Stressing a second language

The Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education hosted its first visionary session with new Superintendent Robert Fraisse on Tuesday.

In developing its goals for the year, the board was most interested in developing a foreign-language program that begins in kindergarten and an International Baccalaureate Program in high school.

The district’s theme this year is “Finding the Next Right Answers.”

Fraisse said when he normally has his first goal session with a new district, its first goals are to improve budget and facilities; but such discussions don’t even appear on the radar in Laguna Beach, where the level of excellence in those areas is already high.

The board had decided during the transition of superintendents to extend its 2006-07 set of goals, where applicable, while developing a new strategic plan.

Fraisse prepared a draft report of proposed initiatives, which he presented to the board Tuesday. Members then placed colored dots beside the goals that they found to be most essential.

He cautioned the board with a favorite quote: “We can do anything we want, but not everything we want.”

The initiatives were broken into research, pilot and action goals; they would be acted on either by an individual or committee based on the level of board member interest.

Research initiatives will be examined and brought back later for board action.

Pilot initiatives have either begun already or will be short-term programs that would be evaluated and tweaked as necessary, following a review.

Action initiatives are improvements or extensions of programs already in place or in process.

The board showed highest interest in investigating the best practices for implementing a kindergarten-through-12th grade foreign-language program, with a focus on students through grade five, and researching the best options for an International Baccalaureate Program and Advanced Placement courses.

Fraisse concurred with the board’s stated priorities.

“We’ve got to get going on this,” he said of the International Baccalaureate program; the district has already delayed it to spend more time researching it.

Fraisse said a decision was needed by the end of the year to develop a policy in spring.

Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Nancy Hubbell said she isn’t satisfied that the district has found the best practice for foreign-language instruction, and that she hopes to evaluate other models.

Other popular goals were a research initiative to identify counseling options for students preparing to go to college; fully implementing the district’s Professional Learning Communities for the faculty and staff; a pilot online writing program for grades 5-8; and an action goal to provide schoolwide Positive Behavior Support.

Currently, the support program is available to students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The initiative would continue to refine each school’s prevention and intervention efforts in both group and individual student support systems.

The program dovetails with another highly rated pilot initiative at the high school level to provide intervention and support systems for social and emotional well-being.

It targets students with first offenses for drug and alcohol use, and students with many absences.

Other initiatives which showed some interest included:

 Researching the best practices to offer drug and alcohol referral assistance to families

 Researching the pros and cons of defibrillator use at school sites

 Implementing formal, paid Teacher-in-Charge positions at the elementary schools to serve in place of the principals during their absences;

 Revising the schools’ safety plans

 Reinventing summer school programs at each level

 Creating more placement options for students

 Developing programs supporting the district’s Pyramids of Intervention

 Coordinating a “best practices” consortium between schools

 Exploring online learning models

 Creating a cohesive support system for English learners

 Investing in durable and sustainable changes using data to set and measure outcomes Partnering with a local university to gain research expertise

Board Clerk El Hathaway said he has already noticed a change in leadership styles between recently retired Superintendent Theresa Daem and Fraisse.

He described Fraisse’s style as more top-down, with the board giving direction.

“Out of that process has come buy-in,” he said. “I think you and your staff are to be commended for it.”