The AUSD School Board has highlighted an increase in elementary school attendance. Many students are now attending school, and parents have been encouraged to enroll their children in the district.
The ausd website is a news article that highlights the increase in elementary attendance.
Superintendent says COVID-19 levels have stabilized.
ATASCADERO — ATASCADERO — ATASCADERO — The School Board of Trustees of the Atascadero Unified School District (AUSD) met in regular session on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7:00 p.m., with nothing to report from closed session.
Linda Preston and Randy Poudrier were honored at the start of the conference for exemplifying the core principle of excellence. Preston’s commitment as a substitute teacher during the first four weeks of school, while a full-time Kindergarten job remained vacant, was recognized by San Gabriel employees and families. Poudrier was well regarded by his peers. Assistant Superintendent Curt Eichberger stated, “Randy is one of those workers you can always count on.”
Monterey Road Elementary School Principal Julie Ann Davis announced her school’s slogan for the 2021-22 school year, “Keep calm and gallop on!” coupled with a treemap of “Positive Behavior Systems,” objectives for rewarding acting “the mustang way,” a treemap of student success, and a positive reinforcement scheme for kids fueled by “mustang money.”
We’re going to get through this together, Atascadero
Davis praised the board for approving the installation of extra counselors to all Atascadero Elementary Schools last spring. Davis also expressed gratitude to her school’s instructors.
“Coming off of the past year and a half, I couldn’t be more pleased of my teachers,” Davis said. “I am very pleased of their commitment to constantly strive for greatness and their hard work. Our kids are able to achieve because they work as a team.”
Principal Davis established a collaboration with One Cool Earth, where students engage in outdoor learning at least one day a week, with the aim of attaining the school’s highest score in student competency ever.
“All of our green practices are being retrained with our students,” Davis added. The school’s garden as well as spanking new surf desks, which enable pupils to study while sitting on the grass outdoors, are examples of outdoor learning environments. Last week, the surf workstations were delivered.
The focus of the discussion then shifted to public comments.
The first speaker was Katie Fullerton. She voiced her dissatisfaction and shame about the High School pool’s timetable. She said that she had a freshman kid who is a member of the water polo team at his high school.
“Everyone has a pool but us,” Fullerton remarked. She then questioned Superintendent Butler about the progress of the designs, to which he replied that the drawings had just returned from the architect and will be presented to the Department of State Architecture for approval in October.
Board President George Shoemaker reminded all parties that since the pool was not on the agenda, it could not be addressed in depth at this meeting.
Riley Rocha, an Atascadero High School sophomore, ASB member, and class officer, was the next speaker. Rocha discussed the high school’s clothing code as well as the new bell.
Rocha said that she has received complaints from students who have expressed concerns to ASB about the existing clothing code, claiming that it is “one-sided” and prejudiced towards females. She also claimed that the clothing code has not altered since the turn of the century. Rocha talked particularly about dress code wording that bans students from exposing their breasts, midriffs, or thighs, and claimed that these requirements make it difficult to obtain apparel that complies with the dress code in shops.
The conversation then turned to the new school bell, which Rocha brought up. According to Rocha, several students have complained that the new bell is difficult to hear and that the previous bell is superior. “It’s simply not working out,” Rocha said. “It’s something we need to address.” Rocha recounted a time when she was late to one of her courses after a break because she had not heard the bell ring.
Lauren, a junior “and a proud part of the student body” at Atascadero High School, was the next speaker, speaking on the school’s clothing code as well as “the treatment of females in this system.” “I don’t believe the parts that are highlighted in the dress code, such as the stomach, shoulders, collar bone, and thighs, are inherently sexual,” she said. She claimed that forcing girls to cover these places may have the opposite impact than intended, and that the existing code is “calling out that those are things that females should be embarrassed of.” Lauren said that clothing is an important component of self-esteem, particularly for adolescent females, and that telling them to cover up these areas may be harmful to their mental health. Lauren also addressed the apparent dress code disparity between boys and girls, pointing to a picture on the High School’s website of three shirtless guys at a football game with “AHS” inscribed on their chest.
Following that was the Superintendent’s Report. Superintendent Butler provided an update on Coronavirus counts, which are “trending in a very positive direction,” according to him.
There were 32 positive kids, 0 positive staff members, and 0 fatalities on the first day of school.
There were 17 positive pupils, six positive staff members, and no fatalities during the week of August 23-29.
There were 16 positive pupils, two positive staff members, and no fatalities during the week of August 30 to September 5.
There were 17 positive pupils, two positive staff members, and no fatalities during the week of September 6 to 12.
There were 15 positive pupils, two positive staff members, and no fatalities during the week of September 13 to September 19.
“It’s certainly stabilized now that we’ve returned from summer,” Butler said, “and I want to remind everyone that the statistics I’m providing are based on 4,634 staff and students, so it’s a very small percentage.”
Butler then went on to provide a summary of the Job Information Night that had taken place earlier in the day, thanking Assistant Superintendent Eichperger for arranging it. “I was ecstatic with the quantity of people,” Butler recalled, “but I was blown away by their quality.”
Butler then mentioned a meeting of the Parent Advisory Committee that took place last week. A handful of parents on that advisory committee have been major supporters of the outdoor furniture and have been sharing the innovative solutions they’ve discovered for outdoor learning applications, such as the new surf workstations, with all of the sites and PTAs. “Those are incredible!” said a delighted Butler. “It’s been a great collaboration with parents from all across the district to obtain additional outside spaces.”
“It gives me great pleasure to inform the trustees that the Atascadero Lighthouse Afterschool Program has returned!” The Atascadero Lighthouse Foundation and the Greyhound Foundation collaborated on the initiative to offer healthy afterschool activities, mainly for elementary children.
Grow, Cook, Eat from One Cool Earth is an activity in which students learn about gardening and healthy cuisine; Building Computers is an activity in which students disassemble and reassemble computers to understand how to construct them; and Active Games, Just for Laughs, Book Club, Bicycling with K-Man Cyclery, and Art are some of the activities available.
“Parents, watch for those sign-ups!” Butler said, adding that the programs travel from school to school. We hope you will join us.”
He then went on to the subject of student conduct, implying an event or perhaps series of occurrences using the app TikTok and a famous “challenge” that includes causing damage or stealing in public areas. Butler urged parents to keep an eye on their children’s gadgets and reminded everyone to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Be courteous. Kindness is important.” “Some of our kids have put themselves into a situation that isn’t in their best interest right now,” he said.
“One of the downsides (social media applications) might be TikTok,” he said. Those difficulties are unacceptable, and I like what I’m hearing from the high students. They’re all nodding their heads. Right on the money. Thank you for your assistance.”
He then urged parents to “speak to their kids about respecting our school property and other public assets… ” We don’t want our kids to be distracted by a social media frenzy, so I’m asking our parents to join us—I know you will—in supporting our students in a good way.”
Finally, Butler praised Nicole Hider, CAPS, and the whole team for a fantastic event that generated “$57,000 that will go into our classrooms, supporting amazing experiences that our teachers have created for all of our students throughout the district.”
Following the board members’ reports, each board member thanked Preston and Poudrier, Principal Davis, and each of the members of the public who spoke throughout the evening’s oral communications.
“This entire TikTok thing—life is nothing if not choices, right?” remarked Trustee Tami Gunther. We may sometimes get carried away by what I refer to as a herd mentality. It’s not up to us to make the choice; it’s up to us to follow the herd, so kudos to the youngsters who are thinking for themselves and making smart judgments. I hope that individuals who made a mistake or made a bad choice learn from their mistakes soon and do not repeat them, and we appreciate the parent support in working with us to put an end to it.”
Gunther also stated that she would be attending her first in-person California School Board Association (CSBA) Board Meeting this weekend and will report back to them at the next meeting.
Following that, the evening’s Action Items were discussed, and the minutes from the Sept. 7 meeting, as well as the Consent Agenda, were overwhelmingly accepted.
Jackie Martin, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, talked about enrollment. She delivered the good news that enrollment was more than expected, but the bad news that it was still lower than anticipated.
“We had 4,397 kids last year, and we have 4,353 kids as of last Monday,” Martin added. “The good news is that we only expected 4,285 kids, so we’re 68 students ahead of schedule for this school year; but, we’re down 44 students from last year.”
She then debunked the myth that this year’s attendance is unimportant owing to a “keep harmless” provision.
“Our funding will not change this year because we are on a hold-harmless from the 2019-20 year when enrollment was 4,600 kiddos,” Martin explained, “but the lower our attendance is this year will impact next year and possible reductions down the road because of that huge decline, so we do want to try to keep our attendance as high as possible so that we can continue to provide to our students those specialized services,” Martin added.
Martin then emphasized San Gabriel’s “amazing growth,” which was much more than expected. This year, all of Atascadero’s primary schools saw an increase in enrollment over the previous year, which Martin found “interesting.” When compared to the previous year, all of Atascadero’s secondary schools have shown a decrease in enrollment.
The evening came to a close with a unanimous approval of a resolution granting the Superintendent authority to engage into certain contracts.
At about 8:12 p.m., the meeting was adjourned, and the next meeting is set for Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.
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The atascadero high school calendar 2020 2021 is a brief article that highlights the increase in attendance at the elementary school.
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