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Superintendent Inbody’s Coffee with the Community

The second coffee with the community took place at the Jesse Turner Center on October 19, 2023, at 5 pm. There was good attendance from community members, parents, and FUSD staff. Some of the concerns/questions asked by the community included:

• What will the district do if the spread of COVID continues to increase? Will we return to masks or shutdowns? The concern is that those measures were not effective and some attendees feel they did more damage than help. District response: We have not received any guidance from the state to take any measures like that, we will monitor the situation, and at this time we do not see returning to masks or shut downs.
  
  
• A question was asked about the Board’s equity committee that met and how people were selected for that committee. There was interest in joining a community committee like that. District response: The group was formed in 2020 with community leaders who were identified by and invited to join by the board. It is a selected committee, different from a community round table such as the coffee with the community format. However, it is an open meeting for others to join.
  
  
• How do we help increase money for schools like Mango who are getting old and have facilities repair or improvement needs. District response: We are working on finding ways to raise funds, however unlike other communities around us, we currently do not have a bond to fund all of FUSD’s facility repair or improvements. That is something we are looking into to see if it can be useful to our district in the future.
  
  
• How does the district solicit input from parents and can more be done to make sure parents are informed of how the input has been used. The comment is that most parents don’t know what new actions are being taken as a result of parent input that is important to share. District response: We are working to share out the improvements and changes we are working towards with our community.  Meetings such as these allow us an opportunity to communicate with parents.  We will definitely continue to explore ways to share how their feedback is impacting our district decisions.
  
  
• What can be done to make sure all schools get the same kinds of amenities and programs as other schools in the district? Examples include: STEM, robotics, art, Spanish speaking, etc. Also, can we get more after school tutoring support? District Response: In elementary schools, we do work hard to make sure similar programs are available at all of our schools. Our senior director of College and Career Readiness is working to create pathways and exploration from Elementary to High school. Our high schools are intentionally more focused on areas of interest so that we can elevate the offering at a specific location with the expectation that students who are interested in that field can go to the school of their choice.  This is to create cost effective offerings at the higher level. Regarding tutoring, we do have intervention supports for all students struggling with a subject during the day time, we do offer tutoring after school (contact your site for specifics of availability), and beyond that we offer online tutoring through Paper Education that is available 24/7 to all students.
  
  
• A parent at Kathy Binks Elementary School has a concern where their student was going to be picked up from school early. He was sent up to the office but somehow found himself at a side gate where he easily used the push bar to open the door and leave campus alone while his mom was waiting for him at the office. Parents want to know why those outdoor gates aren’t securely locked to ensure students don’t leave campus undetected. School says it is a fire code, but parent doesn’t agree based on their research. District Response: CFC 1027.6 (1) requires schools to have panic hardware on exit doors. CalFire Code requires exit doors, including exterior gates, to have panic style hardware to push in case of emergency. If perimeter doors have panic style hardware, schools can’t lock it.
  
  
• Parent wanted to thank the district for offering Mental Health workshops funded by a 4-year grant for the families of students. The parent expressed that it was a big help.
  
  
• How will the district distribute resources and funding equitably across all of our schools? District Response: In the past, equity was structured in a way that resources were allocated equally. However, that does not create equity since some schools are in greater need of facilities support than others.  So, now, the district is looking at what are the needs of school A to be on par with school B, and we are working to make sure that funds are distributed as needed to make sure that the overall outcome is equitable.
  
  
• The concern regarding Student Gender Confidentiality policy and how FUSD will follow this and AB665 which allows children to be removed from their parents’ home without notice. District Response: Student Gender Confidentiality is not just a policy; it is actually a law.  The law is not new, it’s been around since 2013 to protect students’ rights. The AB1266, School Success and Opportunity Act, is a piece of legislation that was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in August of 2013 and went into effect January 1, 2014. It amends the California State Education Code to clarify the roles of school staff in working with students of all genders, and clarifies that students’ access to educational resources shall correspond to the student’s gender identity. AB1266 supports an effort to (a) foster an educational environment that is safe and free from discrimination for all students, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression and (b) protect transgender student privacy, facility use, and participation in school athletic competitions.