Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Board held the open session of its regular meeting November 4, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the District Office. The Board heard an update from the Fillmore High School (FHS) Principal, approved a higher Developer Fee, discussed middle school math, and honored Bill Herrera.

FHS Principal John Wilber reported on the WASC accreditation process, school achievement, teacher collaboration, school safety, and parental involvement. The teachers and staff are collaborating to find solutions to problems with grades, tardiness, and discipline.

FHS has historically had a relatively high number of D and F grades among Freshmen and Sophomores, particularly in Math and English courses. There are 197 students with a grade point average (GPA) below 2.0. There are over 1100 students, and almost all students have six classes. Although the number of students with D's or F's was not available, Assistant Principal Ellen Green said that 84% of the grades are C's or better, 9% are D's, and 7% are F's. Staff are considering and testing systematic solutions to the problem. Teachers have agreed that the grades are low due to unfinished homework and unfinished class assignments. Board Member Virginia De La Piedra noted that in an informal poll conducted last year, students essentially admitted that their homework was not done because they were lazy. FHS is implementing after-school tutorials, contacting parents, and clearly explaining the grading requirements to students. FHS has also been brainstorming ideas and researching methods used at other schools. Wilber noted that a school in Ventura instituted 60-minute lunch periods, and students who did not have their homework done were required to spend 35 of those minutes in class. According to Wilber, one Ventura mother said that her student went from a GPA of 1.38 to 3.5 after this policy was adopted. FHS students must have at least a 2.0 GPA and a minimum number of credits to participate in extracurricular sports.

FHS is struggling with tardy students. Staff are calling parents of tardy students and limiting tardy student's access to rallies, dances, and football games when detentions have not been served.

Wilber mentioned efforts being made to promote school safety: a drug-sniffing dog and metal detectors have been used; and FHS is tightening its dress code, dance rules, and cell phone usage limits.

Wilber presented a report showing that there are 136 FHS and Sierra High School students enrolled in Ventura College (VC) classes being held on the FHS campus. FHS's policy is to encourage student to take college courses while in high school by accepting college course credits in lieu of FHS credits. Wilber explained that this policy helps students to realize that college is within their reach. Sometimes FHS class sizes are smaller because students are enrolled at VC instead, but FHS has never reduced course offerings due to VC attendance.

FHS is undergoing both a WASC accreditation review and a curriculum audit this year. Wilber presented the Board with the WASC Visitation Schedule, and invited them to attend WASC-related events during the visitation, which will run from November 16th to November 19th. According to Wilber, FHS teachers have been using collaboration time to address the WASC accreditation process, which requires them to gather information about student achievement, teacher collaboration, intervention methods, parental involvement, school safety, and school climate. The collaboration has been meaningful for the school because it aligns with FHS and District goals. Teacher collaboration has led to some changes. There is a new PE course for students who are not performing well on physical fitness tests. Math teachers are re-teaching units that students have not yet understood. Counselor Norma Sandford has been meeting with parents of 11th grade students who failed to pass the exit exam last year. Some of those students took the exam again on November 4th.

Wilber has decided to develop other indicators of success to measures student improvement besides standardized tests. He has created a draft listing those indicators' available statistics for the past four years. The indicators include graduation rate, discipline statistics (e.g. number of suspensions due to fights), statistics about student's grades and GPA, Advanced Placement test passage rates, AVID enrollment levels, extracurricular participation, post-graduation college enrollment rates, and parent attendance numbers at Back to School Night, Site Council meetings, and English Learners Advisory Committee meetings. He does not yet have data going back four years on many of these indicators, but hopes that downward and upward trends can be identified so that FHS will be able to make appropriate changes.

The Board and San Cayetano Elementary School Principal Jan Marholin honored Bill Herrera of State Farm Insurance as someone who lived up to the motto: "Be the Change". Herrera assisted Marholin in applying for a grant which he had brought to the District's attention. State Farm awarded the $1,500 grant to Marholin's "Books by Kids for Kids" project. The project prints books that elementary students have written and distributes the books to hospitals and doctors' offices for other children to read.

A Fillmore Middle School (FMS) math teacher presented textbooks for Board approval. FMS wants to use textbooks from the same publisher across grade-levels to provide consistency for the students. The books come with CD's for each student, and the teachers' editions come with video and PowerPoint lessons. The books will be on display for 30 days before the Board approves them.

The Board voted to approve a higher Developer Fee based on the School Facilities Needs Analysis report presented at the last meeting. According to the report: "1,177 new housing units are expected to be constructed in the next five years. . . . The product of the projected number of residences and its associated Student Generation Rate yields an estimated 242 new students to be generated by new construction not covered by alternative funding. The District has inadequate space for 183 of those pupils." Analysis indicated that the Developer Fees needed to be increased to $6.05 per square foot.

The Board approved for FMS (Grades 7 and 8) an eight-page list of fundraising snack items that meet health requirements: not more than 250 calories per item, not more than 35% total calories from fat, not more than 10% total calories from saturated fat, and not more than 35% total weight from sugar.

Assistant Superintendent Evalene Townend introduced a new Employee Security policy. The Board must decide whether FUSD employees would be allowed to carry pepper spray, and what limits to apply to its possession and use.

The Board received a Quarterly Report on Williams and Valenzuela Uniform Complaints. There were no complaints from July 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008. A letter to the Board indicated a recent routine inspection visit to San Cayetano and Piru found no problems.

The District has accepted a bid to fence in the rest of Mountain Vista Elementary School.

Superintendent Jeff Sweeney had attended a Marzano professional development seminar.

According to Assistant Superintendent Mike Bush, California's current year deficit is eight billion dollars, and Governor Schwarzenegger wants four billion of that to come out of the education budget.