• Step One: After your student has missed three days or 10% of the days enrolled in school, you will receive Letter One from your school site notifying your child is at risk for Truancy.

• Step Two: After continued truancy which demonstrates a pattern of chronic absenteeism,  you and your child will receive Letter Two and will be required to meet with the principal and sign an attendance contract.

• Step Three: If the absences continue, you will receive Letter Three and a referral to SARB (Student Attendance Review Board). Your SARB hearing will take place at the county sheriff’s office with district representatives from every district in the county.

• Step Four: At that hearing, the parent and student will have an opportunity to explain their reasons for chronic absenteeism. The Board will refer to outside agencies as appropriate (counseling, probation, cps, substance abuse, etc.) and make a plan for the student to successfully attend school. A contract will be signed by the family that will be valid for one calendar year. 

• Step Five: If the contract is violated, the case will go to the District Attorney who will issue a warrant for the parent’s arrest, will issue fines, etc. 

We have relevant Board Policies 5113.1 Chronic Absence and Truancy and  5113.12 District School Attendance Review Board on this matter, as well.

It is important to me that if you have a concern or complaint, that we work with you to address it and seek resolution. Though I try to answer emails and phone calls whenever possible, it’s often not the best first step for parents to take.  My first question to a parent might be, “Have you talked with the classroom teacher?” or “Have you talked with the building principal?”  They are closer to the problem or situation and I would need to contact them first anyway. 

We have put together some helpful contact information and a detailed flowchart to guide you through the process. This should help you know the steps to follow when trying to resolve a situation or get a question answered. I hope you find this information helpful.

We are on schedule to complete the air conditioning at Aromas and Anzar.  We have received the necessary DSA approvals and are ordering equipment as plans have been drawn up.  We should be ready for the heat waves in the fall of 2024!

I had my first meeting in mid November with 10 Anzar high school students who have volunteered to meet with me as part of a new student advisory team.  So often we adults make decisions that impact students without checking in with them on their ideas. I met next with approximately 10, eighth grade students from both San Juan and Aromas School in mid December. I will be bringing them all together Feb 1 to more formally engage them in identifying needs and possible ideas for solutions. This will be an advisory group, not a decision making group, but one of extreme importance.  We have one-time funds that we would love input on from students and a host of other topics that listening to student voices will be helpful for us to arrive at the best decisions! 

The Board approved six strategic goals at the end of last summer. My team has been hard at work on making progress in these areas.  Our overarching goal is to reclaim our status as a Destination District. To do that, this year, our focus has been in the following areas: 

• Build a Professional Development Program to Ensure High Quality Teaching and Professionalism

• Develop Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health Resources and Supports

• Develop High Quality Program Supports for Curriculum Implementation and Enrichment Opportunities

• Build a Data Rich Culture Based on Universal Screeners and a Student Intervention Dashboard to Support our Student Population, especially our Unduplicate Students.

• Build out Transportation Solutions for Students to Access Educational and Enrichment Opportunities

• Design Learning Spaces, Furniture and Environments that Support Future-Focused Classrooms

In addition, I have been examining opportunities to reduce inequities between our sites, to develop strategies to more fully engage all stakeholders, and to identify multiple measures to gauge our progress and to identify Signature Programs for each site. 

Last summer we initiated our ASJ+ in partnership with Youth Alliance to offer six weeks of enrichment and support for our students.  That will continue next summer.

New this year is expanding Youth Alliance to serve students at both Aromas and San Juan School and to include a host of enrichment opportunities in the arts and field trips to sites such as Horseplay Youth. Students now take part in this afterschool opportunity until about 5:45pm at each site.

We are piloting two programs for advanced placement statistics at Anzar with a decision in Early February. The History-Social Science committee met and made initial choices to move forward four programs to continue reviewing as we decide which to pilot with students in the classroom.

We have had two site based English Learner Advisory Committee meetings at all three sites and two at the district level with full representation. All parents are welcome to attend the meetings.  We will be doing targeted outreach.

View the ELAC/DELAC Information and upcoming dates.

People are beginning to notice that a lot of great things are happening in our district. Benitolink is one of those “good news” purveyors for which we are grateful.  I hope you’ve seen their news and feature stories in the past year. Here are links to several of them, many which can be found on our website.

• Hawk Academy Story

• Halloween Celebration

• Principal Ethan Stocks

• Modernization Plans 

• Q and A with Superintendent Barb Dill-Varga

Next Regular Board Meeting is January 10, 2023

Our School Board Meetings are now live streamed on VIMEO. We would love for you to attend in person or to watch from a remote location.  A link to the live stream is on the agenda we send out and which gets posted on our website.

I hope you have a restful holiday season spent with family and friends!

In gratitude,

Dr. Barb Dill-Varga
Superintendent of ASJUSD