Beyond the Blackboard

Lebs Leaving Capistrano Unified School District

The changes continue ... interesting to note that Lebs is going to Fullerton, the district that also lured away former CUSD exec Sherine Smith, now enjoying serving as Superintendent at Laguna Beach.

From CUSD:

Deputy Superintendent of Business and Support Services Ronald N. Lebs has accepted a similar position in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Capistrano Unified School District officials announced today.

His last day will be Friday, Jan. 20.

Lebs came to the District in July 2008, overseeing a budget that has suffered nearly $80 million in reductions during his tenure. During the same time period, Lebs helped manage resources in order to expand educational opportunities to students, including extending the District’s highly regarding two-way language immersion program, the establishment of the District’s first International Baccalaureate candidate K-8 school, and a renewed emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math instruction.

“Ron has been a voice for prudence and reason in this district over the last three and a half years, and has helped this District manage its resources to best support the continued academic success of its students,” Superintendent Joe Farley said. “We will miss his expertise and experience as we prepare for the next fiscal year, but we wish him well as he faces new challenges in a new environment.”

Before arriving in CUSD, Lebs worked for the Sylvan Union School District in Modesto, where he served for nine years, first as Director of Facilities and then as Chief Business Officer.

The District will initiate a regional search for a Deputy Superintendent, Business and Support Services, and will identify an interim appointment while that process is implemented.

Capistrano Releases Potential Trustee District Maps

Many, many sentences in the reports stress these are only a starting point, but the Capistrano Unified School District has posted maps of potential new voting areas for the district's seven trustees.

The five scenarios look at trustee areas that mirror high-school attendance areas, elementary attendance areas, city boundaries and other criteria.

They also identify whether they'll create an open seat up for grabs in the next election, or pit two existing trustees against each other.

The work was required because of the 2010 Census, which shows 343,291 people in the CUSD boundaries, 17 percent Hispanic.

And remember, with the passage of Measure H, voters will only cast ballots for one trustee -- the one from their area.

The public hearings on this kick off Monday night.

Here's the maps:

Download CUSD District Maps

Here is the district news release:

Public Hearing, Board Discussion Scheduled for Monday, Dec. 12

 

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO—Capistrano Unified School District has released preliminary drafts of adjusted trustee area boundaries, which will be reviewed and discussed at the Board of Trustees’ meeting on Monday, Dec. 12.

            The five drafts, drawn by National Demographics Corporation, are considered a starting point that will stimulate discussion, ideas, and direction for the consultant to develop a final plan for approval. The maps can be found at http://bit.ly/uALe24 (pdf).

            The trustee area boundary adjustment is a process that occurs once every decade after data from the U.S. Census is updated. In addition, voters approved Measure H in November 2010 that changed the method of electing members of the Board to a “by trustee area” election process. This requires Board members to live in a particular Trustee area, and be elected by voters living within that area. The election scheduled for Nov. 6, 2012, will utilize the new method of election.

            While the drafts have been drawn using criteria approved by the Board of Trustees at its Nov. 14 meeting, the plans are not final or exclusive. Considerable revision is likely and different parts of the plans can be melded into one final proposal.

Plan A boundaries are drawn using the least amount of change and are relatively compact; Plan B relies heavily on city borders; Plan C is drawn taking into account elementary school attendance areas; Plan D is based on high school attendance area boundaries; and Plan E is drawn using city boundaries and high school attendance areas as guidelines.

The plans will be brought back to public meetings for review and discussion on Jan. 9 and Jan. 25, 2012. The final plans are scheduled to be adopted at a Board of Trustees’ meeting on either Jan. 25 or Feb. 13, 2012.

Members of the public who wish to provide feedback on the draft plans can attend one of the meetings, send their input to [email protected], or mail comments to the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675.