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Newark Unified officials announce near-complete Measure O bond sale, introduce new administrators and confront CBO vacancy
Summary
At a July 21 board meeting, Superintendent Bakar said the district sold all but $75,000 of a $40 million Measure O bond issue and announced multiple new hires while the assistant superintendent of business services (CBO) position remains vacant after a candidate declined; the board pulled two personnel items for closed session and scheduled a special July 23 meeting.
President Jones opened the Newark Unified School District board meeting on July 21 and the district moved quickly through its agenda to focus on staffing and finances.
Superintendent Bakar told the board Measure O bond sales were completed "we sold all but $75,000 of our $40,000,000 in bonds," and said the district earned a double-A credit rating on the issuance, which she said will reduce borrowing costs and free up more funds for school projects. She also said preliminary enrollment stood at about 4,593 students and that human resources is nearly fully staffed but that the business office remains short one key leader.
"That person has declined the position, and we will be strategizing with the board on what we need to do to move forward both for interim as well as for the permanent position," the superintendent said, referring to the assistant superintendent of business services/CBO. The board had pulled agenda items 10.2 and 10.3 (personnel items related to the CBO and a related employee appointment) into closed session; a motion to pull those items passed and the board approved the rest of the agenda.
Public commenter Miss Parks urged the district to expand its recruitment methods for the CBO posting, saying it was "concerning" that the position appeared posted on a single job board and arguing the district should "utilize all avenues available," including proactive outreach to qualified candidates who may not be actively applying.
The board also took up personnel approvals and introduced several new administrators who were present at the meeting. Amanda Gullhart was introduced as the new director of special education; Hurston Sandoval as principal of Lincoln Elementary School; Dimitar Stanve as operations supervisor; Dr. Michelle Manriquez as coordinator of student success in the ed services division; Patricia Kelly as assistant principal at Newark Middle School; and James Dadsie as dean at Newark Middle School. Tony Lopez, the incoming purchasing and procurement manager, was not in attendance. Multiple board members congratulated the hires.
Board member Hill used his time to raise several requests, including exploring a no-cost pilot of a middle-school math methodology developed by retired teacher Michael Xu, encouraging presenters to use shorter executive-summary slide decks, and scheduling a superintendent evaluation soon (the board discussed doing that at the Sept. 13 retreat if necessary).
On personnel votes recorded in public, motions to approve the personnel report and the consent agenda passed with the board recording five ayes. President Jones closed the public portion of the meeting and the board recessed to closed session. The board announced a special meeting for Wednesday, July 23 at the district office to address additional sensitive matters.
The meeting combined personnel decisions, recruitment challenges for a key finance post, and a bond sale the superintendent described as saving taxpayer dollars — immediate items the board said they will follow up on at a special session.
