While Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education is still without a seventh trustee and will be for some time, the remaining six members will try to come to a consensus on several key items on the agenda for the Dec. 15 meeting.
The fractured board remained deadlocked Dec. 8 with three votes apiece going to finalists Adam Escoto and Mary Anne Groen in the failed trustee appointment meeting. Neither side would budge after eight rounds and nearly four hours, even if that meant $58,500 zapped from the district’s general fund for the purpose of a special election to find former trustee Amy Porter-Jensen’s replacement on the board. Her term is set to expire in November 2016.
One of the first orders of business Tuesday will be the selection of a new board president, vice president and representative to the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization.
Once they figure out the new board hierarchy, trustees will turn their attention to two existing school site specific initiatives at Paradise Valley Elementary School and Britton Middle School, as well as a nearly $1 million expenditure for a master plan and design of a brand new elementary campus on Peet Road in northeast Morgan Hill.
The district is seeking the board approval for the conceptual framework and timeline for establishing an engineering focus academy at Paradise Valley Elementary School. In October, the board unanimously granted PV Principal Swati Dagar approval to explore the engineering academy idea with the school community. If approved, PV would become the district’s fourth focus academy, joining Jackson Academy of Math & Music, San Martin Environmental Science Academy and P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy.
“Over the past couple months, school staff has been working with the Santa Clara County Office of Education Curriculum and Instruction Department (STEAM Department) to design an integrated engineering focus academy for students in grade kindergarten to fifth grade,” the agenda item reads. “Paradise Valley would like to begin with an engineering focus academy in the 2016-17 school year.”
Britton construction
The district is also seeking board approval to adopt a resolution for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act that will allow them to begin improvements at Britton Middle School. The board will host a public hearing during the Dec. 15 meeting so community members can comment on the proposed project.
“The project does not increase the student capacity by more than 25 percent or 10 classrooms. The school has 40 existing classrooms,” the agenda item reads. “The additional parking lot off of Keystone Road will function as a minor structural accessory to the already existing school facility.”
This project also includes the addition of a new two-story building and removal of existing classrooms on campus, a new bus loop and drop off area off W. Central Avenue, according to the district’s “Notice of Exemption.”
The district previously received board approval for $750,000 in architectural design plans in March for the proposed $30 million rebuild of a brand new Britton campus.
Peet Road project rejuvenated
A third facilities item involves the approval of a $992,437 contract with McKim Design Group for the master plan and design services for the Peet Road Property. This is a change of heart by district officials who had all but abandoned their plan to build on the site after potentially cancer-causing toxins were discovered in soil samples in October 2014. District staff began looking at other locations in town to purchase land and build a new elementary school. However, closed-session negotiations continued in an effort to acquire the donated Peet Road property from its previous owner.
Superintendent, assistant supes contracts
The board will also discuss taking action on the addenda agreements for contracts of the superintendent as well as the assistant superintendents.
If approved, Superintendent Steve Betando’s contract will extend through June 30,2019 “unless terminated earlier or extended as provided by the terms of this agreement or as required by law.” Effective Dec. 15, 2015, Betando would earn $240,786.61 and, if he receives a satisfactory evaluation for the 2016-17 school year, the superintendent is scheduled to receive a 3 percent pay raise July 1, 2016. Betando began with a $210,000 base salary in 2014 and was given a built-in 3 percent raise in 2015 to $216,300 in base salary, according to the original contract posted on the district website.
“Any salary increase must be approved by the board in open session of a regular meeting so that the public remains informed about the superintendent’s current salary and the contract term,” the contract reads.
As for the assistant supes, who are in various steps on the pay scale ladder:
—Kirsten Perez, head of business services, will receive a $4,800 pay raise boosting her annual salary to $166,957;
—Ramon Zavala, new head of educational services, will receive a $4,800 pay raise boosting his annual salary to $157,649; and
—Fawn Myers, head of human resources, will receive a $4,800 pay raise boosting her annual salary to $166,957.
Also, within the three assistant superintendents’ contracts, there was a reduction of the same amount ($4,800) from their expense reimbursement fund. The fund was reduced from $6,000 to $1,200.
Other public session items include:
—$38,500 contract from Measure G funds with API Design for fire alarm design of San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School. To follow would be “roughly $350,000” in construction costs for the new fire alarm system;
—Approval of the 2015-16 First Interim budget for the general fund; and
—Request to post the results of all public record requests on district website.
Items listed under consent include:
—$237,00 contract (1999 GO Bond fund) with Condor Inc. for the Live Oak High School swimming pool re-plaster;
—$31,287 contract (discretionary fund) with Northwest Evaluation Association of Academic Progress Assessment Pilot Program “designed to identify student needs in grades TK012 and inform instructional decisions in the areas of Language Arts and Math.”
Closed session items
—District recommends rejecting eight of 10 former students’ requests for readmission to their respective schools;
—Conference with legal counsel on six existing lawsuits involving the district, including MHUSD’s litigation against the Santa Clara County Office of Education for approving the Voices Morgan Hill charter school as well as three involving complaintants listed as “Jane Doe” 1-3.
