_{Thumbnail photo courtesy of Michael Hawkins}. _{Video by James Brooks}

Among the items discussed at Thursday’s Del Norte County Unified School District meeting.

Sign Policy: Parent volunteers at Smith River Elementary School thanked administrators for coming out with a clear policy for installing “non-standard artwork and signage” at DNUSD campuses.

Lauryn Cortez, who is on the school’s parent Local Organizing Committee, said the committee has been working to install a land acknowledgment at the school since April 2025. She thanked Superintendent Jeff Harris and Assistant Superintendent of Education Services Tom Kissinger for being willing to work with her and leaders Amanda O’Connell and Sarah Campbell.

Under the policy, the school administrator would submit a request to the maintenance and operations director to make sure it’s feasible, Harris said. The fiscal director would make sure the funding is available to do the work. DNUSD would consult with a tribal council or an outside agency such as the Hmong Cultural Center if needed, the superintendent said. The Board of Trustees would then have final approval.

“Some of the most intentional pieces in here are timelines,” Harris said. “Once the maintenance and operations director gets the request, they basically have 20 business days to reach out, to ask questions, to go to the site, to take a look around to see if it makes sense, if it’s doable. If the answer is yes, it goes to the fiscal director who’s got 10 business days to make sure there’s funding there. Once they’ve approved it, if there are any other approvals that need to be done the maintenance and operations director has another 10 days.”
The new policy ensures a project doesn’t sit for months, the superintendent said. If extensions are needed, administration will make sure they communicate with the school site. If approval is denied, the district would supply a written reason for that denial, Harris said.

Instructional minutes: Trustees Abbie Crist and Frank Magarino will be part of an ad-hoc committee that will review whether the district’s policy governing the use of instructional minutes during the school day needs revising.

Crist requested this item be brought up at Thursday’s meeting. On Feb. 12, she told her colleagues that teachers had raised concerns about how difficult it is for their students to focus on state standards when they’re in band or sports.

“Just looking at field trips today, most of them take a Friday, some take two days during the week,” she told her colleagues on Feb. 12. “I’m just concerned, given our test scores and the fact that we tend not to be up to class-level reading, I would like the Board to put some thought into what the policy is with regard to instructional minutes and time between student-teacher face to face time.”

On Thursday, she asked a teacher and site administrator to be part of the ad-hoc committee.

Amy Campbell-Blair, a True North Organizing Network representative whose children go to Bess Maxwell and Crescent Elk schools, urged the Board to have parent and student representation on the committee too.

Former Redwood School teacher Mary-Michelle Cupp pointed out that the state requires 180 student contact days for teachers. Kids also need a recess and instructors need bathroom breaks, she said.

Uncharted Shores Academy: Though the item wasn’t on the agenda for the Board of Trustees to take action on, they learned that Uncharted Shores Academy’s charter is up for renewal.

The school serves transitional kindergarten through 9th grade and offers an explorative learning model for its students. The school submitted its petition for charter renewal to the Board of Trustees on Thursday, starting a 60-day process that includes a public hearing. According to the agenda item, DNUSD is Uncharted Shores’ charter authorizer. The school’s current charter expires June 2027.