BOARD MEETING:
September 11, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Board: Gary Eberhart (6:30 p.m.),
Administrative Staff: Superintendent
1.
CALL TO ORDER: Vice President Treece called the
meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the
PUBLIC COMMENT: None
CLOSED SESSION: The Board adjourned to Closed
Session at 6:01 p.m. in Room 6 at the
Readmission
Mayo moved, Strange
seconded, and the Board voted 4-0-0 (Eberhart not yet present) to deny
readmission to one student who had not met conditions for readmission.
Existing Litigation: Spieler v MDUSD
Allen moved, Strange
seconded, and the Board voted 4-0-0 (Eberhart not yet present) to appeal a
court decision in the case of Spieler v MDUSD.
2.
RECONVENE OPEN SESSION: The Board returned to Open Session
in the Board Room at 7: 3o p.m. President Eberhart led the Pledge of Allegiance
to the Flag and then reported the topics discussed and action taken in Closed
Session.
3.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mayo moved, Treece seconded, and the Board voted 5-0-0 to
adopt the Consent Agenda, thereby approving the following:
3.1 Minutes of
the meeting of August 14, 2007.
3.2 Certificated
Personnel
3.2.1 Leaves of Absence, Resignations, Retirements,
Employment
3.2.2 Resolution 07/08-22 Approval of Provisional Internship
Permit (PIP) Requests
Adopted Resolution 07/08-22, authorizing Stacey Vautour to
apply for a Provisional Internship Permit (PIP) in order to complete her
assignment for the 2007-08 school year.
3.2.3 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Approved an MOU with the Bernard School of Education of the
University of the Pacific to allow Michelle N. VanCurler, an intern from the
University’s approved Clinical/Psychology Program, to supplement her learning
experience by working with district staff.
3.2.4 Resolution 07/08-23 Education Code 44263 – Board
Authorization
Adopted Resolution #07/08-23, authorizing Thomas Duffy, who
holds a California teaching credential and has 18 lower division units or 9
upper division units or graduate coursework in a subject, to teach that subject
for the 2007-08 school year, as per Ed. Code 44263.
3.2.5 Recommendation for Extension of District Intern Single
Subject: Math (Exam) with English Learner Authorization
Approved a one-year extension of his District Internship
Credential for Ryan Leuchen.
3.2.6 Certification to Evaluate Teachers
Certified as presented a list of management personnel who
evaluate teaching personnel, as per Board Policy 4215.1.
3.2.7 Additional Full-Time Equivalent Position (FTE) for the
2007-2008 School Year
Added 4.30 FTE positions for the
2007-2008 school year as follows:
Meadow Homes Elementary, 3.0 English
Language Development, English Language Arts,
Math
Coach
Glenbrook Middle, .90 Literacy
Coach
Crossroads NSHS, .40 Reading
teacher
This action increased the expenditure budget of the High Priority Schools Grant
in the amount of $311,790 (restricted funding) and the expenditure budget of
Family and Children’s Trust (FACT) Grant in the amount of $24,086 (restricted
funding).
3.3 Classified
Personnel
3.3.1 Leaves of Absence, Resignations, Retirements,
Employment
3.3.2 Increase in Hours for a Senior Secretary in Curriculum
and Instruction
Increased from 25 to 40 hours per week an existing 10.5-month
Senior Secretary position in the Curriculum and Instruction Department. There
is no impact to the General Fund. The $13,907.34 additional cost for 2007-2008 will
be charged to the Gifted and Talented Education fund.
3.4 Agreement
between Mt. Diablo Unified School District and Independent Contractor (UC
Berkeley History-Social Science Project) for the Mt. Diablo Unified
Approved agreement with U.C. Berkeley History-Social Science
Project/Department of History, which will provide services to increase student
understanding of and appreciation for American History, improve students’
content literacy, and encourage active involvement in the American democratic
process. Fiscal Impact: $681,718 Funding Source: Teaching American History Grant
3.5 Resolution
07/08-20 Authorizing Issuance of
Adopted Resolution 07/08-20, authorizing issuance of sale of
MDUSD 2007-2008 Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs). Proceeds (not to
exceed $40,000,000) from the issuance of TRANs will be used to meet fiscal year
2007-2008 cash requirements until property tax revenues are received. The
fiscal impact is the difference between interest earnings and interest expense.
At this time, it is projected that the District will earn interest of
approximately $200,000.00. Funding Source:
General Fund
4.
RECOGNITIONS: None
5.
BOARD FORUM
This item is here for the Board of Education to discuss any
issues of concern.
5.1 Committee
Minutes
5.2 Board Reports
(time limit – 3 minutes)
Mayo reported on several activities she attended: 1)
Congressman George Miller’s presentation regarding the reauthorization of the
federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. He calls the act “not fair, not
flexible, and underfunded by $55 billion” and said legislators understand that
teachers need training, resources, and good working conditions. 2) A press
conference by the Education Coalition, at which she represented the state PTA,
on the NCLB reauthorization. 3) An exploratory meeting of the Community United
for Excellent Schools (CUES), a group of parents interested in the District’s
efforts to pursue a parcel tax. 4) The monthly Parent Advisory Council meeting,
where she heard parents praise the Maintenance and Operations staff and Measure
C crews. 5) The September meeting of the Measure C Oversight Committee, where
it was reported that the tax rate for the bond decreased from $44.60 per $100,000
valuation in 2006-07 to $42.40 in 2007-08. She was concerned to hear that theft
and vandalism are increasing in
Strange congratulated the District’s high school football
programs, announcing that five of the six teams won their opening games.
Allen reported on the first meeting of the year of the
Community Advisory Committee, noting that the room was full of both new and old
members. He distributed brochure about the Special Education program and
invited people to attend one of the committee’s meetings, which are always interesting.
He said the group will discuss the foster youth and homeless programs at the October
meeting. He announced that April Treece is now a member of Concord Chamber of
Commerce’s Executive Board. He congratulated Maintenance and Operations staff
for transforming the Olympic/Crossroads campus on
Treece reported she also attended the George Miller presentation
that Mayo described earlier and noted that Superintendent McHenry was shown on
TV attending another meeting about NCLB. She announced that the state Career
Technical Education Plan is out for public input. It will go through a change
process based on public testimony and is scheduled to be approved in 2008. She
announced that the Contra Costa Council has invested in a study of high school
student resiliency. The findings will be discussed at next meeting of the Council’s
Education Task Force and she will share them with others. She, too, attended the
meeting of the CUES group working on the parcel tax and thanked parents
Eberhart announced that the Mt. Diablo Alternative Education
Foundation is holding a poker tournament fundraiser on September 28.
5.3 Issues of
Concern
6.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Esperanza Hernandez, parent, raised questions about the intradistrict
transfer process.
7.
COMMUNICATIONS: None
8.
REPORTS/INFORMATION: Planning for Parcel Tax
Ludwig, leader of the parcel tax steering committee, Committee
United for Excellent Schools (CUES), provided an overview of activities to
date. A small group of parents has met two times in August and once in
September to discuss the parcel tax process. The participants agreed on the need
to develop a plan to educate the community and identify what voters will
support and pay for. They reviewed the District’s Measure A bond campaign and identified
first steps in this process. In an effort to expand representation at their meetings,
they solicited parents from each high school feeder pattern. The core group has
grown from an initial five members to 11 and come up with the name, Community
United for Excellent Schools. Sheldon Perham, parent, has agreed to be
treasurer and has already applied for a tax ID number. Committee members know
there are many individuals interested in participating in a parcel tax
campaign, but are waiting to hear the amount and the use of the tax so they
know what they will be supporting. Support from employee labor units is
critical, so parents have begun meeting with the leaders of each. They are also
forming a subcommittee to interview campaign consultants. In the next several
weeks the committee will host a meeting to talk with all school parent leaders and
hold four public outreach meetings to bring the concept out to the District communities.
The timeline calls for the superintendent to bring a recommendation to the
Board on October 23 and for the Board to take action on the amount and use of
the parcel tax on November 13. The formal resolution for the parcel tax must be
submitted to the
Board comment Eberhart said the Board
has already committed to moving forward on a parcel tax. He talked with Superintendent
McHenry about holding Board meetings out in the community and directed staff to
schedule community meetings for October 2 and 16. He would like the Board to
consider the amount and use of the tax at its meeting on October 23 so there
will be two more Board meetings, November 13 and 27, for the public to hear and
respond to the proposal. Treece noted that parents signed up as volunteers when
several community meetings to discuss District needs were held last spring. She
asked staff to contact those parents about the upcoming meetings. Allen expressed
the Board’s appreciation to
9.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
McHenry said enrollment reports indicate that while
enrollment is still declining, it is higher than projections. He has received many
requests from principals for additional staffing. Before responding, he has
asked staff to look carefully at the budget to make sure every position is
being charged to the correct budget. He reported that last Thursday he attended
a meeting with David Long, state secretary of education, who is collecting
information on recommendations in a recent report for how to improve education.
Areas being addressed are school safety, closing the achievement gap, bullying,
and rolling back the kindergarten enrollment date to September. The state
secretary is meeting with superintendents, board members, and labor leaders
from throughout the Bay Area. The consensus is that the greatest need is to
find ways to improve education funding. Rather than fight among themselves for
the same dollars, members of the education community and legislators need to work
together to find more and more consistent funding and to reduced the number of regulations.
Educators told the secretary they don’t need politicians to hamstring us with
more laws, McHenry reported.
10.
BUSINESS
10.1 Appointment of High School Vice Principal
Strange moved, Mayo seconded, and
the Board voted 5-0-0 to appoint Megan Thompson as High School Vice Principal, assigned
to Concord High, effective immediately.
10.2 Appointment of Behaviorist Program Manager
Mayo moved, Allen seconded, and the
Board voted 5-0-0 to appoint Kara Oettinger as Behaviorist Program Manager,
effective immediately.
10.3 Independent Service Contract for a
Speech-Language Pathologist at
Allen moved, Treece seconded, and the Board voted 5-0-0 to
approve a contract with CompHealth Medical Staffing for a speech-language pathologist
(SPL) to provide services at Northgate High for three days a week and at Valle
Verde Elementary for two days a week. The $107,000
cost of the contract will be partially offset by a projected savings of $62,220 in the Related Services Staffing Budget due to the
District’s inability to fill a vacant SLP positions. The impact to the General
Fund will be $44,780.
Board comment
Eberhart said he hoped the District can find a way to hire employees
instead of contracted consultants to do this work. He encouraged staff to work
with employee organizations to find a way to attract good, quality individuals
to these positions. He acknowledged that the problem is not just with
10.4 Independent Service Contract for a
Speech-Language Pathologist at
Strange moved, Treece seconded, and the Board voted 5-0-0 to
approve a contract with Educational Based Services for a speech-language pathologist
(SPL) to provide services at El Monte Elementary for five days a week and at
Eagle Peak Montessori. The $128,484 cost of
the contract will be partially offset by a projected savings of $62,220 in the Related Services Staffing Budget due to the
District’s inability to fill a vacant SLP positions. The impact to the General
Fund will be $66,264.
10.5 Independent Service Contracts for
Speech-Language Pathologists through Independent Speech Pathology Network
Treece moved, Mayo seconded, and the Board voted 5-0-0 to
approve a contract with Independent Speech Pathology Network for a speech-language pathologist (SPL) to
provide services at
10.6 Board Committee Assignments
At the Board President’s request,
Mayo and Strange accepted assignment as Board representatives to the committee
for the Parcel Tax.
11.
CLOSED SESSION
Eberhart adjourned the meeting to
Closed Session at 8:32 p.m. to discuss negotiations. He closed the Open Session
in remembrance of September 11, 2001, and the support District staff provided
to students and families on that day. A moment of silence was observed.
12.
ADJOURNMENT
Eberhart adjourned the meeting at 9:25
p.m.