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Public commenter urges LCAP to fund school nurses, requests objective SELPA evaluations and raises inclusion concerns about Unique Learning Systems
Summary
A public commenter who served on the LCAP advisory committee urged the board to ensure a $1.1 million proposed LCAP increase for health services includes actual school nurses, requested language requiring objective evaluation rubrics for SELPA leadership, and warned that the Unique Learning Systems curriculum software can create barriers to inclusion for students with disabilities.
During the public comment period on June 4, community member Misty Hamlin, who said she sat on the district’s LCAP advisory committee, urged the board to ensure that proposed LCAP increases for health services translate into additional school nurses and not only other health expenditures. "We did see there was an expansion in the allocation for $1,100,000 in the proposed budget under the health services," she told the board, and asked trustees to "keep an eye to see that that allocation does include actual nurses within that budget." Hamlin said the advisory committee voted 61.5% to expand the budget for school nurses and health and safety.
Hamlin also described CAC’s (Community Advisory Committee) recommended language for the district’s local plan that would require the superintendent’s cabinet to be responsible for selection, direction, monitoring, discipline and annual evaluation of the SELPA administrator and director of special education based on an objective rubric, to be approved by the board and implemented no later than the 2025–26 school year. She said executive cabinet declined to add the language and cited California Code of Education section 5619(a) and local plan section b6 as part of her rationale for the CAC request.
On a third topic, Hamlin raised concerns about Unique Learning Systems, a districtwide curriculum software used to modify content for students with disabilities. She argued that current implementation can be discriminatory and create barriers to inclusion when IEP teams default to the software rather than aligning modifications to the same general education curriculum, and urged greater collaboration between general and special education staff to ensure access.
Board members and staff acknowledged the comments. Superintendent Buenrostro and staff noted an increase in proposed health services funding and pledged to provide clarity in budget documents; staff also said they will review the CAC recommendation and the district timeline for piloting and implementing objective SELPA evaluation tools.
