Planning for the future | Sierra Star

Last year, the Bass Lake Unified School District developed a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), which drives the direction a school district heads. LCAP is a three-year plan, and at the end of each year, a review is done to check progress, add new goals, and begin another three-year plan.

“This has been a great process that has made our planning of future programs for our students even more effective,” Bass Lake Superintendent Glenn Reid said.

The goals for 2014-15 were:

• All students will be provided with high quality instruction and learning opportunities that will prepare them for success in college and the workplace.

• All students will be taught by highly qualified professionals in a clean, caring and secure environment.

• All students will have access to quality intervention programs and enrichment activities with an emphasis on individualizing academic challenges for all.

• All stakeholders will be engaged in the learning process by promoting opportunities that strengthen the skills, competencies and abilities of students, parents, staff and community.

One way to determine if these goals were being met is through a parent survey. There were 128 responses, 23 with students attending OCI; 55 with students attending OES and Wasuma each. Survey results included 85% agreeing that their child’s school is clean, attractive, and in good repair; 85% agreeing that the school provides adequate instructional supplies to support student learning; 86% agreed that teachers and school staff care about their child’s well-being; 81% agreed that the school works with parents as partners in their child’s education; and 90% agreed that their child’s teacher is accessible and responsive to both the child and parent.

On the other hand, 24% disagreed that the school works to meet the individual academic needs of their child; 21% disagreed that the child has a regular and reasonable amount of homework assigned; 20% disagreed that the school adequately communicates with parents regarding activities and events at school; 21% disagreed that the school keeps them well-informed of the child’s academic progress; and 28% disagreed that the school provides extra-curricular activities that engage the child in school activities.

“The information that we gain from the surveys (both last year and this year) has allowed us to assess the areas that our constituents think we are doing well in and the areas where we need to re-dedicate our efforts,” Reid explained. “In some cases, where parents disagreed, policies, procedures and programs are already in place that address their concerns. Obviously the district has not done as good a job as we would have liked in communicating the fact that these services may currently be available to our community. The survey results - both positive and negative - really help us zero in on those areas where we need to communicate more effectively about what we do with the children we work with.”

Other district news

Several years ago, Oak Creek Intermediate was given a state grant to hook-up to Hillview Water, rather than using its own wells, which require consistent monitoring and constant testing.

The feasibility study was just completed by a Fresno engineering firm, and the school will now seek the construction funding portion of the grant, which will allow Hillview to come in and switch the drinking fountains, sinks and toilets over to its water system.

OCI has two wells located on the school grounds, and this water will be used for irrigation purposes. Oakhurst Elementary School switched over to Hillview in 2011.

“We’ve had no problems at OES since the switch-over,” explained Reid. “But the drinking fountains are turned off and each classroom has bottled water. Hillview may say that their water is perfectly fine to drink, but that’s not the public’s perception, and to address those concerns, we thought it prudent to supply bottled water. It’s the safest way to go for our students.”

Once OCI switches over to Hillview, they too, will have bottled water in the classrooms.