Thumbnail photo courtesy of Michael Hawkins
Trustee Area 5 representative Michael Greer was absent. Among the items the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees discussed Thursday.
School Closure: A leak prompted the Smith River Community Services District to shut the water off at Smith River School on March 3, which in turn forced staff to send students home early, DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris told trustees.
The Board of Trustees approved a request to the California Department of Education to allow DNUSD to receive credit for the instructional time students would have been at Smith River School had the water shutoff not taken place. Noting that the shutoff was outside of its control, Harris said the request would ensure that the district does not lose average daily attendance funding for March 3.
Bond or No Bond?: DNUSD plans to gauge the community’s knowledge about school facility bonds in a survey that will be deployed next week, Harris said.
Pointing to misinformation that was circulating during the school district’s efforts to get Measure H approved in 2024, the superintendent said the school district wants to know what the community and staff “wants to know” so it can better address their questions.
“People thought we were going out for a bond because we were out of money,” Harris told trustees. “We were going out for a bond because the state doesn’t fund facilities.”
Measure H would have generated $59 million for modernization projects such as repairing and replacing leaky roofs and plumbing systems and upgrading career technical education facilities. Del Norte voters, however, balked at the idea of adding an additional $59 per every $100,000 valuation to their property taxes.
On Thursday, Harris said DNUSD is considering taking another stab at the bond vote this year.
Following Harris’s announcement regarding bonds, the Board of Trustees recognized the work that retired Del Norte High School principal Colleen Parker and retired First 5 Del Norte Patti Vernelson did on the campaign to pass Measure H. At the request of their colleague, Trustee Area 1 representative Don McArthur, the board approved a resolution thanking Parker and Nelson.
School Principals: Though three principals are either retiring or moving out of the area, DNUSD won’t have to look far to find their successors.
Deborah Reynolds and Tony Fabricius are retiring from Pine Grove Elementary School and Sunset High School respectively, Harris told trustees, and ‘O Me-nok Learning Center Principal Janey Jones is moving out of Del Norte County.
DNUSD advertised the positions internally and allowed teachers to interview the candidates for principal at their schools, Harris said. The newcomers to the positions will be former Castle Rock Charter School vice principal Amanda Rogers for Sunset High and Michael Galli, who is currently the principal at McKinleyville Middle School, for ‘O Me-nok, Harris said.
Angie Marshall will take on the principal role at Pine Grove while keeping her current position as Mountain School principal in Gasquet, Harris said.
Earlier in the meeting, Amber Tiedeken-Cron, president of the Del Norte Teachers Association, mentioned potential position changes posted in the spring ahead of the following school year as among her colleagues’ least favorite aspects of the job. She asked the district to post staff openings sooner rather than later.
