A third discussion on the board policy subcommittee will open the general business for the May 2 board of education meeting—an oddly contentious item that has previously inspired hours of debate among trustees.
While closed session is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. inside the Morgan Hill Unified School District headquarters (15600 Concord Circle), the open public session will start around 6 p.m. or immediately following closed session.
Trustees David Gerard and Gino Borgioli have argued the merits of having a policy subcommittee to review all new board policies that come in from the California School Boards Association. They believe meeting twice per month to review and massage the policies to fit specifically for MHUSD before adopting them into policy is vital.
However, Board President Donna Reubush and Vice President Ron Woolf are against the subcommittee because they don’t believe it is the best utilization of district staff’s time since they would take part in the bimonthly gatherings. Superintendent Steve Betando did not seem to be a fan of the frequent policy subcommittee meetings the last time the board discussed the item a the April 18 meeting, either. CSBA provides the same policy for hundreds of districts throughout the state. Each district and board has different levels of review for those policies before they are ratified.
At MHUSD, the board receives a packet of the changes to policies or the new board policies offered by the CSBA prior to a board meeting and then they vote on them at one time.
Trustee Mary Patterson attempted to find some middle ground in the lengthy discussions at the April 18 board meeting by suggesting the subcommittee be an ad hoc committee that meets on an as-needed basis. However, Gerard shot that idea down.
Trustee Teresa Murillo said she was just embarrassed that they could not bring this issue to some resolution in a more efficient manner.
Borgioli wanted this to be an action item, but it listed as discussion only, according to the May 2 agenda.
Other general business items are:
• Update on the Master Facilities Plan Process: “The FMP process will identify long term demographic trends, assess current facilities conditions, and envision educational program opportunities in order to develop strategies that address these needs, and their impact to the school site facilities, in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner.”
• Local metrics for California School Accountability Dashboard: “California’s new school accountability dashboard contains a mix of State and local metrics. The Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment will review the accountability requirements for local metrics and present our local metric findings to the Governing Board.”
• Approve declaration of need for fully qualified educators for MHUSD: “Throughout the hiring season and into the school year, the District will continue to place its emphasis on the recruitment and retention of fully credentialed teachers.”
• 2017-18 school board meeting schedule.
Pay raises for assistant superintendents
The assistant superintendents’ contracts are tied to the Morgan Hill Education Leadership Association’s contract. Thus, the trio of Ramon Zavala (Educational Services), Fawn Myers (Human Resources) and Kirsten Perez (Business Services) will receive the same 6 percent retroactive pay raise for the current year and an additional three percent raise for the 2017-18 school year to mirror the MHELA’s hike.
According to the assistant superintendents’ contract: “During the remainder of the term of the Employment Agreement, Assistant Superintendent shall be entitled to the base salary step increases set forth below, as well as the same salary and stipend increases awarded to administrators in the Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association (MHELA) unit.”
Zavala’s salary moves to $180,312 with the raise, while Myers’ and Perez’ salaries go to $190,982 retroactive July 1, 2016, according to the agenda item. They will receive the 3 percent bump during next school term.
A $31,826 expenditure covers the raises out of the unrestricted fund, according to the item.
Personnel order
An additional seven teacher resignations, along with two year-long approved leaves are part of the personnel order for the May 2 agenda. One classified employee resignation is also on the list.
Consent items
• $262,900 contract (Measure G) with Circle C Electric for the projector installment at Live Oak and Sobrato high schools. In addition to the agreement with Circle C for the installation of the projectors, classroom teachers at each campus will also receive a wireless display adapter, tablet, and upgrade of staff laptop with wireless projection, according to the agenda item.
• $42,022 in special education services for the 2016-17 school year.
