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Laurel Dell principal highlights test-score gains, attendance improvements and new garden pilot
Summary
Laurel Dell Elementary principal Jimmy Lopez told the San Rafael City Schools board the school posted gains on ELPAC and other indicators, reduced chronic absenteeism and will pilot a daytime gardening program for kindergarten students.
Principal Jimmy Lopez presented a school report to the San Rafael City Schools Board of Education on Jan. 13 describing academic progress, attendance improvements and new student programs at Laurel Dell Elementary School.
Mr. Lopez framed the presentation around the school's Site Plan for Student Achievement (SIPSA) Goal 1: student success. He gave a short school profile, described the instructional priorities and cited specific assessment gains for multilingual learners and other student groups.
Principal Jimmy Lopez said classroom staffing totals 13 classroom teachers (12 assigned on site and one working at the Early Learning Center). He reported an 8.2% share of students with individualized education programs and notable recent gains on reading-related measures: the percentage of English learners advancing at least one ELPAC proficiency level rose from 48.6% to 55.7% year to year. He also reported group-level gains on local benchmark scores: English learners increased about 4.9 percentage points year over year; Hispanic/Latino students increased roughly 7.9 points; and economically disadvantaged students rose about 8.8 points. Lopez attributed progress to aligned grade-level collaboration, small-group instruction and family outreach.
On attendance, the principal said chronic absenteeism declined from roughly 22.2% (2022–23) to about 11.6% in the most recent year; he credited office outreach, home visits and positive-attendance strategies such as a regular recognition program. Lopez noted math achievement had declined between the two most recent years by about 9.5 percentage points and described plans to apply the same language-development strategies used successfully in reading to raise math outcomes.
Programs and next steps
Mr. Lopez outlined several school initiatives: a kindergarten garden pilot to move gardening activity from after school into the regular school day, expanded grade-level alignment and collaboration, newly formed student council (grades 3–5) and ongoing parent outreach on attendance. He said the school is using intervention cycles of roughly six to eight weeks for small-group support and that intervention teachers pull students for targeted instruction.
Trustees asked about the relationship between ELPAC proficiency and SBAC English language arts performance; Mr. Lopez said higher LPAC (ELPAC) levels typically correlate with stronger SBAC outcomes and that the school sees stronger speaking/listening gains than reading/writing for long-term English learners. Trustees also praised the garden, student council and the school's community art projects and requested invitations to upcoming events including a mural ribbon-cutting.
Ending
Trustees thanked Principal Lopez and school staff for the work on attendance and language development and encouraged continued outreach and reporting on program results. Principal Lopez said the school will follow up with program details and invitation dates for the garden and mural events.
