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Covina-Valley Unified board honors outgoing president, hears public comments on policy and energy savings
Summary
At its Jan. 8 meeting the Covina-Valley Unified School District Board recognized outgoing president Simon Wright, celebrated employees and student leaders, heard a CSEA appeal to change layoff seniority rules, and received a report and $5,000 award from an energy partner.
The Covina-Valley Unified School District Board of Education opened its Jan. 8 meeting by recognizing outgoing board president Simon Wright and presenting awards to staff and student leaders.
Board President Rachel Robles called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. and the board presented a plaque and certificates to Wright. Christiane Salomat, representing U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros, and Sandra Armenta Lopez, representing State Senator Susan Rubio, delivered certificates thanking Wright for his leadership and for district milestones that included the softball and athletics complex groundbreaking and the aviation center ribbon cutting. Adam Hampton, president of the Covina Unified Education Association, and Stacy Wiseman, president of CSEA Chapter 49, also thanked Wright during the recognitions.
The board recessed to closed session and reconvened in open session with an eighth grader from Las Palmas Middle School, Joel Zuniga, leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Joel shared how extracurricular programs and peer counseling helped him grow as a student and leader.
During public comment, Stacy Wiseman of CSEA urged the board to revise board policy 42.17.3 on layoff/rehire seniority so that seniority is determined by original date of hire rather than total hours in paid status. Wiseman said the current practice “creates inequitable outcomes that will not accurately reflect an employee’s length of service” and asked the board to consider a change to better protect long-serving part-time classified employees.
Also addressing the board, Carrie DeBose of Synergistic presented results from the district’s energy-partnership program, saying the district reduced energy use per square foot by 17% since the 2021 partnership and that the change translates to “more than $3,000,000 less having to be sent to utility companies.” DeBose noted 14 district buildings earned ENERGY STAR certification and presented a $5,000 Synergistic Community Scholarship to the district.
The recognitions and public-comments items concluded without board action; later in the meeting the board approved the consent and action items (see separate Votes at a Glance article).
