PYLUSD financial report notes per-pupil spending; new principals to begin work

A listing of per-pupil spending by grade levels is one of the more interesting items included in the most recent state-required financial report reviewed by the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district's five elected trustees.

Dollars spent educating each of the district's some 25,000 students are based on average daily attendance and are projected to increase from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent for each of the next two years, depending on grade level.

This year's funding for each kindergarten through grade 3 student is $8,398; for each grade 4 through 6 student $7,720; for each grade 7 and 8 student $7,950; and for each grade 9 through 12 student $9,451, all figured on an average daily attendance basis.

Interestingly, average daily attendance is expected to dip a bit, about 1 percent at each grade level, from this year to the 2018-19 school year, according to current projections. District-wide, average daily attendance is anticipated to drop 246 kindergarten through grade 12 students.

The kindergarten through grade 3 decline is expected to be from 7,124 to 7,053; grade 4 through grade 6 from 5,451 to 5,397; grades 7 and 8 from 3,843 to 3,804; and grades 9 through 12 from 8,233 to 8,151.

In other school-related matters:

--Two new high school principals will be in place before the next school year begins. Ken Fox, selected as principal of Esperanza High School in 2008, will retire after a 38-year career in education. His replacement beginning July 1 will be one of Esperanza's current assistant principals, Gina Aguilar.

Hector Vasquez has resigned after serving one-year at Valencia High School. The application period for this position closes June 2. Also retiring are Cameron Malotte, principal at Yorba Linda Middle School, and Kevin McConnell, athletic director at Valencia High School.

--Alyssa Griffiths has been named district Public and Media Relations Specialist, replacing Doug Schultz, who is now Supervisor of Communications for Citrus College in Glendora.

--Trustees granted $750 stipends to five 2016-17 “employees of the year”: Tiffany Badger, Suzanne Borgese, Ann Rago, Debra Silverman and Janice Weber.

--Trustees approved an agreement with the county Department of Education and a memorandum of understanding with the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance to partly implement a district-wide focus area, providing a “safe and respectful environment.”

The county agreement provides training for teams of teachers at elementary and secondary schools in a program to increase attendance, access to learning and positive behaviors and decrease discipline referrals, bullying and suspensions.

The memorandum of understanding addresses student needs by providing prevention and intervention services through group work, individual counseling, classroom workshops and referrals to community services, as well as career development, after-school programs and leadership training.