The trustees of the Coronado Unified School district elected new officers, moved forward with the budget, and honored a former trustee at a stacked meeting on Thursday, Dec. 11.
The trustees elected Renee Cavanaugh president, Fitz Lee vice president, and Mal Sandie as clerk.
The board also authorized a positive certification of the First Interim Budget Report, with Deputy District Superintendent Donnie Salamanca sharing that CUSD will “100% be a Basic Aid school district in 2027-2028.” This means that the district will be fully-funded by local property taxes, and enjoy an increase in ongoing revenue of about $8-$10 million a year.
But the district shouldn’t expect things to change overnight. Instead of getting monthly payments from the state, the district will get funding twice a year as a Basic Aid district. This will require a big build up of cash reserves.
“It will take a year or two for us to feel like a Basic Aid school district,” said Salamanca. “We will have the money there, but there are a few adjustments we will need to make until we really see the benefits.”
Safety and cell phones
In his superintendent report, Karl Mueller shared new information about the district’s “safety stand down.” After meeting with administrators on all four campuses, the district created a framework for addressing safety and behavioral accountability. This includes explicit teaching of expectations, robust social emotional learning programming, positive reinforcement, and tiered interventions. The district will also use high adult visibility and relationship-building, regular communication, ongoing staff training, and family dialogue and partnerships.
Trustee Alexia Palacios-Peters said she was happy that mid-year refreshers could reinforce expectations and consequences in accordance with the Discipline Action Guide.
“I hope that it is very clear to all of the students that these behaviors are unacceptable,” she said. “It’s almost as if we need to start basic again and not assume that they remember anything from the beginning of the year or the year prior. And this isn’t just for the students — it’s for parents and all of us — to help make sure we hold everyone accountable so we have safety in our schools.”
Mueller also shared that the district was forming a parent committee to discuss cell phone policy revisions, with a meeting in late January or early February. The district will also hold a community forum. He shared that he met with students from the student advisory committee, and that the district was committed to honoring student voice. But changes are coming.
“It’s our goal to bring forward a revised board policy for implementation in fall of 2026,” he said.
Mueller said there’s a lot of interest in the topic of school cell phone policy, not just in Coronado, but across the state. He said it was a topic of discussion at the last Village PTO meeting, where he “felt a lot of support and appreciation for looking critically at cell phone policy,” while noting that there were strong opinions on both sides.
Board policy rewrites
The trustees were presented with a “first reading” of several board policy revisions, spearheaded by trustee Lee and refined by trustee Palacios-Peters. The rewrites included board policies on artificial intelligence, nondiscrimination in employment, science instruction, history-social science instruction and controversial issues.
Palacios-Peters said that the policies usually come from the California School Board Association and CUSD staff summarizes them. This time, Lee and Palacios-Peters took another pass to make sure they fit the community.
“These [board policies] come from the state, and I’m glad that they do, because they come with all the legal references. We will never stray from the law with anything that we do,” said Lee. “But when we feel like it’s in our advantage, we will write it in a language that better suits our community.”
Trustee Scot Youngblood said he was happy with the changes.
“The statements that came from the California School Board Association seemed to be charged in many ways, and unnecessarily so,” he said. “So using less words, and being more accepting of different viewpoints is a good way to go about it.”
Palacios-Peters asked for community feedback before the board meets again on January 15. The proposed policies can be viewed here.
A question about field use for school sports
In public comments, Santos Trujillo, the Coronado High School rugby club coach, shared that his players are routinely kicked off school practice fields because they are being used by for-profit organizations. He asked the district to look into the process for allocating fields.
He said the rugby team has been running into the same problems for the last six or seven years: not enough practice time for players because the fields are in use.
His assistant coach said they are being forced to practice down at Strand, where they have to set up generators and lights.
“It doesn’t seem right when you have in-season, high school sports both for boys and girls, and we’re getting kicked of our own fields,” he said.
Tribute for Dr. Helen Anderson-Cruz
The late Dr. Helen Anderson-Cruz, who served as a trustee on the school board from 2018 to 2022, was celebrated as a lifelong advocate for education and a beloved member of the community. Mueller said that Dr. Anderson-Cruz was a “fierce” advocate for public education and educators, and she always brought the perspective of the classroom teacher into conversations.
“She was patient, gracious and kind, and I will always cherish my time with her,” said Mueller.
Mueller noted that several of the programs that she championed were on display at the board meeting, including music and robotics.
Trustee Cavanaugh said that Anderson-Cruz left a lasting mark on the district.
“I watched her on the dais as she listened to her fellow trustees, and she really strove for understanding among everyone on the board,” said Cavanaugh. “Her wealth of experience and her ability to foster discussions positively impacted the decisions that were made here. Our schools and district is better because of her contributions.”
Daughter Devon Roberts, a teacher at Village Elementary, and granddaughter Audrey Roberts, a water polo player at Coronado High School, were in the audience along with her son-in-law, Troy.
A future agenda item
Trustee Lee asked for a future agenda item to have staff prepare a comprehensive report on the use of Facilitron, the online platform used by the district to help manage all public requests to rent out school facilities.
He said he believes it would help the district be more transparent and insure the community understands the law.
“It’s important that we provide a clear explanation of the Facilitron process, the criteria used and the legal standards that prevent the district from viewpoint discrimination,” said Lee. “This will help ground the discussion in facts rather than assumptions.”
Other board business
- The board approved a continued lease agreement with the Navy for its property at 199 Sixth Street.
- The board approved revised salary schedules and accepted the accompanying recommendations for certified and classified management and non-represented employees.
- The board approved the adoption of the AP Environmental Science Instructional materials at CHS.
- The board approved the retirement notice stipend.
- The board heard reports on annual Department of Defense (DoDEA).
Other celebrations
- The board enjoyed live presentations from the CUSD Robotics program at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. The program includes 150 students who have won more than 60 awards.
- The CoSA Instrumental Music conservatory presented two songs from two different musical ensembles.
- The CHS girls volleyball team was celebrated for an outstanding 2025 season.
The next board meeting will take place on Thursday, January 15 at 4 pm.
