Sequoia Union reports gains on California School Dashboard, flags English‑learner progress as ongoing challenge

Diana Wilmont, the district lead on accountability, told the Sequoia Union High School District board on Jan. 15 that the district’s 2024 California School Dashboard showed measurable improvement across several indicators but that English-learner progress remains an area of concern.

Wilmont said the district moved its overall English language arts and math indicators into the green category, with English language arts status 52.8 points above standard versus 44.6 the prior year and math improving from yellow to green. She said college-and-career preparedness held steady at about 62%, while the four‑year graduation rate remained high (about 90.7% this year, down slightly from 91% the year prior). Suspension rates improved from 3% to 2.6% overall, and no subgroup is now in the red for suspensions.

But Wilmont and other staff emphasized that the English Learner (EL) Progress Indicator declined — from roughly 38% the prior year to 33.2% — and that long‑term ELs are clustered in the orange category. Staff said two dynamics are in play: a larger share of newcomers among EL students and changes in subgroup composition due to reclassification efforts. Wilmont noted that moving the long‑term EL subgroup from 33% to 35% would require a two‑percentage‑point gain.

The LCAP midyear update that followed described actions intended to address those gaps. Jared Dully, executive director of student services, and Dr. Elizabeth Chone, assistant superintendent of student services, outlined interventions including hiring bilingual community liaisons, expanded case‑manager training to support students with disabilities taking state assessments, and targeted Canvas coursework and incentives to boost CAST participation and preparedness. The district also plans to reopen a restorative-practice task force this spring to reduce disproportionality in suspensions and to continue monitoring reclassified students for four years after reclassification.

Presenters highlighted several site‑level successes: Redwood reported reductions in dropout rates and said it had secured more than $300,000 in Equity Multiplier Funds to support counseling and a bilingual resource teacher; East Palo Academy said a bilingual resource teacher helped raise LPAC performance at that site from about 39.2% to 55.3% and logged roughly 1,600 visits to its new well‑being space.

Board members requested more longitudinal analysis to compare the growth of the same cohorts of students over time rather than cross‑year comparisons of different cohorts. Trustees also asked staff to provide school‑level breakdowns by subgroup and to return with more detail on drivers behind the math improvement and the suspension declines.

The midyear budget snapshot presented with the LCAP showed projected general fund revenue of about $242 million, total general fund expenditures budgeted at about $263 million, LCAP‑included expenditures of $10.97 million, and midyear actual LCAP expenditures of $5.3 million as of Dec. 31, 2024.

The board accepted the LCAP midyear report for informational purposes; the presentation will inform ongoing planning and the 2025–26 LCAP timeline.