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Tuesday, December 16, 2014
SPECIAL REPORT
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent
insight into OUSD
a news service of
Orange
Net News
/O/N/N/
OUSD Board calls unprecedented
special meeting on employee contracts
At their December 11, 2014 meeting, the Orange Unified
School Board without comment withdrew the scheduled Action Item vote on the
contract with all of its employee units from the December 11, 2014 Agenda and
moved it to an unprecedented end-of-the-year Special Meeting on December 18,
2014.
OUSD Board President John Ortega announced the move when he
called for approval of the December 11 Agenda eliminating Agenda Item 14 D of
the published agenda. The OUSD Board voted 7-0 to approve the agenda minus item
14 D- the vote on the "Tentative Agreement between the District and its
Related Employee Associations". The
agreements covered the classified employee union, the teacher's association and
the administrative leadership organization. Votes to accept the agreements had already
been conducted by the OUSD employees.
The Orange
Unified California
School
"In a shocking and
extraordinary move for the Orange Unified School District (OUSD), the Board of Trustees removed from
tonight's agenda the Tentative Agreements scheduled to be approved for CSEA as well as the OUEA."
As the statement continued, it included:
"These actions are VERY disturbing to us so soon after the
recent elections where Board members who we and OUEA did not support (we in
fact endorsed their opponents) are the VERY ONES who moved to table these
agreements. If this was indeed their motivation, these actions would be ILLEGAL and CSEA would pursue every legal
avenue available to us."
"We know that finances
cannot be a legitimate concern for the District because despite the failure of
passing the recent bond (which was NOT slated for salaries but only for building/repairs) the
District STILL enjoys a reserve in EXCESS of $80 million dollars"
The CSEA webpage includes a link to this OUSD Budget
Analysis: Click on: BUDGET
The Orange Unified Education Association (OUEA) website
also had a statement to its members which in part reads:
"The Orange Unified School
Board had a series of action items that they were ready to take action
on…except for one! The lone item was Action Item 14D; The Tentative
Agreements (TA) scheduled to be approved for OUEA as well as for classified employees.
The approval of the Tentative Agreements were tabled and will be discussed
during a Special Board Meeting on December 18, 2014 at 6 pm."
Both bargaining units (OUEA & CSEA) have already
ratified the agreements which were negotiated with the District’s bargaining
team. All that was needed was for the OUSD School Board to approve the TA.
Usually it’s a quick mention during the meeting and then life goes on.
Now, There is a delay.
The district’s bargaining team had full authorization from
the School Board to complete the TA. Rejecting a tentative agreement negotiated
in good faith would establish a poor precedent for future negotiations."
Trustees Rick Ledesma and Tim Surridge easily won
re-election in November despite the fact that their opponents were
endorsed by the OUSD employee unions. Both Surridge and Ledesma had
sought the endorsements of the teacher's union.
The OUSD Trustees had met once a month in Closed Session
with their district negotiators from for
six consecutive months, from March to September of this year. The Tentative
Agreements were announced in mid November. Votes by both employee associations
to approve the agreements immediately followed. The vote for approval of the
agreement by the OUSD Board-considered a mere formality because of the six
months of Closed Session meetings with their negotiators - was
scheduled for the December 11th meeting.
During the Great Recession, OUSD employee groups early
on agreed to a series of cost saving
measures including furlough days that lasted for years. Those employee
concessions along with other cost cutting measures lead Orange Unified to be on
solid financial footing throughout the
Great Recession giving it a stellar financial reputation across California.
That reputation led OUSD to be one of the first districts in the state to
promote its budget director to the district's top job. The financial architect of the OUSD budget miracle, Michael Christensen, was promoted to OUSD Superintendent. When
Christensen's appointment was announced in the OUSD Board Room filled with OUSD
employees, the room burst into cheers and applause.
OUSD Board elects 2014 officers on a 4-3
gender vote
At the December 11th meeting, the OUSD Trustees voted three
times to exclude Dr. Alexia Deligianni for any Board Office along gender lines.
Nominated for OUSD Board President, Vice-President and Clerk, all three votes
were cast along gender lines. Kathy Moffat, Diane Singer and Dr. Deligianni
were out voted on all three votes by the male trustees, John Ortega, Timothy
Surridge, Mark Wayland and Rick Ledesma.
John Ortega was elected President, Timothy Surridge was
elected Vice President and Mark Wayland was elected clerk.
OUSD Board votes to
oppose Killefer site nomination to the National Registries of Historic Places
Also at the December 11 meeting, during Closed Session, the
OUSD Trustees voted 7-0 vote, to oppose
the Old Towne Preservation Association attempt to add the former Killerfer School
In April 2013, a
split Orange Unified Board voted in to sell the Killerfer site to Olsen
Urban Housing for a housing development.
The OPTA is trying to get the site's buildings placed on
the National Register of Historic Places as one of the first schools in California to voluntarily desegregate before the
landmark 1947 California California California and in a
federal appeal, based on the rulings then California Governor Earl Warren
signed the law ending segregated schools in California
The Killerfer School was racially integrated in 1943 when the
school for the Hispanic population, the Cypress Street School
In August, OPTA notified OUSD that they were in the process
of getting the Killerfer historic school site placed on the National Register
of Historic Places. OPTA has hired a consultant to work on the designation that
has included filing documents to nominate the site as historic to the California
If the
site does get placed on the National Register of Historic Places the buildings
could be adapted for re-use, but not destroyed.
For the National
Register of Historic Places: CLICK ON
NRHP
NEXT OUSD SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
December 18, 2014
Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
CLOSED SESSION- 6:00 pm
OUSD Regular Session: 7:30 pm
For AGENDA-CLICK ON
For more information call the OUSD
Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business Services at
714-628-4015
ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found
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the Greater Orange News Service
http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
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