Camas School Board: Bus Driver Shortage, Math Study, Budget Cuts

Camas, WA — At their latest meeting on Monday, the Camas School Board heard from administrators and teachers who discussed major issues, including a bus driver shortage, a comprehensive math study, and budget cuts.

In their Board Communications session, board member Tracey Malone, who also serves on the board of the Cascadia Tech Academy, reports that Cascadia still isn’t getting funds from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), and that the academy leaders are very frustrated. She said certain portions of the academy need renovation. Cascadia provides technical learning experiences for students from all Clark County-area high schools.

Superintendent’s Report

Camas School District (CSD) Superintendent, Dr. Jeff Snell, said they are awaiting their first bargaining session with the local principal’s union. When those sessions are completed, CSD will be able to report a more exact annual budget, and report more details on four-year forecasting.

Snell reported that he spoke with State Rep. Paul Harris, who said he’s very concerned about the small school districts — and that they are nervous about financial sustainability past one year under the new state school funding model.

“There’s a lot of angst out there,” said Snell. “Harris said there is more legislative work to do.”

Snell added: “We have major challenges with recruiting and maintaining bus drivers. It’s becoming a safety issue, and we need to do something about it. Our pay is lower and our bus driver contracts are tied to that. We need to align pay with Evergreen and Vancouver. It’s affecting transportation to athletic events in other districts, and we have mechanics driving now. It’s a fun place to be (as a bus driver), but these are unique hours. It’s a big complex problem that doesn’t have easy answers.”

Snell said he continues to attend staff meetings to reinforce the message about budget impacts from McCleary.

Math Track Study Update

Dr. Charlene Williams kicked off a conversation about a Math Track Study, in which she hopes will gain support and momentum.

Williams explained the purpose:“Camas School District’s Problem of Practice and Theory of Action are aimed squarely at building the conditions and capacities to ensure that each student is seen and served. Ultimately, our goal is equity, and we will know we have met that goal when the factors that predict any student’s success or opportunity are no longer correlated with any group identity.”

Dean Strawn addressed tracking and acceleration.

“Tracking places students into different levels of the same course, with the levels identified by tags such as honors, advanced, regular, or remedial.”

Acceleration provides opportunities for students with exceptional mathematical promise, and educators want to ensure that opportunities are available to every prepared student and that no critical concepts are rushed or skipped, Stawn said.

As new common core curriculum enters secondary schools, they are launching this study in our community to address concerns from teachers, families and students about our current math tracking system — and specifically they are addressing a perpetual cycle of math anxiety.

Cycle of Math Anxiety

Lack of confidence > Math anxiety > Avoid math > Poor performance is the cycle that educators see — and it’s one they’re trying to break.

“We have seen the benefits of tracking a small percentage of students who meet or exceed the acceleration expectations,” said Stawn.

CSD teacher, Jenna Lee Harrison, said she learned a lot from math issues affecting San Francisco Unified School District.

“We learned a lot from San Francisco, and we can glean a lot of things from them,”Harrison said. “What is the current research? Marginalized groups fall into lower math tracks. We need a rich math environment for every one of our students.”

The CSD Board agreed to proceed with the study, which will last through the school year.

Monthly Enrollment/Budget Update

Jasen McEathron discussed enrollment and said a revised budget is in progress.

He said the new CSD enrollment headcount is 7,243, which is 2.3 percent higher overall than budgeted, and that the largest growth this year is in 5th and 6th grades. Kindergarten enrollment is the smallest at 458. First and tenth grades were the only grades below budget.

“We have to continue to be diligent in looking at the demographics in the community,” said McEathron. “We need to take a closer look at the number of kids who have left and those who we’ve accepted on boundary exceptions. Special ed is tracking below budget.”

Budget Outlook

• McEathron addressed the following during his presentation:
• CSD is expecting a budget extension will be necessary for 2018-19 to accommodate the additional cost of the CEA contract (teachers union).
• The revenues from enrollment growth, cost avoidance measures, and fund balance will be used to cover the additional cost in 2018-19.
• Immediate measures to curtail expenditures include 1) non-personnel cuts of 2%; 2) all new hired positions are temporary/one-year that are historically hard to fill.
• More significant changes will be necessary for 2019-20.