SCHOOL BOARD WRAP-UP

The following is from the Jan. 27 meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education.

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No more soda at school

Student representative Ladan Davia reported to the board that the vending machines at Laguna Beach High School have been changed to conform with state law.

No more soft drinks, even diet soda, will be sold in the vending machines. Instead, juice and water will be dispensed by the vendor, Coca-Cola.

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Summer school wages

Walt Hamera, Laguna Beach Unified Faculty Assn. representative, said members would like the board to consider a future increase in wages for teaching summer school classes.

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Accrediting group to visit

Don Austin, principal at Laguna Beach High School, reported that the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, an accrediting agency, will be visiting the school soon for one day.

The visit is a scheduled three-year review of the school.

“Progress has been made since the last visit,” Austin said. “We have closed the achievement gap for our subgroups” of lower-achieving students.

The association is responsible for certifying the quality of the school’s education. In the last review, the group said the school needed to do more to raise the scores of under-achievers.

“Conditions have changed since the last visit,” Austin told the board. “Three years ago, a lot of stuff was going on, and the WASC report was not focused on.” ?

Technology effort outlined

Victor Guthrie, the district’s technology coordinator, reported on the progress of a three-year technology plan and efforts to achieve a high level of technological improvement in education.

Guthrie said he is bringing together a large group of district employees to discuss a multiyear technology plan, as required by the state and county. The group will meet in two weeks and expects to report back to the board at the end of the school year, he said.

“The district has never done this before,” he said. “It’s not fast, but it will be thorough. Because of the fiscal crisis, we must leverage technology for improved teaching and learning.

“The question is, what is 21st century literacy? We want to make sure we’re ready for it.”

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Writing program a success

Leah Prettyman, a language arts teacher at Thurston Middle School, presented an overview of the My Access program, a computer-assisted writing education program being used in all grades at Thurston.

The My Access program is now in the middle of a three-year pilot project, said Assistant Supt. of Instructional Services Nancy Hubbell.

“Originally we included fifth-graders, but it wasn’t working well so we narrowed it to sixth through eighth grade,” Hubbell said.

The program allows students to write essays on a computer and to receive instant feedback from a computer program.

Students get a score on their work and can go back and make corrections and try to get a better score, Prettyman said.

“It’s like a game for the students, and they really enjoy it,” she said.

Some students who are averse to writing essays in class are becoming more adept through the use of the program, she said.

Parents can also see how their children are doing in writing by looking at the essays online.

“It makes writing less like work,” Prettyman told the board.

Board member Betsy Jenkins questioned whether a computer program would foster “good writing.”

“I thought it would be too mechanical and formulaic,” Jenkins said. “Is it?”

In response, Prettyman acknowledged that the program is not good at teaching persuasive writing, which still must be assessed by a teacher.