The Board held its February monthly meeting on February 25. There were many discussion and action items this month. Below are the highlights of the key items.
At the work session, Mr. Sanchez took the Board on a tour of the mechanical room to better understand the system. The board also discussed recent issues of hate speech on campus and adding hate speech adopted policy into the student handbook. The work session ended with a review of the master facility plan as part of their regular February items.
At 6:30, the Board transitioned to its regular meeting. The board discussed the AirMed benefit and the potential of offering it to staff. This will be revisited at the next Board meeting. They discussed the recent increase in hate speech/racial slurs on campus and ways to address it including communicating the expectations, hate speech policy, and consequences to coaches, adding it to the student and athletic handbooks, and sharing with families. The Board reviewed Policy Section F: Facilities Planning and Development, discussed charging for school use during non-school events, and discussed the legacy audit. The 2024-25 audit was still not prepared by the auditor for Board review and approval at this meeting. The Board then entered executive session to discuss the Superintendent evaluation and contract.
The Board returned from executive session having taken no action. The Board then moved into the action session of the meeting. They approved the consent agenda including the District reports from Student Council, Food Service, Maintenance, Transportation, K-8 Principal, and Superintendent. The 2024-25 audit was tabled. The replacement of heat pump 1 was approved and the repair of pump 18 motor's was approved. The 2026-27 District calendar was approved pending agreement from CEA for Friday PD/workdays and the ILTs recommendation for Wednesday early releases. The superintendent's contact was tabled until June. Negotiations for 2025-26 was ratified, Policy BDFC: Preschool Council was removed with approval of its final reading. The resignation of Kassandra Pardo was accepted and three new hires were approved: Amber Garcia: PBIS coach, Michael Mondragon as a substitute teacher, Emilio DeHerrera Martinez (pending final CDE authorization) as a substitute teacher, Andrea Lonseth as a substitute teacher, Joseph Marion II as the MS wrestling coach and Joseph Marion Sr. as a MS wrestling volunteer. The long-term substitute pay rate was increased to $180/day, and money was reappropriated from previously called down funds from a grant writer account to playground equipment.
It was a productive meeting with many valuable action steps taken to support our staff and students.