At its virtual Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday, April 28, Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) voted unanimously to approve a resolution “In Support of Federal Advocacy to Prioritize Stable Public School Funding.”
According to the resolution, which was brought forth by CCUSD School Board Member Dr. Kelly Kent, “Like other school districts in California and across the country, CCUSD is facing difficult decisions to ensure the delivery of critical services in the short-term, such as extended learning or summer school, while grappling with the reality of an economic recession that includes both a decline in revenues and new costs to effectively respond to COVID-19 which adds to the severity of the economic recession.”
“With this resolution, CCUSD is sending a message to the federal government that we need them to step in and put public schools at the top of the list for relief money,” says CCUSD School Board President Summer McBride. “Other sectors are getting bailouts. We need help too.”
McBride goes on to point that, “Public schools are already under-funded, and we’re always expected to do more with less. Schools are a safe space, and the most reliable place for learning, social support, and overall stability for many young people in our community.
“With a serious recession pending, the economic forecast indicates that California will be hit harder than most other places.” adds McBride. “As one of the states with lowest per student funding ratios, our education system already faces so many hurdles. These funding shortages have disproportionately negative impacts on vulnerable populations, including students whom are homeless or have mixed immigration status.”
CCUSD joins a coalition of national education organizations, including the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, The School Superintendents Association, the National Parent Teachers Association, the National School Boards Association and others, to call for $200 billion to begin providing meaningful relief to our nation’s public schools, plus an additional relief totaling $350 billion that will likely be needed to ensure public school funding is stabilized over the next two years while persevering in the midst of the greatest economic downturn where public schools will be the glue that holds our communities together and gives us hope for the future.
“The students of today are our best hope if we want to have a fighting chance of this country recovering,” adds McBride. “During these unprecedented times we need an unprecedented commitment to put children and their education and well-being first.”
Read the whole resolution here at go.boarddocs.com/ca/ccusd/Board.nsf/files/BNYQEC67337A/$file/Resolution%20-%20Federal%20Funding%202020.pdf
At the same meeting, the CCUSD Board of Education voted to establish guidelines for grading during distance learning. At the elementary level, all students will promote to the next grade level and second trimester report card marks will indicate the student’s grade as of March 6, 2020. Third trimester report cards will show slash marks in lieu of grades and provide narrative feedback on student progress. At the secondary level, students will receive a final A-d letter grade based on a combination of distance learning activities during Quarter 4. Work completed during distance learning can only improve a student’s Q4 Semester 2 grade. Sixth-grade students on the CCMS Wheel will be assigned Credit/No Credit.
Joanna Brody
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