Our California Physical Fitness test result indicate that we have a high level of students that already meet these standards.  This course allows our students to balance their busy schedules when they are in-season for a sport.  It is important to monitor and modify the course by increasing required class time from once every two weeks to one time per week.  Continue the use of School Loop to manage student assignments.
3. Modify course title names and structure for Strength and Conditioning.  Rationale – The student survey indicated a significant level of interest in this course.  Changing the structure and title of the course could attract additional students and remove any hesitation to participate in that class.
4. Modify Strength and Conditioning Course Descriptions to include units on yoga, Pilates and Walking for Fitness in the Strength and Conditioning courses.  Rationale – the results of the student survey indicated a significant level of interest in this area.

None.  Staffing should remain consistent with current levels.  We will update the Board of Education on any staffing needs based on student requests as we review enrollment and staffing in the spring.