School Board Sets Sights On Student Health

The agenda was extensive on the night of Sept. 14 regular meeting for the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education. 

Held in the district's administrative building located at 25 Churchill Avenue, the meeting began with a closed session starting at 5:30 pm followed by the open session at 6:30 pm with the public in attendance. 

Board President Barbara Klausner opened the meeting that included Vice President Melissa Baten Caswell and board members Barb Mitchell, Dana Tom, and Camille Townsend. Joining the board members at the podium/stage were Superintendent Dr. Kevin Skelly and Student Board Representatives Sophie Keller of Gunn High School, (ranked 135th out of the top 1,600 schools nationwide by Newsweek magazine) and Pierre Bourbonnais of Palo Alto High School (Paly placed 444th on "The List" for only 6 percent of all the public schools in the United States).

After approval of the consent calendar and conducting a brief public hearing on the certification of availability of textbooks the board moved on to the bulk of the meeting covering action, discussion, and information items. The first of these, Action 6, involves the 2010-11 District Focused Goals, created during an early August staff retreat, introduced at the board's Aug. 24 meeting, amended, and reintroduced at the Tuesday night's meeting. 

"Improve student connectedness and strengthen support systems for student social, emotional, and physical health," (Area A, Goal 1 of the plan) is what the board has chosen to focus on, said member Camille Townsend.  

The concept of "student connectedness" and the goals themselves were spurred by the sudden rash of four suicides occurring within the district last year. The goals center around the district and school site responsibilities to keep students involved with their peers and staff. 

Board members and Caswell and Klausner spent a good portion of time asking for clarification and further details regarding specifics pertaining to certain sections of the Focused Goals for 2010-11. 

While the goals crafted at the retreat were super specific, it was the board's idea to make the language broader, thereby giving a wider base from which numerous courses of action can spring from, explained Dr. Skelly. 

"Goals are our North Star. The seas could change," said Tom, but the district will stay on course "as long as there are activities helping us get to those goals."

The nearly two hour long discussion of the 2010-11 District Focused Goals was followed by the presentation of the ending balance for the 2009-10 school year as well as the budget update for 2010-11. Co-Chief Business Officer Cathy Mak, who created the budget report along with Co-CBO, Dr. Bob Golton, 

Although the district has had to make fiscal adjustments to stay afloat unlike most California school districts, Palo Alto has not had to lay off a single teacher in order to maintain a balanced budget. To keep its ducks in a row, the district discovered a budget savings of $187,069 in the special education program, a benefits and salaries reduction of $227,115, and a savings in contributions to Student Nutrition Services of $65,348.