Paramount Unified board approves audit, bond certification and several policies; schedules March governance study session

The Paramount Unified School District board voted unanimously on multiple action items at its regular meeting on Jan. 15, 2025, approving the district’s 2023–24 fiscal audit, certifying bond-election results and adopting several policies.

During Business Services, external auditors from CliftonLarsonAllen reported an unmodified opinion on the district’s financial statements and no federal compliance findings for the tested programs. "An unmodified opinion is the best opinion you can have," Priscilla Osborne Flores told trustees; the audit presentation also noted an emphasis-of-matter paragraph related to a corrected accrued-interest figure and disclosed a subsequent reduction in a previously reported penalty amount.

Trustees moved and seconded routine consent items and then took individual action votes: Resolution 2442, declaring February 2025 as Black History Month, passed; Board Policy 6112 (the school day) was accepted on second reading and adopted; the board declared results and certified the processing of school bond elections held Nov. 5, 2024, and established a Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee; and the board accepted the 2023–24 annual audit. Voting was recorded as unanimous on the items presented.

Board members encouraged public participation in oversight: "I highly want to encourage the community to be a part of our oversight committee," one trustee said during the bond-item discussion, urging residents to apply to serve. The board also scheduled a governance study session for March 5 (6–9 p.m.) to continue governance work and set a separate study session on Feb. 19 to review facilities and bond impacts.

The meeting ended at 8:45 p.m. with a motion to adjourn and a memoriam for longtime district employee Dolores "D" Stevens and student Amari Johnson.