2019-2020

Melanie Paliotti
National University
Month 2 - Induction Plan CSPEL 6
 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success

Vista Unified School District has had many changes in leadership in the last month. Our
district has a new Superintendent. The Board of Directors must have budget solutions
which will reduce our 2020-2021 budget by over 19 million dollars on top of the 12+million
that was already cut for the 2019-2020 school year. The new Superintendent is working to
have full transparency and to inform and involve all stakeholders in this process. I keep the
teachers and the stakeholders at our school informed about the impact to our school site
and try to answer any questions (or help find the answers to any questions) they might have.
The school district is posting decisions they are making at special meetings on the website
and has posted videos to explain our situation. Special community forums have also been
scheduled. I try to attend (or watch the live stream of) these meetings.
 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success

Link to October VUSD District and Board Update Video

 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success
The purpose of this update is to inform the community of the actions that were taken by the Board at the October 17, 2019 School Board meeti
Board Actions:
● The Board of Education approved former superintendent Dr. Linda Kimble’s resignation.
● The Board of Education voted in favor of appointing Dr. Doyle as Superintendent of Schools.
● The Board of Education approved the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for facilities at Guajome Park Academy and Guajome Learning
● The Board of Education approved a lease agreement for Verizon Wireless to place a cell tower on the Vista High campus.
● The Board of Education approved a resolution opposing California State University’s proposal requiring four years of math for freshman elig
● The Board of Education approved the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the CSEA Transportation Study.
● The Board of Education approved a contract with Cannon to replace copy machines district-wide.
● The Board of Education discussed the 2019-20 budget status and the projected $19.2 million dollar budget deficit for the 2020-21 school ye
following budget solutions:
○ Develop protocols to reduce district legal fees
○ Develop a restructuring plan for district leadership
○ Eliminate the Elementary Collaboration Professional Development Wheel at the elementary level
○ Reduce magnet school allocations by 10%
○ Form a committee to gather community input on school consolidation
● The Board gave the following direction to staff for future budget solutions:
○ Investigate cost savings for closing the district office during holidays
○ Investigate the development of salary and hiring protocols to reduce cost
 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success
It is important to stay informed of legislative changes that impact our schools. Govenor Gavin Newsom
announced further information about SB 419 on September 9, 2019. This bill prohibits K-8 students in
public and charter schools from being suspended for disrupting classroom or defying school authorities.
There was a prior 2013 law that had banned K-3 out of school suspensions. Now 4th and 5th grade
students are included. Proponents of the bill state that these vague categories were disproportionately
used to suspend (especially African American males) and caused a large number of students to miss
instructional time at school. Many also claim this is directly linked to the “school to prison pipeline.”
At our school, we are no longer to use the 48900k categories when assigning assertive
discipline/suspensions.
This includes “21 - Defiance 48900k and 24 - Disruption 48900k” We are already a few years into the
process of utilizing Restorative Practices with our students to help them learn from their behaviors and
how we need to make a change to make it better.
 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success
On October 13th, Gavin Newsom passed legislation that all students will receive a regular school lunch even if their
parents have not paid the meal fees. It is important to be aware of policy changes that immediately impact our school.
That Monday, all students at Empresa, even if they did not have any money on their lunch account, received the items
on the regular menu. Prior to this date, students who did not qualify for Free/Reduced Lunch and who did not have
money in their accounts, received an alternate lunch (cheese sandwich or tuna with crackers.)

We are student-centered and want to ensure all students have what they need. This has already had a financial impact,
however. Today, for example, we had 13 students who received lunch but did not have the funds to pay as compared to
1-2 a day just a few weeks ago. Several parents have now stopped paying or adding money to their accounts.
 6.1-Engage With The Policy Environment To Support School
Success
Senate Bill 328 (October 13, 2019) will also have an impact on our school district.
Legislation was passed that regulates the start time for middle school and high schools in
California. By July 1, 2022, middle schools may not begin before 8:00am and high schools
will not be able to begin until 8:30. This will impact all students in the district as we need
to stagger start/end times for bussing, etc.
 6.2 Interact With Stakeholders
Every morning and afternoon, I stand to greet students and parents at our front gate. This
gives me the opportunity to build relationships and to engage and communicate with our
stakeholders. Students and parents know I have an open door and that I encourage them to
come and discuss their concerns so that we can work together for continuous improvement.

I keep the website up to date and share other important information by Twitter, etc. I am
also a member of the VUSD Parent Forum on Facebook and keep informed about topics that
matter to our families.
 6.2 Interact With Stakeholders-- School Messenger
We use School Messenger to keep our families aware of events and happenings that involve our school
community. Recently, for example, we utilized School Messenger to get the word out about our
Halloween Costume Parade at school this morning. It was a fun event to build the culture of our
community and over 400 parents attended making it a wonderful family event.
 6.3-Incorporate Input From The Public

Each year we create a survey to gather feedback from our

stakeholders. The information is carefully reviewed and the
data is shared with our leadership team, our teachers, our
parent groups (EPAF-Foundation, PTA, SSC, ELAC, etc.) and
is used to help us set our goals, theme and budget for the
following year.
 6.3-Incorporate Input From The Public
This year, we lost our community liasion due to budget
cuts. I work with our parents to communicate about our
foundation and PTA to try and build attendance and
participation at our monthly association meetings. I try to
connect with Kindergarten families at the gate at the end
of each school day to build their awareness of our school
events, opportunities and needs as well as our school’s
vision, mission and values.
 Vision Statement: Our vision at Empresa
Elementary is to promote a caring and creative
environment fostering a deeper love of
learning for a diverse ever-changing world.
.

Mission Statement: Empresa ‘s mission is to

inspire lifelong learning for all students with
an emphasis on the arts.
The Empresa CODE
Creativity
Ownership
Dedication
Empathy
Please...

Thank you!

15
The Power of Words
Creating a culture of

➔ Respect

➔ Support

➔ Encouragement
Thank you!
Restorative Practices -
Working with Noon Duties to
utilize these with students...
 What are Restorative Practices?
Restorative Practices are based on principles and processes that
emphasize the importance of positive relationships as central to
building community and restoring relationships when harm has
occurred.
Relationship Based Principles

Building Relationships Restoring Relationships

 Social Discipline Window
• High control and Low support =
Punitive/Authoritarian

• Low control and Low support =

Neglectful/ Irresponsible

• High support and Low control =

Permissive/Paternalistic

• High support and High control =

RESTORATIVE
20
What are Restorative Practices?
 Paradigm Shift
Traditional Restorative
School and rules violated People and relationships violated

Justice focuses on establishing guilt Justice identifies needs and obligations

Accountability = punishment Accountability = understanding impact, repairing harm

Justice directed at offender, victim ignored Offender, victim and school all have direct roles in
justice process

Focus is on punishment when rules are broken and harm Offender is responsible for harmful behavior, repairing
has occurred. harm and working toward positive outcomes

No opportunity for remorse or amends Opportunity given for amends and expression of
remorse
Using Restorative Practices to:

● Respond to challenging
behavior
● Address the needs of those
harmed
● Works to put right the harm
Students feel:
● Aims to improve the future
● Listened to
● Seeks to heal ● Connected
● Cared for
● Safe
● Treated
fairly
Conferencing
with students:
1. Use the question
cards to hear what
happened
2. Learn how everyone
has been affected
3. Decide how to
repair the harm
Restorative Questions~For resolving conflict/student incidents
Restorative Questions 1 Restorative Questions 2
To respond to challenging behavior. To help those harmed by other’s actions.

What happened? What did you think when you realized what had
happened?

What were you thinking of at the time? What impact has this incident had on you and others?

What have you thought about since? What has been the hardest thing for you?

Who has been affected by what you have done? In what What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
way?

What do you think you need to do to make things right?

Example of Restorative Practices
Restorative Practices