The Board recognized Sridaya Mandyam-Komar, an Engineering teacher from Calaveras Hills High School, and Dr. Madeleine Dasalla-DiSanto, a teacher from Silicon Valley Career Technical Education Center in the Metropolitan Education District.

They were announced as two of three winners in the Santa Clara County Office of Education's (SCCOE) Texas Instruments Innovations in STEM Teaching Awards last week in a News Release.

"Sridaya is a dedicated teacher of continuation high school students who exemplifies a high level of professionalism, dedication towards her students, and commitment to teaching STEM education," the News Release states. "She developed a course in engineering that now has approximately sixty alternative education students turned on to engineering in a powerful way that could change the trajectory of their lives. Sridaya demonstrates the commitment to students that this award seeks to honor." 

This year, students at Calaveras Hills High School spent four-and-a-half weeks engineering endless possibilities for their future through FlexFactor, a four-week entrepreneurship program offered by NextFlex, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute. The project -- offered to students in Mandyam-Komar’s “Intro to Engineering” classes -- was done in collaboration with the City of Milpitas, Evergreen Valley College, and Flex (previously Flextronics). 

Superintendent Cheryl Jordan shared that Dasalla-DiSanto, who was not in attendance Tuesday evening, is a teacher at the District's sister school, Silicon Valley Career Technical Education Center with Metropolitan Education District. 

"I don't think that it's general knowledge that this school actually is an extension of Milpitas Unified," she said. "It's part of a joint powers agreement and we along with five other school districts support that school. And, in turn, that school provides an opportunity for many of our students. This year we had about 70 go through and experience career technical education. And we've had some of our students recognized, state and nationally, for their skills from firefighting to dental work. So it is with deep gratitude that I recognize their contribution to the students' success in Milpitas Unified." 

Each teacher will receive a cash award of $1,000, the opportunity to attend a professional development event at the SCCOE, and be honored at the 48th Annual Teacher Recognition Celebration on September 14. 

Per Board Policy 1220, every two years, the Board of Education interviews and selects three members for the Community Board Advisory Council (CBAC).On Tuesday, candidates were interviewed in the following order: 

• Rita Lu - 5 p.m.
• Allysson McDonald - 5:15 p.m.
• Tom Valore - 5:30 p.m.
• Pearl Bray-Chavez - 5:45 p.m.

After the interviews, the Board announced Rita Lu, Allysson McDonald, and Pearl Bray-Chavez as the selected volunteers. They will  start on July 1, 2017 and end on June 30, 2019.

The Board formally adopted the 2017-18 District Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) . 

"As you know, this is a continuous cycle of improvement," said Norma Rodriguez, Assistant Superintendent of Learning and Development.

Rodriguez explained the Board asked District staff to establish an LCAP Advisory Committee, and through that process they engaged various stakeholders, including by holding several Board presentations and a Board Study Session. During the June 13 Board Meeting, the LCAP was brought forward for a public hearing.

For more information about the MUSD LCAP, visit the District webpage.

The Board approved the 2017-18 proposed District budget as presented.

"As you know, the governor signed the state budget today; that's a $125 billion budget, and our budget is $117 million," Wendy Zhang, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, said in opening the item.

The action follows a Budget Study Session presentation led by Zhang during the June 13 Board Meeting. During that presentation, Zhang referenced the 81-page 2017-18 proposed budget report. She recommended Board Members read the first nine pages of the document, which outlines the Governor’s 2017-18 proposed state budget overview, district budget assumptions, and multi-year projections, which includes a $4.359 million deficit in 2019-20 (page 9 of the report). The Budget Hearing was held on June 13, 2017 later during that same meeting. 

Staff has made a budget reduction of $2,141,000 beginning in 2018-19 and the savings will be ongoing as recommended during the study session. This will assist in balancing the budget. 

Superintendent Jordan and Zhang plan to conduct stakeholder meetings from September 2017 through January 2018 to gather input about how the budget reduction can be achieved for 2018-19. Recommendations will be presented to the Board in February 2018.

Members of the Reclassification Committee, which consists of an equal number of management and classified staff representatives, gave a presentation of its findings and revised recommendations to the Board for approval. They met throughout the 2016-17 school year to consider job descriptions, observe employees in their work environments, discuss findings, and draft a final report for the Superintendent. 

"I wanted to really give credit to those who were part of the reclassification study this year," said Machelle Kessinger, president of Classified School Employees Association Chapter 281. "We put a lot of time and dedication away from our own jobs to make this happen, to really dig in deep." 

During the 2015-16 negotiations process it was jointly agreed upon that there was a need for a comprehensive study to determine relevancy and alignment in the CSEA job classifications, descriptions, and unit work being performed throughout Milpitas Unified School District. This agreement resulted in the Memorandum of Understanding for a three-year Reclassification Pilot.

According to Education Code 45101 (f), “Reclassification” means the upgrading of a position to a higher classification as a result of the gradual increase of the duties being performed by the incumbent in such position. The reclassification and/or job duties re-alignment process is not designed to reward individuals for their efforts and dedication, nor is it a way to address workload increases. A reclassification occurs when there are significant changes to duties, responsibilities, knowledge, skills, and abilities for the position.  

A side letter agreement was made in the collective bargaining agreement of 2015-18 to conduct a pilot three-year Classification and Compensation Study program. The study began in December 2015 with a review of three job classifications including clerical, health clerks, and Technology Services. The classification review phase included staff surveys, job shadowing, interviewing, and analysis of work being performed compared to the current job descriptions, and reviewing the language in multiple job descriptions. The Technology Services and Adult Ed classifications were moved to the 2016-17 evaluation cycle. In 2016-17, these two classifications along with additional clerical staff were analyzed by the committee.

During negotiations this school year, the team agreed to extend the pilot study to five years due to the careful and thorough process in which the team has engaged.

The team presented its findings to Superintendent Cheryl Jordan and Assistant Superintendents Norma Rodriguez and Wendy Zhang for consideration of its recommendations. The Superintendent modified the recommendations and discussed the justification for these modifications with the members of the MUSD CSEA Reclassification Committee on June 22.

The Board approved the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSAs) for all MUSD schools.

The Elementary and Secondary Act prompted the California State Department of Education to require each school to develop and submit a SPSA for board approval. The intent is to provide principals, teachers, other staff members, parents, and students (at the secondary schools) the opportunity to work together to design and implement a program that ensures all students achieve proficiency in the core content areas. This plan meets the requirement for the categorical programs for both state and federal programs. 

The action plans are directly aligned to the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) Goals and identify how each school:

• Identify needs and addresses goals for continuous academic improvement;
• Addresses teaching and learning;
• Allocates funds for school wide efforts;
• Prioritizes the school focus;
• Documents staff development plans; and
• Outlines parental involvement activities.

The Learning and Development staff members read all SPSAs and provide feedback to principals prior to the final copy submission. The plans will be effective from August 2017 through June 2018.