USD Board Meeting Highlights

The Board and Dr. Andrews recognized 20 individuals for their commitment to students and families in their fifteen years of service in the Union School District. Each spring, USD will honor years of service awardees at our annual Employee Recognition event but was unable to do so in-person last year. This year, USD will honor groups of employees for their years of service at each Board Meeting. Congratulations to this group of service award recipients for their dedication to our students, families and community at large!

From left to right: Megan Wright, Kim Watkins, Chris Asaro, Ginger Manley, Darby Young and Superintendent Dr. Carrie Andrews; Other award recipients: Peggy Burrill, Jill Carlson, Brianna Cassel, Vickie Caulfield-Showman, Anna Coursey, Matthew Cunningham, Heidi Golab, Kimberly Holmes, Theresa Hull, Valerie Matovich, Kristin Phillips, Ryan Phillips, Juan Ramirez, Johanna Reveno, and Jeremy Wilson

The Board of Trustees and Superintendent Dr. Andrews honored Board Member Jennifer Petroff for her leadership as Board President during the 2021 calendar year. Praised by current Board President Sheila Billings, Member Petroff led the Board “wonderfully,” during a year with many challenges as USD returned to in-person learning.

The 2022-23 district school calendar approved by the Board of Trustees has the required 180 student instructional days plus five staff workdays/professional development days for the school year. The first day of school for students is August 17, 2022. In order to closely align Union’s calendar with Campbell Union High School District’s calendar, school will be closed for the following dates: Thanksgiving week break from November 21 through November 25, Winter Break from December 19 through January 2, Presidents’ week is from February 20 through February 24 and Spring Break is from April 10 through April 14 and the last day of school is on Friday, June 9.

Click here to view the 2022-23 Union School District Calendar.

Following approval by the Board of Trustees, Ms. Crista Leamons was announced as the new principal for Lietz Elementary School. Dr. Andrews thanked the Lietz community and interview panelists for their participation during the rigorous search process. Dr. Andrews introduced Ms. Leamons and shared her excitement to begin at Lietz Elementary on Tuesday, January 18th.

Ms. Leamons has been an active part of the Union Community for the past four years as she served in the capacity as an administrator at Dartmouth Middle School as the Assistant Principal. Prior to her administrative role at Dartmouth, Ms. Leamons also served as Teacher on Special Assignment as an Instructional Coach, Special Day Class teacher and English Language Development teacher in the Cupertino Union School District. Her past experiences, knowledge base and administrative experience will most certainly be a benefit for the Lietz community. Congratulations Ms. Leamons.

Principal Eric Scharer alongside teachers Taylor Maia and Emma Polden and two Noddin students presented an overview of the implementation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum in their classrooms as aligned to their school wide goals. Following the start of the pandemic and school closures, Mr. Scharer shared about the definite need for mental health support for children and how important it is for schools to provide supports as a part of the school day. In addition to student support services in place prior to this school year, Noddin utilized teacher leads to begin implementing two SEL curriculums, Kimochis and Second Step.

Ms. Maia shared more about the lower elementary curriculum Kimochis which is designed to help students become more compassionate towards themselves and others, navigate relationships, and learn resiliency in hard situations. She explained how the curriculum and accompanying toolkits guide teachers to have intentional conversations with students about feelings in a fun and bonding way. Ava, a second grade student in Ms. Maia’s class, shared about a Kimochis lesson she enjoyed during class. Ava explained that the lesson helped students to learn examples of helpful versus hurtful language.

Ms. Polden presented about Second Step, the upper grade SEL curriculum at Noddin. Second Step targets goal setting, problem solving, and reflection for students. Ms. Polden explained how the program’s organization, representation, and engagement assist teachers to facilitate lessons with students in a fun and relevant way. “It’s giving them confidence to have difficult conversations with respect and approach problems that are new to them as fifth graders,” Ms. Polden shared. Siddh, one of the fifth graders in Ms. Polden’s class, shared how Second Step has helped him and his classmates to solve problems, brainstorm solutions, and how to set goals with planning on how to reach them. Siddh shared how his class identified one such goal in improving Noddin’s community garden. He and his classmates made a plan with steps to reach their goal.

Assistant Superintendent Business Services Rita Sohal and Maintenance & Operations Manager Mary Ann Meisenbach presented an assessment of the District's Facilities Plan that prioritizes needs for repairs and upgrades, along with projected costs, for the next five years.

Projects over the next five years are represented within six categories: Infrastructure and Repairs, Safety and Security Improvements, Sustainability and Energy Efficiency, Outdoor Spaces, Interior Repair and Upgrades, as well as Relocatables.

Mrs. Sohal and Mrs. Meisenbach outlined several projects and their prioritization within the next 5-year timeline. Aging HVAC units, roofing at remaining school sites, asphalt repair, energy saving LED fixtures, and carpeting/flooring repairs and replacement were identified as prioritized needs coming up for the District.

Mrs. Sohal also presented the available funding year over year. As it stands, the District faces continual facility needs and repairs over the next few years, coupled with rising costs. Current funding available does not cover current repair needs. Next steps will include continued assessment of facilities’ condition and costs, reprioritization of needs based on available funding, updating the USD Facilities Master Plan, and investigation of additional funding sources.

Click here to view the full presentation.

Technology Director, Lisa DeLapo, provided an overview of the district's 5 year technology plan and projected costs.

The District infrastructure and physical hardware costs include servers, firewalls, wireless access points–all areas of need related to network connectivity across the District. Mrs. DeLapo also shared a year over year outlooks for all District technology costs including network, classroom, teacher and student devices, operations and subscription costs, as well as costs for services like cloud services, information systems, cybersecurity and school visitor management systems.

While future Measure J issuances do include $2.75 million specifically targeted for technology, additional allocations from the general fund will be required to cover technology needs to maintain our current infrastructure over the next five years. The Technology Department continues to explore several avenues to generate flexibility of costs including e-waste options and consortium/discount pricing.

Click here to view the full presentation.

Tim Carty from Piper Sandler & Co., presented an overview of the Measure J Bond that was approved by voters on June 3, 2014, along with an analysis on the potential for a new 2022 General Obligation Bond Measure. Following the presentation, the Board authorized staff to move forward in selecting a political strategist to do a poll of our community as it relates to a future Bond. This poll would be brought back to the Governing Board to assess the viability of our stakeholder support.

Click here to view the full presentation.

At the Special Board of Trustees meeting held on December 10, 2020, Terra Realty Advisors, Inc. presented information regarding the District's properties and potential opportunities for the District to explore as a means to increase revenue. At the January 10th meeting, Terra Realty Advisors, Inc. provided updated information for discussion. The phase 1 assessment through Terra Realty Advisors of the District 16 properties was accomplished and a discussion unfolded on whether to move forward with a more narrow and targeted assessment of specific properties and the various options. The Board authorized staff to bring back information and phase II contract to pursue the next phase of targeted options as a means to increase general fund revenue in future years.

Click here to view the full presentation.

The Board of Trustees accepted the District’s Williams Uniform Complaints report for the October 1 through December 31, 2021 quarter, which indicated no complaints regarding textbooks and instructional materials, teacher vacancy or misassignments, and facility conditions were filed with any school in the District.

Please join us for our next regular Board of Trustees Meeting on February 7, 2022. The meeting will be held at the USD District Office Board Room at 5175 Union Ave. Visit the Board of Trustees page for virtual meeting access and information on future meetings.

Do you have a new student joining USD for the first time? Register early starting February 1, 2022.

For registration information, required documentation, and online registration links, visit our website at: https://www.unionsd.org/families/enroll-in-usd

New Transitional Kinder or Kindergarten parent or guardian? Our schools will be hosting TK/Kinder orientation evenings starting in January. These meetings will be posted on the school’s website.

Board of Trustees

Sheila Billings

Vickie Brown

Doug Evans

Jennifer Petroff

Thomas E. Rossmeissl

Superintendent

Dr. Carrie Andrews

Website: www.unionsd.org
Location: 5175 Union Avenue, San Jose, CA, USA
Phone: 408-377-8010
Facebook: facebook.com/unionschooldistrict
Twitter: @USDUpdates