Arvin Union School District

737 Bear Mountain Boulevard

Arvin, CA 93203

 

Minutes of the Governing Board

  

          Minutes of the Arvin Union School District Board of Trustees Regular Meeting held on June 24, 2008.

 

The meeting was called to order by Mr. Stoner at 6:31 p.m.

 

Call to Order

 

 

 

Members Present:  Mr. Bill Stoner, President                 Mrs. Virgie Witte                     

                                Mrs. Joycene Tarver, Clerk                                               

 

Members Present   

 

 

 

Members Absent:  Mr. Tim Owens, Mrs. Hilda Sumaya                       

 

Members Absent                                           

 

 

 

Staff Present:          

            Mrs. Jerelle Kavanagh, Superintendent

            Mrs. Marilyn Thompson, Assistant Superintendent

            Mrs. Debbie L. Hearron, District Secretary

            Mrs. Ludim Llanes, District Receptionist

            Mrs. Olivia Esquivel, Administrative Assistant

            Mr. Chris Davis, District Accountant

            Mrs. Toni Pichardo, Sierra Vista School Secretary, CSEA President

            Mr. Dan Gyll, Haven Drive Teacher

            Mr. Rey Ramos,  Haven Drive Custodian/Driver

            Mr. Jose Garcia,  Warehouse Clerk

            Mrs. Adelia Hudson, Sierra Vista Teacher

            Mr. Ryan Culberson, Haven Drive Teacher

            Mr. Luis Carmona, District Family Advocate

            Mrs. Regina Padilla-Bohanon, Director of Food Services

            Mr. David Zamarron, Director of Maintenance, Operations, Transportation & Safety

 

Staff Present

 

 

 

Others Present:  Ms. Cathie Barraza, KCSOS School Assistance and Intervention Team Leader; Mr. Jeff Kirby, CSEA Representative;  Mr. Lennard Cuenco, Caldwell Flores Winters; Mr. Chris Hine, Schools Legal Services; Timoteo Prado; Guadalupe Ramirez; Rosalba Lopez; Dalia Villalon; Maria Ortiz; Paola Fernandez;  Maria  C. Hernandez; Nicolas Gonzalez; Ysabel Gonzalez, Guadalupe Hernandez.

 

Others

         

 

 

Mrs. Kavanagh asked the board to adopt the agenda with the following changes:

 

Item 7.3 - “Consider approval of bus routes for the 2008-2009 school year” will be informational only, no action will be taken.

 

Item 10 - “Closed Session”.  It may be necessary to call for a recess before closed session if Mr. Hine has not arrived at that time.  He had to attend the Lamont School District’s board meeting which also began at 6:30 p.m..

 

Adoption of the Agenda

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the minutes of the May 20, 2008 Regular Board Meeting.

 

Minutes – Approved

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Kavanagh greeted the board and introduced new staff that was in attendance; Mr. Chris Davis, District Accountant and Mrs. Ludim Llanes, District Receptionist.

 

Mrs. Kavanagh took a few minutes to give a brief update on the progress of a couple of projects in the district.  Continued work is being done regarding the TRANs loan process with Piper Jaffrey which will aid in the cash flow difficulties that may occur if the state defers its payments to the districts.  The Sierra Vista re-roofing project is progressing as expected.

 

Mrs. Kavanagh then introduced Mr. Lennard Cuenco who is a Financial Consultant with Caldwell Flores Winters.  Mr. Cuenco gave an overview of the history the district has had with Caldwell Flores Winters since 2003 and also their options should they consider the Issuance of the next Series of Bonds. Should the board decide to sell district bonds there could be a cost saving factor in the amount of $500,000.

 

Mrs. Thompson introduced Cathie Barraza, Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, School Assistance and Intervention Team Leader.  Mrs. Barraza reviewed the Quarterly SAIT 5th Progress Report for Haven Drive.  Since the last report there are fewer action steps that need to be fulfilled.  Mrs. Barraza led a discussion with the board while answering their questions.  She did share her concerns regarding encouraging teachers to stay on track and focus on bringing the partially fulfilled status areas to substantially fulfilled status.

 

Mr. Stoner gave opportunity at this time to the members of the public to address the board regarding items of interest within the board’s jurisdiction.

 

Mr. Dan Gyll, Haven Drive Language Arts Teacher for eleven years, addressed the board regarding the SAIT report that was given earlier.  He strongly felt that students in this program were being advanced to higher proficiency levels before they were ready.  He felt the testing criteria for passing was too low at 40%.

 

Ms. Maria Hernandez of 444 Tucker Street and also a member of the United Neighbors of Arvin addressed the board insisting installation of water filters at each school site.  She shared at the last board meeting of May 20, 2008 the audience was told that water filters would not be installed.  She asked the board to please reconsider her request for the health of the children of Arvin.

 

Ms. Ysabel Gonzalez of 7408 Laurel Street and a supporter for the United Neighbors of Arvin shared that she is not satisfied with the decision the board has made not to install water filters.  She requested a written letter from the board stating why they will not install the filters.  She shared that the United Neighbors of Arvin support the board and are willing to help, but together they will continue to ask for the filters.

 

Ms. Guadalupe Hernandez of 157 Fallbrook.  She shared with the board that on April 15th a petition was turned into the board to have the filters installed but it was denied.  She then shared that the neighboring Vineland School District honored their request by installing ten filters at a cost of $65.00 each, and asked the board to reconsider the request to install filters in the Arvin schools.

 

Ms. Rosalba Lopez of Fallbrook Street pleaded with the board to reconsider the installation of water filters for the safety of her four children. With permission from the president, Ms. Lopez proceeded to distribute a letter from the Dolores Huerta Foundation supporting this cause.

 

 

Ms. Dalia Villalon of 322 Ives Court addressed the board about a different concern.  She explained she has a daughter who attended Bear Mountain Elementary this past year in the fifth grade, however with the boundary changes her daughter would be changing to Sierra Vista Elementary in the fall of 2008. She asked the board if transportation would be provided to Sierra Vista Elementary.

 

Mrs. Kavanagh informed the audience that the district would prepare a written response for the July 15, 2008 board meeting to the water filter request.

 

Reports and Communications -

Mrs. Kavanagh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Thompson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reports from the public

 

 

Mr. Gyll

 

 

 

 

Ms. M. Hernandez

 

 

 

 

Ms. Gonzalez

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. G. Hernandez

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Lopez

 

 

 

 

Ms. Villalon

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Kavanagh

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the following consent agenda items.

 

Consent Agenda

 

 

 

              Purchase Order Numbers   081037 – 081089

Payments – 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130

Payroll Numbers 45, 46, 47, 48

 

Interdistrict Attendance Requests for the 2008/2009 school year based on child care. (*indicates renewal)

Maria H. Garcia – Grade 1 – Arvin to Panama

                                              

Interdistrict Attendance Requests for the 2008/2009 school year based on parent employment. (*indicates renewal)

             *Brittany Brockman – Grade 8 – Arvin to Lamont

              *Kelsey Brockman – Grade 6 – Arvin to Lamont

              *Eric De La Fuentes - Grade 6 – Arvin to Lamont

              Dwight Hill – Grade 8 – Arvin to Lamont

              Melenie Medina – Kgn – Arvin to Lamont

              Aaliyal M. Mohamed – Kgn – Arvin to DiGiorgio

              Ali J. Mohamed – Grade 1 – Arvin to DiGiorgio           

              *Alinan Rivera – Grade 1 – Arvin to Vineland

              *Aubriann Rivera – Grade 3 – Arvin to Vineland

              Vincent P. Zapata – Grade 5 – Arvin to DiGiorgio

 

Purchase Orders

Bill Payments

Payroll

 

 

Interdistrict – 08/09

Child Care

 

 

 

Interdistrict – 08/09

Parent Employment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The board went into closed session at 7:20 p.m. to consider matters related to a student expulsion. They reconvened at 7:28 p.m. and the following action was taken.

 

Closed Session

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the expulsion of Student #K: 2007/2008 until the January 2009 semester.

 

Student #K:2007/08

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Witte, seconded by Mrs. Tarver, the board unanimously approved the 2008/2009 Consolidated Application for Funding Categorical Aid Programs (Part I).

 

Con Application (Part l)

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the adoption of Harcourt Brace as the math textbook series for grades K – 6.

·                  Core Text – Grade K – 6

·                  Momentum Math Intensive Intervention – Grade 4 - 6

 

Harcourt Brace Math Adoption

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the adoption of McDougal Littell as the math textbook series for grades 7 & 8.

·                  Core Text (Algebra 1) Larsen, Algebra Readiness, Intensive Intervention – Grade 8

·                  Core Text (Course 2) Larsen, Momentum Math Intensive Intervention – Grade 7

 

McDougal Littell Math Adoption

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Tarver, seconded by Mrs. Witte, the board unanimously approved the Memorandum of Understanding for County Level Educational Services for K-6 Students between the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office and the Arvin Union School District.

 

MOU K-6 County Level Education Services

 

 

 

On motion of Mrs. Witte, seconded by Mrs. Tarver, the board unanimously approved the Instructional Media Services Agreement 2008-2009 between the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office and the Arvin Union School District.

 

Instructional Media Services Agreement

 

 

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