Board Meeting Highlights & Recordings 2021-2022
April 12, 2022
The Kentfield School District’s Board of Trustees met on April 12, 2022. The meeting began with an Education Showcase highlighting the Kent Enrichment program presented by Kent teacher Melissa Stephens. Ms. Stephens shared information about the vast array of enrichment electives available to Kent students and extended appreciation to KIK for their support of our enrichment programs.
Staff presented information to the Board related to the KSD LCAP/Strategic Plan Goal 1 - Engaging, supporting, and challenging all learners with a focus on eliminating the opportunity gap. Staff shared information about the impact of professional development and intervention programs offered this school year through our COVID Relief funds. The presentation offered a great insight as to how the sites are monitoring student progress in Tier I, II and III programs. Reference slides 12-14 and 23 for specifics on student growth.
Staff also shared information about the Expanded Learning Opportunity program partnership between Marin Enrichment and the KSD. Both parties shared how teams are working together collaboratively to best meet the needs of students outside of the school day. We feel fortunate to have such strong community partners for our students.
March 8, 2022
The Kentfield School District’s Board of Trustees met on March 8, 2022. The meeting began with an Education Showcase highlighting the Kent Middle School Spanish Program. Teacher, Rose Roubinian, shared the program's focus on communication skills through interpretive, interpersonal, and presentation skills. Ms. Roubinian shared posters demonstrating student projects and students performed Spanish dialogues focused on increasing vocabulary and real use of language.
Staff presented information to the Board related to the KSD LCAP/Strategic Plan goals – with a focus on Goal 1 - Engaging, supporting, and challenging all learners with a focus on eliminating the opportunity gap. Staff highlighted the professional learning opportunities for staff, students, and community through student and staff voices and videos demonstrating the impact of their learning. Staff also presented on the targeted interventions and the amount of services available on-site for students, specifically related to Tier II supports.
February 8, 2022
On February 8, 2022, the Kentfield School District’s Board of Trustees welcomed Susan Warnick, Bacich School Librarian, to showcase the Bacich Elementary School’s library program. Ms. Warnick shared a video demonstrating how the students navigate the library as well as their joy in learning library procedures. The Board expressed appreciation to Ms. Warnick and the students for their comprehensive presentation.
Kent Middle School Assistant Principal, Wendy Holmes, presented the 2021-2022 KSD’s Comprehensive Safety Plan and outlined the key components of the plan. The Trustees acknowledged the thoroughness of the Safety Plan and expressed gratitude for the diligent and collaborative approach staff took in preparing this important tool for our school community.
The meeting closed by highlighting the Youth Truth survey window and the focus on intentional outreach to parents/guardians to increase feedback and participation. Staff anticipates reporting out on the YouthTruth survey results at the April 2022 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
January 11, 2022
On January 11, 2022, the Kentfield School Board of Trustees convened and began the meeting with welcoming teachers, Victoria Denson and Denise Marshall, for the Education Showcase on the 4th Grade Program at Bacich. Teachers shared information about their 4th Grade SMARTÉ (Specific Measurable Attainable Relative Time Bound Equity-Focused) goal and collaborative approach to implementing Guided Language Acquisition by Design (GLAD) strategies to support all learners. Students demonstrated various GLAD strategies being implemented in classrooms, examples include - Cognitive Content Dictionary (CCD), Chants and Super Scientist Scouts.
The Trustees also extended appreciation to staff for their dedication and support in keeping our schools open and focused on in-person instruction for students.
December 14, 2021
On December 14, 2021 the Kentfield School Board of Trustees convened and began the meeting with honoring long time employee Paul Miller. Over a dozen staff and community members were in attendance to share memories and the positive impact Paul had on the KSD and greater Marin County community of educators and students. We all wished Paul well in his retirement.
Staff provided timely updates of school site activities and Bacich School Principal Mary Ann Spitzer shared 99% of our parents/guardians attend student/teacher conferences. This is a great accomplishment for our school community.
The meeting closed with a report from Interim Chief Business Official, Midge Hoffman. Midge offered the community a high level presentation on the KSD’s First Interim Report. The Board and staff acknowledge Midge’s diligence and hard work in keeping our school district budget in good stead.
An audio recording of the meeting can be seen HERE and below are links to various reports provided.
Superintendent and Staff Report - ALL, Dec. 2021
Universal Transitional Kindergarten Update, Dec. 2021
November 9, 2021
On November 9, 2021 the Kentfield School Board of Trustees convened and highlighted the Kent Middle School History/Social Studies program. Curriculum Chair, Stephanie Blazek, presented a slide deck offering the core values of the department and showed a video that demonstrated the day in the life of History/Social Studies for a fifth– eighth grade student at Kent Middle School.
During staff reports the November 1, 2021 KSD Professional Development (PD) day was highlighted. Staff shared the positive response to the ongoing work with Dr. Lori Watson and Marcus Moore. During the PD day, staff focused on goal setting and reflection of professional and personal growth within our educational practices. Quotes from the staff feedback survey were shared, which demonstrated how inspired and excited staff are around the work of equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive teaching.
Lastly, the Board and staff welcomed Ramiro Alvitez, new Director of Facilities. Ramiro joins the KSD with over 20 years of experience working in the field of school maintenance and operations. He most recently worked with the Larkspur Corte Madera district, but also worked in the Ross and Mill Valley school districts. Ramiro comes highly skilled and recommended to this role — we look forward to him officially joining the KSD team in early December.
An audio recording of the meeting can be seen HERE and below are links to various reports provided.
October 12, 2021
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees began with highlighting appreciation for the staff and parent community. It has been an overall positive start to the school year with exciting plans to support students and staff.
The October Educational Showcase highlighted our 2nd grade team and their students. The second grade students shared learnings from a social studies unit where students offered information about various activities done in class to understand their Urban, Suburban, and Rural Social Studies Unit. The presentation closed with a video showing the integration of the unit's theme in the Maker Lab with Mr. Bessonnette.
The KSD administration shared a presentation highlighting academic and social/emotional data from the Spring 2021. New and continuing site based services were also highlighted to share with the community how the KSD is addressing student needs. Staff will continue to share regular updates about student progress to the Board at subsequent Board meetings.
A recording of the meeting can be seen HERE and below are links to various reports provided.
September 14, 2021
On September 14, 2021 the Kentfield School Board of Trustees convened and celebrated the hiring of new staff and recognition of newly tenured staff, Kelly Steers, General Education Teacher and Tracey Nott, Special Education Teacher. We are so grateful and lucky to have ALL of these incredible staff members as part of our KSD community.
At the meeting staff highlighted the positive start of the school year. Both certificated, classified and administrative staff expressed great appreciation and inspiration with KSD’s Back to School training around Equity, Inclusion and Access and highlighted the ongoing work with Dr. Lori Watson and Marcus Moore. Interim Chief Business Official, Midge Hoffman also provided a report to the Board highlighting fiscal impacts of new state legislation and an update on the KSD’s unaudited actuals. Additional Finance information will be provided at first interim in December 2021.
A recording of the meeting can be seen HERE and below are links to various reports provided.
August 10, 2021
On August 10, 2021 the Kentfield School Board of Trustees convened for the first regular meeting of the 2021-22 school year.
The meeting highlighted the excitement of starting this school year in a more traditional manner collaboratively with our staff, students and families. We recognize there is much work to do as a community to build connections, but we are starting the year with positivity and optimism.
A recording of the meeting can be seen HERE and below are links to various reports provided.
Friends of Corte Madera Creek Report