Rocklin Unified board hears 2025 California Dashboard update; approves school plans and early-retirement offer

The Rocklin Unified School District board on Tuesday reviewed the state'issued 2025 California Dashboard showing overall district strengths, then approved site-level school plans for 2025–26 and a district offer for an early retirement plan aimed at right-sizing staffing amid declining enrollment.

Hannah Anderson, the district's director of innovation, school programs and accountability, told trustees that RUSD remained in the green performance band for English language arts and maintained strong math results "with 19.7 points above standard" on average. Anderson highlighted other dashboard findings: a 6.8 percentage point increase in English learner progress (64.1% of English learners made progress), a 2.6% suspension rate in the yellow band, and a 97.5% graduation rate, which she described as a regional high.

"The overarching purpose of the dashboard is to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement," Anderson said during the presentation, which also reviewed new science and long-term English-learner indicators and explained how the state computes "distance from standard" measures used on the dashboard.

Board members asked detailed questions about how the district shares best practices across campuses, how it handles smaller student groups that do not generate a color on the state dashboard, and what the district is doing to address disproportionately high suspension rates for foster youth and African American students. Dr. McDonald described a targeted approach for science after seeing declines, including a 12‑teacher work group, two days of professional development this month and a planned follow-up in April.

After the presentation, trustees approved the school plans and SARCs for the 2025–26 and 2024–25 years. The motion to approve the school plans was moved by Trustee Rochelle Price and seconded by Trustee Michelle Sutherland and passed by roll call with all trustees voting yes.

Votes at a glance

- Resolution approving Rocklin Teachers Professional Association early retirement plan (item 9.1): motion moved by Trustee Tiffany Sadoff, seconded by Trustee Derek Counter. Roll call: Rochelle Price — yes; Tiffany Sadoff — yes; Michelle Sutherland — yes; Derek Counter — yes; Julie Hupp — yes; Lucas Marquardt (student board representative) — abstained. Outcome: approved.

- Approval of 2025–26 school plans for student achievement and 2024–25 School Accountability Report Cards (item 9.2): motion moved by Trustee Rochelle Price, seconded by Trustee Michelle Sutherland. Roll call: all voting trustees present voted yes (student representative Lucas Marquardt also recorded a yes). Outcome: approved.

What it means

District staff said the dashboard and school plans will inform LCAP actions and targeted interventions for student groups with gaps. Anderson said data are used in site-council and principal-led planning and that district education-services leaders work with principals to share strategies and supports. For groups with multi-year declines, the district plans differentiated interventions and follow-up visits by coaches and program specialists.

Next steps

Anderson said she will return to the board February 4 with a midyear LCAP update and a deeper review of college-and-career readiness indicators and other student-group trends. Trustees directed staff to continue using dashboard data to shape site plans and to bring follow-up reporting to future meetings.