Meeting Recap: Looming Layoffs, New Trustees Sworn In, and the Books Los Al USD Students are Reading

Here are three things (and a few more) that happened at the December 17, 2024 meeting of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education.

Oath of Office for Trustees

After winning their races in the November 5, 2024 election, newly elected board trustees Matt Bragman and Farnaz Pardasani, as well as the reelected incumbent Chris Forehan, were sworn into office for their four-year terms. 

After reciting the oath that includes pledging allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution, the trustees thanked their supporters, family, and loved ones and also shared how they plan to govern.

“Although I was elected by the residents in Trustee Area 2, I have a commitment to make a difference for all five trustee areas," Forehan, a former educator and school district administrator in L.A. County, said.

“I’m here to listen to learn and to lead collaboratively,” said Bragman, a former teacher and principal, who succeeds Meg Cutuli in representing Trustee Area 5. “Together, we will continue the work of making our schools not just places of academic excellence, but also places where every student feels safe, valued and inspired to achieve to their full potential.” Bragman also spent time praising Cutuli for her 24 years of service to the district as a trustee.

“At its heart, the word trustee means holding trust," said Pardasani, the new representative for Trustee Area 4, who was also on the board for the nonprofit Los Alamitos Education Foundation and a past PTA president. "I am committed to honoring that trust by continuing the work that I've been doing, but really expanding it to ensure the best possible future for our children,” she added.

During her first board communication, the portion of the agenda where trustees can speak about any topic, Pardasani said she planned to use this time to share her top takeaways from events she attends in her official role. She discussed the recent California School Boards Association conference, which Bragman and other trustees and administrators also attended.

Pardasani's takeaways were looking for opportunities for the district to embrace Artificial Intelligence as a "thought partner" in solving problems like chronic absenteeism. She also brought up the issue of students' overuse of cellphones, especially during instructional time, and how that may be negatively impacting their mental health. (State law now requires districts to pass rules limiting students' cellphone use on campus during school hours by July 1, 2026.)

She also mentioned improving how the district connects with parents. "I think we're really excellent about how much we communicate," she said, and suggested, "Perhaps there's opportunity to learn about how to create a two-way platform so we can get feedback more seamlessly from our constituents."

Other board members welcomed the new trustees. "We're so thrilled to have you on the board and to have a parent voice," Marlys Davidson said during the meeting, noting that both Bragman and Pardasani are parents of current Los Alamitos USD students. "You'll bring a perspective that will only add to the good work that we're doing," she said. Forehan is also the grandfather of two students currently attending district schools.

During the meeting the board also selected Davidson to serve as President and Diana Hill as Vice President for 2025.

💵 Budget Challenges 

The First Interim Report on the budget for 2024-25 showed the district to be operating with a $4.5 million deficit due primarily to declining student enrollment and less than expected funding from the state for the Cost of Living Adjustment or COLA (increase in funds to address inflation), according to Elvia Schnur, the district’s Asst. Supt. for Business Services. (Watch Schnur's presentation to the board here.)

To address the shortfall, Schnur said the district is proposing to cut spending, reduce staffing, and dip into its “rainy day fund.” 

The cuts include eliminating seven full-time equivalent certificated positions, which are teachers, mostly due to fewer students attending the district’s nine campuses. So far enrollment has declined by 185 students for the current year and is expected to dip by 192 students for 2025-2026, according to the district. Classified staffing will also be reduced by an estimated $821,580. The plan also calls for halving the technology budget from $1 million to $500,000.

Superintendent Andrew Pulver, Ed.D., said the technology budget reductions are “sustainable for the next three years because of the early investments we have done intentionally when there was different funding and we invested in a lot of those pieces of equipment, your servers, your wireless access points, etc.”

The district is proposing transferring $450,000 from Fund 17, which is a reserve. Schnur said the current budget outlook is “making our reserve levels be a little bit more uncomfortable than what we would like them to be.”

Schnur told the board that the Orange County Department of Education, which has oversight on fiscal issues for local school districts, will require the board to sign a fiscal solvency statement early next year to ensure the district will maintain fiscal solvency in the current year and the next two years. 

The district has been forecasting its budget challenges for months, including the need for cuts and layoffs. (See our prior story from March). It's not the only public school district in Orange County dealing with declining enrollment, the expiration of Covid-era funding, and reduced money from the state. This month, the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education passed a resolution outlining a "Fiscal Stabilization Plan" which calls for the elimination of 351 jobs, including 169 teaching positions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to release his proposed budget next month. The Los Alamitos school board is expected to review the district’s budget again in March.

2025 Meeting Schedule

The board adopted its meeting and workshop schedule for 2025. The board generally meets the second Tuesday of the month. But be sure to check www.losal.org for the latest meeting schedule information and for agendas.

Here are a few other items from the December meeting:

📚 READING LIST FOR 3rd - 12th GRADERS: Deputy Supt. Ondrea Reed provided a brief informational presentation covering the “core” reading list for 3rd-12th graders at the district’s nine schools. The book list includes classics like Charlotte’s Web, works by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Ernest Hemingway, to newer books including Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You can find the list on the agenda as item 11.a. The books will be on display at the district office for 30 days from the Dec. 17 meeting. 

🍎 SCHOOL PLAN FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Each of the district’s nine campuses must submit a School Plan for Student Achievement or SPSA for board approval. The SPSA reviews student test scores, performance, attendance, career readiness, and lays out specific goals for addressing each item. “The SPSAs must address how schools will improve teaching and learning,” according to the agenda. You can find your school’s SPSA on the agenda at item 12.i. The SPSAs were part of the consent calendar meaning they were adopted on one vote of multiple items without discussion.

🏫 SCHOOL PRESENTATION: McAuliffe Middle School Principal Eddie Courtemarche, Assistant Principal Jen McGuire, and students delivered their annual presentation to the board during the December 17 workshop. They also honored PTA President Jenapher Safranski with the "Hero of the Heart" award, a recognition given to one person each school year for going above and beyond to support the campus community.

The board is scheduled to meet next on January 14, 2025.

Editor's Note: The author served on the School Site Council at McGaugh Elementary with Matt Bragman last school year and part of this school year and volunteered for many years at McGaugh with Farnaz Pardasani.