Board Report - August 12

Board Reports

Board of Education Adopts Policy Allowing Adjunct Teachers

The Board of Education adopted a new adjunct teacher policy, which allows Union Public Schools to hire teachers who may not hold a valid teaching license or teaching certificate.

Under the policy, an adjunct teacher “is defined as an individual with recognized, meritorious expertise in a given field but who does not hold a valid license or teaching certificate.

”In order to hire them, the person must have recognized expertise using the following criteria:

• A level of mastery has been demonstrated that exhibits professional training, education, preparation, etc., in the field that the individual will teach.  The level of expertise may be determined by personal observations of performance, recommendations from community members, and/or references; or·
• Minimum of two years of demonstrated full-time work experience in an instructional or supervisory role, with an audience consisting primarily of school age children (e.g. daycare facility, summer camp, youth groups, parks and recreation, etc); or·
• Enrolled in a bachelor’s degree completion program and within 18 hours of completion of a bachelor’s degree; or·
• Successful experience as a classroom teacher, but otherwise ineligible for emergency certification.

An adjunct teacher may be a certified employee who is taking this route to teach outside of their area of certification (“certified adjunct teacher”) or a person who does not hold valid certification of any kind, including educators with an expired certificate who are serving as an adjunct teacher (“non-certified adjunct teacher.”)

During the meeting, Union approved hiring one adjunct teacher to teach filmmaking and a second teacher to teach construction.

“We have held off for many years on adding this,” Executive Director of Human Resources Jay Loegering said. “We’ve been avoiding this, but unfortunately, with the State Department of Education’s certifications, we are running into a situation where we have certified teachers who are not able to get certified in other areas under their current rules.”

Charles Pisarra, director of Union Bands, and Kylee Hubbard, director of Union’s Winter Guard

Hubbard Recognized for Winter Guard’s Wins

Kylee Hubbard, director of Union’s Winter Guard, was recognized at last night’s board meeting for her significant contributions to developing the program. Charles Pisarra, director of Union Bands, praised Hubbard for the color guard’s recent accomplishments.

“In just two years’ time, she has transformed the Union Guard, creating a new sense of confidence, heightening the skills training programs, enhancing artistic sensibilities, and building a culture of excellence,” Pisarra said.

“We also have two back-to-back state championships in Winter Guard, as well as a finalist appearance at the World Championship, which is an accomplishment we haven’t seen in almost 10 years. So, I am a little bit biased, as are some of the students and parents joining us tonight. There may be a small handful of guard program directors around the country who could match Ms. Hubbard’s level, but there’s nobody better. Let’s all take a moment and celebrate the bright future of Union’s color guard.”

Board Approves Pavement Work for Union Alternative School Parking Lot

The Board approved a bid from Construction Enterprise, Inc., for $790,333 for drainage and pavement work at Union Alternative School and the Operations area.

The existing drainage and pavement were at the point of failure with rutting, broken concrete, large potholes, and standing water areas that iced over and were tripping hazards, according to Fred Isaacs, director of Construction Services. New concrete approaches will be constructed at the entrances to the complex off 129th E. Ave. All pavement areas will be resurfaced with either concrete or asphalt. Drainage improvements will be made to improve runoff during heavy rains.

Also included in the project is the installation of an electronic marquee for the Alternative School.

In other action, the Board:

• Approved a price increase for adult lunches and breakfast. The increase in prices is due to a legal mandate handed down by the USDA and is a federal requirement. Breakfast will increase from $2.30 to $2.50, and lunch will increase from $4.85 to $5.
• Approved the purchase of 517 computers from Brightcentra for $244,024. The computers will be used for testing needs.
• Approved the purchase of Ellevation Platform software for two years for $134,947. Ellevation Education is a web-based software platform that organizes all English Learner student data, supports critical meeting and monitoring processes, enables accurate reporting and supports instructional planning for multilingual students.
• Approved the purchase of Jamf Pro device management software for two years for $129,600, which allows the district to manage iPads remotely.

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