Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Early Education And Staff Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board asked to approve pre-K funding amendment and curriculum partnerships
Summary
District curriculum leaders requested board approval to accept additional state pre-K funds and to partner with external organizations for staff coaching and workshops; the items were presented as consent items with funding source and program details described.
Woodland Hills School District curriculum staff asked the board Jan. 15 to approve an addendum to the district’s Pre-K Counts childcare collaboration agreement after the state added $500 per student to Pre-K Counts funding.
Dr. Wilson, head of curriculum, told the board the district has four Pre-K Counts classrooms that the district directly runs (18 students each) and a fifth classroom run by a private partner, Heritage, with 18 students. "The state gave us an extra $500 per student," Dr. Wilson said. That increase covers the district's 72 seats plus the partner-run 18 seats for a total of 90 Pre-K Counts students. Dr. Wilson said the addendum is needed so the district can pass an additional $9,000 to Heritage (18 students x $500) as a passthrough amendment to the partner’s budget.
The curriculum tab also included several partnership requests: approval to partner with the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) for school leader coaching; approval for a full-day NMSI content workshop for one department on March 21 (staff said they will ask department chairs which department will participate); approval to partner with Complete You at no cost to help the college-and-career center with a future-ready plan; and approval to partner with Community Foundation Consulting to provide “True Colors” professional development for principals and assistant principals.
Why it matters: the Pre-K Counts funding increase provides a direct per-child boost to pre-kindergarten classrooms and allows the district to pass the partner portion to Heritage. The NMSI and other partnerships are presented as staff-development investments intended to improve instruction and school leadership.
Details and clarifications: Dr. Wilson said the district serves 90 children in Pre-K Counts across five classrooms (four district-run, one partner-run). The Heritage passthrough amount stated for the additional $500 per child equals $9,000 for the partner classroom, and not other funding amounts. For the NMSI content workshop, Dr. Wilson said the board’s approval is sought first and department chairs will be asked to volunteer; the district has funding for one department workshop now and expects more in the future.
Board procedural notes: these items were presented as part of the curriculum consent tab; board members asked clarifying questions but the transcript does not show a separate roll-call vote on each item during this agenda-setting meeting.
Ending note: staff characterized the Pre-K Counts amendment as a "home run" because of the additional funding; the board was asked to approve the addendum so the district can submit required paperwork to the state and complete the passthrough to Heritage.
