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Students honored and a teacher urges student-led cost savings at Claremont Unified board meeting
Summary
The board recognized a student for an ACSA award and the CHS girls cross country team; a public commenter proposed expanding student roles to replace consultants and suggested schedule changes that could increase ADA revenue and free funds for teacher pay.
Trustees opened the meeting by recognizing student accomplishments and hearing a public comment urging internal cost savings.
Superintendent Dr. James Elsasser and the Claremont Management Association introduced Mariah Cifuentes of San Antonio High School as this year's recipient of the ACSA "Every Student Succeeding" award, commending her academic recovery, dual-enrollment credits and volunteer work in media production. Claremont High School principal Dr. Mitchell then led recognition of the CHS girls cross country team for winning the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship and recording one of the fastest team finishes in school history.
During public comment, Claremont resident and Claremont High School personal finance teacher David Sawhill urged the board to solicit cost-saving ideas from inside the district. He offered several examples of student-led substitutes for consultant and temporary-contract work, and estimated a schedule change could save about $14,000 per semester. "By ending our final exam schedule with periods 3 and 6 rather than 5 and 6, our ADA will increase by $28,000 per year," he said, and suggested students could be paid stipends or given class credit for tasks such as media production, marketing and tech support.
Board members thanked the students and staff recognized and heard the public comment; no formal action was taken on the speaker's proposals during the meeting.
