| Recap of the Madera Unified Board Meeting July 13th |
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| News - Local | |
| Wednesday, 14 July 2010 00:06 | |
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Board Approves Site Administration Appointments
The MUSD Board of Education approved several vice principal appointments on Tuesday night. Each of the following will be the new V.P. at the site listed beside their name. · Denise Munoz (Berenda Elementary) · Stephanie McPherson (Chavez Elementary) · Erik Lowry (Sierra Vista Elementary) · Sabrina Rodriguez (Jefferson Middle School) · Jesus Navarro (MLK Middle School) · Alberto Felix (Parkwood) Each of the above staff members are current MUSD employees. Also approved on Tuesday night was the appointment of Marvin Baker as the new principal at Desmond Middle School. Baker comes to MUSD from the Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District, where most recently he served as the principal (from 2006-10) at Firebaugh Middle School. From 2004-06, he was Firebaugh-Las Deltas’ Director of Student Services. Baker, a graduate of Fresno State, said Tuesday night, “I’m very happy and very honored to be invited to join you all in Madera. And I can’t wait to get to work and start to help each and every one of the students at the school to achieve their potential.” Baker replaces former Desmond principal Mike Lennemann, who is now MUSD’s Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations. New Business Items/Reports Some new business items and informational reports were approved and presented to the board during Tuesday’s meeting: Pavement rehab in the playground area at Washington Elementary and La Vina School was approved. No Williams Uniform Complaints were received by MUSD for the quarter of April through June 2010. Revisions to Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5141.23, both of which deal with asthma management, were approved. Under the Educational Services Report, a recap was presented of the 2010-11 administrative charge, which included a review of the district’s Instructional Action Plan. This presentation is available as a PDF document, should you wish to view it. Please respond to this e-mail if you would like to receive this presentation. Athletics Budget Reductions Presented, Reviewed As part of the district’s budget reduction plan approved in February 2010, middle and high school athletics directors were asked to reduce their budgets. To reach a consensus on how these reductions would be implemented, a committee was formed that was comprised of the middle and high school athletics directors and principals, John Denno and Chief Academic Officers Robert Chavez and Darren Sylvia. This committee was directed by the MUSD Board of Education to implement a 10 percent reduction in athletics discretionary funds and to reduce athletics stipends in grades 7-12 by one-third. The group made several recommendations. The highlights of those recommendations are as follows: Reorganize the MULES (elementary athletics) program so that the number of stipends, substitutes and transportation would either be eliminated entirely, or reduced significantly. Suspend coaching stipends at the middle and high school levels. This includes the reduction of stipends for the cheer and dance squads. Suspension of gymnastics at the middle and high school levels. Madera High and Madera South High are both members of leagues that do not offer gymnastics, meaning competitive opportunities would be very limited for both schools. Addition of girls badminton. Both of Madera High and Madera South High’s leagues offer badminton as a sport, and the addition of badminton would solve any Title IX issues stemming from the suspension of gymnastics. The term “suspension” is used in the recommendation in the hopes that the fiscal environment of the state improves in the coming years. If it does, then there would be the possibility of return of “suspended” items. The reformed MULES program would take the shape of intramurals, with on-site scrimmages or practices taking place weekly during the lunch period. Based on the recommendation of staff, no instructional time would be lost as a result of MULES games, nor would substitutes be required to fill in for teachers removed from the classroom due to coaching responsibilities. MULES sports would be competed during a six-week “season.” At the conclusion of those six weeks, a tournament would be held for all schools, with teams guaranteed several games on this particular day. This variation to MULES would increase student participation while offering the program on a more cost-efficient basis. The seventh and eighth grade students at the three K-8 schools would be grouped with similar grade level teams at Sherman Thomas, ETAA and Crossroads. High school coaches and middle school coaches would help articulate the MULES program by assisting with organization, coaching and in providing competitive opportunities. Special Board Meeting Scheduled to Approve School Site Plans A special board meeting will be held Wednesday, July 21, at 11:30 a.m., in the MUSD board room. The purpose of this meeting will be so the board may approve school site plans. The board requested Tuesday night they not take action to approve school site plans – which were on the consent agenda – so they may have additional time to review them. These site plans must be approved as soon as possible so certain staff may be hired in accordance with the plans. Next Board Meeting The next board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. in the MUSD board room at 1902 Howard Road.
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