| Interim Superintendent Update |
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Dear Auburn Union School District Parents, Staff & Community Members, |
Today, I want to share an exciting development that our Board has decided on - the transition to a district-wide TK-8 model.
What does this mean for our students? Simply put, they can look forward to the same level of education they've always enjoyed. Our schools will continue to receive funding for various site and district-level programs. Principals will still be in charge of daily routines and schedules, and sites will continue to engage with families in planning, training, and collaboration. AUSD will remain committed to ensuring that our English learners receive the necessary language support to progress towards English proficiency within five years.
We understand the importance of extracurricular activities in shaping our students' overall development. Therefore, before and after school programs will remain accessible to all students. Furthermore, we'll ensure they have exposure to a wide range of study courses, sports, and other beneficial learning programs.
There is ample research indicating that students thrive in a TK-8 environment. This model offers leadership opportunities, early access to sports, and a family-like atmosphere where siblings can attend the same school. It also ensures a safer environment with less disruptive transitions, diverse student and teacher populations, and the opportunity for students to grow from new learners to mentors. Although the shift to a TK-8th grade model was primarily a budgetary decision, this is also an opportunity to enhance our program and benefit students.
In our united journey as a district, we are putting forth our best efforts to navigate our budget reductions together; this path requires understanding, compromise, and a bit of sacrifice from everyone, all with the shared goal of nurturing and investing in our student's futures. Sincerely, |
Interim Superintendent
Auburn Union School District |
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| AUSD Board Meeting Update Board of Trustees President, Greg Holt |
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Good Afternoon AUSD Families,
This week, I’d like to address allegations that water in our schools is unsafe and discuss the Board’s decision to restructure the schools in our district as TK-8.
Early in 2023, the Board was made aware of a single faucet on the Alta Vista campus that tested high for lead. The water supply was safe, but the fixture was bad. In response, the district tested all water sources at Alta Vista and identified five additional fixtures (including sinks and exterior water hookups not intended for drinking) that yielded elevated lead levels. While working to replace those fixtures, Interim-Superintendent Lucci-Garcia directed the testing of all fixtures in the district; those tests identified plumbing fixtures at Auburn Elementary, E.V. Cain, and Skyridge with lead results above the EPA limit.
Prior to the start of this school year, those fixtures were tagged and the process to replace them had begun. The parts had to be ordered, installed, flushed over a four-week cycle, and retested. Most classrooms have two fixtures: a sink faucet and a fountain faucet. At the start of this school year, one full time classroom and a room used to provide student services had both fixtures tagged and were thus without drinking water in the room. Each school site had many sinks available for handwashing and fresh, safe drinking water has always been available on our campuses.
State and federal regulations require our schools to make clean, safe drinking water available to students where meals are served and consumed. Most of our classrooms have drinking water available in the classroom, and all of our sites have water available throughout the campus. Additionally, district staff began to bring bottled water to Auburn Elementary and Skyridge. The Placer Food Bank offered 60 cases of water to Auburn Elementary School, who accepted 30 cases at the time and asked to receive an additional 30 cases at a later date. All told, our principals have been given over 2,300 bottles of water to distribute as they saw fit in addition to the safe water sources located throughout our campuses. It’s puzzling as to why the Auburn Union Teachers Association chose to publicly describe our drinking water as “unsafe” in late October when the water itself was never the problem; the bad fixtures had been proactively identified by the district in the spring and summer, replacements were ordered and installed, the flushing and testing process was nearly complete, and thousands of bottles of water had been provided to support the affected classrooms.
As of 3:00 pm on November 14, I’ve been advised that, of 202 classroom fixtures at Auburn Elementary, E.V. Cain, and Skyridge, 19 fixtures are tagged as not-for-drinking pending flushing and testing. Of those 19, five are drinking fountain bubblers, and only three of those are in rooms with assigned classes. One classroom remains with both fixtures tagged; the sink can be used for handwashing but not drinking until the flushing/testing cycle is completed.
At last week’s meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to restructure Auburn Elementary, E.V. Cain, and Skyridge to serve as TK-8 beginning in the 2024/2025 school year. There are many potential benefits to a TK-8 model in terms of individual student success, and there are myriad studies and reports available which support either side of the philosophical “middle school or K-8” argument. The financial savings estimated by district administration – roughly $470,000 from our annual, general funds budget – carried significant weight in the board’s discussion last week. I understand there are many questions about what the schools will look like next year; our district and school teams will develop clearer plans for implementation as the year progresses.
It has been suggested that, with the roughly one million dollars in budget reductions previously identified and acted upon this year, that AUSD “bought time” and delayed insolvency enough to delay a decision on adopting a TK-8 model. Inaction is an action, and to delay this decision would be to ask other people to make it and prolong the agony of financial distress for the AUSD community. This Board previously discussed the universal TK-8 model at our October and January 2023 board meetings, and the Board Adopted 2022 Fiscal Recovery Plan acknowledged savings offered by adopting a districtwide TK-8 program – primarily through staff reductions.
Since August, this Board has acted to reduce our annual, general funds budget by roughly $1.4 million dollars; we still have another $1.1 million to go in order to meet the target identified by PCOE. Failure to become fiscally solvent will result in PCOE assuming responsibility for all financial decisions within the district. I don’t believe that would be in the best interest of our students, our future students, our staff, or the Auburn community generally.
Thank you for your participation and interest in your child’s school community.
Please send your comments, questions, or concerns to public.comment@auburn.k12.ca.us.
Best Regards, |
President Auburn Union School District Board of Trustees |
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Stay up-to-date about events, alerts, and information from Auburn Union |
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| Sight Word Busters is supporting AUSD students and teachers. To date, we have recruited, trained and placed 76 volunteers, many serving more than one shift, to provide AUSD primary students with 88 hours of individualized word practice weekly. That's over 350 hours of monthly support! The number includes four Buster Buddies at Auburn Elementary. All of our volunteers thoroughly enjoy providing the service. |
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Stay up-to-date about events, alerts, and information from Auburn Union |
After great fun at the first school dance and a week of Spirit Days the last week of October, EV Cain Middle School is getting ready to celebrate Kindness Week 2023. The Wellness team of Ms. Dragon, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Easton, and Ms. Sprecher will be sharing activities to promote kindness and to “make kindness the norm” at EV Cain.
We are so excited to welcome Mrs. Katie Bansemer to our AUSD family as Vice Principal. “Mrs. B” has been getting to know our Wildcat students and has visited our Panthers over at Auburn El. Don’t worry, Falcons, she’s headed to your site this coming week to say hello to get to know our Skyridge School community, too! Welcome Mrs. B!
Check out the pics below! Mrs. Wilson, dressed as her favorite book character, does a trivia game with Mrs. Bishop’s 6th Grade ELA Class. Next you’ll find many students “pinking out” at the first school dance!
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Auburn Elementary completed our first fundraiser of the year, our Monster Mash Dance A-Thon party on Halloween. The students and families raised over $9000 for our school! Students even earned a chance to turn Ms. Morris into a mummy.
Being a community-minded school is very important for our students, families, and community. We are continuing our partnership with the Placer Food Bank with food deliveries twice a month for all of our families. CHP is reading to our students from TK-3rd grade, and the Assistance League is providing puppet shows on character traits. We also have community volunteers running soccer games during lunch recess for our 2nd to 5th-grade students. In addition, our local Girl Scout Troops are providing toys for students in need before our Christmas Break.
Auburn Elementary staff had a successful week of Family style conferences, where the teacher, families, and students set academic goals together. Bringing families into our classrooms is very important to foster lasting relationships. Our family mornings have been very well attended. Great job, Panther families! On Saturday, November 4th, there was an organized school-wide cleanup day. The volunteers did a fantastic job beautifying the Auburn Elementary campus. |
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Skyridge Elementary Update |
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There is so much going on at Skyridge!
We were proud to take part in “Socktober” this past month. As a school, Skyridge collected over 3,000 pairs of socks to donate to a local charity. We celebrated with a Crazy Sock Day and a Seven Minute Sock Hop. Ms. Quail organized this event and it really knocked our socks off!
We also are excited to have our Trekkers Program back on the roster of school activities. Students of all ages can participate in running laps to see how many miles they can cover this year. Fresh air and movement is a great way to start the day.
Beginning next week, is our Drama Club program for 4th & 5th grade students. We can’t wait to enjoy the performances happening in the beginning of February. Thank you to our Mrs. MacDonald, Mr. Packheiser and Ms. Ross for their efforts to help our students shine on the stage.
To celebrate the great success of our Jog-a-thon, we are having a Glow Parade next Thursday from 5 - 6pm. Additionally, a few of our students were particularly pleased to get to Pie the Principal in the face by being top earners. |
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Thanksgiving Break November 20th - November 24th Regular Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 13th, 2023 |
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View All of Our Districtwide Announcements |
Auburn Union School District regularly posts announcements on their website to inform parents, guardians and community members. View our announcements to stay informed. |
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