School Board Restores Jobs, Extends Superintendent's Contract

The San Leandro school board had a busy meeting Tuesday night, reinstating several staff positions, extending the district supervisor's contract and reviewing plans for the district's sports complex.

San Leandro schools will regain the equivalent of 4.68 full-time positions, including a vice principal and a campus supervisor, for the upcoming year. 

The district will reinstate 2.66 positions in order to rehire para-educators for its elementary schools, and will add the equivalent of 0.2 positions to the hours of a maintenance supervisor.

The restored positions will cost the district about $225,500.

School Board President Morgan Mack-Rose said the board hopes to approve additional restorations as "talks move forward" with the San Leandro Teachers Association and the California School Employees Association. The board is scheduled to consider restoring two furlough days for school staff at its Aug. 16 meeting.

In June,  to keep K-3 class sizes at a 28:1 ratio, while restoring elementary physical education and instrumental music, as well as middle school counselors.

The board also extended superintendent Cindy Cathey's contract by a unanimous vote.

Cathey's contract was extended one year, to June 30, 2013. Cathey, who became the acting superintendent last year, will now earn an increased salary of $214,619, though she has offered to give $5,220 of that to the district's general fund.

The board annually reviews the superintendent's performance before approving salary increases or considering contract extensions.

Board members had only good things to say about Cathey's performance.

"We're extremely pleased you're willing to stay," Mack-Rose said.

Trustee Diana Prola added, "It's incredible how well you've stepped into the role."

The board was less happy with the Burrell Field renovation proposal it saw. 

The board was scheduled to vote on whether to approve draft mock-ups (for  for the Measure M-funded project. Under consideration were field orientation and layout, design of the team room, entrance signage and marquee, plus placement of various amenities including the ticket booth, restrooms, concessions, parking and fencing.      

Mack-Rose had strong objections to the design, saying she thought the marquee should be placed along Interstate 880 instead of on Teagarden Street. She said the overall design did not include many opportunities to market the venue to potential corporate sponsors.

For example, Mack-Rose said, the entrance signage should be specifically designed so it could accommodate a sponsor logo.

"The design does not sell itself to me at all," she said. "How are we going to market this complex?"

Mack-Rose also had concerns that the concession stands were placed too close to the entrance and wondered why the team rooms needed windows at eye level.

The board's facilities and technology committee had approved the design at its meeting July 21. Trustee Mike Katz Lacabe said that marketing was not discussed by members, and he agreed the committee should take another look at the mock-ups at its Aug. 23 meeting.

The designs were prepared by Tricia Tanimura of AEDIS Architecture & Planning and Corbin Schneider from Verde Design. 

After reviewing the designs last month, the Measure B steering committee suggested changes that were incorporated into the version brought before the board. Schneider, a senior project manager at Verde Design, said the steering committee will discuss any changes at its Aug. 10 meeting.

San Leandro voters passed Measure M last November, approving a $50.1 school facilities bond to rehabilitate Burrell Field and the swimming pool at San Leandro High School, along with several smaller projects.

To see the meeting agenda, click on the PDF above. To view the Burrell Field conceptual mock-up from May, .