Petaluma City Schools board reports 5‑0 settlement vote, approves transportation plan and overnight field trips

At its meeting the Petaluma City Schools Board of Education reported a closed‑session action and approved several consent items, including the district’s annual home‑to‑school transportation plan and routine overnight field trips.

Report out from closed session stated, “Pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9, the board voted 5‑0 to approve the settlement of case number SS2425‑05.” No further details about the settlement were disclosed in open session.

The board then adopted the meeting agenda by consolidated motion and approved the consent agenda by consolidated motion. The record shows voice votes with the chair asking “all those in favor: Aye” and then stating the motion passes.

On action items the board approved the annual transportation plan, described by staff as an update that reflects this year’s numbers and funding spent on home‑to‑school transportation. A staff presenter noted the item is an update from last year and that the district refers to it as “school to school transportation” in the presentation.

The board also approved overnight field trip requests that include McDowell’s annual trip to Curtis Creek, described as aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Staff said a revised form will include a checkbox indicating whether an outing is an annual trip so the board can tell routine trips from new overnight requests.

During the meeting staff explained an MOU with the Petaluma Federation of Teachers that provides stipends to counselors who absorb redistributed caseloads when a colleague is on a long leave. A staff presenter described an instance when the district hired a retired counselor as a substitute; presenters said the stipend arrangement is finite and remains active “until we either find a sub or that person comes back from leave.” One board member said she would follow up about communication to families affected by a recent counselor leave. A presenter estimated the affected counselors’ caseloads can be about 400 students each.

The board heard first readings of revised board policy and administrative regulation 3311 on bids and AR 3311.1 concerning the uniform public construction cost accounting procedures. Staff noted that, under the district’s adopted procedures, thresholds for informal bidding increase annually and cited an example change discussed at the meeting: the public project informal bid threshold rising from $60,000 to $75,000 and the higher informal bid threshold moving from $200,000 to $220,000.

Motions recorded on the public record included adoption of the agenda and approval of the consent agenda and action items. The meeting record shows affirmative voice votes on those motions and the report out of the closed‑session settlement vote.