Summary
District staff announced several classified hires, an instructional leadership visit to a high-performing site, classroom and facility observations from board members, use of an online AP Calculus curriculum by a teacher despite district textbook approval, and a staff-only active shooter preparedness training schedule.
Bear Valley Unified administrators used the board’s open session to announce new classified hires, describe a district instructional leadership visit to a high-performing site, and outline upcoming staff safety training.
The district named several new classified staff: a classified hire at Big Bear High School identified as a military veteran; a districtwide custodian, Mark Scott; an English-learner aide at North Shore Elementary, Samantha Ruiz Levano; classroom aides Jessica Jaffe and Brenda Pedrosa at North Shore Elementary; and a special education aide, Adam Guzman, described in the record as assigned to Big Bear Middle School (the transcript also references Baker Middle School in the same passage). The personnel announcements emphasized new staff backgrounds such as hospitality experience, childcare experience, parenting/volunteer experience and specialized behavioral-health training.
Superintendent-level remarks (as recorded in open session) said district leaders, principals and the instructional leadership team visited Fallsville so principals could observe classrooms and discuss practices at what the speaker described as one of the district’s highest-achieving sites.
During governing board member reports, at least one board member said back-to-school nights at several sites “went well” but raised a set of operational observations: he described a new sound system at North Shore Elementary that staff are still learning to use and said the middle-school system was easier to hear. The same board member said he toured science labs at the high school and found some classrooms visually “sterile” with minimal displays on the walls.
The board member also recounted an AP Calculus classroom exchange: he said the teacher told parents, “I don't use it. I use calculus.flippedmath.com,” in reference to a district textbook that the board previously approved "by law." The board member praised the online resource, saying the program “beats any text book that we could possibly have approved” and recommended Desmos as a free graphing option for students. The transcript shows the board member noted the district had purchased new graphing calculators but suggested many students can use phone-based apps instead.
On school-safety training, a board member advised the board that elementary school staff would receive an active shooter preparedness presentation the following day; middle and high school staff were scheduled for the same presentation on Sept. 15. The member described the sessions as staff-only, awareness-and-response presentations (not scenario-based drills), selected after a county vetting process and intended to reflect current research and practices.
Ending: The items reported in open session ranged from routine personnel announcements to instructional observations and safety-training scheduling; several items described operational adjustments (sound-system use, classroom presentation, and curriculum resources) that district leaders and site staff said they would continue to address.
