Declining Enrollment, Open Communication Dominate School Board Forum

Questions concerning declining enrollment, teacher performance evaluations and board communication dominated the discussion this week at a candidate forum at the local auditorium.

Monday's forum, which was moderated by the League of Women Voters, was the first opportunity for candidates to publicize their campaign platforms and address the . The four candidates (one incumbent) are vying for two open seats on the governing board of the La Cañada Unified School District. The election is Nov. 8. 

While the debate was certainly polite by most standards, each candidate’s platform and personality was clearly on display. One of the issues that sparked concern was whether API scores should be used to measure teacher performance.

Blumenfeld, who graduated from in 2009 and is currently a junior at Princeton University, felt strongly that the district should use any outcome measure available in evaluating teacher performance. As part of his platform, Blumenfeld stresses regular teacher evaluations, as opposed to one every four years.

A current La Cañada High School parent, Multari agreed with Blumenfeld and felt that the board should welcome all forms of data when evaluating teacher performance.

“I would be welcome to any data whether it be API or something else,” said Multari. “There is a plethora of information available and for us to ignore everything will be to our peril.”

Incumbent Broberg disagreed with Blumenfeld and Multari, stating that API should not be used in evaluating teacher performance. She did add, however, that she would be open to using the data for implementing teacher bonuses. 

Koeppen, who previously ran for the school board in 2009, felt that the district should look beyond API and the California standards of academic achievement and try to be in sync with the country.

Declining Enrollment and Out-of-District Students

Multari stated that since the out-of-district student enrollment is currently maxed out at 15 percent, the district should consider developing a long-range plan if enrollment continues to decline.

“We may have to consider closing an elementary school,” said Multari.

Koeppen was open to increasing the number of out-of-district students in order to make for the declining number of local students enrolled in the public school system.

“Out-of-district students do have parents that work in La Cañada,” said Koeppen. “If a JPL family wants their kids to go to school in La Cañada, I don’t see why not.” 

Broberg disagreed with Koeppen arguing that the number of out-of-district students should not be increased.

“I do not support increasing the number of our out of district students,” said Broberg. “But I do support having a more even distribution.”

Broberg along with Multari felt that out-of-district should be spread evenly throughout the primary grade levels because studies show the students test at higher achievement lebels when they are brought into the public school system at an early age.

Candidate Blumenfeld drew applause when he suggested the school district bring back the hundreds of students it loses each year to nearby private schools.

“When you look at the directories of these nearby private schools, you see that hundreds of these students are La Cañada residents that chose to enroll in private school,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld stated that if the district was able to regain the hundreds of students it loses to private school the district could earn up to an addition $1 million in state funding.

Open Communication

Each candidate stressed accessibility to all levels of the district and planned to find ways to communicate key school board issues with the public.

“We need to start translating our agenda into speech normal people can read,” Blumenfeld said.

In addition to holding office hours and morning coffees with the community, Blumenfeld also said the district should look into televising its monthly meeting like the .