TUSD Board seats on November ballot

At the June 12 School Board meeting, Trustee Mary Graham announced that after 12 years on the Board, she will not be running again in November. She told the Board that "we do make a difference" and added that she hoped that there would be more than one candidate for her seat. She also reminded everyone that there will be four Board seats up for reelection in November. The other three expiring seats are those held by Carrie Austin, Jeff Kermode and Joe Wallek.

Dave Long and Associates will be the firm contracted to conduct the search for a new district superintendent. Although Trustees Mary Graham and Joe Wallek wanted to wait to sign the agreement until after the November election, Board President Leonard Evansic said that by signing the agreement now, they can split the fees between two school years. The remaining Board members agreed.

Business Administrator Melissa Kielpinski presented an updated Budget for the year 2018-19. Due to the additional Special Education expenses incurred following the visits from KCSOS last fall, the proposed $313,343 budget shortfall shown on the May 30 version of the Budget increased to $665,264. Kielpinski added that it will be paid for by the General Fund; however, a .48% increase in funding has been announced by the School Services of California for the 2018/19 school year which, it is hoped, will help the deficit. Although the Board unanimously approved the proposed budget, Kielpinski said that she will again be bringing back a 45 day revision.

Adult School Principal Steve Bsharah and Welding Instructor Jeremy Staat outlined the 11 welding classes available at the Tehachapi Adult School and funded through the Adult Education Block Grant of the California Department of Education. For now the program is only available for those over 18 years of age. It is hoped that a partnership can be developed with Cerro Coso in the future to make the program available to high school students.