The 5-hour Fullerton School District Board (FSD) meeting on November 18 began with the ceremonial swearing in of new Trustee Miguel Alverez. He was officially sworn in at the October 31 special meeting, but this ceremony was done with his family and friends surrounding him.

SNAP Suspension Response

FSD mobilized within 48 hours to serve families impacted by the temporary suspension of SNAP benefits during the recent government shutdown. FSD worked with community partners and volunteers to create weekend family food boxes feeding 95 FSD families in need.

FSD gathered and delivered the food, taking food allergies and special requirements into consideration as the government cut off food for families. Dry goods, protein sources, and fresh produce are still strongly needed. To provide food or volunteer, call Victor Trejo, FSD’s Director of Nutrition Services, at (714) 447-7435.

Sunset Lane and Butterfly Way Station

Girl Scout Troop 7127, originating from Sunset Lane Elementary, and their advisor, Elizabeth Yee, presented their Girl Scout Silver Award Project: an official Monarch Butterfly Way Station that enriches the life science environment at Sunset Lane. Leah Kim, London Pye, Shiloh Santos, and Lauren Yee worked with their GS Leader, Shari Santos, to create a garden with drought-tolerant, California native plants that provide year-round food and habitat for all stages of the Monarch butterflies.

The garden includes plants, “puddlers” (raised dishes that provide water), and information links and QR codes that provide NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) aligned life science information in age-appropriate lessons from kindergarten to 6th grade.

New Superintendent Search

The Trustees voted to hire Leadership Associates, an executive sourcing firm, to facilitate the search for the new FSD superintendent after Dr. Bob Pletka retires in February 2026. This is the first time going through this process for 4 of the trustees, and over 13 years since the district last hired a new superintendent. Leadership Associates found the current Fullerton Joint Union High School District Superintendent, Dr. Steve McLaughlin, 4 years ago.

GATE Program Update

Assistant Superintendent of Education Services, Dr. Adaina Brown, presented options concerning the district’s Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE) policies of student identification and priority enrollment for designated hubs placed throughout the district. Current FSD policy tests all second graders using a National Association for Gifted Children-approved assessment. Parents may opt out of testing their child.

Qualified students receive enrichment from a GATE-certified teacher at their home school or transfer to a designated GATE school. Designated schools prioritize enrolling students from specified feeder schools over students transferring from non-feeder schools, forming a 3rd grade cohort that stays together until 6th grade.

Current policy has older identified GATE students, whose home school is a designated GATE school, prioritized to join the cohort GATE class and possibly pushing a transfer student out of the cohort class into a cluster group at the GATE campus. This happened in August at Acacia Elementary.

FSD GATE currently serves 1,431 students districtwide. The GATE review committee, composed of parents, teachers and staff, recommended retaining the designated hubs, and once the cohort reaches 34 students, splits into two clusters of 17 students each, creating two classes supplemented with regular program students and taught by a GATE-certified teacher.

Earlier, the GATE Coordinator referred to studies showing GATE students achieve better in clusters. The trustees shared additional concerns. Trustee Vanesa Estrella questioned equitable representation in the program, and Dr. Brown and Trustee Ruthi Hanchett shared a belief that GATE students provide “models to less high-achieving students,” which indicated a misunderstanding concerning GATE-identified students.
Some GATE students exhibit high-achieving qualities, but many do not. Compare identifiers of gifted students and high achievers at the FSD GATE website: www.fullertonsd.org/departments/educational-services/gate

These contrasts reflect why GATE identified students tend to thrive in a specialized academic environment with trained instructors and additional parental involvement.

The trustees requested additional consideration of unconscious bias concerning assessment, defining additional designated schools, the prioritized enrollment policy, and maintaining equitable GATE cluster sites at students’ home schools.

The trustees approved the proposed cohort split policy, with Trustee James Cho disagreeing, but he was outvoted 4-1.

Dual Language Program Expansion

Last summer, Trustee Vanesa Estrella requested, with board support, that the administration explore dual language program expansion if parental interest existed. Dr. Brown presented parent survey results, available classroom areas, and staff support data.

Maple and Hermosa Elementary schools had the strongest parental support, with high staff support and space at Hermosa, and low space and moderate staff support at Maple.

Trustee Estrella, Trustee Miguel Alverez, and Trustee Hanchett postponed opening a new program until the 2027/28 school year, but sent the administration back to find a south Fullerton school that would support an expanded dual language Spanish program.

The Fullerton School District will host a Dual Language Program Parent Information session on December 11 at 5:30 PM. The session will provide details about the district’s Spanish and Korean language programs. Parents interested in attending can register at www.fullertonsd.org. For more information, contact the district office at (714) 447-7416.

The next FSD Board meeting is on December 9.