By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
With the beginning of the 2013-14 school year less than a week away — students at all city schools have their first day of class on Wednesday — the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet Thursday for the first time since June.
But even as trustees convene for their first meeting after summer hiatus, all eyes will be on next week’s launch of Benicia High School’s new closed campus policy.
In a change from longstanding policy, this school year only seniors in good standing will be permitted to leave the campus during lunch. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will all be required to stay on campus.
The change comes after a lengthy study of alternatives to the open campus policy led by Principal Damon Wright.
“We’ve worked hard to get the cafeteria up to speed,” Superintendent Janice Adams said.
“We have more stations open for the kids, so they don’t have long lines. We’ve got more picnic tables and seating for them.”
The school’s custodial staff has been increased, too, she said, since there will be more students on campus during lunch.
“We’ve done a lot to get prepped for it,” Adams said. “I think it’s going to work well.”
On the topic of keeping students on school grounds, Adams on Thursday will present for trustee approval a resolution aimed at curbing student absenteeism.
Resolution 13-14-02 is a countywide initiative that states that chronic absence — defined as a student missing 10 percent or more days of school, whether the absences are excused or not — affects student achievement as early as kindergarten.
Chronic absence in kindergarten is associated with lower academic performance in first grade for all children, the resolution states.
It further states that schools can reduce chronic absence through site-based strategies such as having an attendance data team regularly review patterns of chronic absence by grade, classroom and sub-population; and by educating parents that attendance is important beginning in kindergarten, as part of an outreach to the families of chronically absent students.
“One of the most significant indicators of school success is attendance in kindergarten and first grade,” Adams wrote in a report to the board. “Establishing a pattern of good school attendance as early as preschool, increases a student’s academic achievement, chances of graduating high school, and college attendance.”
Adams will also ask the board to consider and approve Resolution No. 13-14-01, which approves Benicia’s Safe Routes to School (SR2S) task force’s recommended projects.
Noting that Benicia City Council approved the SR2S local plan update in April, Adams wrote that $100,000 in federal grant money — along with a $14,000 match from the city — has been earmarked to construct SR2S projects.
The SR2S task force recommended $38,000 go toward new sidewalks in the vicinity of Robert Semple Elementary School; $38,000 to widen sidewalk landings and new crosswalks across Dempsey Drive and the entrance to the parking lot adjacent to Matthew Turner Elementary School; and $38,000 to install a flashing beacon on Southampton Road in front of Benicia Middle School.
The task force also recommended that any remaining funds be used to construct wider sidewalk landings on Southampton Road in front of the middle school.
If You Go
The BUSD Board of Trustees will meet Thursday at 6 p.m. in a closed session, and in open session at 7 p.m. in the district board room, 350 East K St.
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I am glad they are allowing Seniors to leave the campus. We need to encourage their transition to adulthood. I hope they really can properly accommodate the students staying on campus as the cost and space for that was what led to the current situation.
I am not so keen on the SR2S task force, I went to their meeting. They totally neglected major issues with the E. 2nd and Hillcrest/Rankin corner behind Robert Semple. The view for drivers turning that corner is blocked and the sidewalk from that corner to the front entrance to Robert Semple is incomplete forcing parents and students to walk on the street in the very location turning drivers cannot see whenever the school fails to unlock the back gate, which happens quite frequently. They wanted to make the road in front of Robert Semple one way feeding in from Hillcrest but gave no consideration to the fact that doing so would back traffic far up and on to E. 2nd street and force many parents to drive back around the school simply to go back down Hillcrest again to reach their homes or go all the way down to fifth street. I am not against this idea but they need to have the traffic flow in the opposite direction feeding in from E S ST. That road is far longer and that leaves people three different ways to turn into areas in which many of them live when they leave the school. They wanted to put a sidewalk on E S St for off loading students which most parents would tell you is never going to be used because being sane we want to see our kids walking into school not leave them next to a public parking for carpools, a heavily forested area, and having to walk on or around a field of grass to get to campus. They were far more interested in paving the horse trail that students were using to exit Mathew Turner, which made little sense to me as the ground there is stone hard, has gravel placed on it, and is only wet a few days a year. It seems they walked the areas but not during the time students were using them nor did they talk to parents and students about the how they arrive and exit the school. What bothered me was some of the board seemed enamored with their ideas while seemingly tuning out what we as parents were commenting on.
Hang in there, Robert; there’s always hope for improvement as long as parents such as yourself remain involved.