Coronado Unified plans to welcome a dean of students, clinical counselor, reading intervention specialist and additional math intervention staffing at Village Elementary School beginning this fall.
Trustees approved the new job description for dean of students on June 18.
Hiring plans were announced by Superintendent Karl Mueller on May 21 after an initial email to the school community the week before.
“We all want Village Elementary to have that … connectedness,” said trustee Alexia Palacios-Peters. “I’m hopeful that this pretty significant change in creating an upper and lower school may get us in that right direction.”
“I am extremely excited about the big structural changes at Village,” said board president Renee Cavanaugh. “I think it is going to be a game changer … I’m looking forward to having that rollout and have all of our stakeholders there feel supported.”
The dean of students is responsible for ensuring a safe, learning-centered, and positive school culture and climate, according to a job description approved unanimously by the board.
The dean’s role will be to collaborate with staff, students, and families to foster an environment built on high expectations, accountability, and student agency.
Responsibilities will include instructional leadership, management of student disciplinary systems and oversight of campus safety and student activities.
Jennifer Landry, president of the Association of Coronado Teachers, said teachers want a better understanding of the role and how it differs from principal and assistant principal job descriptions. Landry questioned if the dean role is a mid management position or an administrative position.
Brittany Lindquist, a district parent and teacher, said this is an important conversation as the district moves to a new funding system known as basic aid, relying on property taxes rather than state revenues.
“As we enter this new chapter, I hope we simply don’t just fund these investments, but we follow them, we learn from them, we adjust with them, and expand upon them to ensure they deliver meaningful and measurable changes for our families, staff, and most importantly, our students,” Lindquist told the board.
Budget approval
In a unanimous vote, the board approved the 2026-2027 annual budget on June 18.
Deputy Superintendent Donnie Salamanca said this budget represents the last year CUSD is funded by the state, through the Local Control Funding Formula, after which the district will transition to becoming a basic aid school district, or funded by local taxes.
According to Salamanca, monthly paychecks don’t happen in basic aid. Instead the district will get two paychecks from property taxes typically in January and June.
“We’ll have about six months without any revenues coming in,” he said. “We need to rebuild our reserves in order to avoid any short term borrowing…”
In an earlier meeting, on June 11, the board approved a resolution to aid cash flow needs with a short-term loan of up to $10 million.
“Staff do not believe that we will actually have to exercise this,” said Salamanca. “This (authorization) is something that we’re recommending the board take action on in an abundance of caution.”
According to Salamanca, historically the district has not taken out this type of loan.
“You are authorizing me to exercise this loan if in August we determine that we need it,” Salamanca told trustees. “There will be no additional action required by the board.”
The next regular board meeting is set for 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20 at the district office.
