❒ Annual plan includes measurements for student performance, goal setting

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Superintendent of Benicia Schools Janice Adams on Thursday will present each school’s Single Plan for Student Achievement to the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District for its approval.

The plan is designed to “create a cycle of continuous improvement of student performance, and to ensure that all students succeed in reaching academic standards set by the State Board of Education,” Adams wrote in a report to the board.

Every year the School Site Councils — which include the principal, teachers, parents, classified employees and, at secondary levels, the students — develop the SPSA.

Six steps are required by Site Councils in crafting the plans:

1. Measure effectiveness of improvement strategies at the school.

2. Seek input from school advisory committees.

3. Reaffirm or revise school goals.

4. Revise improvement strategies and expenditures.

5. Recommend the approved SPSA to the governing board.

6. Monitor implementation of the SPSA.

“The plan must be amended and approved by the local governing board at least annually and whenever there are material changes that affect the academic program for students at the school,” Adams wrote.

Also Thursday, Chief Business Official Tim Rahill will present to trustees the 2014-15 Governor’s Proposed Budget, which was released Jan. 9. Among Brown’s proposals is a $10-billion boost to Proposition 98 funding, and continuing to implement the Local Control Funding Formula, which provides school districts with additional dollars to help educate low-income students, English learners and students in foster care.

On the consent calendar is approval of three field trips.

• Joe Henderson Elementary School fifth graders will go to Mission Springs from Feb. 11-14 for an outdoor educational science-based camp that correlates with fifth-grade science standards.

• Joe Henderson fourth graders will go to Coloma Outdoor Discovery School from Feb. 3-5 for an outdoor educational camp that simulates life during the Gold Rush Era.

• Benicia High School seniors will go to Disneyland May 21-22 for their senior graduation trip.

In other news, Resolution 13-14-09, to authorize Adams to contract for emergency heating system repairs at Robert Semple Elementary School, was approved at a special emergency meeting Dec. 23.

Trustee Steve Messina motioned to approve the resolution with a $50,000 spending cap, and Trustee Peter Morgan seconded. The motion was approved 3-0, with trustees Gary Wing and André Stewart absent.

If You Go
The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in closed session, and at 7 p.m. in open session at the Benicia Unified School District Board Room, 350 East K St.