Students may get entire week off for Thanksgiving break

Superintendent Janice Adams on Thursday will ask Benicia Unified School District trustees to consider and approve the proposed calendar for the 2015-16 school year.

Adams also will ask trustees to consider and ratify a proposal between the confidential and management staff — mostly comprised of principals, vice principals, directors, counselors, and some support staff — and the district.

According to a report by Deputy Superintendent Michael Gardner, the calendar for the next school year was drafted by a committee that included representatives from the district management team, Benicia Teachers Association and California School Employees Association, Chapter #1096. It is up for ratification by a membership vote of the BTA.

“Parents and staff were surveyed regarding the 2015-16 calendar and what they would like in the subsequent calendars,” Gardner wrote. “The response was very positive and was used to draft the 2015-16 calendar.”

Chief among the changes preferred by certificated staff, management/confidential staff and parents was a later start for the 2015-16 school year, as well as 2016-17.

The proposed 2015-16 school year would begin Aug. 26 and end June 10. Schools would close for a week for Thanksgiving, Nov. 23-27; for two weeks for Christmas, Dec. 21-25 and Dec. 28 to Jan. 1, 2016, with students returning Jan. 4; and spring break would be March 25 to April 1, 2016.

Also before the board will be the proposal between the Confidential/Management Association and the BUSD, which includes a 2.5-percent increase to both the confidential and management salary schedules retroactive to July 1, 2014, for salary, master’s and Ph.D. stipends.

Also proposed, retroactive to July 1, 2014, are a $58 increase on the district’s contribution to health and welfare benefits, increasing the district’s contribution to $509. For vision, retroactive to the 2014-15 school year the district will provide a $175 reimbursement, which is the current Kaiser rate, for eyewear purchased through Kaiser optical services once every two years.

According to the agreement, members of any medical plan that does not include a contribution toward the purchase of corrective eyewear do not need to purchase their eyewear from Kaiser optical services to qualify for reimbursement.

Also beginning in the current school year, the district will increase its contribution from 50 percent of the actual cost of annual membership in one professional organization — such as the Association of California Administrators, the National Association of School Psychologists, the California Association of School Psychologists or the California School Nursing Organization — to 100 percent.

Other items on Thursday’s agenda are a presentation of the 2014-15 governor’s proposed budget by Chief Business Official Tim Rahill and a highlight on the performing arts leadership at Benicia High and Benicia Middle schools.

If You Go
The BUSD Board of Trustees will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in a closed session, and at 7 p.m. in open session in the BUSD board room, 350 East K St.

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