Melanie Paliotti

EDA 610

Reflection on
Vista Unified School District Board Meeting
Thursday, January 18, 2018 ​ ​6:00- 8:24pm

This was the first board meeting where the newly appointed superintendent was part of the board of
directors. She was officially welcomed at the last meeting (the same meeting I was confirmed as the new
assistant principal of my school.) The meeting was shorter than many I have attended in the past and
was well attended with more than 100 people in the audience. In addition to the Superintendent, the Asst.
Sup of Business Services, Asst. Sup. of Human Resources, Asst. Sup. of Innovation, BOD President, VP,
Clerk, 2 Members, and 3 Student Board members were in attendance as well as other leadership in the
district including Executive Directors of Elementary Ed., Secondary Ed., Student Support Services,
Facilities and Maintenance. It was good for me to take note and match names and faces with their
departments and titles!
After the meeting was called to order many people had pulled cards to be able to make “public comment -
items not on the agenda.” A variety of people spoke about the importance of allowing our high schools to
make lacrosse a CIF sport so that the families and students could compete more locally instead of
incurring the expense and time to travel as club teams. The board listened and the president asked a
question and the superintendent told the audience (including many uniformed lacrosse players and their
families) that she would be in touch with them to further discuss.
Sup. Dr. Kimble presented to the BOD a slideshow to showcase all of the schools that she has been
visiting. (She wrote to us and asked us to share a picture and a sentence or two ahead of time.) She
also said thank you for ​being able to ride along in a district mail truck and for the pizza in the central
kitchen and invited board to do the same. It was appreciated by all that she is taking the time to visit
and get to know all schools and departments in the district.
The Asst. Sup presented the superintendent’s award to a special needs student and her family for
donating their daughter’s Make-a-Wish to her school and classroom because she spends so much of
her time there and to benefit students for years to come. The principal, teacher, family, student, and
representatives of Make-a-Wish were presented with awards to a standing ovation.

Next, reports were presented from school related organizations including the president of the Vista
Teachers Association (mostly about collaboration needed in the area of Special Ed and hopes for the
future as they work on the new contract, the California School Employees Association (CSEA) -
thanked for classified staff development day on Jan 12th and thanked HR dept for dedication to
classified.

The President of the District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC) spoke (with translator)
about recent updates and that they want facility repairs to more schools and transportation.
9. Staff Committee Reports to the Board
One of the best parts of the entire meeting was the STUDENT BOARD REPORT. One of the high school
students who acts as a member of the board made an amazing and animated presentation to the
board about his high school and all of the opportunities it provides for the students, the awards as well
as the needs of the campus. He asked the BOD to come and see what it means to be a Timberwolf. I
was very impressed at his public speaking skills and I was seated next to his very proud parents.
Melanie Paliotti
EDA 610

The item that the board took the most interest in was the report made by the Executive Director of
TK-5 Curriculum and Instruction “IMPACT TEACHER REPORT” The report was about the Impact
Teacher Pilot at 8 schools (546 students out of 1416 students total are getting service from impact
teacher) in reading instruction. The goal is that 100% of K and 1st grade students will meet grade
level reading expectations. We need to close the gap and some students come with needs so we need
to increase the rate of growth to close the gap. She presented data which compared average scale
score of growth on Star Early Literacy 2016 and 2017 at this point of the year and this years’ students
to see if there was growth (not matched cohorts - not same students.) They are seeing greater
growth in first grade especially at our school! The BOD VP asked questions about continuity of
resources/curriculum and wants to know why one school had significant drop. She wanted to know
specific details about the quality of instruction at these schools, the amount of time given to each
student and wants to know more specific info before she could recommend spending 1 million on 7
impact teachers. The BOD president and one of the teacher board members also asked very specific
questions. Overall they were happy to see growth of students in most instances and wanted to further
explore where we were not seeing growth.

Another very interesting part of the meeting was when one board member presented that they
consider a resolution for “PROTECTION OF TEACHERS' DISCRETIONARY INCOME.”- He felt that the
required dues teachers pay to VTA - $1000 a year per teacher was too large an amount of their pay
after taxes. He wanted them to consider that 90% goes to Sacramento for political reasons and is not
spent in Vista. He would like amount of dues to be reevaluated. He made a motion and no one
seconded the motion and the board all sat quietly and did not say anything so it didn’t go to a vote.

Two items on the agenda were much awaited by all of the district employees and both were passed.
“SALARY INCREASE OF 3% EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2018 FOR CONFIDENTIAL, SUPERVISOR, AND
MANAGEMENT NON-REPRESENTATIVE GROUPS” and to “APPROVE AND RATIFY TENTATIVE
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE VISTA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE
VISTA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION” (a new 3 year agreement with VTA.)

The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 (with only 11 people remaining in the audience) and the
superintendent closed offering that she would like to meet with the student board members.

My overall impression was that the meeting was very positive and student centered. I am sure that
the next meetings will become more interesting as we begin to tackle the large budget shortfall and
other hotly debated items such as our magnet schools and the way the lottery is held to accept
applications. I was impressed at how many of the district leaders attended although there were not
that many site leaders (principals or assistant principals) as I have seen in the past. It was interesting
to be there for the first meeting of the new superintendent and I look forward to seeing where our
district is headed now under her leadership.