At the December 14 meeting of the Sacramento City Unified School District Board, the Board recognized two groups of Stellar Students.

• 13 students taking a physics class at New Tech High School recently won a $5,000 grant prize for identifying a problem with regard to Climate Change, and then researching and presenting a solution. This project was completed in partnership with the City of Sac Parks Commissioner. The New Tech High School students who collaborated on this project are DJ Bonner, Efrain Cardenas Garcia, Mekhilyn Durr, Carlos Leon, Caleb Macon, Miranda Navarro-Miranda, Brianna Perez-Contreras, Iris Ramirez, Miguel Ramon Perez, Angel Ramos-Parra, Jontae Wilkes, Joseph Williams, and Teresa Yrungary.

• The girls and boys Cross Country teams from Miwok Middle School participated in the middle school national championship meet, held in Louisville, Kentucky.  This was the first time any school from the Sacramento City Unified School District had participated in this meet, which attracts top level middle school teams from throughout the United States. The Miwok Middle School girls team finished in 5th place. The boys’ team came in first and were named the 2023 Middle School National Champions.

The Board took action to approve the appointment of Rodney Moore as the District’s Chief Legal Counsel, Shannon Pella as Deputy Chief of Academics, and Diane Wiley as Principal of New Joseph Bonnheim Elementary School.

The Board received informational updates on two topics:

• Youth Development Support Services which provides various programs such as Expanded Learning (before, after and summer programs), American Indian Education Program, Youth Employment, College Mentors, and Enrichment Activities. These programs are funded by After School Education and Safety (ASES) grant, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (K-8) grant, 21st Century After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) grant and Expanded Learning Opportunities Program grant.
   
• English Language Advisory Committees (ELACs), which support the needs of English language learners. ELACs must be formed at any school site with 21 or more English learners (ELs). ELACs include parents and staff and are responsible for assisting in the development of schoolwide needs assessment and ways to make parents aware of the importance of regular school attendance. They also advise principals and staff in the development of a site plan for ELs and submit the plan to the school site council for consideration for inclusion in the School Plan for Student Achievement.

The Board took action to review and approve the District’s First Interim Budget, which was rated positive by the District’s fiscal staff.

The Board also assigned committee assignments for Board members and elected Board officers. The Board elected Lavinia Grace Phillips to serve as Board President, Jasjit Singh to serve as 1st Vice President, and Chinua Rhodes to serve as 2nd Vice President.

More detail on these items can be found in the Board Meeting Agenda Packet for December 14, 2023, available at https://www.scusd.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/december_14_2023_agenda_packet.pdf

For more information about the SCUSD Board of Education, including the schedule for future Board meetings and to submit a public comment at future meetings, please visit https://www.scusd.edu/board-education.