School Board update

Anna Hoffmann, Dean of Students for Tehachapi Independent Learning Academy updated the school board on the successful first year of the program. TILA is a K-12 institution. According to Hoffmann, grades K-8 include books and more traditional learning. Parents are the teachers at home. All of the lessons are planned and materials provided by the school and the families instruct the students in those lessons. All testing is done at the TILA office and weekly meetings are attended by teachers, parents and students.

The high school program is college preparatory and the classes are available online through the Apex Learning Program, the nation's leading provider of virtual learning solutions. The parents are the student's support at home with instruction provided from teachers and Apex. Testing is done at the TILA office.

The Academy opened in August with 36 students (mostly high school and middle school). By January enrollment had grown to 56 students with some elementary students included. By June the Academy had 82 students (56 high school, 19 middle school, and 7 elementary). Twenty-two of the high school students were seniors and 100% of them graduated. Many of the students also participated in extracurricular activities such as band and sports including cheer-leading. Some of the high school students were dual enrollment with Cerro Coso Community College as well.

TILA currently has two full time teachers with a load of about 39 students per teacher. A year end survey of the K-8 parents resulted in 100% positive comments and families said they would recommend TILA to others.

Renee Whitson from Pivot Learning Partners in San Francisco gave the school board a year end update. Pivot is the largest non-profit educational support provider in the country. Working with teachers and administrators, Pivot works collaboratively to establish goals and systems for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Whitson said that the focus of this year's K-8 program was mathematics and next year the focus will be on English language skills.

Business Administrator Nick Heinlein outlined the 2016-2017 Budget. He reported that a little over 84% of the $40 million budget is devoted to "people" with the remainder covering professional services, utilities, supplies, equipment, conference tuition and travel, repairs, insurance, computers, and textbooks. The total expenditures is projected to increase approximately .4% over last year. Heinlein added that the district has hired a new music teacher whose time will be divided between the three elementary schools.