Nevada County Board of Education: February 2023
On February 8, 2023, the Nevada County Board of Education (“NCBOE”) trustees met and voted on the following items. Members Louise Johnson, Susan Clarabut, Timothy May, and Julie Baker were present while Heino Nicolai was absent.
Consent Agenda
The present trustees passed the consent agenda, which approved the previous meeting minutes and also approved the School Accountability Report Card (“SARC”) for 2021-22 for both Earle Jamieson Educational Options and Nevada County Special Education (TKM Child Development Center). The purpose of a SARC is to make sure the community has up-to-date information on the reporting school. The information includes a list of teachers without credentials or any misassignments, credentialed teachers assigned out of their field, curriculum descriptions, financial data, demographic data, and more.
Earle Jamieson
The SARC for Earle Jamieson provides a short description: “This school is for 6th-12th grade students who have been expelled from a local middle or high school, or placed through the School Attendance Review Board process, and/or placed by the juvenile probation department. All students receive classroom and individualized instruction to assist them in improving their academic and behavioral skills, as well as establishing consistent patterns of attendance.”
According to the report, during the 2021-22 school year, total enrollment was seven students. To serve those seven students, Earl Jamieson employs five people: the principal (Amy Brooks), one full time teacher, a 0.6 FTE RSP (Resource Specialist Program) teacher, an instructional aide, and a school site secretary. FTE means full-time equivalent, so 0.6 FTE is an employee who is hired to work 60% the time of a full-time employee.
The report claims that staff totaling 1.1 FTE are teachers without credentials and misassignments, as noted in the SARC. The California Department of Education calls teachers without credentials or who are misassigned as “ineffective teachers.” A teacher who is misassigned “holds a teaching credential but does not possess a permit or authorization that temporarily allows them to teach outside of their credentialed area.” A teacher without credentials is “an individual who holds no credential, permit, or authorization to teach in California.”
Staff totaling 0.4 FTE are considered credentialed teachers “out-of-field.” According to the California Department of Education, an out-of-field teacher is “a credentialed teacher who has not yet demonstrated subject matter competence in the subject area(s) or for the student population to which he or she is assigned.”
Nevada County Special Education
Eli Gallup is the associate superintendent of special education. The SARC for Nevada County Special Education states, “we are a team of 80+ equity-minded educational leaders, comprised of the following sub-groups: Administration, Leadership Team, Case Managers/Education Specialists, Related Service Providers, Registered Behavior Technicians, Paraeducators, and Administrative Support Staff.”
During the 2021-22 school year, there were 52 enrolled students. Some demographic data is provided; for example, 84.6% of enrolled students were male, and 40.4% of enrolled students were socioeconomically disadvantaged. For those 52 students, Nevada County Special Education employs teaching staff totaling 12 FTE. The Chronic Absenteeism chart lists 59 total enrollment as opposed to 52 listed in the Student Enrollment by Grade Level chart, with no explanation for the discrepancy included in the report.
Comprehensive Safety Plan
The present trustees then approved the Comprehensive Safety Plan for Earle Jamieson Educational Options, Sierra College Child Development Center, TKM Family Resource Center, and the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools (“NCSOS”) Office.
This 69-page plan, dated March 2023, says its purpose is “to identify and respond to incidents by outlining the responsibilities and duties of NCSOS and its employees.” The first half of the document deals with organization, assignment of responsibilities, communications, preparedness, and other topics related to emergency management. The last half of the document consists of “functional annexes” (e.g., school climate) and “hazard- and threat-specific annexes” (e.g., flood, earthquake, wildfire, active shooter).
The plan says that to help prevent intruders on school grounds, “NCSOS will recommend sign-in sheets and name tags to be worn in a visible location. Name tags will be filled out by office staff and visitors will return to office to sign out and return name tags.”
In the event of an active shooter on campus, the plan offers seven bullet points: alert (report the incident), lockdown (barricade entry points), inform (superintendent to inform school sites), counter (counter the attack by confusing the attacker), evacuate (create distance from the intruder), run-hide-fight protocol, and recovery (psychological healing).
Resolution 23-01
Board member Heino Nicolai was absent from the January 2023 meeting due to jury duty, and so this resolution was approved by the other four board members to allow Nicolai to get paid for that month’s service since it was an approved absence.
According to the resolution, giving Nicolai an excused and paid absence is in accordance with NCBOE policy number 9000 and Education Code 1090, finding that he was ill, on jury duty, absent due to hardship deemed acceptable by the board, or performing services outside of the meeting on behalf of the board.