The principals of Benicia Unified School District’s middle and high schools will go over the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) at each of their sites at Thursday’s school board meeting.

SPSAs are put together by school site councils to develop goals that support the academic performance of all students and are aligned to BUSD’s Strategic Plans and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The principals of Benicia’s secondary goals will be presenting their SPSAs for board approval.

Benicia High School’s SPSA highlighted a variety of goals. The first goal was to improve school culture and student-staff relationships, which would be measured through an increase in students’ Relationships, Effort, Aspirations, Cognitions, Heart (REACH) scores from 63 to 70 percent by June 2018. The second goal was to have the students increase the school’s overall English Language Arts (ELA) score on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) from 73 percent meeting or exceeding standards in 2017 to 78 percent in 2018. Likewise, the third goal was to increase the amount of students exceeding or meeting standards on the math portion of the SBAC from 52 to 55.6 percent. Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt also highlighted a long-term goal for the school to increase the number of students exceeding or meeting math standards on the SBAC to 70 percent by June of 2022, which would require a growth of 3.6 percentage points each year for the next five years.

Another goal for Benicia High is getting at least half of all Benicia High teachers to become regular users of technology— i.e., incorporating it into instruction at least three or four times a week— by June, which would be measured through a self-assessment survey.

Liberty High School’s SPSA will be delivered by Principal Zachary Pless and highlights four goals for the school: increasing the percentage of students scoring proficient on the CAASPP math or ELA exams from 25 to 30 percent by June, increasing students’ positive feelings toward their peer in their Advisory period from 72 to 82 percent by January, increasing student-staff relationship scores on the REACH survey from 59 to 69 by April and decreasing the percentage of chronically absent students from 58 to 48 percent by June.

Finally, Benicia Middle School’s SPSA will be delivered by Principal Damian Scott and highlights three goals: increasing literacy proficiency on the SBAC from 51 to 56 percent, increasing math proficiency on the CAASPP from 47 to 52 percent, and increasing the percentage of students and parents who feel the school “provides a safe and supportive learning environment” from 80 to 85 percent. The school is aiming to reach all these goals by September 2018.

After each presentation, board trustees will provide their comments and vote on whether or not to approve the SPSAs after all presentations are concluded.

In other matters, the board will vote on a resolution to deny youth access to cannabis through storefronts and commercial cultivation in Benicia. At the last meeting, the board held a study session in response to the city’s proposed ordinance regarding cannabis sales in Benicia. Superintendent Dr. Charles Young recommended— among other things— that dispensaries be excluded at First Street and the Southampton Shopping Center, the sale of edibles made to resemble food or candy be banned, and that funds from taxes and state revenues be provided to BUSD for prevention education and substance abuse counseling programs.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 in the Benicia Unified School District Board Room at the district building on 350 East K St. There will be an earlier closed session at 6 p.m.

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