Lee Elementary students and staff presented a school showcase to the Los Alamitos Unified School District board, featuring student speeches, a principal’s report on assessment trends and programs, and recognition of volunteer garden leaders.

Principal Gary Williams told the board that Lee has prioritized whole‑child learning and community partnership, and that the school’s test scores were within 1 percentage point of increasing year‑over‑year. "If two more students had been proficient in either ELA or math, we would have shown growth this year, completely reversing the COVID‑19 pandemic learning loss," Williams said. He also reported that fourth‑grade proficiency last year included 89 of 102 students in ELA and 96 in math, and that in fifth grade all but 12 of 104 students were proficient in ELA.

The presentation included two fifth‑grade students. Finn Wilcher told the board he looks forward to fifth grade and said his favorite subject is math because "it uses symbols and has so many possibilities." Student council president Sabrina Nunez described school events such as the book fair, the STEAM fair and the annual carnival, saying she felt "so special" to represent her school.

Williams said the Lee community raised "almost $125,000" during the Leo Olympics fundraiser; those funds have helped fully fund a media center STEAM lab and finance an intervention teacher for grades 1–5 next year. He listed several instructional tools and programs the school has adopted to address learning acceleration, including ESGI and Waggle (used in early grades and across upper grades), and said the school has provided professional development tied to MAP benchmark data.

On social‑emotional learning, Williams noted Lee is in its first full year using RULER, a Yale University program, and showed a classroom "mood/moon meter" teachers use to help students identify how they are feeling during morning soft starts. He also described a campus safety improvement: a new UTK play area created between Rooms 1 and 2 and a recess schedule shift intended to reduce injuries for the youngest students.

Williams said Lee’s enrollment increased from 608 students last year to 637 this year, which he attributed to community trust and school culture. He also named staff and volunteers recognized this year, including choir teacher Suzanne McEldry; instructional aides Terry Whisner and April Monty; Sunny Lee as special teacher of the year; and Mary Cole as LAFE teacher of the year.

The board presented a "Hero of the Heart" recognition to garden volunteers Jennifer, Sue, Kathy and Donna for their years of service running the school garden and leading the Junior Master Gardening Club. Williams said the garden work has helped some families start gardens at home and provides hands‑on learning about planting and composting for multiple grade levels.

The meeting opened with a roll call and a procedural vote to adopt the agenda (approved 5–0). The presentation concluded with applause, photos and a brief recess for pictures and refreshments.