Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff is new PUSD board president

The December school board meeting brought about a new board leadership, with president Kimberley Beatty stepping down and Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff taking her place.

O’Connor-Ratcliff was voted in by a 3-2 margin, with Beatty and board member Charles Sellers supporting Beatty’s nomination of Sellers.

The seat of vice-president of the board went to TJ Zane, after Zane was nominated by board clerk Andy Patapow and Beatty was nominated by Sellers. The vote was again 3-2 in favor of Zane, with Beatty and Sellers voting for Beatty. Student board representative Neel Pujar used his preferential vote to support Zane for vice president.

Patapow is repeating his role as clerk again this year, winning in a 3-2 vote against Sellers.

Also at the board meeting, several groups spoke during public comment requesting continuing or increased funding for their programs. Representatives of the district’s robotics clubs requested that their coaches receive a stipend from the district, similar to how football coaches are paid, while several different groups requested more funding for district libraries and increased staffing. These groups included the Rancho Bernardo Friends of the Library and the PUSD Parents Group, as well as two young students from Deer Canyon Elementary School.

Several members of the community also spoke about gun safety, requesting that the district send home letters to families about ensuring that any guns in the home are safely and securely locked up.

Three different programs were suggested to the board and supertintendent to use: Asking Saves Kids, or ASK, which encourages parents to ask the parents of their children’s playmates if they have guns in their home, and if so, if they are securely locked up; Safe Storage, which is a letter encouraging parents to securely lock up firearms; and Speak Up, which is a hotline that allows students to anonymously report threats and violence that they might not be comfortable reporting otherwise.

Supt. John Collins said that the district is working to implement these or similar gun safety programs. “We are moving forward and will report back to the board,” Collins said.

The board also ratified the tentative agreement for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for 2015. This tentative agreement will give SEIU members a three percent raise retroactive to July 1, as well as increases in vacation time, health and welfare benefits and transportation department provisions.

The tentative agreement for members of the Association of Poway School Managers - Unrepresented Employees (APSM), however, was tabled during closed session by the board. The APSM tentative agreement will instead be voted on whenever the Poway Federation of Teachers’s tentative agreement is ready for approval.

Following a public comment by former board member Marc Davis, who questioned the board’s pulling of this and three other agenda items in closed session, the board decided to reintroduce these four items to the agenda and table them in open session.

The three other agenda items tabled at the meeting were the contract renewals for the district’s three associate superintendents, which have already been tabled once.

Sellers said that the board had a lot discussion going on about leadership in the district and contracts of that leadership, and the board didn’t want to finalize any of the associate superintendent’s contracts until this is resolved.

O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane added that they were also concerned about a couple of items in the contracts and wanted to see amendments before they would sign the contracts.

No date was given for the approval of the contract renewals.

The next monthly school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19 at the district office, 15250 Avenue of Science in Carmel Mountain Ranch.