BOARD REPORT for Board of Trustees Meeting September 5, 2006
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SANTA CLARA COUNTY 2006 TEACHERS OF THE YEAR
Homestead High School Government/Economics Teacher Christy Heaton will represent the Fremont Union High School District— See Bulletin

COMMUNICATIONS
Three community members spoke about their concerns as regards the Board of Trustees’ termination of the contract of former Superintendent Steve Rowley. FEA (teachers’ union) President Tom Avvakumovits stated that several people have asked him, “how do the teachers feel about the decision made by three members of the Board to fire the superintendent?” He shared with the Board a sampling of teachers’ opinions collected at a recent FEA representative council meeting. He noted that the “over arching concern heard most often is that the teachers and staff of this District deserve an explanation. If three members of the Board take a serious action in terminating a Superintendent, and Board members Ho, Katz and Tong all stated that their action was taken in the best interest of the community, then the community deserves to know why.” CSEA President Pam Coppel stated she has received calls about confidentiality — “specifically employees concerned about what happened with personal information about the student at Monta Vista High School. Many of us are parents and we demand that our students privacy be kept, even after they graduate.”

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER REPORT
Student Board Member Peter Lu, Monta Vista High School senior, reported on opening of school activities at all five high schools. He stated that the Intradistrict Council (IDC) is excited to have a new advisor, Cupertino Assistant Principal Erik Walukiewicz, and that he is looking forward to working with Acting Superintendent Polly Bove.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Cupertino Principal Cary Matsuoka announced that the school is working on a contract with the City of Cupertino to have ten sport events filmed and shown on the City’s Channel 15. If this works including agreement of cost and payment, the plan is to expand this service to Homestead and Monta Vista High Schools. Matsuoka then announced that he will be leaving the District as he was earlier tonight named superintendent of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, effective October 1st. He stated, “This district has been my home for over nine years and I have learned and grown so much—but I look forward to taking on the next challenge.” The Board congratulated Cary but added they are very sad to see him leave. • Associate Superintendent Kate Jamentz provided an update on API and AYP stating that all of our high schools and the District met AYP. She also noted that three of our schools saw growth in their API scores with two having a slight decrease (both are above the 800 target set by state). • Fremont Principal Peggy Raun-Linde enthusiastically announced that FHS 2001 graduate Troy Tulowitski hit his first major league home run yesterday and that he is batting around 300 starting at shortstop for the Colorado Rockies. Tulowitski was drafted by the Rockies in 2005 and spent only 126 days in the minors before being brought up to the big leagues (a record).

DISCUSSION OF INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR
Board Member Homer Tong presented information on possible attorneys for the investigation with attorneys costs: (1) $180 hour/$75 hour for legal assistant, (2) $365 hour/$205 hour for associate, and (3) $215/$185 for associate. The Board agreed on the Law Offices of Bennett & Sharpe, Inc. (1), as this firm gave the lowest cost. The Board agreed that the firm must be represented at the September 19th Board Meeting to receive instructions from the Board so as to begin the investigation quickly.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES...
    • Unanimously approved the contract of Acting Superintendent Polly M. Bove effective
       August 22, 2006 to January 12, 2007. Tom Avvakumovits, President of the Fremont
       Education Association (teachers’ union) addressed the Board stating, “Your unanimous
       decision to appoint Polly Bove as Acting Superintendent is indeed a laudable one. Ms.
       Bove’s experience in effectively leading staff is unparalleled. As chief negotiator for the
       District, Ms. Bove’s approach has never been ‘we vs. they,’ and her approach has never been
       patronizing, but rather based on presenting data as is, and then employing all of our
       collective energies toward problem solving in an open, transparent, non-partisan mentality.
       This level of trust, this openness has enabled negotiations to turn from a potentially divisive
       situation, to one that looks at big picture solutions that reflect our joint commitment to
       improving the quality of education for all. These qualities of trust and openness will
       certainly serve her well in her capacity as Superintendent.” Pam Coppel, President of
       Classified School Employees Association, Chapter 237 (support staff’s union) added that
       “CSEA is really, really pleased with Polly’s appointment as Superintendent and the District
       will not miss a beat with her there!” Acting Superintendent Polly Bove thanked the Board
       Members for their confidence in her stating, “I look forward to working as a team with all of
       you -I don’t know how to do it any other way.”
    • Authorized staff to file a Notice of Completion for Gymnasium Acoustics (District Project
        #514) at Homestead High School
    • Authorized staff to File a Notice of Completion for Library Improvements (District Project
        #214) at Cupertino High School
    • Reviewed the Property Tax Update which is about $403,000 more than the 5.83% increase
       anticipated in our June Adoption Budget. CBO Geoffrey Kiehl stated that our District is still
       sliding a bit on unsecured property tax income (fourth year in a row), and that the District’s
       estimated loss of tax revenue from appeals is close to $998,000 compared to the $787,000
       lost last year.
    • Approved the 2005-2006 Unaudited Actual Financial Data (Kiehl thanked Christine Mallery,
       Rais Abbasi, and the Business Services staff for their work)
    • Reviewed Scheduled Board Meetings – Board Vice President Barbara Nunes suggested that
       the Board try to stick close to the time stated for open session to begin. The Board discussed
       possibly holding lengthy closed session meetings on a different day from open session and
       also discussed possible dates for Board Study Sessions.

FUTURE BOARD MEETINGS
TUESDAY, September 19, 2006 at ESC – Closed Session at 5pm, Open Session at 7pm
TUESDAY, September 21, 2006 at TBA – Special Board Meeting—
Goal Setting for Acting Superintendent at 5pm
TUESDAY, October 3, 2006 at ESC – Closed Session at 5pm, Open Session at 7pm

EDUCATING CAPABLE, CARING, CONTRIBUTING CITIZENS FOR LIFE