SAN BENITO — Progress has already been made.
That’s certain.
According to district leaders, San Benito is on the right track following a new five-year strategic plan.
That was evident Tuesday.
Finance Director Hilda Rendon updated the school board on the finance portion of the Re-Imagine 2021 five-year Strategic Plan.
As previously promised, the leadership team will provide a monthly update on the different aspects of the plan at each regular meeting.
Those topics include curriculum and instruction, finance, facilities, pre-kindergarten through graduate school, communications and public relations.
These were all the parts of the Re-Imagine 2021 Strategic Plan approved this summer.
Tuesday night focused specifically with pre-kindergarten program.
According to the plan, the district’s priority was to have a full-day pre-kindergarten program with highly-qualified teachers to increase student academic achievement while also lowering the class ratio in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms to 18:1.
As of today, the district has implemented a full-day pre-kindergarten program through a more than $160,000 grant.
The district currently has 972 pre-kindergarten students, 21 teachers and 28 teachers’ aids, Rendon said.
“Classes are being balanced out to obtain the lowest class ratio,” she added.
There are 663 students in the kindergarten classes, 34 teachers and 22 teachers’ aids.
“All staff is highly qualified and we continue to monitor resources to continue,” Rendon said.
Priority 2 – Streamline Systems
The district will maintain efforts to streamline systems and operations by developing operational expectations and modifying current procedure manuals.
In response, the district has implemented a new program in conjunction with current student software programs.
“These went live in September,” Rendon said. “We are in the process of developing policy and procedures to provide training.”
Priority 3 – Districts Budget
The goal is to evaluate the district’s budget as a whole and justify appropriations.
“We’ve met with principals and district personnel on an individual basis to discuss budget planning,” Rendon said.
The district has provided training in appropriate coding and needs assessment.
“The next step would be to develop a budget policy and procedures manual to be used next school year and continue training,” Rendon said.
Priority 4 – Curriculum
Mainly, the district will analyze data to determine the effectiveness of curriculum-based programs and determine the funding necessary and appropriate to support these programs.
The district’s goal is to evaluate all programs and systems.
As of now, Rendon said district officials are working to determine the number of programs by working with the technology department.
Priority 5 — Community
The district will organize efforts to form an alliance with those vested in the interest of the district.
The district hopes to continuously communicate with the community as well as local and state representatives.
Rendon said in order to further this agenda, officials will hold an open meeting where the public and district staff will form a committee.
“There, they will come up with a plan to increase awareness in the areas of funding and issues,” Rendon said.
