Nearly two months after being elected to the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s governing body, education researcher Tom Arnett will finally be sworn in as a trustee at the Aug. 2 school board meeting.
Arnett, the soon-to-be seventh member of the board, will be sworn in prior to the board adjourning to closed session at 5 p.m. He won the abbreviated term over retired classified employee Pamela Torrisi in June’s at-large election to fill in the final months of former trustee Amy Porter-Jensen’s term. Porter-Jensen resigned in October 2015, but the board was unable to appoint her replacement and turned to the voters in June instead to decide.
The school board did not hold a meeting in July.
Arnett has already committed to running for re-election in November. That election will be MHUSD’s first using a trustee area format instead of a traditional at-large system. Arnett’s seat, as well as those of Board President Bob Benevento and Trustee Rick Badillo, are up for grabs in November. Badillo has pulled papers for re-election while Benevento has not done so as of yet, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
Arnett’s first school board meeting has a light public docket for general business with only seven items, including three for approval of Provisional Internship Permits for three employees to be able to teach classes while earning their proper teaching credentials; approval of job description for a CTE Director; and approval of 45-day budget revision for 2016-17 school year.
Consent items
•Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and Burke, Williams and Sorensen added to law firms on the district’s $350,000 legal services retainer (general fund) for the 2016-17 school year;
•$1,483,924 for special education services for the 2016-17 school year ($107,509 with AchieveKids; $192,000 with Beacon Therapeutic Services; $155,510 with Creekside School; $107,220 with Haven of Hope; $3,469 with Jim Yinger; $213,564 with Progressus Therapy; $2,784 with Rebekah Children’s Services; $78,368 with Rebekah Children’s Center; $386,345 with Second Start/Pine Hill; $10,075 with Shelley Davis; $5,080 with S.T.A.R.; $222,000 with Staff Rehab;
•$6,000 agreement (cafeteria fund) with Barbara Lynn Rouse as part-time consultant for the Student Nutrition Services Department to support director in claims submission, menu planning and beginning of the year operations procedures;
•Three-year lease agreements with Child Development Agency at El Toro, Nordstrom and PA Walsh elementary schools; Go Kids, Inc. at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School; and YMCA at Barrett, Paradise Valley and Los Paseos elementary schools;
•$59,754 contract (1999 GO Bonds) with AAA Fence Co. for the fencing of the Sobrato High School athletic fields;
•$271,700 contract (Mello Roos fund) with DRP Builders, Inc. for gym floor replacement at Martin Murphy Middle School;
•$91,740 contract (Capital Facilities fund) with Delgado Electric, Inc. for the portable installation at Charter School of Morgan Hill;
•$106,704 contract (Local Control Funding Formula) with Northwest Evaluation Association to increase the number of trainers for Aug. 11 district-wide professional day;
•$55,000 contract (LCFF) with Cal-SOAP for counseling services at the district’s three high schools, four elementary schools and one K-8 school; and
•$52,605 contract (general fund) with Santa Clara County Office of Education to provide educational services for expelled students.
Personnel Order
MHUSD has made 52 new hires for certificated teaching positions for the 2016-17 school year as well as three administrative appointments, including Tanya Calabretta named new assistant principal at Live Oak High School and Darren McDonald named new principal at El Toro Elementary School. They also saw five more resignations and accommodated eight approved leaves for certificated personnel.
