Pacific Grove Unified School District
Note: This web page is a copy of the minutes from the Board of Education Meeting.
Minutes are NOT OFFICIAL until approved by the Board.
The official Minutes are available at the Board Office.
Address any questions to the Superintendent, Dr. Ralph Porras, or call the District Office at 831-646-6510.

The Board of Education of the Pacific Grove Unified School District held a meeting on January 10, 2002 at Pacific Grove Adult Education Center.

I. OPENING BUSINESS

A. Call to order: 6:15 pm

B. Roll Call: Members Present: Jessie Bray
Anne Hall
Debi Page
Richard Schramm
Beth Shammas
Student Rep: John Mothershead, arrived at 7pm

Administrators Patrick Perry, Superintendent
Present: Robin Blakley, Assistant Superintendent

C. Identified Closed Session Topics
Conference with Labor Negotiators: Patrick Perry and Robin Blakley
The employee organization: Pacific Grove Teachers Association
The employee organization: California School Employee Association

D. Public Comment On Closed Session Items: None.

E. Adjourned to Closed Session: 6:18 pm

II. RECONVENE IN OPEN SESSION ­ 7:05 pm

A. Pledge of Allegiance: recited.

B. Adoption of Agenda: MOTION (Bray/Shammas) to adopt amended agenda. Change in minutes of 12/13/01 to include the appointment of Debi Page and Rich Schramm to the Superintendent's Committee on Facility Use. Item VI, Public Hearing, is not a Consent Item. Item VII E dollar amount on agenda is incorrect. Consent item V. A. Out of County Activities ­ Band Trip pulled and item D. Classified Personnel Assignment Order No. 10 pulled. Motion CARRIED 5 to 0.

C. Report Action Taken in Closed Session: No action was taken.

III. COMMUNICATONS:

A. Written Communications: Copy of thank you letter Middle School sent to Pro-Am, letter from Mrs. Furth regarding High School heat situation, letter from Senator Jack O'Connell, a letter regarding CSBA political practice, a request for a company to be added to our vendor list and a letter from the Grand Jury of Monterey County.

B. Superintendent Report: Attended a number of outstanding winter programs at the schools. A recent pipe breaking at Robert Down which resulted in flooding of two classrooms was quickly taken care of; thanks to the Fire Department, police department, Larry Tyndall, Robin Blakley and Matt Bell for their response and help. The response to the community for participation in the Long Range Committee has been overwhelming, of the people that have shown an interest all but one has responded favorably to participating in a focus group. More information to follow in the Friday packet.

C. Board Comments: Bray ­ as provided by Board Bylaw 9324, Mrs. Bray read a statement and is included in these minutes: Since the board meeting of December 13, 2001, I have been asked in person and on the phone several questions by citizen/voters of Pacific Grove Unified School District whom the board represents. I have discussed the issues raised with Superintendent Patrick Perry. This board promised the voters open communication. I hope to accomplish that by my written responses. This paper can be viewed as a minority position.

Question 1. Why were there two organizational meetings of the board (December 6 and December 13)?

The first organizational meeting was set to be included in the regular first Thursday meeting of the board. During the meeting, as a member of the California and National Associations of Parliamentarians, I was surprised by some aspects of that meeting. In reviewing the Brown Act after the meeting, I found that the meeting had been misscheduled (unintentially). Mr. Perry promptly responded to correct the error by rescheduling the organizational meeting to fall between December 7 ­ 22 as required.

Also, as Mr. Perry reviewed standard parliamentary procedures, he changed the election process that had been used to one more appropriate for a five-member board. Seeking the opinion of a qualified parliamentarian prior to the meeting would have prevented the unneeded confusion. I thank Superintendent Perry for his prompt correction. The board needs to name and use a qualified parliamentarian as required by our bylaws.

Questions 2. What is going on? Why haven't you served as either Vice-President/Clerk or President in all the time you have served on the board?

This is an awkward question for me to answer but I won't avoid it. I believe that all five members of the board are capable and qualified to serve in either office. Their eligibility was established when they were elected by the voters of PGUSD. I am willing to serve in either office.
Let's look at the pattern that has emerged since the board changed the bylaw about elections to office on the board in 1999.
PGUSD SCHOOL BOARD OFFICERS ­ 1997-2002
PRESIDENTS: VICE-PRESIDENTS/CLERKS:
Rod Herndon 97-98 Wendy Kramer
Wendy Kramer 98-99 Debi Page
Debi Page 99-00 Beth Shammas
Beth Shammas 00-01 Debi Page
Debi Page 01-02 Beth Shammas

Prior to December 1999, the bylaw required that every board member must serve back-to-back as president-elect and then president before any member could serve a second term. The then-board chose to change the bylaw so that no one was forced to serve but could serve in either office for one year at a time (not to exceed two consecutive terms in either office). I felt that this was a fairer bylaw for today's busy board members. I did not anticipate it being used as a current majority on the board is willing to use it. I do not believe that any of us willing to serve should be blocked from serving. I find myself restricted and limited in my service on the board because some members choose not to "take turns." Except between two of them.

While the letter of the bylaw is being followed, the spirit has been set aside. The sense of a "Governance Team" is hard to sustain, under these circumstances.

I will continue to prepare carefully for all board actions and participate as fully as possible, always keeping in mind what is in the best interests of all our students while acting in a fiscally responsible way.

I welcome your questions. JB

Schramm ­ walked around Forest Grove School this weekend and again on Wednesday and everything looks great. Thanks to Tim and staff, parents, students, Pat Perry and Robin Blakley for sheparding us through this. Page ­ Hope the New Year brings peace and prosperity and the best for all. Mothershead ­ Friday is Basketball Homecoming; landscaping/grass is beginning to come up on campus.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENT: Emelie McEwen: new student at the High School spoke about the absence policy (Superintendent will talk to Emelie regarding this issue); Rod Herndon, night custodian at RHD and CSEA president. CSEA executive board has asked him to comment on the request for proposal for maintenance operation and custodial services review on the agenda tonight: the union is in support of a study and would like to be part of it when it happens. Matt Bell, Principal RHD: thanked Rod Herndon and Dale, PG Fire Department for their help with the recent flooding and getting back to normal so quickly. Also RHD has submitted their application to the State for Distinguished School and waiting to hear.

V. CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION (Shammas/Hall) to approve consent agenda. Motion CARRIED 5 to 0.

VI. PUBLIC HEARING: Regional Occupational Program Waiver. The hearing was opened for comment and closed without comment regarding the Regional Occupational Program Waiver.

VII. INFORMATION/DISCUSSION:

A. Sub Committee Reports:
Community Human Services (Walter Kraus): Nothing to report at this time will be at next meeting.
City/District (Page): Joint meeting January 24, 2002
Negotiations (Bray): ACSA had a conference this date relating to principals and ethical practices of negotiations, unable to attend, but glad to see a certain tone being set.
ROP (Schramm): Attending board meeting next week.

B. Measure A Oversight Committee Report: Ruth Matthews reviewed the Oversight Committee Report for the period of July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001. The Committee's sole responsibility is to verify that all of the Bond funds expended through June 30, 2001 meet the criteria of the measure. The Committee received the full cooperation from the School Board and the District staff, with special thanks to Rhonda Freitag, who chronologically organized the documents so the Committee could complete their review in an efficient and expeditious manner. The Committee states that with one exception, the expenditure of funds to purchase the Facilities Tracker CPA Software, the funds expended through June 30, 2001 meet the requirement set forth in Bond Measure A. Even though our Auditors believe that this expense is a legitimate use of funds, the Board requested that the cost of the software return as a Consent Agenda item as a District expense.

C. State Preschool Second Quarterly Report: Matt Bell gave a brief synopsis of the progress of the State Preschool thus far in the school year. Current enrollment is 16 students in the am and pm class ­ this is at capacity. The state will fully fund us if attendance is 95% or higher which allows for occasional unexcused absences or under-enrollment in the beginning. Current attendance includes 23 students from PG, 3 from Marina, 1 from Seaside and 5 from New Monterey. Have made a conscious effort to cut significantly back on supplies to keep within budget. Outside funding is being explored.

D. Request for Proposal ­ Maintenance, Grounds & Custodial Services Management Study: At the present time our District is investing tremendous amount of funds and effort to upgrade our school facilities. The community has passed a Measure A bond allocating up to $12 million to make needed improvements. At the completion of our Measure A project we will have facilities that will have received significant upgrades these improvements will need to be maintained in the future. A review of the District's services in the areas of maintenance, grounds and custodial services should be conducted at this time. This will give the District an opportunity to determine what type of support services will be needed in the future to maintain our Measure A investment. The completion of a review of maintenance, grounds and custodial services will cost approximately $4000. If the Board moved forward in this action the funds would need to be allocated to compete the review. This item will return as a Consent Item.

E. Request for Proposal ­ Management Review of Special Education Program: At this time there is approximately $509,000 of encroachment into the General Fund. The Pacific Grove Unified School District services approximately 12% of Special Education students. Review the operation of the Special Education Program, current services included in RSP, SDC speech and county programs. Doug Brown has announced his retirement at the end of this school year. A review of the District's services in the Special Education program should be conducted at this time. The completion of a review of our special education program will range from $3,500 to $6,000. The reason for the range of cost of the review is the scope of the study. If the study includes Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, Carmel Unified School District and the County Office SELPA the cost would be closer to the $6,000. If the study only includes our District and the County SELPA, it would be approximately $3,500. If the Board moved forward in this action the funds would need to be allocated to complete the review. This will return as a Consent Item.
VIII. ACTION ITEMS:

A. Approval of District Library Improvement Plan and Use of Funds: At the December 13, 2001 Board Meeting the District Library Improvement Plan was presented for approval. It was determined that the District Library Committee had not met. Since then, Carolyn Griffin, District Librarian, informed the Board that she has now met with the Committee and a Plan, meeting State program content requirements, is presented at this meeting for Board approval. MOTION (Bray/Shammas) to approve plan and recommended distribution as proposed. Motion CARRIED 5 to 0.

B. Approval of 2001/02 General Fund Budget Revision #2: MOTION (Bray/Hall) to approve the proposed budget revisions as presented and defer action on further revisions until future meetings. Motion CARRIED 5 to 0.

C. Approval of 2001/02 Adult Education Budget Revision #1: MOTION (Shammas/Bray) to approve proposed budget revisions as presented. Motion CARRIED 5 to 0.

IX. FUTURE MEETINGS: The Board will have a joint City/District meeting on January 24, 2002. Next Regular Board Meeting will be February 7th at the Middle School.

X. ADJOURNMENT: 8:55 pm

Patrick Perry
Secretary, Board of Education

minutes/0102/011002min.html