On Thursday, January 15, commencing at 4 p.m., the monthly Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) board meeting was held at the district headquarters.
Beginning with a closed session, the board moved on to the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) mid-year monitoring report, focusing on sharing the progress on the first two goals.
The first target, that all students are provided with a high-quality teaching and learning environment, was met in all criteria areas and promised a technology refresh in April. This includes 6,000 devices refreshed for kindergarten students, fifth-grade students, and ninth grad students, as well as over 200 teachers.
Strong progress was shown in the second goal as well, to connect and engage students, parents, families, and staff to their school to ensure student success. Data was shared that graduation and year end attendance increased from last year, while the percent of students dropping out and expulsion rates have decreased.
“There’s strong implementations in support areas like bus transportation, chronic absenteeism, counseling service, intensive student support, mental health support, suicide prevention, safe school programs, [and] intervention counselors all fully implemented,” Clerk Andrew Cruz said.
The meeting progressed as the student representative, Phoenix Kim from Chino Hills High School, shared a thorough report of the activities from high schools in the district. Danny Hernandez, the President of the California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chino Chapter 102, and Annette Hatch also gave reports as employee representatives.
Thus, the bulk of the meeting began, starting with the public comments section. Parents, teachers, students, and other members of the community shared their concerns with the board.
“Thank you to our speakers,” CVUSD President Sonja Shaw said. “We listen to you, and we take it into account. We appreciate all your voices tonight.”
One comment from a parent was a compliment towards CVUSD, recognizing the work undertaken to ensure that loopholes are closed regarding the AB495 regulation, which created a dangerous ambiguity by allowing one with sufficient verification or parental consent to assume authority over a child.
“Children deserve the highest level of protection we can provide, and I want to thank the board members for taking student safety seriously,” the parent Ana Lane said.
In conclusion, from the audience’s questions, and after a comment about a possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) incident on a school campus from a parent, Shaw offered some clarity on the situation.
“For a point of information, if ICE does come onto our campuses, parents would be notified,” Shaw said. “There aren’t any active incidents, and we are told that they don’t have any plans to come on campus.”
The one action item discussed was a recommendation to adopt the proclamation for National School Counseling Week from February 2 to the 6 in 2026. The motion passed with a vote of 5 to 0.
“[We are] always excited to recognize our counselors,” John Cervantes, Vice President of the CVUSD board, said. “Because of the relationship [counselors] build with the students, getting to know them, they know them on a personal level.”
Following the presentation of both the district’s audited financial statements for 2024 to 2025 and the financial and performance audit report for the district’s building fund for 2024 to 2025, the meeting was concluded shortly after comments from the board. With a couple of new year wishes and a strong belief expressed in the students, the CVUSD board meeting came to a reassuring conclusion with a parting message.
“We want to be the best, we want to be safe,” Cervantes said. “We want to make sure that we’re being proactive and always keeping everybody in the loop.”
