The Oct. 22 school board meeting focused on the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

In a previous Board meeting during April, the school board updated Common Core standards which will be put into effect starting in the spring of 2014-15.

The April report included an overview of key features, design, background information and implementation plans regarding the new standards of the Smarter Balanced Assessment system.

In the October meeting, the Board checked on the progress of the new Common Core standards in the school. There have also been changes in legislation regarding the statewide assessment system, and new legislation created the CalMAPP (California Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress). The CalMAPP is supposed to help improve measuring assessments.

The Board reviewed how these new standards and their implementation could potentially impact different areas of the district, such as curriculum, instruction and assessment.

The Nov. 5 meeting discussed the new Strategic Plan that was devised during the 2012-13 school year, specifically around Section E on Governance and Communications. There were discussions of employee evaluation for the superintendent, a conference with labor negotiator and employee discipline or dismissal regarding a specific government code.

A declaration of need for emergency permits and short term staffing permits for employees was also discussed after being approved on Sept. 10, 2013.

As with most school board meetings, there was also an open forum for citizens and board members. In the open forum, citizens can discuss items not mentioned in the meeting. Some of these items included the 2013-14 additional resource allocations, the academic achievement of alumni for SAT and AP testing and the annual report on school impact fees for 2012-13, among other topics.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19, 2013 and agenda items include the calendar, more strategic plan goals, guidance and counseling update, safe schools and the first interim financial report.

Board meetings are usually televised on channel 28 webcast and can also be viewed online. Information summarizing board meetings and upcoming board calendars can be found at http://pausd.org.