The La Jolla Cluster Association reconvened Oct. 10 for its first meeting of the 2024-25 school year.
The association includes principals, parents and teachers from La Jolla’s five public schools in the San Diego Unified district.
Last week’s meeting addressed the district’s projected budget deficit, goals for the school year, updates on cluster initiatives and the new school calendar.
2025-26 budget
San Diego Unified is facing a possible $176.4 million deficit for next academic year, which officials attributed to increased costs, declining enrollment (which affects state funding) and expiring one-time funding sources.
District Area Superintendent Mitzi Merino said the SDUSD board is exploring ways to address the projected deficit, including staff attrition, reassessing restricted funds, increasing revenue and making a 20 percent reduction in central office costs.
“Last year the language we heard was that we’re going to keep it away from school sites. Now we’re going to try to keep it farthest away from classrooms,” Merino said.
The board will hear potential budget solutions from other districts during a virtual workshop Monday, Oct. 21.
Key goals
Merino also announced the district board’s four key goals for the school year: wellness, effective communication, problem-solving and college and career readiness.
Merino said the board expects to achieve several benchmarks, including improving scores on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, and boosting high school graduates’ college preparedness from 59.9 percent to 71.9 percent.
“The No. 1 goal is wellness in the district,” Merino said. “That’s most important to our board,” though she added “we’re not sure what we’re going to use for the measure yet.”
She said the district also wants to “spotlight” students who fall 15 percent to 20 percent behind math and English language arts standards for middle and high school. She said she expects such efforts to improve performance and serve all students.
‘No Place for Hate’
A key initiative in the La Jolla cluster is “No Place for Hate,” a student-led effort promoting unity among schools and students. Muirlands Middle School was designated a “No Place for Hate” campus last year.
La Jolla High School’s Associated Student Body is preparing interactive “No Place for Hate” lessons for classrooms starting in fifth grade, said La Jolla Elementary School Principal Stephanie Hasselbrink. She expressed her excitement for more collaboration with high-schoolers.
“Our kids love them and will listen to them — anything they say,” Hasselbrink said.
She added that Scripps Ranch High School also reached out to her about teaching lessons at La Jolla Elementary.
The La Jolla cluster created a common theme for the new school year: “Creating a culture and climate where everybody on campus feels valued, welcomed and loved.”
“I think it’s a great way to leverage leadership within our cluster [and] within our students,” Hasselbrink said.
2024-25 calendar
The new academic year also began a new school calendar, and its changes were a point of contention at the Oct. 10 cluster meeting.
A 2022 resolution from SDUSD laid the groundwork for an earlier start to the school year — which began Aug. 12 — and modified winter and summer breaks. The amount of instructional days is unchanged.
Speaker Georgina Gutierrez called the new schedule “a unilateral change” that negatively impacts families, cuts into students’ summer time and falls out of alignment with other school districts. She also mentioned failing air conditioning units amid the summer heat.
Bryan Ehm, director of physical plant operations for SDUSD, reported to the board Oct. 8 that more than 480 classrooms in San Diego Unified, or 8 percent of the district’s approximately 6,000 classrooms, were “adversely affected” by failures in air conditioning during high temperatures between Aug. 12 and Sept. 12.
SDUSD board Vice President Cody Petterson, whose District C includes La Jolla, defended the calendar adjustment, citing alignment with community college schedules and ancillary benefits such as additional instructional time for Advanced Placement tests.
Local parent Eren Efe agreed, saying “It is a very visionary decision to think about the children when they have to go to college, have to take their AP exam and they get to align with community college.”
Petterson encouraged community members to forward any concerns to himself or fellow board members.
Next meeting
The La Jolla Cluster Association next meets at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Muirlands Middle School library, 1056 Nautilus St. For more information, visit lajollacluster.com. ♦