Summary of the Board of Education Meeting on January 19th, 2022
The January 19th, 2022 meeting of the Board of Education began with the following announcements out of Closed Session:
- The Board had no action to report out of closed session.
Next, Superintendent Nelson provided a brief report to the Board of Education, including:
- Superintendent Nelson started by thanking our entire school site teams for their amazing work returning our students to campuses for the second semester. He shared his pride in our teams for their preparation and collaboration to ensure that our schools and classrooms continue to come first. Superintendent reminded staff and students to help out by staying home when they are feeling ill. Superintendent also recognized the rollout of additional PPE and testing availability across the district this week.
- Superintendent then shared his gratitude to our IT department for a large student computer refresh that is currently underway for our students. 60,000 student laptops will be replaced by the end of the 22/23 school year, 50,000 of which will be funded through the Emergency Connectivity Fund. The Emergency Connectivity Fund was established in mid-2021 by the FCC, with Congress appropriating $7B to meet the remote learning needs of students who would otherwise lack access to devices and connectivity.
- Superintendent reminded families of our ongoing services available through our FLATS center. FLATS, or our Family Learning Technology and Support team, have still been going strong supporting our students and families with any of their technology troubles. The FLATS walk-up centers are at Homan Elementary, Burroughs Elementary and Tioga Middle School seeing over 100 people per day – no appointments necessary. You can also call the FLATS team at 457-3939 for support, where the team receives an average of more than 300 calls per day. Support is available in English, Spanish and Hmong.
- Superintendent shared his gratitude to our Human Resources and Teacher Development departments for their ongoing work to increase our pool of qualified substitutes as we continue to face staffing challenges brought on by this wave of the pandemic. Just this week they have completed onboarding for 46 substitutes to hit our campuses and help support our teams. Thank you to our teams for their ongoing work and welcome to all of our new substitutes who have joined the team this year!
- Superintendent encouraged all to save the date! Gaston Middle School and Edison High School Black Student Union (BSU), in partnership with the Fresno Unified Student Engagement Department, will proudly present the eighth annual Edison Region Black History Month VIRTUAL Program on Tuesday, February 1, 2022. The evening virtual show will be livestreamed at 6 p.m. for students, parents, district leaders and community partners. This year’s collaboration includes King and Kirk elementary schools, Gaston and Computech middle schools and Edison High School students, community partners, and Purposed II Praise School of Dance.
- Superintendent again invited our students, staff, families, and community members to join our Community Roundtables continuing over the next month. These roundtables will inform our Local Control Accountability Plan and our budget investments. The district needs to hear your feedback on what is most important to you for the district to invest in to improve education. Tomorrow night at Fort Miller Middle School all are welcome to join us in-person for the Fresno High Region roundtable at 5:30pm in the Cafeteria. Folks can also join on Tuesday the 25th at Roosevelt High School in the Cafeteria as well. Dinner, childcare, and translation will be provided, and all participants will receive an adult and child’s ticket to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo and a giraffe feeding ticket. Folks are also welcome to share their feedback via survey through this link.
Next, the Board of Education took the following action on the below consent agenda items:
- Approved Personnel List
- Adopted Findings of Fact and Recommendations of District Administrative Board
- Approved Minutes from Prior Meetings
- Approved Resolutions Delineating Authorized District Agents to Sign on Behalf of Fresno Unified School District
- Approved Budget Revision No. 3 for Fiscal Year 2021/22
- Approved Addition of Chief Human Resources and Labor Relations to Classified Management 261 Duty Day Salary Schedule
- Approved Position and Adopted Job Description for Chief, Operations and Classified Labor Officer and Classified Management 261 Daily Salary Schedule Competitive and Negotiable
- Approved Employment Agreement for Paul Idsvoog, Chief Operations and Classified Labor Management Officer
- Approved Retiree Contract with Ralph Meza to Provide Extra Support to the Transportation Department
- Approved Renewal Agreement with ThoughtExchange
- Approved Award of Bid 22-13, Hoover High School Gym, Locker Room, and Music Building HVAC Equipment Replacement
- Approved Award of Bid 22-22, Multipurpose Room Audio/Visual System Upgrades at Various School Sites – Group B
- Approved the 2022 List of Board Member Committees and Organizations
- Ratified Change Orders
- Ratified the Filing of Notices of Completion
Next, the Board of Education discussed the below conference/discussion agenda items:
- Presented and Discussed Overview of Governor’s 2022/23 Proposed State Budget
The Board of Education received no Information or Reports during this meeting.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Education will be Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022. Complete minutes and agendas are available online at board.fresnounified.org.