School Board to Talk About CORE Funding, hiring

The Pleasanton Unified School Board is slated to discuss and possibly vote on reinstating technology specialist positions at its special board meeting tonight.

As of July 12, the district is just $22,362 away from being able to hire technology specialists for 4 hours per day at elementary and middle schools through the Community OutReach for Education fundraiser, spearheaded by the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation.

A total of $568,729 has been raised through the fundraising campaign – with $333,238 designated for elementary schools, $108,464 designated for middle schools and $113,104 designated for high schools. The remainder of the balance is undesignated.

At tonight's meeting the board will decide whether to allocate $13,923 of undesignated funds from the CORE campaign toward the elementary and middle schools technology positions.

Doing so would put the district just $8,439 short of being able to reach their base goal of 4 hours per day for technology specialists.

If approved, the plan calls for the remaining cost to be filled by the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation, according to the board's packet for Wednesday's meeting.

This option leaves no extra cost to the district – a much different alternative than one that was presented at the board's last meeting on June 22.

On June 22, district staff recommended that the board borrow from district funds to allocate $27,508 to bring the base level for technology specialists.

The proposal would have reached into the district's Sycamore Property fund, which has 4.7 million for the current fiscal year. The fund was created when the district sold property that was to be used to build a school. The sale of that property totaled nearly $7.1 million.

Since board policy requires that any vote pertaining to the Sycamore fund gain a 4-1 vote, the board's 3-2 vote on June 22 stalled the possibility of hiring technology specialists at that time.

District Spokesperson Myla Grasso said that in past years, monies were borrowed from the property fund to support technology programs.

Board members Valerie Arkin and Jamie Hintzke voted against borrowing from the Sycamore fund at the June 22 board meeting and cited wanting to be fiscally responsible as the reason behind their votes.

"It's not something that I think is fiscally prudent to do," Arkin said. "It could set a precedent for future decisions. There was some question as to whether the CORE campaign would raise enough money to pay it back.

Hintzke added that ensuring the reinstatement of the positions CORE would bring back is not an emergency situation and that the board has to be conservative since it has not been able to save money for maintenance.

She cited that the board has had to borrow from the Sycamore fund to correct mold issues at Hearst Elementary School. Without the Sycamore fund, she said, they would've been unable to fund the mold remediation.

Board members Chris Grant, Pat Kernan and Jim Ott all voted for the recommendation on June 22 but were unavailable as of Tuesday evening.  

The board is also scheduled to vote on finalizing the hiring of Jim Hansen as principal of Amador Valley High School.

If approved, Hansen will replace Bill Coupe, Jr., who left Amador Valley for retirement. Hansen comes from Harvest Park Middle School where he has been principal for the past 11 years.

The board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at 4665 Bernal Avenue. For more information, visit the district's website.