By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

“WorkAbility” will be the buzzword at Thursday’s meeting of the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees.

In a highlighted item on the agenda, the board will hear about the Benicia program from coordinator Marivic Magallanes.

“WorkAbility is a federally funded program for middle and high school special education students to provide vocational and work experience for students,” Janice Adams, superintendent of Benicia schools, explained.

Students in the program are placed in work situations outside school and “are paid for this work experience through federal funding,” Adams said.

(See The Herald’s story on the BUSD WorkAbility program BY CLICKING HERE.)

The board also will be asked to approve the reduction of certain classified employee services for the 2012-13 school year.
Some classified positions are funded through grants on a year-by-year basis, Adams said, and it is uncertain whether that funding will be available in the coming year.

Currently in question, she said, was state funding for the Early Mental Health Initiative program. “These positions have been released each year and reinstated when funding becomes available,” she said.

Trustees also will hear a report on Career Tech Education in Solano County. Janet Harden, assistant superintendent of Human Resources Workforce Development, and Jay Speck, county superintendent, will provide the definition and purpose of CTE and Pathways, Adams said.

The report will offer an “assessment of current programs, startup and ongoing costs of a program, looking at the Pathway from the viewpoint of all classes (core and academic) and not just a CTE class in isolation, community involvement to include donations, interactive participation in learning and teaching, advisory, etc.,” she said.

Chief Business Official Tim Rahill and Assistant Superintendent Michael Gardner will provide a budget update and salary schedule report, and Gardner also will ask the board to consider and approve site safety plans, including emergency response plans and goals to improve the school’s physical environment.

“Each site annually updates their safety plan to address the safety of students on campus, Adams said. “Disaster preparedness plans are also updated.”

Rahill and Maintenance Operations Supervisor Roy Owens will also ask the board to approve work on Benicia High School’s multipurpose room, a concrete masonry block building whose walls were skim-coated with a material known to contain asbestos and painted with a paint containing lead when it was constructed.

A $165,000 bid has been received by the district to remove the plaster material and repaint the building, Adams said, as a “preventative” measure.

If You Go
The Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet Thursday in a closed session meeting at 6 p.m. and open session at 7 p.m. in the district office board room at 350 East K St.

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