by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

With Claremont Unified School District Board of Education Vice President Kathryn Dunn absent, its March 21 meeting proceeded as follows:

• There were closed door talks regarding the sale price and payment terms of the former La Puerta school site at 2475 N. Forbes Ave., as well as personnel matters regarding public employee appointments and discipline. The board had nothing to report.

Winners of this year’s César E. Chávez and Dolores Huerta Educational Awards contest (L-R) Sycamore Elementary School sixth-grader Lily Avnur, Claremont High School junior Oliver Kolb, CHS sophomores Fiona Wu and Emma Dewees stand with CUSD officials on March 21. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

During the public portion, the board:

• adopted the March 7 meeting minutes;
• recognized Isaac Li, a Claremont High student who hosted an instrument drive at CHS on March 23; and winners of this year’s César E. Chávez and Dolores Huerta Educational Awards contest, including first place essay writers Lily Avnur of Sycamore Elementary School and Claremont High student Fiona Wu, and CHS’s Emma Dewees, who took first in the competition’s high school arts category. Each were awarded $100 from CUSD. Also honored were CHS students Oliver Kolb, essay, and Jolean Feng, art project, who each received $50 for their second place entries;
• authorized Marissa Martinez’s research proposal, “Examining Teachers’ Perceptions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Professional Development,” part of her University of Southern California dissertation. The study will include about 10 interviews from teachers with three or more years of experience at El Roble Intermediate School, San Antonio and Claremont high schools and is meant to “help inform how organizational factors affect teacher participation in DEI professional development and how best to support them.” The project’s outline is linked on the March 21 agenda;
• agreed to hear proposed articles presented by the California School Employees Association regarding compensation, health and welfare benefits, and holidays. A public hearing on the proposed articles for negotiations will be held Thursday, April 18;
• approved the reassignment of Rria Cruz-Soto from principal of Mountain View Elementary School to director of intervention and English learner programs effective Monday, July 1;
• agreed to compensate CUSD Clerk Richard O’Neill after he missed the March 7 meeting due to illness;
• made note of ongoing contract talks between CUSD and California School Boards Association Policy Services to update policies regarding probationary and permanent employment status bylaws;
• and unanimously agreed to adopt the March 21 consent calendar which included: approval for overnight and alternative transportation for upcoming field trips; approval of two warrant registers — $5,484,631 and $3,377,160, respectively — and the cumulative total of purchase orders within the 2023/2024 fiscal year which have cost CUSD $32,346,610 as of February 2024; obsolete item disposals and budget adjustment approvals; amendments to various vendor agreements; the rejection of a liability claim; agreements to certificated personnel actions and of various assignment cancellations and assignment approvals; approval of consultation agreements with Jack Perry; and the approval of a special service contract agreement with DeLacy Ganley.

With CUSD on spring break next week, the next regular school board meeting will be held Thursday, April 18. The closed session gets underway at 5:30 p.m. before the public portion an hour later. Information is posted at cusd.claremont.edu.