By David Jerome
Correspondent

Hemet Unified School District (HUSD) held its board meeting this month at Idyllwild School Tuesday, Sept. 12. The board visits Idyllwild usually once a year. The six members of the board and Superintendent Dr Christi Barrett were joined by five other district employees and an audio-visual team, and over 40 members of the community, mostly Idyllwild School faculty and staff.

A bit of local color was provided by Idyllwild School third grader Cooper Jones Darling, who led the “Pledge of Allegiance” before receiving an award for his improvement in math and reading assessments.

Trustee Jeremy Parsons also presented Idyllwild School Behavioral Support Specialist Briana McGrew an award for her impact on, among other things, citizenship, academics and attendance, and a check for $500.

Hamilton High School’s National Honor Society President Olivia Lopez gave an update on the activity of her school’s sports teams.

The board oversees a district with an annual budget over $300 million, and the agenda was quite long. A number of decisions made during closed session were announced at the beginning of the public session, including the appointment of a new principal at McSweeney Elementary School, and the suspension without pay of an employee pending dismissal.

Action items for the open session numbered 18, and a “master motion” rolled 58 small items into one vote. Another 10 items dealt with Community Facilities Districts, the districts that are voted into being when a developer sets out to build more housing that HUSD will serve. Informational reports were given on finances, this year’s summer session, and the district’s progress toward implementing new state standards for ethnic studies.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Nareyda Gonzalez briefed the board on the progress of developing the district’s Ethnic Studies program. By 2025, the district must begin offering these classes, and by 2030 they will be among the requirements for graduation. They will be part of the “A-G” curriculum (seven basic subject areas) and multiple options to comply will be embedded into 10th grade Social Studies or 11th grade U.S. History classes.

Teachers have been meeting, and representatives of local tribal groups — including Soboba, Cahuilla, Anza and Santa Rosa Native Americans — have been consulted. This year students will begin to see the materials in “fishbowl events,” and by May there should be feedback from the community to bring back to the board. A website will allow the public access to the units of study as they are developed, and parents will be informed about this.

Gonzalez also presented a report on this past year’s summer school program. This year summer classes were offered at six sites, with transportation available. Days were long, nine hours, with four hours for academics and five for Expanded Learning Opportunities Programs. This included field trips to March Air Force Base and the Western Science Center, and career exploration trips. Some students told their teachers they had never been outside Hemet.

This year’s session served 1,336 students from elementary grades, 409 from middle school, and 1,968 from high school. Thirty-four students graduated during the summer. In the first session, 1,968 students earned 7,030 credits; in the second, 1,505 earned 5,210 credits. Before 2017, according to Gonzalez, summer school was only available at one site, with 649 students enrolled. Now HUSD has triple the students earning almost four times as many credits.

HUSD board agendas are available online, with links to documents that explain each item. One example with a local impact was an “Approval to File Notice of Exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act” for a project to replace HVAC equipment at Idyllwild School. The notice explains that the project intends to replace heating and AC for classrooms 1 to 4 and 14 to 22. The existing units, the Notice of Exemption states, are “over 20 years old and have exceeded their useful life. They require continued maintenance to remain in working condition and are prone to routine failure.” Because the replacement involves “negligible or no expansion of existing” use, an environmental impact report is unnecessary.

One item, H-9, is a contract for catering and event space for the HUSD Leadership Colloquium 2024, to be held July 17 to 19 of next year at Soboba Casino. HUSD is contracting to use the Grand Ballroom and at least six smaller rooms, and for catering. The meeting space rental is being waived, along with set up and tear down of the furnishings for each room, based on the district paying a minimum of $10,000 per day for food and beverage, a total minimum of $30,000.

The agenda item lists financial impact as “not to exceed $120,000.” A second item, H8, was for a past event, a two-day Colloquium in July of this year. The contract discussed two days for a minimum of $20,000, and the amendment increased that to $30,000, but the agenda lists a financial impact of $78,834.72. There was also a request to ratify an amendment to an agreement for a July event held at Pechanga, due to “inflation and additional services provided.” The original agreement included $2,500 for rental of four event rooms and a minimum catering bill of $15,000. The agenda listed the financial impact as $125,833.20. The Crier was unable to get a clarification from the district before press.

Another item, H50, is an agreement between HUSD and the Hemet Teachers Association, changing pay for teachers for Saturday school. The previous contract had stipulated a lower rate for Saturdays. Now they will be paid at the “Extra Duty Rate.”

H51 was another agreement between the district and teachers, this one authorizing a $10,000 stipend for teachers in the Alternative to Suspension program, to cover their work during prep time retroactively to July 1, 2023. This will be an annual stipend. The impact is listed as $40,000.

Near the close of the meeting, individual members of the board expressed their thanks to Idyllwild School for the effort involved in mounting the meeting. It was noted that the acoustics in the cafeteria are better than in the gym, and several members briefly added that they have family ties, and family memories of Idyllwild going back to their youth.

This Monday, HUSD notified the public of the “unexpected passing” of Tahquitz High School Principal Dr Kari McGowan, due to a sudden “health condition,” leaving behind “a devoted husband and baby boy.” Barrett’s letter noted that “Dr. McGowan has been an integral part of our district’s leadership for many years, and her upbeat personality, bright smile, dedication, passion, and commitment to our students’ success have left a tremendous mark on all of us.” A moment of silence in her memory was planned for Tahquitz High’s homecoming game, scheduled for Monday, Sept. 18.