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  • Tuesday, March 07, 2017

     

    VPE demo vote, teacher layoffs and OUSD updates

    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    OUSD trustees to vote to demolished historic Villa Park Elementary buildings
    On Thursday  March 9, 2017  the Orange Unified School Board will vote on a resolution to move forward with demolishing the two historic buildings located on the campus of Villa Park Elementary School.  

    The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and are the oldest buildings in Villa Park. Villa Park Elementary sits on the site of the original Mountain View School that began in 1881.  Mountain View was the original name of the area now the City of Villa Park. The current historic buildings date back to around 1919 and 1924.  

    The March 9th Action Item 12 C (Agenda page 5) states:
    Resolution No. 23-16-17: Approval to Remove Two Original Buildings from the Villa Park Elementary School Campus

    At the February 15, 2017 Orange Unified Board of Trustees received information on the two Villa Park Elementary School historic buildings. Numerous parents with students attending Villa Park Elementary have been gathering community support to demolish the fenced off historic buildings at the center of Villa Park Elementary School

    The current parent-led efforts to demolish the two buildings come as the neglected buildings have in the parents view turned into a safety hazard.

    In 1999, Orange Unified agreed to let a community group called the Villa Park Elementary School Restoration Corporation pursue fundraising plans to restore the buildings.  The fundraising efforts failed.

    In 2006, OUSD began making plans to demolish the buildings. When completed in 2008, those  plans were met with intense community resistance. Then Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell offered county matching funds of $100,000 towards saving the buildings. The district backed down from the plans to demolish the buildings and eventually offered to sell the historic  buildings for $1.  There were no takers. 

    Restoration estimates in 2008 were $3.5 million. 

    The estimated cost to demolish the two buildings in the March 9 Agenda is $250,000.

    OUSD prepares to layoff teachers
    OUSD will change its health class credit requirements by half beginning the next school year by  following  the California state standard in health credits. This change will lead to an online health class.  Orange Unified School Board Agenda Item 12 F deals with teachers who currently teach OUSD health courses. 

    The agenda item in part states:
    Staffing at the state standard in the subject of health for 2017-18 will require the layoff or reassignment of approximately 4 single subject health teachers in order to prevent the District from being overstaffed for the 2017 -18 school year.

    The agenda item allows the layoff or reassignment of  the health teachers, A reassignment would depending on what type of  teaching credentials  the teacher has and the open positions.


    Holiday Inn Turlock lobby with seating

    Trustee Ortega to teleconference again












    The Thursday  March 9, 2017  Agenda reports that OUSD Trustee John Ortega will be teleconferencing from the small lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in TurlockCalifornia (see photos).


    In October 2016, it was announced that Ortega would be teleconferencing from a secure Homeland Security Center facility in Alabama which could have been a Brown Act violation if he had participated in the meeting. On the night of the meeting it was announced that due to "limited service" on his cellphone, Ortega wold not be participating.



    Lobby seating area in lobby across from front desk in the Turlock Holiday Inn Express


    The Brown Act has been interpreted to require all telephones used for teleconferencing have a functioning speaker to enable public access, even if there are no members of the public present at a particular location. The meeting must be conducted so that participants by audio alone are clearly identified.

    OUSD has had numerous past problems with the Brown Act. In March of 2014 the OUSD Agenda announced that Trustee Kathy Moffat was suppose to teleconference from a private residence in Maryland.  After Brown Act watchdogs Californians Aware was notified, the teleconference never took place. In 2010, OUSD re-voted on items that were originally approved during teleconference meetings that did not vote be the Brown Act required roll-call votes.  In 2003 OUSD was under court order to record all of its Closed Session meetings for potential judicial review because of  Brown Act violations of Closed Sessions in 2001.  In another court case in 2006, OUSD prevailed in a Brown Act case brought by Californians Aware on behalf of then Trustee Steve Rocco over a censure resolution.

    Californians Aware has in recent years stepped up their monitoring of teleconferencing that has been brought to their attention.  Calls to teleconferencing locations to confirm public access, proper agenda locations and calls to locations during the meeting to confirm speaker phone use have all been used to confirm Brown Act compliance.

    For more information Click on:
    OUSD Brown Act violations and
    Californians Aware

    INSIDE the OUSD March 9, 2017  Agenda
    Other items in the March 9th Orange Unified Board Agenda:
    ·      Action Item A: Measure S Architectural Firms
    ·      Action Item B: Measure S Construction Firms
    ·     Action Item D: Declaring the Killerfer Annex site surplus

    Closed Session 4 B Lawsuit discussion from parents of a Palmyra student:  
    Andrew Ashline v. Orange Unified School District, et al.

    for more information on the case click on:
    ·       KNBC
    ·       OC Weekly
    ·       OC Register
    ·       Court Documents

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING March 9, 2017
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION- 5:30 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA

      
    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040


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    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/


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