District outlines Apex credit-recovery framework as union raises cease-and-desist, credentialing concerns

District staff presented a proposed framework for using Apex as part of a credit-recovery model on June 10 and defended teacher involvement and program safeguards, while union leaders and educators raised immediate concerns about credentials, bargaining-unit work and program quality.

"Apex is just one tool of it," a district presenter said, outlining a plan to align Apex courses to the district catalog, provide counselor guidance and ensure teacher oversight. The presenters said the goal is to keep students on their home campuses rather than sending them to alternative sites, and that the district has created a staff guidance document, an AI-literacy-style scope and an online resource for families.

The union Medea, represented by Linda Ortega, said in public comment that her organization has issued a cease-and-desist over aspects of the program and listed specific concerns: assigning bargaining-unit work outside the unit, underemploying credentialed teachers, assigning teachers as teacher of record without their knowledge, and inadequate training. "We cannot jeopardize our members' credentials," Ortega said, asking trustees to pull the item for further discussion.

District staff answered questions and offered usage data to explain how Apex has been used. They reported that 859 graduates had Apex on their transcripts in 2024–25; 73% of students with Apex earned 30 credits or less through it, and less than 1% earned more than 60 credits via Apex. Summer enrollment data showed roughly 1,709 students currently accessing Apex, with about 1,939 enrollments across courses. The presenters said in-school supervision and credentialing remain in place and that the district will bargain with the union on implementation details.

Teachers and parents at the hearing raised pedagogical concerns: a teacher argued that some courses (for example, science labs) cannot be replicated online without losing hands-on experience. "There is ample opportunity for slacking off or abuse with this," one teacher said, urging serious discussion about program effectiveness.

The board did not adopt a final policy at the June 10 meeting; staff said they will continue work on the credit-recovery framework and negotiate with Medea where required. Trustees asked staff to develop robust counselor involvement, monitoring and guardrails to prevent misuse and to ensure credentialed instructors supervise original-credit and credit-recovery courses.