A relatively light Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting on April 17 saw the board unanimously approve the name change for San Juan Capistrano-based California Connections Academy, a Southern California charter school.
Dr. Richie Romero, Deputy Superintendent of California Connection Academy schools, spoke during a public hearing in front of the board on a request by the organization to revise its charter that would reflect the name change to California Online Public Schools Southern California.
This would include a revision of the charter school’s operations that would illustrate operations independent of Connections/Pearson.These changes were part of a petition submitted in January. The name would be in line with their nonprofit board that runs the organization.
The school opened in 2004, and Romero said that as time has progressed, tools provided by Connections/Pearson – a virtual high school – have struggled to keep up with the evolving times, and a decision was pending on what to do next.
“We wanted to diversify and move beyond the tools provided by Pearson,” he said. “I know last month you saw a presentation, and our data was included. We recognize it, we own it, and we want to make sure that we do the best job we can for our students.”
One of those acts would be to move away from Pearson and try to partner with an industry leader, he said.
The change would revise school operations to show it is independent of Connections/Pearson.
• The board unanimously approved a new Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators. This is necessary if there is an insufficient number of qualified teaching applicants. Submission of this declaration does not commit the district to issuing short-term staff permits or emergency credentials, but, rather, is submitted as a matter of routine in the event it becomes necessary to employ such individuals.
A Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators must be filed prior to the beginning of the school year, even though there is no way to determine if there will be a need to employ teachers.
However, if the Board of Trustees has not approved the appropriate declaration for the upcoming year, the district is precluded from hiring such individuals should the need arise.
• The district reported over $350,000 donated in cash to the district, and the funds would be deposited to the appropriate school accounts. A number of gifts have been donated to the district, which cannot guarantee maintenance of items or the expenditure of any district funds for continued use. These were approved as part of the consent agenda that was voted in favor of the donations.
• Pacific Life Foundation recently donated $30,000 to go toward multiple purposes.