Your Feedback Wanted on Novato School System, Priorities

The Novato Unified School District is seeking community input on local schools, and are asking people to fill out a survey to weigh in.

NUSD distributed a message Tuesday, highlighting a new "local control accountability plan" and correlating survey.

The survey asks things like "What can we do to better prepare our students to be ready for college and/or the workforce?" and " What keeps your students engaged and interested at school? What can we do to keep our students actively engaged and interested in their education?"

Here's a message that was sent out Tuesday from NUSD Superintendent Dr. Shalee Cunningham:

The State of California is embarking on a new and exciting change in education beginning this year. Changes include Common Core instruction, the integration of technology in the classroom, and a new state funding model. School districts will be required to write a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) which will align spending with student learning. In the 2014-15 school year, our funding model will be directly aligned with the local needs of the school community.

In a continued effort to reach out to our community for feedback about our schools, we are conducting a survey and have included a link for your convenience (LCAP Survey 2014).  It is also available in Spanish.  This survey will also go out to our staff and our high school students, and be available in hard-copy for families who do not have access to the internet.

Mark your calendars for May 14 at 5:00 PM in the District Office for a Community Meeting. This will be an opportunity for us to share the data we have collected from the community, as well as a time to hear from you about the services you would like to see for our students. Translation will be available.  The LCAP report we are writing requires a focus on three areas:

• Conditions of Learning
• Pupil Outcomes
• Engagement

Within those areas are eight essential elements we will address:

8 Priority Areas:

1. Basic Necessities: teachers must be fully credentialed, instructional materials must be available to all students and align with state standards and facilities must be safe.
2. Implementation of State Standards: this includes Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math, Next Generation Science Standards, English language development, history social science, visual and performing arts, health education and physical education standards.
3. Access to Courses: ensures students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers, regardless of what school they attend or where they live.
4. Student Achievement: programs are designed to improve student outcomes along multiple measures, including test scores, English proficiency and college and career preparedness.
5. Other Student Outcomes: this relates to required areas of study, including physical education and the arts.
6. Parent Involvement: parents are engaged in the decision-making process and the educational programs of students.
7. Student Engagement: this addresses improvement in the areas of student attendance and tardiness.
8. School Climate: measures students' connectedness to school through a variety of factors, such as suspension and expulsion and determines actions for improvement.

Please share your feedback on the survey and join us at our community meeting in May.

Thanks so much,

Dr. Shalee Cunningham

Superintendent