Office of the Superintendent Board of Trustees*

Student achievement suffers when school districts are unproductive or dysfunctional. It can be very costly and take years to address problems if the Monterey County Office of Education and/or California Department of Education have to step in to support or save a school district. The Alisal Union School District's (AUSD) Board of Trustees agrees with this finding.

There are proactive steps that can be taken by the Monterey County Office of Education in collaboration with school boards to prevent many pitfalls of poor governance. The AUSD Board of Trustees agrees with this finding.

The Monterey County Office of Education and local school boards can do more to promote effective local governance that is accountable to the community and produces better district outcomes. The AUSD Board of Trustees agrees with this finding. Whilst the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) and AUSD School Board currently promote effective local governance in a variety of ways that is accountable to the community and produces good district outcomes, there can always be improvement on our collective efforts and we will continue to strive to do so.

Promoting effective local governance requires better public information, communication, and a strong commitment to board development. The AUSD Board of Trustees agrees with this finding. Whilst the AUSD School Board has a strong commitment to board development and currently provides public information and communication in a variety of ways to promote effective local governance, there can always be improvement on our efforts and we will continue to strive to do so.

Although each school district has individual priorities, school boards can each make a commitment to adhering to best practices, training, and ongoing professional development when it comes to school board governance. The AUSD Board of Trustees agrees with this finding.

While the Monterey County Office of Education cannot dictate how school boards govern, they can provide strong leadership in promoting a culture of effective school board governance. The AUSD Board of Trustees agrees with this finding. Whilst the MCOE cannot dictate how school boards govern, they do provide leadership in promoting a culture of effective school board governance in a variety of ways.

Information posted on Monterey County Office of Education and school district websites is insufficient and not user-friendly. It does not provide the public with adequate information about what school boards do, how to evaluate board performance, or how assess school district outcomes. The AUSD Board of Trustees partially agrees with this finding. Whilst there can always be improvement on our efforts with respect to our website, the AUSD website provides easily accessible information about the District, its performance, its operations, and current news/events. The website provides parents with the District's calendars, the ability to enroll their children in school, information on school performance, and news of school and District activities. The AUSD website is not perfect and due to the dynamic nature of school- and District-related information, it will always be a work in progress. The website has been continually improved over the past decade and in January, 2018, an updated, more modern and user-friendly webpage management system (Blackboard)—with the ability to translate the content into multiple languages with one click—was launched. Additional enhancements, including some based on the Grand Jury's report, will be made in the near future. With respect to providing adequate information about what school boards do, how to evaluate school board performance, or how to assess school district outcomes, again, whilst there can always be improvement on our efforts with respect to these areas, the AUSD website dedicates a specific Trustees webpage to provide this information. The Board's goals, Board Policies, Board Bylaws, schedule for the District's Board meetings, agendas, and Minutes are all easily accessible within this webpage. Information on District performance—including the California State Dashboard (a summary of District and School performance)—is accessed through the website's homepage. School site performance is available on each school site webpage within the School Accountability Report Card.

School Boards can do better in fulfilling their responsibility to communicate with school district stakeholders. The AUSD Board of Trustees partially agrees with this finding. Whilst there can always be improvement on our efforts in fulfilling our responsibility to communicate with school district stakeholders, the AUSD School Board communicates with stakeholders in a variety of ways. The District maintains a website that provides information of immediate use to parents and other stakeholders. The Board conducts around twenty public meetings each year, during which the business of the District is transacted in full view of any citizen who wishes to attend. During these meetings, the Board provides ample opportunity for the public to comment on the business of the District. The District makes the Board members email addresses available on the District website to allow stakeholders to communicate directly with Board members at any time. The District will continue to seek opportunities to expand and improve communications with stakeholders. AUSD Response to Recommendations: