La Mesa-Spring Valley School District

Citizen oversight of local government is the cornerstone of democracy in the United States. La Mesa-Spring Valley Board of Education members are locally elected and entrusted with governing all of the schools within the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District.[2] The role of the board is to ensure that the school district is responsive to the values, beliefs, and priorities of the community. The board fulfills this role by performing five major responsibilities: setting direction, establishing an effective and efficient structure, providing support, ensuring accountability, and providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools. These five responsibilities represent core functions that are so fundamental to a school system’s accountability to the public that they can only be performed by an elected governing body. Authority is granted to the board as a whole, not each member individually. Therefore, board members fulfill these responsibilities by working together as a governance team with the superintendent to make decisions that will best serve all the students in the community.

[3]In November midterm elections 2018, Board Vice President, [4]Chardá Bell-Fontenot, at 33 years of age, became the youngest and only African American female democrat elected to serve in the history of the district.[5]

LA MESA-SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Total Number of Precincts 86

Precincts Reporting 86 100.0 %

Times Counted 50852 / 78072 65.1%

Total Votes 98987

Vote For 3

REBECCA MCRAE 21640 21.86%

CHARDÁ FONTENOT[6] 16148 16.31%

MEGAN EPPERSON 14520 14.67%

BRIANNA GARZA 14274 14.42%

STEVE BABBITT13877 14.02%

JERRY LECKO 12734 12.86%

MATTHEW A. SABLOVE 5572 5.63%

VOTER TURNOUT ELECTION RESULTS

In response to the California Voting Rights Act, board members will be elected by trustee area beginning with the November 2020 election.  This means that each member of the Board will be elected by one of five subdivisions of the District, also known as “trustee areas.”  This change will not impact the current terms of Board members, but in the future voters will only vote once every four years for the Board member from their trustee area.

District Trustee Area Map

[7]David Feliciano was hired as the superintendent in 2018. He is quoted saying “I am honored to serve and support the children, families, and staff that constitute La Mesa-Spring Valley Schools. We are a learning community dedicated to providing children a pathway to a fulfilled life. Our schools are focused on the “whole child” which means we believe our mission is to nurture the character and heart of children as well as to educate them. La Mesa-Spring Valley Schools truly has a heart for our future.”Philosophy—A hero of mine (Fred Rogers) once said: “Love is at the root of everything, all learning, all relationships, love or the lack of it.”

The district's eighteen elementary schools include Avondale, Bancroft Elementary, Casa de Oro Elementary, Fletcher Hills, Highlands, Kempton Literacy & Language Academy, La Mesa Dale, La Presa Elementary, Lemon Avenue, Loma, Maryland Avenue, Glenn E. Murdock, Murray Manor, Northmont, Rancho, Rolando, and Sweetwater Springs.[8]

The La Mesa-Spring Valley School District operates five middle schools: Kempton Literacy Academy, La Mesa Arts Academy, Spring Valley Academy, STEAM Academy, and Parkway Middle School.[8]

The school district operates additional learning options including Quest academy, TRUST Blended learning, EAK (early admission kindergarten), Preschool and Transitional kindergarten.

(Grades K-6) (Grades 7-8) (Grades K-3) (Grades 4-8)

All Schools (11,798)

Grades K-3 (5,166)

Grades 4-8 (6,632)

Average Class Size

Grades K-3 26 to 1

Grades 4-8 29 to 1

Student Ethnicity

Hispanic 49%

White 28%

African American 9%

Two or More Races 8%

Asian 3%

Other 3%

Percentage of Unduplicated Pupils: 62%

The term “unduplicated pupils” refers to students who are English learners, meet income or categorical eligibility requirements for free or reduced-price meals, or are foster youth. The term unduplicated means that each pupil is counted only once even if the pupil meets more than one of these criteria.

In 2002, the district raised $67 million through school bonds to repair and renovate schools.[9]

La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Measure V, a bond issue measure, was on the ballot as a referral in La Mesa-Spring Valley School District on November 3, 2020. It was approved.

[10] On Friday morning of March 13th 2020, an emergency board meeting was called to order for approval to close the schools indefinitely due to the global coronavirus pandemic. As of December 20th 2020, the school district remains in distance learning as the county of San Diego remains in the purple tier according to public health officials.

• Official website

Measure V Ballot Statement