BUSD board mulls request to drop one member, extend terms of two others

Mitchell Stark, director of Benicia Unified School District bond projects, will ask the school board Thursday to extend the terms of two Citizens’ Oversight Committee members and end the service of another.

The board will convene early for an abbreviated meeting so trustees can attend the district’s four elementary schools’ Back to School Night events.

“On October 16, 2014 the Board approved the appointment of the members of the Citizens’ Oversight Committee,” Stark wrote in a report to the board.

The committee currently contains seven members: one local business organization member, one senior citizens organization member, one taxpayers association member, one parent of a BUSD student from a parent-teacher organization, one parent of a BUSD student, and two at-large community members, Stark wrote.

Each member is allowed to serve a two-year term, each of which began on Oct. 2, 2014. No members may serve more than three consecutive terms.

However, at the committee’s first meeting, members drew lots to select a minimum of two members to serve an initial one-year term; the remaining members would serve an initial two-year term.

Both Ron Arrants and Patricia Lopes drew lots to serve one-year terms but now are interested in serving a second term, Stark wrote to the board.

On the flip side. the committee bylaws state that the board may remove any committee member for any reason, including failure to attend two consecutive meetings without a reasonable excuse, or for failure to comply with the Committee Ethics Policy, Stark wrote.

Should the board agree with the committee’s call to vacate the seat of member Leann Cawley —  who “was contacted and is unable to attend the Oversight Committee meetings” — Stark wrote that it will fall to the school board to declare her seat vacant.

“The Board, in accordance with the established appointment process, shall fill any vacancies on the Committee,” he wrote.

In other business before the board Thursday, new BUSD Superintendent Dr. Charles Young will make a proclamation in recognition of Suicide Prevention Week, which will take place Sept. 7-13.

The proclamation states that Benicia Unified School District and other local organizations, in conjunction with the American Association of Suicidology, recognize that since 1975 National Suicide Prevention Week awareness events have been held corresponding with World Suicide Prevention Day, which this year is Sept. 10.

The proclamation recognizes that suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States, with a person dying by suicide every 12.8 minutes. It is also the second-leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24.

The leading cause of death for the latter age group, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is unintentional injury.

The proclamation also notes that for every reported death by suicide, there are approximately 12 documented attempts of self-harm.

“School district, city, community, and grassroots efforts are essential to continue the fight against suicide and the loss of young lives,” the proclamation states.

The board has been contemplating an overhaul of the district’s suicide prevention policy since a Benicia High School junior took his own life in December 2014.