January 21, 2025, Board Meeting Highlights

January 21, 2025, Board Meeting Highlights
Posted on 01/24/2025

The Santee School District Board of Education met at 6 p.m. January 21, 2025. Meeting highlights included:

Reports and Presentations

  • Spotlight: The Board of Education acknowledged all the staff, community members, former Carlton Hills parents, Grossmont Center Walmart, and Santee Sheriff's Department who made the Santee School District Shop with a Principal event possible. This initiative has been running successfully for some time, but this year it was expanded to include all schools due to the help of generous community donors contributing a total of $10,000. Several 6-8th grade students from across the district enjoyed breakfast and hot chocolate before being transported to Walmart at Grossmont Center, where they enjoyed a shopping spree. Once the shopping was completed, students returned to Carlton Hills for lunch. This event is a true reflection of Santee’s community spirit and dedication.
  • Spotlight on Education: Carlton Hills School. Carlton Hills School staff provided an update on student assessment and survey results from the 2023-24 school year as well as site collaboration plans for the 2024-25 school year.
  • A public hearing was held for CSEA's initial proposal to modify articles of the collective bargaining agreement between the Santee School District and CSEA are presented.

Discussion and/or Action Items

  • The Board appointed Board Advisory Committee assignments to fill vacancies. Appointments can be found in the Board Packet.
  • The Board adopted the the Santee School District Governance Standards and Team Norms. These serve as guidelines to help increase effectiveness and improve the quality of governance and leadership for the District.
  • As required by law, each year Santee School District contracts with an independent certified public accountant for an annual audit of its financial records for the prior year. The District contracted with Eide Bailly, LLP to perform all necessary work for the 2023-24 audit report. The 2023-24 report is now complete. Copies of the audit report may be obtained from Business Services and additional copies will be available at the Board meeting for review.
  • The Board of Education approved the grant award notification for the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant (SBMH). Santee School District’s Santee S.O.A.R (Solution-Oriented Approach for Resilience) Project has been selected as a grantee for the US Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary School-Based Mental Health Services Grant (SBMH). This Department
    provides competitive grants to educational agencies to increase the number of credentialed school-based mental health service providers providing mental health services to students. This grant has a number of objectives including reducing the student to counselor ratio, increasing professional development opportunities for the retention of highly qualified counselors, and expanding case management collaboration including school-based efforts (MTSS, student attendance) and district-based efforts (Care Team).
  • Director of Pupil Services and Student Well-being, Mike Olander, presented an update on the Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP) plans and next steps. This grant supports ongoing staffing needs and an infrastructure for a sustainable mental health program.
  • The Board approved the following revisions to the 2025-26 school year calendar:
    • Teachers return on Wednesday, August 13, 2025
    • Students return on Wednesday, August 20, 2025
    • School year ends on Thursday, June 11, 2026
  • The Board approved the 2026-27 school-year calendar. Significant dates include:
    • Students return on August 19, 2026
    • Parent Conferences – November 16-20 (modified days)
    • Veterans’ Day - Wednesday, November 11
    • Fall Break – November 23-27
    • Winter Break - December 21 – January 1
    • Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Monday, January 18
    • Lincoln’s Day observed - Monday, February 8
    • President’s Day - Monday, February 15
    • Spring Break – March 22 – April 2
    • School year ends on June 9, 2027

Board Policies and Bylaws

  • The Board approved BP 5144.1 - Suspension and Expulsion/Due Process - Policy updated to reflect SB 274 which (1) extends the prohibition from suspending a student for disruption or willful defiance, formerly applicable to students in grades K-8, to all students, with the prohibition being effective until July 1, 2029, (2) prohibits a district from suspending or expelling a student solely on the fact that they are truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities, and (3) includes guidance for foster youth specifically. Additionally, policy updated to clarify that no preschool student may be expelled or unenrolled except in accordance with law and as specified in administrative regulation, and to reflect SB 114 which defines numerically significant subgroups to include long-term English learners.

 First readings were held for the following Revised Board Policies (descriptions can be found in the Board Packet):

  • BP 5144.1 - Suspension and Expulsion/Due Process
  • BP 6163.4 - Student Use of Technology
  • BP 5131.9 - Academic Honesty
  • BP 6173.1 - Education For Foster Youth

The next regular meeting of the Santee School District Board of Education will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 4, 2024, in the Educational Resource Center, 9619 Cuyamaca, Santee. Meetings can also be live-streamed at santeesd.net/LiveBoardMeeting.

Note: These are not official meeting minutes of the Board of Education but rather a brief recap of the Board’s actions. For meeting recordings and official meeting minutes, click here.