LCUSD officials discuss facilities master plan, technology issues

La Cañada Unified School District officials have been given the green light to start preparing a new facilities master plan, which could be a precursor to the district’s placing a general obligation bond measure before voters in November 2017.

Supt. Wendy Sinnette engaged board members Tuesday in a discussion about the need for an updated districtwide plan and some of the options that might be available to identify funding sources in the coming months and years.

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In addition to construction and renovation projects that have been on the district’s wish list for years, the superintendent also identified LCUSD’s need for an upgraded technology infrastructure, the preliminary costs of which have ranged from $5 million to $7 million.

Sinnette estimated creating a new facilities master plan could take from six months to one year.

“It’s done under the advisement, or with the counsel of, an architectural firm and it really ties to the district’s vision, employing site by site focus groups to identify priorities and tie those priorities to 21st century learning,” she said.

Sinnette provided a sample timeline for creation of a facilities master plan followed by a bond campaign, which would include a thorough needs assessment and several meetings and focus groups aimed at collecting input from all LCUSD stakeholders.

That work could begin as soon as June, she said, and would include consultation with architectural, financial and planning firm representatives as well as bond counsel.

The district might hold a town hall forum and conduct one-on-one meetings and focus groups sometime in early 2017 before aiming to present a draft of the new facilities master plan to the board in April.

Once the plan is revised and approved, a bond campaign, should the board decide to take that route, would begin leading up to district elections that November. If that campaign fails to be passed by a requisite 55% of voters, state law would allow LCUSD to take advantage of a June 2018 vote to try for what Sinnette called “a second bite of the apple.”

“It’s an aggressive timeline…(but) we are on track,” she said.

Board members did not discuss Tuesday what level of funding the district might seek, but Chief Business and Operations Officer Mark Evans said legal restrictions set the limit at $60 for every $100,000 of assessed property values, residential and commercial, within the district’s borders.

“A facilities master plan, regardless of whether we have a bond or not, is still a document we should probably update,” Evans added.

New rules needed to protect student data

In other news Tuesday, board members directed LCUSD Tech Director Jamie Lewsadder to start drafting potential board policy regarding student data privacy and Internet use.

Lewsadder updated board members on the several technological advances that have been made in recent years, how student and teacher work has shifted to nonlocal servers and how that has created a need for language protecting privacy and governing how information will be stored and monitored by the district.

“This is all about making sure our student data is secure,” Lewsadder said. “With all that we’re doing with data in our district right now it’s important that we examine our current policies and then make some plans for those gaps.”

The tech director updated board members on new state and federal laws with which schools and tech vendors must comply, and outlined potential roles and responsibilities of the governing board as well as parents, teachers, administrators and, ultimately, the students themselves.

Lewsadder said the district’s main goal will be finding a balance between restricting certain actions and activities that could leave teachers and students digitally exposed while encouraging them to be technologically inventive in the classroom.

“We want them to know that we’re here to protect them and take care of them, but we want them to make good choices,” she added.

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine