Parents still frustrated with school district’s revised plan to help at-risk students 

This story was updated to reflect that the district plans to hold a public hearing on the LCAP on Aug. 27 at DeJean Middle School.

More than a month after dissatisfied school district board members and parents rejected the district’s accountability plan, many community members remain similarly frustrated with the distric’s plan to serve at-risk students.

Nearly 50 people attended Tuesday’s committee meeting on Zoom about the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s revised Local Accountability Plan, and many of them spoke. The meeting is scheduled to be continued on Aug. 12 at 5:30 p.m.. 

“We worked closely with the Contra Costa County Office of Education over the summer to ensure we present a plan that is clear, transparent, and compliant,” said Superintendent Chris Hurst. “We are committed to listening and collaborating with our parent advisory committees, DLCAP (District Local Control Accountability Plan) and the County Office of Education to provide a revised 2.0 LCAP.”

Several school board members and parent leaders in June expressed frustration with the way the original plan was assembled as well as its contents, saying it lacked clarity and details. Some shared similar concerns about the new 231-page version on Tuesday.   

The historic rejection of the LCAP meant the board couldn’t approve the district’s 2024-25 budget by the state’s July 1 deadline. Following that meeting, parents said they hadn’t been adequately engaged in the plan’s development, which is a state requirement. They also said they were not contacted by the district in the two weeks after the plan was rejected. 

District revises LCAP to focus on goals

The district’s 2.0 LCAP outlines how the district will allocate $64.8 million in funding over the next three years, primarily for high-needs students such as those who are low-income, foster youths, or English learners.

District leaders said the new plan is more goal-oriented, with an emphasis on explaining the “why.” Its goals include increasing attendance, decreasing suspensions, improving literacy, and retaining teachers.

Some parent leaders were frustrated that they did not receive access to the meeting slides until Tuesday morning. Their frustration was not limited to logistics. Throughout the three-hour meeting there was lively commentary and many questions posted in the Zoom chat.

At times parents asked district leaders to deepen their discussions around metrics and strategies to improve student achievement. 

“We are getting a lot of detailed information,” Lucas Menanix, president of the parent committee, said to district leaders. “We’ve identified that there are problems, but there’s not a clear link between the problem, and why do we think the action is actually going to address that problem.”

In a conversation about teacher retention, for example, Yoland Vierra Allen, a member of the African American Site Advisory Team, commented in the chat, “These are all strategies that we have used in the past that have not proven successful for us. What new strategies will be employed to retain and hire new educators?”

Associate Superintendent Camille Johnson replied that exit surveys might help answer the question of why teachers are leaving. “I don’t have those exact answers today,” she said.

“What I heard is we don’t actually know why teachers are leaving. I’m sorry that’s wild to me,” Menanix responded. “I would love to hear some clear plans and when you’re going to come back to us with some actual data around why our teachers are leaving.” 

The draft 2.0 LCAP does outline current programs to to reduce teacher absenteeism and improve teacher retention, with a focus on teachers with three or more years of experience.

For example, it makes a correlation between 2023-24 salary increases and a “significant” decrease in teacher absences, from 15,910 in 2022-23 to 12,063 in the 2023-24 school year. The district’s number of experienced staff members  increased during that time frame, from 84% with three or more years of experience to 89%.

“We plan to continue this program to support the retention and recruitment of highly qualified teachers,” the draft plan states.

At the end of the meeting, Zelon Harrison, a district parent and head of the African American Site Advisory Team, said it wasn’t clear which of the parent committee recommendations the district had taken, which they had dismissed, and why. 

“This was very, very confusing, and I feel it was a big waste of our time,” Harrison said.  

The LCAP committee discussion will continue Monday and, the plan will be presented to the general public on Aug. 27. The school board plans to vote on it and its budget by the end of the month.