The September School Board Meeting involved welcoming the new student board member, various public comments and a presentation regarding the Capistrano Unified School District’s recent accomplishments.
Beginning with roll call, Katherine Verrando (12), a student at Aliso Niguel High School, was welcomed as this year’s Student Board Member.
She shared, “I am honored to serve as the student board member for the Board of Trustees for the 2024-2025 school year. Thank you to the board for this opportunity. I look forward to learning from your expertise and gaining insight into the important work that you all do. As I step into this role, I am committed to representing the voices and concerns of the CUSD students. I believe that every student’s voice matters and I am here to support all student’s needs and ideas.”
Next came Superintendent Brown’s comments, where he welcomed everyone back to school and mentioned the new communication system called “Talking Points.” Select schools are utilizing this platform to strengthen the relationship between school communication and attending families.
Moving on to the public comments, several speakers mentioned the Employee Summer Assistant Program. This program involves funds from the state that will go toward district workers over the summer. To qualify, employees have to be making less than 62 thousand dollars a month.
Another public speaker, Dr. Sherine Smith, former principal of Aliso Viejo Middle School and former teacher, commended the schools for the hard work they put towards Back to School Night.
She shared, “I’m just here to commend the schools on the wonderful Back to School Nights they had. Speaking as a former teacher and principal, I know how much work and preparation goes into getting ready for Back to School Night. From the classified staff who are making sure the school looks spick and span, to the teachers who are there prepping their classroom and making sure they’re ready to talk with parents, and the administrators, of course, who are leading the schools.”
Next up was Mary, a retired teacher, who inquired about how the schools plan to respond to the increase in “behavioral problems that are bringing chaos.” She recalled policies enforced by President Obama that reduced suspension rates, which was considered largely unhelpful for teachers.
The next speaker was Luca, who called out Trustee Bullockus for using the personal information of parents in the school district for personal gain. She requested that Trustee Bullockus resign immediately.
Next up came the district accomplishments, presented by the education and support services. They noted significant improvements regarding the access and rigor of the Advanced Placement courses. Over the past year, there has been a 1.6 percent increase in students taking AP tests, a 2.9 percent increase in the number of exams taken and a 7.4 percent increase in the exam pass rate. Overall, 84.8 percent of all CUSD AP exams were passed.
It was also recorded that 80.6 percent of socioeconomically disadvantaged students, 80.3 percent of English-learner students, 78.3 percent of Hispanic students and 72.4 percent of students with disabilities passed their AP Exams.
The September School Board Meeting brought to light various issues concerning families in the school district and concluded by congratulating schools on their impressive statistics regarding AP exams.
