Jefferson Union board reviews 2026 local indicators showing gains in A'G completion, raises concerns on credentials and safety data

The Jefferson Union High School District board on Tuesday received a detailed presentation of the district's 2026 local indicators, a required self-evaluation that officials said shows meaningful progress on college-preparatory access and mixed results on teacher credentialing and school-entry supports.

Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services Karine Baka told trustees JUHSD reported 198.9 teaching full-time equivalents for the 2023'24 school year. In the credential-status breakdown the district cited 81.1% of assignments as "clear," 2.8% as "out-of-field," 1.3% as interns, 8.2% as "ineffective" (a category used in the published data to indicate missing or inappropriate credentialing) and 4.3% as incomplete. Baka credited district human-resources work, led by Director Luhan, with improving verification and assignment practices.

"We've been diligent in making sure that our teachers are assigned to the right courses," Baka said, while noting some out-of-field assignments occur when an immediate staffing need arises.

The presentation also highlighted curriculum and standards work. Dr. Lori Robinson, who led the segment on implementation of state standards, described ongoing pilots and adoptions across subject areas: a common-literature pilot in English, an upcoming biology pilot after formal chemistry and physics adoptions, and a district'level math pre-pilot led by a teacher advisory group. Robinson said the district is emphasizing instructional practices that build student agency and collaborative problem-solving rather than only changing the math content itself.

On student climate, staff cited results from the California Healthy Kids Survey (the transcript label read "Healthy Good" survey): caring-adult indicators for 11th graders rose from about 60% in 2022'23 to 67% in 2024'25, and 11th-grade perceptions of safety increased from 60% to 74% over the same span. Ninth-grade results trended lower (caring-adult responses from 59% to 54%; safety from 63% to 58%), prompting staff to emphasize transition supports for incoming high-school students.

Baka and Robinson said district A'G completion rates improved from 44% (class of 2021) to 58% (class of 2025). The presentation included school-level figures the staff reported for the class of 2025: Oceanana 80%, Jefferson 66%, Tteranova 63%, Westmore 47% and Thornton 2%. Officials noted persistent gaps for some student groups, including students with disabilities and, at some sites, English learners.

Trustees used the discussion period to press staff on details that could affect planning and equity work. Questions included how often out-of-field assignments persist, how and when schools engage families of incoming ninth graders, why math curricula evolve and how the district tracks parental use of tools such as ParentVUE. Staff responded that the published credential data come from the California Department of Education for 2023'24 but that the district also uses current local systems for operational planning; they agreed to provide additional usage metrics (for translation/interpretation services and wellness-counselor contacts) in a meeting recap.

Trustees and staff agreed on two practical next steps: continue student listening sessions to surface the reasons behind survey responses (especially safety concerns) and provide the board with supplemental operational data (real-time credential checks and language-line usage) to inform LCAP priorities.

The board did not take action on the indicators themselves; staff noted the presentation underpins the separately adopted 2026'27 LCAP and related budget decisions voted later in the meeting.