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First Time in Coronado School History
School District's Budget Woes Continue with Qualified Budget Approved by Governing Board Last Night
School districts that cannot pay their expenses over a three year period are labeled "Qualified" by the state of California. Of the 100 school districts in California, less than 30 have such a label. Last night at the school board meeting, CUSD was stamped with the qualified budget designation.
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Incumbent Ledge Hakes took the oath of office for another four year term last night along with new members Lou Smith and Lee Pontes. The ceremony took place at the annual organizational meeting.
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The First Interim Report, included in last night's agenda as a separate Board item, included the District self-reporting a Qualified Certification to the San Diego County Office of Education. A Qualified Certification means that a district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current year and subsequent two fiscal years. In the case of CUSD, the District projects being able to meet their financial obligations in the current fiscal year and 2015-16, but are unsure at present about their ability to meet financial obligations in the 2016-17 fiscal year.
"This is most likely the first time in 100 years that this district has ever had less than a positive budget," remarked Dr. Keith Butler, Assistant Superintendent Business Services. "The change in how our state funds all districts has critically impaired CUSD's ability to provide a balanced budget and to continue academic services to the children of Coronado."
The District will have the opportunity to reaffirm or change its Qualified Certification at the time of the Second Interim Report at the March 5, 2015 Board meeting.
The Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) Fiscal Procedural Manual for Business Officials describes the practical results of a Qualified Certification as:
1. Education Code requires each school district filing a qualified certification to provide an additional financial statement projection. This is commonly referred to as the Third Interim Report and will be presented in May 2015.
2. For districts with qualified certifications, the county must also approve the issuance of any non-voter-approved debt (e.g., certificates of participation, capital leases, tax and revenue anticipation notes). The county superintendent must determine that the repayment is probable.
3. Education Code requires the county superintendent to annually present a report (AB 139 letter) to the governing board regarding the fiscal solvency of any district with a disapproved budget, qualified or negative interim certification, or that has been determined at any time to be in a position of fiscal uncertainty.
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Kids Help Other Kids with Toys to Local Police
This holiday season Village Elementary teamed up with the Coronado Police Department to collect 379 bears within a two week period! Second graders brought in the most at 83 bears and won a Chick Filet lunch! Schools Resource Officer Sherri Mannello spearheaded the Teddy Bear Drive and was the lucky person who counted them all at the end!
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Hour of Code Powers Learning in Several Classrooms Across Coronado
Silver Strand Students Participate in National "Hour of Code Week"- Students in Jodi Judd's 2nd grade, Robyn Fullmer's 3rd grade, and Karen Pierro's 4th grade classes at Silver Strand participated in the worldwide "Hour of Code Week" held from December 8th-12th. This event was established to expose children to explore the world of computer coding in fun and engaging ways, and to become introduced to 21st Century skills in a potential STEAM-related career. Over 70 million students from 180 different countries around the world participated in this event, which received endorsements from President Obama as well as well-known personalities such as Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Gates, and Ashton Kutcher. Ms. Judd is also leading a very popular Computer Coding enrichment club for 1st and 2nd graders during lunch recess one day a week at Silver Strand to extend exposure to this field for participating students.
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Village Students Introduced to Computer Science- This week Miss MacDonald's class participated in "An Hour of Code" to help celebrate Computer Science Education Week (December 8th-14th). Computer Science education helps to nurture problem solving, logic, and creativity. Most professions and careers our students will be taking on in the future will have some component of computer science at its foundation. During this hour, students logged on and practiced their programming skills using a program called Blockly. Their task was to cause a graphic animation character to move by writing the programming steps which would enable it to move. Students worked at their own pace to progress through the programming challenges by trying out different sequences of code. This "Hour of Code," while celebrated this week, can be tried by anyone anytime. Check it out, and happy coding! http://hourofcode.com/us |
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Coronado Schools Foundation...
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Spirit of Giving
A parent walked in to the Coronado Schools Foundation office this week with a wonderful donation of $160 raised by local school children at a bake sale held last Saturday. We were happy to count the dollars and change in support of public education. CSF staff and Board thank these caring students and their parents for taking the time to make the items and sell them for our kids and schools. If you would like to make a year-end donation and enjoy the accompanying tax benefits, please visit www.csfkids.org.
Family & Kids Run Benefit Local Schools
Register today for a fun San Diego Sole Mates Family Run (5K) on Saturday, January 10th, 8:30 am start, with a special Kids Run (one mile), proceeds benefiting local public schools through the Coronado Schools Foundation. Limited to 500 runners, the course starts at Tidelands Park and is a flat and fun bayside 5K run/walk with spectacular views of the San Diego skyline. The 3-loop one mile Kids Run will be easily visible to parents and spectators from a central point. All 5K participants will receive a FREE CamelBak water bottle ($25 value), long sleeve technical shirt, and a finisher's medal. All Kids Run participants will also receive a finisher's medal. Students enrolled in Silver Strand will also receive a homework pass good for one sheet of homework at Silver Strand.
Register today at www.sdsolemates.com for $30/adult through December 31st when the price increases to $40. Kids Run participants pay just $10 and will get a finisher's medal. Volunteers are also needed, contact Abby Buckley at CSF, abby@csfkids.org or call 437-8059, ext 1083.
Holiday Shopping ONLINE Benefits our Schools
With the holidays upon us, please shop via the online portal below with proceeds shared with our four PTO groups and the Islander Sports Foundation:
As you do your holiday shopping, remember that eScrip provides
a percentage of purchases back to CSF!
Shop Online and Support Our Schools!
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A weekly publication produced for the staff of Coronado Unified School District and the
Community of Coronado by Jeffrey P. Felix, Ed. D., Superintendent of Schools,
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