Visalia Unified teachers voice concerns surrounding campus safety
Looking for more information about what happened during this week’s school board meeting?
Here’s a recap of what you may have missed:
Visalia Unified School District board members kicked off the meeting by welcoming a packed room, filled with teachers wearing Visalia Unified Teacher Association t-shirts. Many were there to discuss their experiences in the classroom to highlight a need for further discussion and action regarding student behavior and teacher and student safety.
“We want to start by saying that 98% of our students do what they are supposed to do with few or no issues every single day,” Visalia Unified Teachers Association President Greg Price said. “However, 98% of our students are deeply affected by the 2% who are disrupting the learning environment by bringing violence to schools and showing blatant disrespect to staff.”
Those who spoke detailed their day-to-day experiences — students verbally and physically assaulting them or other teachers, chairs or desks being thrown by students out of frustration, and shooting threats, to name a few examples.
“Some of these students are overtly defiant, they refuse to listen to any staff including site principals and campus supervisors,” one teacher, who has been with the district for 33 years, told trustees. “They curse and use obscene gestures and tell staff 'You can't f**king do anything to me'.”
Superintendent Kirk Shrum, who was hired by the district before the start of the 2022/2023 school year, briefly touched on the district's recent work on student safety, delving into some of the steps Visalia Unified has taken over the last year to address community concerns that were brought to his attention over the summer.
“This is a moment in time where we have to acknowledge there is a new normal out there,” Shrum said. “It is a new normal, but we will not live in fear. We will live in awareness and we are going to live in preparedness.”
Visalia Unified has contracted with numerous companies to address student and teacher safety, including the implementation of ALICE training and the installation of Raptor Technologies.
ALICE — an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate — training ensures faculty members know how to respond to potentially violent incidents, while Raptor provides staff an integrated visitor, volunteer, emergency management, safeguarding and early intervention software.
Shrum, Price and Visalia Unified teachers agree, however, there's still more work that needs to be done; both pleading for parents to step up to the plate.
“We are here tonight because we have a systemic problem, a community problem, but one that is solvable,” Price said. “The parents must be responsible as partners to help us solve this misbehavior.”
School board members also listened to Shrum give a rundown on some of the good things happening around the district, including site improvements and student achievements.
Board members then listened to a breakdown of Visalia Unified's quarter 3 report, which included updates from business services, educational services, human resources development, learning and leadership, operational services, and Shrum.
Look this weekend for an in-depth dive into what teachers are facing.
Consent Calendar
Visalia Unified school board members then voted to accept the agenda’s consent calendar, meaning no discussion on the calendar’s contents occurred.
By accepting the calendar, school board members approved the adoption of two new instruction materials — high school AP English language and Spanish for Spanish speakers.
The AP English language instructional materials will cost around $138,300, while the Spanish for Spanish speakers instructional materials will cost about $191,1000.
Board members approved a card printing and encoding service to help supplement the implementation of Visalia Unified’s new transportation system. The service includes card and support services for every student; the card has the student’s photo, school logo, bar code, RFID encoded chip for bus transportation, Clever badge, as well as required state and federal postings on the back of the card.
The cost for the new system is around $81,800.
School board members approved entering an agreement with Rose, Sing, Eastham and Associates for electrical design services and documents to support the upgrades at Redwood High School’s Industrial Arts building.
The engineer’s fees are $28,500; however, the scope of the work is estimated to be around $350,000. Work includes replacing the existing feeder, seven panels, distribution board, main conductors and transformers so the school can install six new welders.
Board members also approved the district submitting a contract agreement with Fulcrum Management Solutions, Inc. to use ThoughtExchange. The platform will help Visalia Unified gather community feedback regarding various district projects, including the strategic plan and long-range facilities master plan.
The contract costs around $69,000 and would start on May 1 and end on June 30, 2024.
General Agenda
School board members listened to the California School Employees Association Chapter 83’s initial proposal for the 2023/2024 school year.
The initial proposal includes three updates:
Visalia Unified will provide the full increase cost of the current health and welfare benefits for all eligible employees and dependents.
A fair and equitable salary increase to the 2022/2023 classified salary schedule.
Update, change or amend language related to leaves.
Board members also listened to Visalia Unified’s initial proposal for the 2023/2024 school year.
District interests include student growth, maintaining safe learning environments, employee success, and maintaining district reserves.
The school board will hold a public hearing on May 9 to listen to community feedback regarding both proposals prior to accepting the contract.
Board members also received an annual report on Measure A for the 2022 fiscal year.
Measure A passed in 2018, allowing over $105,000,000 in bond spending. Eight committee members reviewed projects and expenditures for the last year, totaling over $5,600,000.
Some of the projects the district has started or completed over the last year include the Divisadero Middle School modernization project, Green Acres Middle School modernization project, Valley Oak Middle School modernization project, La Joya Middle School modernization project, Mt. Whitney High School Gym/HVAC modernization projects, as well as security updates across multiple schools.
Board members also received updates to the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan.
The Local Control Funding Formula requires a three-year Local Control and Accountability Plan to help identify goals as well as measure progress. The district will send its plan to the Tulare County Office of Education for review in May before making the final approval in July.
Visalia Unified’s estimated LCAP funding for 2023/2024 is around $55,900,000.
School board members also approved a first read for new AP textbooks for biology, calculus, chemistry and statistics courses. The cost for the new textbooks is around $100,000. A second and final read will occur at the next board meeting in two weeks.
Board members also heard the first draft of Fundations, Wilson Language – new learning material for phonics instruction for around 5,820 kindergarten through second-grade Visalia Unified students.
The cost of the new learning material is around $810,000.
The Visalia Unified school board meets again at 7 p.m. on May 9 in the boardroom at the District Office at 5000 W. Cypress Ave.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Visalia Unified teachers voice concerns surrounding campus safety
