Site Council Purpose

KUA families are invited to attend Site Council meetings, held monthly excepting December. Dinner is provided by our Food Program, and each time they attend a meeting, families fulfill one volunteer hour of their required six KUA hours for the year.

A school can only call itself successful when leaders, families and stakeholders all sit at the same table. At KUA Site Council, parents can share their concerns, listen to what is happening behind the scenes and, with everyone’s input, help us all keep on the same page. Meetings do not address budgetary decisions. Rather, we build bridges of understanding and trust so when challenges arise, our students know we all worked together to come up with solutions. KUA was built on this trust between our community, our donors, our staff and our families.

At our Site Council meetings, we show respect, but we also aren’t afraid to show our hearts. Together we make great things happen!

Upcoming Meetings

Recent Meeting Notes

Site Council members attending:

TEACHERS/STAFF: Emmanuel Balan, Lupita Vargas, Tyrone McDonald, Cheryl Graham, Monique Kruse, Sarah Lemon

PARENTS: Mayra Duran, Alberto Garcia

PRINCIPAL: Lindsay Ochs

April 6, 2024

Time: 5-5:45 p.m.

Location: Medford PreK building

Preliminary results of Oregon state assessments in math and English language arts show improvements among most grade cohorts at Kids Unlimited Academy.

Cheryl Graham, KUA’s mathematics instructional coach presented the latest data from the state’s Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and English language proficiency assessment (ELPA) at KUA’s June Site Council. The school’s percentage of students “nearly meeting” the ELPA standard held steady with 27 fewer students taking this year’s test.

“It’s an extremely hard test to pass,” said Graham. “It’s super challenging, super hard.”

Next, Graham presented the SBAC results over the past three years at KUA. Without middle school’s percentages last year, she noted, the school’s English language arts (ELA) pass percentage would have been really low. Overall, KUA is showing growth year to year.

“There’s a lot of fifth graders that did really well.”

The school’s leadership predicted there might not be a huge growth percentage this year because of the new ELA curriculum, said Graham. And that seems to be the outcome with test results still coming in, she added.

“The fact that we’re going to be really close to where we were last year is really good news.”

In math, Graham said she initially was really “alarmed” and then “got so excited” when the school’s passing percentage rose to 13%. The previous year, it was only 4%

“Third grade happens to be a little powerhouse,” said Graham, adding that the grade cohort had a 13% increase. Fourth grade had an 8% increase, and fifth grade had 4%.

“We saw growth all the way across the board, which was excellent,” said Graham.

If the same kids are passing year to year, that’s ideal, she explained. Otherwise, staff has to look at where the deficiencies are.

“We’re addressing that with fourth grade, and fourth grade worked really hard this year.”

Middle school “really killed us in math,” said Graham of last year’s test results — only a 9.6% pass rate. This year, it was 25%, a growth rate of 15.4%

Graham detailed a number of factors that contributed to math growth, including test prep binders for each grade, online tutorials, daily warm-ups, data meetings and other strategies, “Teacher buy-in is so important,” said Graham.

Principal Lindsay Ochs disclosed the departure of six KUA staff members, some of whom are leaving by personal choice, some based on a new direction for the school. Staffing is in flux because interviews are ongoing, said Ochs.

“We’re trying to find the best people to do the work we believe in.”

Five White City teachers are coming over to the Medford campus, she said. “Change is really good, and we believe we’re heading in a really good direction.”

Principal Ochs also shared iReady student data. The percent of students at risk in reading dropped by 13% between winter and spring trimesters, and the students at grade level increased by 17%. In math, the percentage of students at risk dropped 10%, and the percentage of students at grade level increased 18%.

Principal Ochs shared her enthusiasm for next year’s new diagnostic tool, Dibels, which promises to be much more informative because it interfaces with KUA’s new reading curriculum. She explained to a middle school student at the meeting that it’s more than clicking on a computer; it’s listening to kids.

Mayra Duran said she was excited for next year and hoped to have more parent engagement. Lupita Vargas said the White City Site Council usually hosted four or five parents, and she hoped they would attend in Medford this coming year.

Upcoming dates:

Kindergarten and middle school graduation: June 14

First day of summer school/camp: June 24

Last day for summer school/camp: July 16

Staff back: July 25

New school year meet-and-greet: Aug. 6, 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

First day of school: Aug. 7.

Kinder start: Aug. 19

Open house: Aug. 26, 5-6:30 p.m.