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Upper Lake school boards approve unification feasibility report; final resolutions to be voted on in June
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – During a joint meeting Wednesday night, board members from the Upper Lake Union Elementary School District and the Upper Lake Union High School District voted unanimously to approve a final report on the feasibility of unifying the two districts.
That sets the stage for the two boards to hold separate meetings next month, at which time they will consider approving resolutions to unify.
About a dozen people – including parents and board members from the Lake County Office of Education – attended the Wednesday meeting, which ran just under an hour at the Upper Lake High School cafeteria.
The two boards first met last summer to discuss the possibility of unifying.
That initial meeting led to the boards holding five more joint meetings, beginning in January, to work through nine criteria that the California Department of Education mandates be considered as part of the unification process.
Those criteria address having an adequate number of pupils enrolled, district organization based on community identity, an equitable division of property and facilities, potential for segregation and discrimination, no substantial cost increases to the state, having a sound educational system in place, no significant increase in school housing costs, that unification is designed for purposes other than significantly increase property values, and that bringing the new district would be fiscally sound.
Analysis of those criteria carried out by Upper Lake High School Principal/Superintendent Patrick Iaccino, Upper Lake Elementary Principal/Superintendent Valerie Gardner, Lucerne Elementary Principal/Superintendent Mike Brown – whose district isn't taking part but which is a feeder school for the high school – along with the districts' business managers, makes up the report, which can be seen below.
The document concludes that the feasibility study “shows adequate justification to unify Upper Lake Union Elementary School District and Upper Lake Union High School District based on the analysis of the criteria.”
While there is only criterion not substantially met – the first, that the new district must have at least 1,501 students enrolled – Gardner reported during the meeting that the districts have been assured by a state Department of Education representative that the unification could still move forward, and that recent consolidations in other parts of the state also have involved small districts with total enrollment under that target number.
“The study goes on to show that both districts are financially sound and will continue to be so upon unification,” the study said, adding that the newly formed district won't result in a substantial increase in state costs.
Before discussing the feasibility report, the boards heard from several parents, most of whom indicated support for the proposed consolidation.
Angel Huntley said she supported it because she believed it would help the districts better use resources.
Kalyn Noble read from a list of questions she said she formulated after talking to parents and community members.
The questions included whether sports, music and arts, and foreign languages would be available if the districts combined; if older students would be available to mentor younger students; where liability would fall and would it cost less; whether parents who reach out for support would get it; and if students would be offered the resources they need.
“Will joining together as one make us stronger?” she asked, adding, “As we lose more and more students every year, maybe change is necessary.”
Jaleen White, who went through the Upper Lake school system, is guardian for her nephew, who is now a student in the middle school.
Her concern was that her nephew is having less opportunities as a student than she did, and she suggested that unification would help students get a better education, “which everything should lead to.”
She added, “A lot of people are discussing leaving Upper Lake,” and looking at Lakeport and Kelseyville. White said her nephew wants to leave the district “because he wants to be challenged academically.”
Janine Fernandez, another former student who now has a child in eighth grade, told the boards, “Being one district, there would be a smoother transition from one school to the next, all the way through.”
Board discusses feasibility report
During a brief discussion of the feasibility report, Upper Lake Elementary Board member Don Meri asked about the study's statement that students would remain at current school sites. He asked if that wasn't a decision that the new board for the unified district would determine.
Specifically, Meri asked if eighth graders might be moved to the high school.
Iaccino said it was a good question, and he said in his nine years in his job one of the greatest fears he's encountered relates to moving seventh and eighth graders to the high school.
He said he has had that discussion with his board because, when looking at facilities in general and the best way to serve students, it's important to look at all the options.
In such a situation, seventh and eighth graders can have access to high school courses. However, Iaccino said, “To me, that's more a community issue,” and it's a long process to go through, including a lot of work at the negotiation table.
Iaccino said it's an option. “I would tell the community, don't ever take the options away from yourselves.”
During the discussion, Upper Lake High Board member Rich Swaney said the discussion of unification arose as the district tried to think outside of the box because its current business model wasn't working.
Meri pointed out of that model, “It used to work.”
Swaney said things are different from when he was a child, and the community isn't stagnant. He said the school system wasn't at the top of its game now.
Gardner emphasized that the unification doesn't change where children go, and that they don't need new facilities or a move of students to make the unification happen.
“It's really clear that there is nothing different,” she said.
Upper Lake High Board President Keith Austin pointed to the need to develop better plans for articulation between the lower and higher grades.
Gardner said when she thinks of articulation, it's not just about academics. It also is about common professional development for teachers, and for addressing bullying and improving social skills.
She said it's a tiered approach, with every single grade level building on each other all the way through.
The boards voted unanimously to approve the feasibility report before taking up the discussion of the amended unification timeline, which it also approved.
The timeline calls for the Upper Lake Union Elementary School Board to hold a meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at the middle school to consider approving a resolution to unify and the criteria report.
The following week, at 6 p.m. June 10, the Upper Lake High School Union High School Board will meet to consider its own version of the documents.
If those resolutions are approved by the two boards, the resolutions would be submitted to the Lake County Office of Education by July.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg must vet the documents before submitting them to the Lake County Board of Education, which – sitting jointly as the Committee on School District Organization – must hold its own public hearing process on the unification proposal this summer.
The resolutions, reports and recommendations must then be submitted to the State Board of Education.
While officials have been aiming at being on the state board's September agenda, Gardner told Lake County News following the Wednesday meeting that the unification may not make the state board agenda until November.
However, she said that isn't expected to impact Falkenberg's appointment of an interim board by December, with the new unified district expected to come into being in the 2016-17 school year.
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