As approved, the planning phase includes preparing the 700 Building and VES facilities for the TK/K program and students, calibrating enrollment and staffing, and establishing a committee to study the future use of the ECDC campus. In addition, staff to begin researching and developing a draft bell schedule to include staggered start/stop times with CMS and CHS, adjusted instructional minutes, recess and lunch scheduling, and the reconfiguration of Academic Support and Enrichment (ASE) supports and Specials program. Included in this phase are logistical systems and planning (traffic mitigation, pick up / drop off procedures and scheduling, etc.) in collaboration with the Coronado Police Department.

Calibrating Enrollment and Staffing

Registration for the 2019-20 school year opened on April 1, 2019, 3 months earlier compared to previous years. The application process for interdistrict transfer students opened on February 1, 2019. Adjusting these timelines to earlier in the Spring affords CUSD additional time to determine projected enrollment data, IDT interest and placement, and staffing needs across the district. This information is critical to the relocation of TK / K from ECDC to VES as we begin calibrating enrollment and staffing to reach desired grade level and ADA to FTE ratios, taking into consideration unanticipated growth in resident student placement and class size targets outlined in our collective bargaining agreement.

Elementary Instructional Minute & Bell Schedule Considerations

Site and District administrators have gathered and analyzed instructional minute and bell schedule data from similar, high-performing districts (locally and nationally) to identify best practices and considerations for CUSD. This research has provided valuable insights and has helped to define parameters for our elementary sites as we examine structures which prioritize student achievement, interventions, enrichment, and school culture. Through this process, we have identified the following criteria which will guide our efforts with staff:

1. Create a schedule which is family-friendly and deliberately prioritizes student achievement.

2. Increase student contact time with teacher in K-3 by calibrating and aligning instructional minutes K-5.

3. Limit student transitions to maximize and prioritize instructional minutes.

4. In support of academic interventions and enrichment, and to ensure fidelity across grade levels, define blocks of designated time for core academic instruction K-5.

5. In alignment with collective bargaining agreement and best practices / professional growth, ensure daily teacher prep time (TK-5) by grade level.

6. Provide weekly collaboration time for ‘co-teachers.’

Next steps in this process will be to introduce sample draft schedules in April which align with considerations listed above to elementary staff for feedback. Our goal is to present a proposed elementary bell schedule for all CUSD TK-5th programs to the Governing Board which adheres to the criteria listed above and reflects feedback from our elementary educators.

Traffic Study

Using the mitigation report from the Coronado Police Department, we are establishing a committee of law enforcement and community members to conduct a thorough analysis of traffic around the three village schools. The confluence of traffic surrounding Village Elementary School, Coronado Middle School, and Coronado High School during student pickup and drop off creates congestion and safety concerns. The team will explore traffic flow, strategies recommended in the mitigation report, and school start/stop times. The team will hold its first meeting later this month. It is our goal to present recommendations to the Governing Board in June.

Facilities

Preliminary efforts to prepare the Village Elementary facility for the transition in 2020-21 have begun. We have started surplussing outdated and damaged instructional materials in order to create space throughout campus. Our Maintenance and Operations department will begin preparing vacant classrooms and instructional spaces to support the relocation of classrooms and programs currently housed in the 700 Building and other shared spaces. In addition, we are researching landscape options for the 700 Pod courtyard. It is our goal to redesign the courtyard to recreate the previous TK / K learning environment which included natural grass, benches, and mature shade-producing trees.