11/16 Highlights: Richmond College Prep
Welcome to Board Watch for WCCUSD’s November 16th meeting!
Our congratulations flags were flying this week as we celebrated our schools, board members, and students!
Honors and farewells were given to board members Randall Enos and Todd Groves. Riverside Elementary, one of 16 schools from WCCUSD, shared the learning plan that led to its recognition as a Gold Ribbon School, and Richmond College Prep’s charter petition to extend its services from K-6 to K-8 was approved. We also learned of a new partnership between WCCUSD and the office of State Representative Tony Thurmond with the goal of reducing housing costs for teachers in our communities.
To explore the full meeting agenda, click here.
Honoring outgoing board members Randy Enos and Todd Groves
Former Superintendent Bruce Harter and many members of our community attended this week’s meeting to honor outgoing board members Randall Enos and Todd Groves. Both Mr. Enos and Mr. Groves served WCCUSD in many capacities, in addition to serving on our school board from 2012-2016. Join us in congratulating and thanking Mr. Enos and Mr. Groves for their commitment to our kids!
To read the full list of trustee Enos’ accomplishments, click here.
To read the full list of board member Groves’ accomplishments, click here.
Riverside Elementary awarded Gold Ribbon School Award
Christine Hatcher, Principal of Riverside Elementary, delivered her school’s presentation on the academic strategies that led to Riverside’s achievement. She described the work of Riverside’s COST (Coordination of Services Team), that collaborated to deliver three tiers of academic support to all students. Ms. Hatcher noted that much of Riverside’s success stems from being “preventive rather than reactive to the needs of students.” By analyzing academic data and collaborating to find solutions for different student groups in advance, Ms. Hatcher’s team spurred tremendous growth and personalized learning opportunities for Riverside students. Congratulations!
We encourage you to check out Riverside’s report, which provides many effective teaching and organizational strategies for our schools and families.
Richmond College Prep Material Revision from K-6 to K-8
Near the end of this week’s meeting, we heard from several representatives of one of WCCUSD’s charter schools, Richmond College Prep (RCP), on the school’s academic results, fiscal responsibility, and school climate measures. In the previous week, RCP had presented its petition to the board to extend its services from K-6 to K-8 over the next two years. The board then convened and discussed the matter before hearing this week’s presentation.
After a lengthy discussion on Wednesday, the board voted to grant RCP a “Material Revision” that allows the school to extend its services to 7th graders in 2017-18 and 8th graders in 2018-19. Central to the discussion was the idea of sharing RCP’s successes within the district.
To see RCP’s full presentation to our board, click here.
Action item on Teacher Housing
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, making teaching in WCCUSD a difficult financial balancing act for many educators. Until recently, federal and state low-income housing tax credits could not be granted to specific subsets of the population such as teachers or district staff to help offset the high cost of living here.
Now, in the state of California, there is a new funding opportunity available through the Teacher Housing Act of 2016. Under this law, developers can receive tax credits for designing and building housing specifically for teachers and district staff. With the superintendent’s support, WCCUSD may be able to utilize this new provision to make teaching in our district a more affordable reality.
A representative from State Rep Tony Thurmond’s office presented the plan for beginning this partnership. The board will deliberate on next steps with Representative Thurmond in the coming months.
To read a full description of the Teacher Housing Act of 2016, click here.