The governing board of the Benicia Unified School District on Thursday recognized and said goodbye to outgoing Trustee Steve Messina.

Messina, first elected to the board in 2010, lost his re-election bid Nov. 4.

During the highlights portion of the meeting, Superintendent Janice Adams acknowledged Messina’s service on the board, saying the former mayor joined the board in the “midst of the great recession, which was a really difficult time in the district as we worked to maintain the quality of services and programs with diminishing resources.”

Adams said Messina’s strong background in finance, thoughtful and reasoned decision-making and experience in business and city government helped the board through difficult times.

She added that Messina’s experience as mayor and on the City Council “helped our board meetings be more efficient and effective.”

“Because of you,” she said, “I feel like I’m a better superintendent.”

Messina said he is “really happy with all of the things that we’ve done while I’ve been a trustee. I think we’ve done great things for the schools.

“I’m very happy for the new trustees that will be taking over when I’m gone,” he said. “I have all the faith in the world that they are going to do a wonderful job. Things are going to move along swimmingly.”

Messina will be replaced on the board by Diane Ferrucci. His last meeting, and her first, will be Dec. 4.

In other business, the board approved Single Action Plans for all school sites in the district. “The Single Plan for student achievement is developed by our school Site Councils with goals intended to raise academic performance of all students,” Curriculum Director Marie Morgan told trustees. “The format of our plans is consistent across the district.”

She said that while many of the goals seemed similar, they “also reflect the uniqueness of each of our schools.”

For the first time, Liberty and Benicia High schools presented their Western Association of Schools and Colleges plan as their site plan.

“It’s important to note that, because so much time and energy goes into creating our WASC plan, and in years past we’ve asked our high schools to then create a site plan on top of the WASC plan,” Morgan said. “So to be able to unify those goals and work from one document, I think will really not just empower the school, but give us focus.”

Morgan also noted that this year was the first to see complete implementation of the Common Core Standards.

She and the principals of the district’s schools presented highlights of their individual plans.

“We have been extremely fortunate … it is somewhat amazing. We’ve got a number of somewhat different factors, our strategic plan, our LCAP, the site plans, all of this Common Core stuff coming our way, and somehow our administration staff and you out there have managed to make all of these pieces work together,” Messina said.

“You’ve somehow managed to wrap them all together like the legs on a stool, and they’re all very supportive of each other. You’ve also done it in a way where it is easy to share amongst the different school sites.

“I’m impressed, I’m happy,” he said, motioning to approve the Single Action Plans; Trustee Gary Wing seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.