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Governor school visits policy: model and examples.

Adapt our model policy to help make sure your governors stay on track during visits, and so school staff know what to expect when they're visited. Plus, see examples from other schools.

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Download our model policy

See examples from schools.

• Get more help by reading our other articles
• Download: governor school visits policy DOCX, 670.2 KB Download

Our model is:

• Designed for you to adapt to suit your school's context
• In line with good practice – for more articles on this topic see the final section of this article
• Approved by Forbes Solicitors

Voluntary aided primary school in Windsor and Maidenhead

Clewer Green Church of England (CofE) First School's governor visits policy  includes guidelines for meetings with staff and for visits to classrooms, as well as how to report on each formal visit.

The school encourages governors to attend ad-hoc events such as assemblies, church services, sports days and fundraising events.  

Community secondary school in Hillingdon

The governor school visits policy from Barnhill Community High School sets out:

• The rationale for school visits
• Protocols for arranging visits
• Areas of focus, along with some possible discussion topics

The school includes its preferred record template for governors to use, as well as some suggested questions to ask during the visit.

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Governor Newsom Signs Early Childhood Legislation, Highlights Transformative Investments in Early Learning 

Published: Oct 05, 2021

AB 1363 develops procedures to identify and report data on dual-language learners at state preschools, and SB 393 improves access to child care for migrant agricultural workers by aligning voucher-based child care programs

California Comeback Plan  achieves free, high-quality universal Pre-K for all four-year-olds by 2025  and creates college savings accounts for 3.7 million kids

FRESNO – At an elementary school in Fresno today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation uplifting dual language learners and improving access to child care. The Governor also highlighted the California Comeback Plan’s unprecedented investments to achieve universal transitional kindergarten by 2025 and create college savings accounts for 3.7 million kids.

“In California, we are committed to transforming our public schools to promote equity, inclusivity and opportunity for every student,” said Governor Newsom. “Building upon this year’s historic budget investments in universal Pre-K and college savings accounts, these bills will improve access to a good education for children across California so that every child can thrive, regardless of their race, language spoken at home or zip code.”

The California Comeback Plan includes investments to transform public schools into gateways of opportunity. As part of the Governor’s $123.9 billion Pre-K and K-12 education package, California will provide free, high-quality, inclusive pre-kindergarten for all four-year-olds, beginning in 2022-23 with full implementation anticipated by 2025-26. The plan also reduces class sizes, cutting adult-to-child ratios in half with at least an average of 1 adult for every 12 children, down from one for every 24 children.

The plan also invests $1.9 billion to seed college savings accounts of up to $1,500 for 3.7 million current low-income students, English learners and foster and homeless youth. Moving forward, those groups of students will have savings accounts seeded for them in first grade.

“We know from research and from experience that the early years are critical to support a child’s learning and development. Universal Pre-K is California’s opportunity to ensure every child, regardless of background, race, zip code, immigration status or income level, gets the fair start they need and deserve on their path to success,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. “I’m proud to have sponsored Universal TK legislation and to partner with the Governor and the Legislature on implementing this major step forward.”

“Every child deserves access to high quality early learning opportunities that will prepare them to thrive in kindergarten and beyond. Universal transitional kindergarten (UTK) makes that a reality,” said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty. “High quality early education sets children up for success in school, lifts up working families, narrows opportunity gaps, and breaks cycles of intergenerational poverty. UTK is a huge win for California’s children and families. Thank you Governor Newsom for your unwavering commitment to our youngest learners.”

“I am thrilled that California is making history by investing in our children, their education, and their futures. Wealth inequality and the high cost of education have slammed the door shut on lower- and middle-income advancement across our state,” said Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian. “A child savings account dispenses more than just a financial asset, but hope and optimism. This funding is a true investment in California’s next generation of entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, and community leaders.”

“As a woman of color, I am proud to represent a district that is majority Latino and people of color,” said Assemblymember Luz Rivas, author of AB 1363. “Over 60 percent of California’s students come from a home where English is not the primary language, and today we are taking decisive action to strengthen our bilingual students’ early learning opportunities. With the Governor’s signing of AB 1363, California leads the nation in education policy once more by becoming the first state to create a standardized process that identifies and supports K-12 dual language learners at an early age. I want to thank Governor Newsom for reaffirming California’s commitment to equity and inclusion in its public education system because every student deserves the chance to thrive within their unique learning environments.”

“Governor Newsom’s historic policies advancing early learning for our youngest Californians are a game changer,” said Patricia Lozano, Executive Director of Early Edge California. “They bring California closer than ever to providing Equity-for-All in Education. From expanding Universal Pre-K to allocating resources for multilingual learners, Governor Newsom and the Legislature have led the charge to help all of California’s students to succeed in life.”

AB 1363 by Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop procedures for State Preschool contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners. SB 393 by Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) aligns the Migrant Child Care Alternative Payment program with other voucher programs, improving child care access for migrant agricultural workers. AB 1294 by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) extends the county child care pilot program for the County of Santa Clara to continue by one year, through July 1, 2023.

The California Comeback Plan also provides $10 million to expand dual language immersion programs and $300 million to increase the number of state preschool or TK programs and provide additional pre-k teacher training. It invests $490 million to support the building and renovating of state preschool, TK and kindergarten facilities. The plan will phase in 200,000 new child care slots by 2025-26, dramatically expanding access for families.

A full list of the bills signed by the Governor is below:

• AB 1294 by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) – Childcare: individualized county childcare subsidy plans.
• AB 1363 by Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) – Preschool: dual language learners.
• SB 393 by Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) – Migrant Childcare and Development Programs.

For full text of the bills, visit:  http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

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Quarantined: A new law is disrupting California school reopenings

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As classes resume, a new state law governing independent study is worsening staff shortages, threatening school budgets and forcing quarantined students to relive last year’s school shutdowns.

Lea este artículo en  español .

Heather Christiansen got an email on Aug. 14 from her son’s school, saying her 10-year-old had been in contact with a classmate who tested positive for COVID-19.

As required by California health guidelines, Christiansen’s son Kayden would have to quarantine at home for 10 days. 

“It was only the fourth day of school,” she said. “He’s missing out on not only his friends, but he’s stressing out about falling behind.”

Kayden’s teacher at Madera Elementary in the Simi Valley Unified School District near Los Angeles provided a packet for him to complete during the 10 days of quarantine. Christiansen said Kayden finished it in three days and has since then spent his time watching TV and playing video games.

As California schools reopened amid the spread of the more transmissible and deadlier delta variant, student quarantines became commonplace within days. San Francisco Unified reported 64 positive cases among students within the first week of opening. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Unified reported about 6,500 students were in isolation a week after school started. 

But a new state law is undermining the ability of schools to keep these quarantined kids engaged. Its provisions attempt to stretch independent study — a program intended for long-term remote learning— to meet the spontaneous, short-term needs of students temporarily quarantined.

Schools say they are unable to hire the teachers required to provide independent study for these quarantined students. As a result, they can languish in an educational limbo, while schools risk losing state funding for the days they are technically “absent.”

At Simi Valley Unified, Superintendent Jason Peplinski says the district lacks the staffing needed to offer any substantial instruction to students like Kayden.To make matters worse, he says the district might lose state funding, which is based on attendance, due to its failure to deliver instruction during quarantines. With about 250 students already in quarantine as of last week, Peplinski estimates the district will lose $13,000 a day.

Nor can many schools meet the needs of a growing number of parents — concerned about the risks of the delta variant — who are seeking to move their kids into more permanent independent study. 

“What they did was they wrecked both programs. I know legislators are well-intended people, but they didn’t have enough educators’ perspectives.” Jason peplinski, simi valley unified district superintendent

At San Francisco Unified, 800 students recently applied  for independent study to avoid the spread of the delta variant, more than doubling the number of students who registered before the school year started last week. A spokesperson for the district says there might not be enough teachers to accommodate these students.

District superintendents say the new state law has forced a marriage between independent study and distance learning, further disrupting school reopenings already threatened by the delta variant.

“What they did was they wrecked both programs,” said Peplinski. “I know legislators are well-intended people, but they didn’t have enough educators’ perspectives.”

Independent study — not a catch-all solution

Independent study existed long before the pandemic. This mode of instruction worked best for traveling athletes, child actors and students who wanted to advance more quickly.

Students would collect packets from their schools and complete them on their own. Teachers typically weren’t required to contact students frequently, but that varied depending on their individual needs. 

“Independent study is not appropriate for all kids,” said Peplinski. “The only kids that can really choose independent study are the ones who can stay at home with child care.”

State legislators drastically changed these rules just weeks before California schools reopened for the first fully in-person school year since the start of the pandemic.

After the devastation of school closures, distance learning became a radioactive term for legislators. Since the start of the pandemic there’s been little accountability for both students and teachers. Attendance and grades plummeted. Younger learners especially became disengaged. English learners and students with disabilities fell disproportionately behind.

Independent study provided a template to fix distance learning for the small percentage of students whose parents weren’t yet comfortable with sending them back to campuses. 

The new law’s provisions “enhanced the existing program to ensure students receive comparable curriculum and increased time with teachers,” said Democratic Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell of Long Beach, chair of the Assembly Education Committee. “As we start the new school year, we will monitor and contemplate adjustments if needed.”

A spokesperson for the committee’s vice chair, Republican Kevin Kiley of Rocklin, said the distance learning of last year was never meant to be a permanent solution. “Legislators were trying to draw a hard line,” said spokesperson Josh Hoover. “and say schools need to be open in person, and distance learning is no longer on the table.”

But superintendents say the legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 9 overcorrected for the shortcomings of distance learning by forcing districts to completely redesign independent study programs as the only alternative to in-person instruction.

“At the elementary level, it can easily mean a student may not have a spot when they choose to return.” Don austin, palo alto unified district superintendent

Districts are now required to provide students with live instruction as a part of independent study. Teachers have to work with parents and students to design a plan of study. Student-teacher ratios for independent study cannot be higher than district-wide averages. 

And under the new state law, if a student decides to move back to in-person instruction, the district has five days to comply. This could be a logistical nightmare considering that many class sizes have already hit their maximum.

“In middle and high schools that’s not just one student, it’s one student times the number of classes they take,” said Don Austin, superintendent of Palo Alto Unified. “At the elementary level, it can easily mean a student may not have a spot when they choose to return.”

Austin and his team ultimately decided to hire a third party to manage its independent study program. The district is paying an additional $3,000 for each of its approximately 230 students enrolled. 

“We had to figure out the rules from the Legislature in one month,” he said. “It was pretty out-of-touch.” 

As classes resume, independent study meets the delta variant

According to district officials and their lobbyists in Sacramento, the new independent study rules were approved during a more optimistic time when vaccination rates were rising and the pandemic seemed to be receding. 

“In defense of the governor and Legislature, it was a whole different set of circumstances,” said Barrett Snider, a lobbyist who represents school districts. “COVID was trending down. The delta variant spike changed everything.”

At San Francisco Unified, 700 students had signed up for independent study by the district’s initial July 30th deadline. But after more parents expressed interest out of fear for the delta variant, the district extended the deadline to Aug. 27. So far, 800 additional students have signed up. Staffing is the most urgent concern.

“We’re already experiencing a teacher shortage,” said Gentle Blythe, a spokeswoman for the district. “Trying to add teachers to independent study just exacerbates that challenge.”

At Nevada Joint Union High, a district of about 2,500 students, the independent study program is already full. After seeing 30 COVID cases within the first three days of school, Superintendent Brett McFadden said he expects more parents to request a switch to independent study.

“Sacramento has given districts buckets of money to hire, but there’s no one to hire. We’re bleeding more teachers than we can recruit.” Barrett Snider, lobbyist for school districts

“Right now with the explosion of the delta variant, the only other option is independent study,” he said “But all of us only have so many teachers who can teach it.”

The irony of this moment is not lost on lobbyists like Snider. With this year’s state budget, California’s schools are getting more money than ever. But money won’t create more teachers, he said.

“The disconnect is that Sacramento has given districts buckets of money to hire, but there’s no one to hire,” he said. “We’re bleeding more teachers than we can recruit.”

Quarantining students with no plan

The new independent study law has left California schools reopening with no short-term option for teaching students in quarantine. An independent study program can take several days to plan. By the time that’s done, the quarantine could be halfway over.

And because students would be working with a teacher who isn’t their regular classroom teacher, educators say it doesn’t make sense as a temporary measure.

Some districts have left it up to individual teachers to keep their students engaged during quarantine. Other students have been left in the dark.

Caroline Colson, a parent of a student at Skyline High School in Oakland, said her son has gotten no school work during quarantine. She and her son made repeated attempts to contact his teachers.

“My son has been proactive about communicating with his teachers about assignments,” she said. “No one has reached out to me.”

John Sasaki, a spokesman for Oakland Unified, said nothing prevents teachers from assigning work to quarantined students. 

At traditional public schools, however, teachers cannot be required to teach in both the physical and virtual classroom, and educators agree it’s unreasonable to ask teachers to manage an in-person classroom while working remotely with their quarantined students.

At Lodestar, an Oakland charter school serving less than 1,000 students, 9th and 10th grade students were all sent home when five students showed symptoms and four separate COVID tests among students and staff came back positive. The school switched immediately to distance learning for everyone. 

“My son took it quite well, but he’s looking forward to getting back to school,” said Lakisha Young, a parent at Lodestar and the CEO of a parent advocacy group called The Oakland REACH. “The transition wasn’t tumultuous. We’ve all had so much time adjusting to a new normal”

But even if students do stay busy during quarantine, they still count as absent. Because state funding for school districts is based on attendance, superintendents fear all the absences could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost funding this year.

Nicholas Filipas, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education, said districts can get these absences excused by submitting the same form they use when they shut down due to emergencies like wildfires. But Filipas said districts also need to submit plans for providing independent study to the students who were out.

At the South Los Angeles campus of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school system, administrators are trying to make sure quarantine protocols won’t cut their funding. School officials are currently bargaining with the school’s teachers union to create a temporary independent study program that requires teachers to take attendance, upload any presentations they give in the classroom and hold office hours on Zoom for students in quarantine.

But according to Dustin Stevenson, a teacher at Green Dot, administrators and teachers are just checking the boxes to make sure they don’t lose state funding. He said simply uploading instructional materials isn’t enough for most students, especially English learners. And he said expecting students to voluntarily attend office hours is unrealistic.

“Literally not one of my lessons that I’ve delivered since last Wednesday would make any sense at home,” Stevenson said. “That’s part of what’s so frustrating.”

Alanna Klein, a spokeswoman for Green Dot, said the temporary independent study program “exceeds the requirements” of the new state law.

Given the problems since California schools reopened, district officials are hoping for a more permanent remedy. In the coming weeks, legislators will vote on a budget “clean-up” bill that could respond to the widespread criticism of the independent study change.

“Superintendents across the state are scrambling to find a workable situation around the new rules, and they can’t do it,” Snider said. “A lot of our school leaders are counting on the Legislature.”

Christiansen, the Simi Valley parent, said any type of virtual lesson would be better than her son’s first quarantine experience.

“My kid can’t keep being sent home without any instruction for several days or weeks,” she said. “After virtual learning last year, he’s already behind.”

More on covid-19 and education

Newsom makes California the first state to require teacher vaccines or COVID tests

Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a requirement that teachers and school employees be fully vaccinated or submit to routine COVID testing.

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Joe Hong K-12 Education Reporter

Joe reports on the students, teachers and lawmakers who shape California's public schools. Before joining CalMatters in 2021, he was the education reporter at KPBS, the public radio station in San Diego.... More by Joe Hong

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Conejo Valley Unified School District's Board of Education Policies and Administrative Regulations are stored and updated on this online BoardDocs platform. This platform includes a “search” function so that you may easily find the Board Policy or Administrative Regulations you are looking for. The "search" bar may be found on the top left of this web page. View the Step-by-Step Guide for How to Search Policies & Regulations on BoardDocs . Underneath the "search" bar is a "Book" section with a drop down menu to view the Policy Manual for Board Policies or Administrative Regulations. This function allows web users to toggle between viewing Board Policies and Administrative Regulations.

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Wisconsin governor vetoes transgender high school athletics ban

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill Tuesday that was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to ban  high school transgender athletes  from competing on teams that align with their gender identity.

Evers had  promised to veto  the bill ever since it was introduced. Democrats did not have the votes to stop its passage in the Legislature. He vetoed it in the Capitol surrounded by Democratic lawmakers, transgender advocates, the mayor of Madison and others.

Republicans don’t have the votes needed to override the veto.

Evers said in his veto message that this type of legislation “harms LGBTQ Wisconsinites’ and kids’ mental health, emboldens anti-LGBTQ harassment, bullying, and violence, and threatens the safety and dignity of LGBTQ Wisconsinites, especially our LGBTQ kids.”

Evers vowed that as long as he is governor, he will not allow for “radical policies targeting LGBTQ individuals and families and threatening LGBTQ folks’ everyday lives and their ability to be safe, valued, supported, and welcome being who they are.”

The bill proposed to limit high school athletes to playing on teams that match the gender they were assigned at birth.

Republicans who backed the bill argued it was a matter of fairness for non-transgender athletes. But bill opponents argued there was no real issue with transgender high school athletes in Wisconsin and said the proposed ban was a form of discrimination and harmful to transgender youth.

The  Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association requires  transgender athletes to undergo hormone therapy before they can play on the teams of their choice. The association’s policy is modeled after  NCAA requirements  for transgender athletes.

At least 20 states have approved a version of a blanket ban on transgender athletes playing on K-12 and collegiate sports teams statewide, but a  Biden administration proposal  to forbid such outright bans is set to be finalized this year after multiple delays and much pushback. As proposed, the rule would establish that blanket bans would  violate Title IX , the landmark gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972.

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