Chess tables planned for all school sites, courtesy of Boy Scouts Troop 50

BY JUN STARKEY

Elijah Sheaffer, a member of Carpinteria Boy Scouts Troop 50, received approval for his plan to construct chess tables for each Carpinteria Unified School District (CUSD) school site at the CUSD Board of Trustees June 20 meeting.

“I’ve always loved chess because I used to play with my grandpa,” Sheaffer said last week. He said he got the idea for constructing chess tables after watching a chess tournament at Canalino Elementary School.

The project is part of Sheaffer’s Eagle Scout Service Project, a project that allows scouts to show their leadership abilities and prove they are worthy of the Eagle Scout rank.

Sheaffer plans to construct concrete chess tables and stools off site, and install two at each school site. The chess tables would be square, with rounded corners, and two small stools on either side. Chess pieces would be distributed to individual teachers at a school site, and students would be able to check the equipment out during recess or break times.

Board approves LCAP, proposed budget

The board unanimously approved the 2023-24 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the 2023-24 Proposed Adopted Budget at its June 20 meeting; both items were presented on and reviewed at the previous June 13 meeting (CVN Vol. 29, No. 40).

The LCAP is a state-mandated, three- year plan which is revised annually, and includes several priorities outlined by the state, such as student achievement, implementation of state standards, student engagement, parent involvement, school climate and course access. The plan also includes the district’s goals for the 202324 school year, and actions or services the district will provide to meet each goal.

The district’s goals for the 202324 school year include: Increase student learning with high quality standards-based instruction that is differentiated for every student; all students actively engage in learning and participate in a positive school culture in partnership with parents; all students will graduate from high school college and career ready; facilities are updated and well maintained for all students and staff; and increase performance on the Math California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test by Carpinteria Middle School (CMS) students with disabilities.

The district highlighted several actions taken under each goal, including maintaining smaller class sizes across all grade levels and providing targeted small group instruction on reading and math to ensure students receive high quality instruction; monitoring daily student attendance, providing therapeutic services to students and implementing restorative justice practices, in order to increase student engagement; and having students participate in college readiness programs, college field trips for 11th and 12th grade students and increasing enrollment in

AVID classes, to ensure all students graduate and are prepared for college.

Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee reports no issues

The 2021-22 board report from the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) – a group tasked with reviewing the district’s expenditure reports to ensure Measure U funds are properly used – reported no issues with the district’s expenditures.

The CBOC meets three to four times a year, according to committee chair Gary Blair, who presented the report to the board at its June 20 meeting. There were no financial statement findings, no findings or recommendations related to the Measure U building fund and no findings or conclusions for the prior fiscal year.

“In short, I think we can proudly say that we’ve been squeaky clean with our expenditures,” Blair said.