Tuesday, November 18, 2025

The Reed Union School District board's November meeting paired a deep look at how the district's new school-meal program is performing with a detailed review of student achievement data in science and math. The board also handled year-end organizational items, including setting its reorganization date and adopting a revised meeting calendar.

Food Service Review

Staff and a consultant from School Food Solutions, Ryan G., walked the board through the transition to the district's meal vendor, "These Organics," a Marin-based provider selected as the lowest responsible bidder through a case-testing event in April 2025 after the prior vendor, Lunchmaster, stepped away. A nutrition consultant, Sarah Jones, works with the program roughly twice a week. Staff was candid about early delivery and logistics challenges as the new vendor came online, but reported encouraging participation results: lunch participation had more than doubled, while breakfast continued to lag — Bel Air breakfast was cited at roughly 16%. Staff said they would keep working on the operational issues and on lifting breakfast numbers.

Science and Math Achievement Data

Staff presented a detailed review of student performance, distinguishing between the norm-referenced MAP assessment and the criterion-referenced CAST science test aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The math discussion highlighted results from the district's "Seven C" universally accelerated seventh-grade math approach: staff reported an achievement bump, with seventh graders finishing around 93%, the lowest-performing band shrinking, and growth measures improving from 52% to 73%. Staff noted sixth grade is now in its second year of the accelerated curriculum. Trustees discussed how to interpret the different assessments and what the data shows about student growth over time.

Reports

The PTA and Foundation reported 482 members and $33,631 in dues, the launch of a new communications committee producing a monthly newsletter titled "PTA Happenings and Highlights," and a joint PTA/Foundation holiday party. Staff also reviewed the district's safety drills, including a Great ShakeOut earthquake drill on October 16, a fire drill set for December 8, and a shelter-in-place drill planned for March 19, along with a December safety-committee meeting. Board members reported on their activities, including the CSBA conference in Sacramento, bond-survey work, the Mosaic advisory, service as the Marin County School Boards Association representative, and participation in the Marin County Office of Education substitute consortium.

Organizational and Policy Items

The board approved holding its annual organizational (reorganization) meeting on December 15 and adopted a revision to the 2025–26 board meeting calendar that added an April 25 study session. It also authorized the superintendent's master's and doctoral stipends, tied to a contract provision contingent on a positive evaluation and clarified to apply to the 2025–26 school year. In a board-policy review, trustee Shelby proposed edits to harassment-and-retaliation language — including protections for "any alleged victim who refuses to participate," encouragement for witnesses to report, and grammatical and grade-level clarity fixes. A proposed AI policy was pulled from its second reading to run through the district's AI task force, and staff noted the technology-plan policy was outdated and due for updating.