Mike SwansonBoard backs new books for students...

Mike Swanson

Board backs new books for students

The school board unanimously voted to adopt new reading and

language arts textbooks Tuesday for grades K through 11 that address

needs from English as a second language to Gifted And Talented

Education and replace materials that Asst. Supt. Steven Keller called

obsolete.

Funded with $219,777.65 earmarked solely for instructional

materials, Keller said the majority of the new books are consumable,

or can be written in, and the district will receive replacements each

year at no cost for seven years. Teachers at all four of the

district’s schools selected the books.

“Teachers were able to taste, touch and feel these books,” Keller

said. “I think they’ve lacked the materials needed to excel the last

couple years, which is a district problem, and this adoption will

significantly enhance teachers’ ability to do their jobs.”

It’s been five to seven years since the district adopted new

reading and language textbooks, and the new state-recommended program

includes “more consumables than I’ve ever seen,” Keller said. He

added that the program is better aligned with what the state wants

and what it assesses than past programs.

The program doesn’t include 12th grade because it falls under a

different state alignment, Keller said.

School board member Jan Vickers said she was concerned about the

language in the books, hoping they didn’t follow a recent trend of

sanitized literature that adheres more to “The Language Police” than

the truth.

“It’s not just one textbook company, it’s all of them,” Vickers

said. “It’s a global problem though, so I’m not sure what to do with

it. I’ll be more concerned next year when we talk about bringing in

new history books.”

Keller said teachers’ endorsement of the new materials is the key.

“The elementary and high school process [of adoption] was the

easiest I’ve ever seen,” Keller said. “The teachers selected the

materials themselves, and that should impact how they use them in the

classroom.”

Layoffs planned but retirements on hold

Five teachers who expressed interest in an early retirement

package offered by the district last month will still be teaching

next year after district staff discovered it needed seven early

retirees to make the package economically feasible.

The district had hoped that if enough teachers agreed to early

retirement, then they might be able to rescind layoff notices issued

to four teachers with less than two years of experience in Laguna

Beach. The school board unhappily approved the final layoff notices

for the four teachers in a special 8 a.m. meeting Monday.

“These are four gifted teachers that are a good match with the

Laguna Beach school district,” Asst. Supt. Steven Keller said, “and

I’ve been in this field long enough to know that nothing’s a sure

thing, so we’re still hoping to keep them.”

Keller said it would probably take a sudden increase in enrollment

and unexpected retirements for the district to be able to keep the

teachers.

-- Mike Swanson