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BEUTNER STEPS DOWN

L

os Angeles Uni-
fied School Dis-
trict (LAUSD)
superintendent of three years
Austin Beutner announced

in late April that he will step

down on June 30, which the

Pali administration assured

will not affect reopening plans

or academic requirements.

“The superintendent does

not have a direct impact on

Pali’s curriculum,” said Mon-

ica Iannessa, Pali’s Director

of Academic Achievement.

“As an independent charter,

we have independence in our

academic program if we meet

state academic standards

and school learning targets.”

Iannessa said that the

superintendent’s mission in-

fluences the success of char-

ter schools but generally will

not hinder Pali’s fall plans.

“As a charter, we have our

own school board. Dr. Ma-

gee, in her executive director

ANIRUDH CHATTERJEE, STAFF WRITER

role, serves as our superinten-

dent,” she said. “Our school

board has already approved a

return to on-campus learning

during the 2021-22 school year.”

Beutner did not indicate

why he chose to leave his posi-

tion, but according to the Los

Angeles Times, the LAUSD

Board of Education did not

ask him to step down. Beut-

ner laid out plans for his time

remaining as superintendent in

an April 21 letter to the board.

“I believe that it is fitting

that a new superintendent

should have the privilege of

welcoming students back to

school in the fall,” he wrote. “In

the meantime, I will remain fo-

cused on the task of ensuring

that schools reopen in the safest

way possible while helping in a

seamless leadership transition.”

However, Iannessa said

she worries that Beutner’s

unexpected resignation

might have adverse effects.

“In my opinion, Mr. Beut-

ner stepping down was too sud-

den to ensure a smooth transi-

tion to leadership for one of the

largest districts in the country,”

she asserted. “It has taken up

to a year to search for quali-

fied candidates in the past.”

To temporarily fill Beut-

ner’s place as interim superin-

tendent, the LAUSD Board

of Education selected Megan

Reilly, the Deputy Superin-

tendent of Business Services

and Operations since June

2019 and Chief Financial Of-

ficer from 2007 to 2017. Reilly

will assume office on July 1.

ATTENDANCE RATES DROP

LUKE WIENER, STAFF WRITER

FF

or the better part of
the 2020-21 school
year, nearly 15 per-
cent of Pali students have
been chronically absent, up
more than five percentage
points from the year before,
Pali’s attendance office reports.
Chronic absenteeism —
when students are absent more
than 10 percent of the school
calendar year — has increased
“due to the devastating effects of
COVID-19,” said Amy Okafor,
Pali Attendance Director.
Once upon a time, all that
students sitting in classrooms
needed to do was answer
“Here!” when the teacher in
the room took attendance.
But since March 2020, when
teachers started interacting
virtually, attendance has been
a student responsibility. Even
if a student is attending class

and participating on Zoom,

if that student does not go to

Infinite Campus and log their

attendance in the allotted hour,

they will be marked absent.

On average, approxi-

mately 300 students are reg-

ularly ignoring attendance

procedures, Okafor said.

“The biggest factor to

our drop in attendance is the

switch from in-person instruc-

tion to virtual instruction,”

Okafor reported. “Under that

umbrella, there are reasons,

like technical difficulties, so-

cial-emotional, health and

other factors, that have af-

fected student attendance.”

Okafor assures worried stu-

dents that such absences won’t

have negative consequences.

“The PCHS Board of

Trustees suspended the

PCHS Attendance Policy

during eLearning, so atten-

dance has less potential impact

on a student’s grade than in

normal times,” she said. “There

is a lot of valuable informa-

tion in a student’s permanent

record, however, and atten-

dance is one of them... Some-

times employers may contact

the school and teachers to ask

about how reliable or depend-

able a prospective employee is.”

Okafor advises students

with an outstanding num-

ber of absences that they

can mitigate the errors.

“If a student finds that

there is a discrepancy in their

attendance, they should reach

out to their teachers directly

and ask them to email atten-

[email protected] to

verify their participation in

their class,” she said. “Once we

get the teacher’s confirmation,

we can make the correction.”

Graphic by Atticus Parker

Graphic by Atticus Parker