NUSD Superintendent Weekly Update For April 16 – Plans For 2021-22, Graduations, Committee 7-11, CrisisGo And More

Press release from the Novato Unified School District:

April 16, 2021

Dear NUSD Family,

"As we move past spring break, end of year activities and planning for next year begin to come into greater focus. We will start today’s end of week communication with those two key topics.

Topics included in today’s update are:

• Graduation, Promotion and End of School Year Events
• Plans for 2021-2022
• Expanded On-Campus Learning
• 7-11 Community Circles at Lu Sutton, Lynwood, and Rancho
• CrisisGo and the Yellow Tier
• Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Development
• Virtual Learning Academy Newsletters

Graduation, Promotion and End of School Year Events

We are working closely with Marin County Public Health to determine current and anticipated guidance for the remainder of this school year. Our administrative team had the opportunity to attend a virtual meeting on this topic just this morning and we will share information on this important topic next week.

Plans for 2021-2022

NUSD plans to return to a pre-pandemic schedule for the 2021-2022 school year. As with other topics, we are asking Marin County Public Health to predict the guidance they anticipate being in place in August upon our return. Either with or in the absence of that guidance, we are taking steps to make this happen safely for our students, staff and community. We will provide more details as we move through the spring.

Expanded On-Campus Learning

This week marked a dramatic expansion to our on-campus learning time for students. At a minimum, the on-campus learning time doubled for our students. I want to thank all of our teachers and staff members who worked so diligently to make this happen. I also want to thank the Novato community for the sacrifices they have made in order for us to find ourselves in a place where we can do this safely.

7-11 Community Circles at Lu Sutton, Lynwood, and Rancho

NUSD held Community Circles with the Lu Sutton, Lynwood, and Rancho communities this week. These meetings were held through Zoom Webinar and saw high participation. Additionally, we utilized a live Thought Exchange process to capture questions and thoughts and allowed the school community to rank those thoughts and questions. This format allowed the NUSD team to answer all participant’s thoughts and questions. Videos of these meetings will be shared on the 7-11 Committee webpage by April 16, 2021. We appreciate everyone who participated in the meetings and who shared their thoughts.

CrisisGo and the Yellow Tier

Since NUSD began bringing students back to our campuses in October, we have relied on parents completing a daily CrisisGo survey for each NUSD student. CrisisGo has served us well as we navigated through the purple, red, and orange tiers. It has also placed a burden on our parents and staff.

As Marin County nears the yellow tier, minimal transmission within the county (Less than 2.0 daily new cases per 100k residents, less than 2.0% positive tests for the entire county, less than 2.2% positive tests for health equity quartile), we are preparing to stop using CrisisGo. The day Marin County officially exits the orange tier for the yellow tier, we will stop using CrisisGo. We will communicate these important changes to you as we near that date.

Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Development

Each year, public schools are responsible for reviewing and updating their Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP is designed in three-year cycles, and the Novato Unified School District is in the process of writing the 2021-2024 plan. This three-year district-wide plan focuses on state and local priorities, and outlines the goals, actions, services, and expenditures that support the well-being and achievement of students.

In addition, the LCAP provides an opportunity for school districts to share their stories of how, what, and why programs and services are selected to meet their student’s needs. The Education Services Team has hosted two of four LCAP Advisory meetings in partnership with Education Trust West who support’s Novato’s equity goals. This advisory team consists of the NUSD Equity Blueprint Team, the NUSD Parent Advisory Committee (PAC), and the NUSD Student Advisory Committee (SAC). Every school has a parent and student representative to ensure equity of voice. Input is also provided by the District English Language Advisory Committee (DELAC) and NUSD staff.

Throughout the LCAP development process, multiple stakeholder groups have the opportunity to learn about the LCAP plan and budget, provide feedback on current and past actions, prioritize where funding should be allocated in the future, and give the Education Services Team recommendations to guide the 2021-2024 plan.

Virtual Learning Academy Newsletters

Here are links to this week’s VLA newsletters:

Elementary – April 15, 2021

Middle School – April 15, 2021

We hope the first week of expanded on-campus learning went well for each of you and your children."

Sincerely,

Kris Cosca

This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.