District reports meeting state local indicators but flags lower connectedness among older students

Dr. Benavides presented the El Monte City School District's 2025–26 California School Dashboard local indicators at the June 15 board meeting and said the district met the standard across the five required local indicator areas.

The presentation listed foundational strengths that helped the district meet standards: 100% of teachers were appropriately credentialed and assigned, all students had standards-aligned instructional materials, and school facilities were maintained in good repair. Dr. Benavides said these supports inform the district's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).

Board members focused questions on priority six, school climate. Dr. Benavides reported that 70% of fifth-grade students reported feeling safe at school while 64% of seventh-grade students did so; 69% of fifth-grade students reported feeling connected to their school compared with 59% of seventh graders. He said the district used California Healthy Kids Survey data for this year's report and will conduct focus groups next year to explore reasons behind the lower connectedness among older students and to design targeted interventions.

Board member Mr. Segrest (phonetic spelling in transcript varies) said national media coverage of violent incidents may influence how students respond to safety questions; Dr. Benavides cautioned that some survey responses reflect feelings about travel to and from school rather than in-school safety and reiterated the plan to dig deeper with focus groups to clarify student experiences.

The presentation concluded with staff noting that the local indicators will inform LCAP goal-setting and future planning.

The board moved on after the exchange; no formal policy action was taken at the time of the presentation.