Once again the Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Board had an overflowing crowd that attended the May 3, 2016 meeting. Of the 90 or so attendees about one third were the Migrant Speech/Debate students, their coaches and families. Most of the remaining attendees were FUSD teachers who once again came to address the Board regarding contract negotiations.

During Public Comments the Board heard from FUSD teachers along with students' parents regarding salary contract negotiations. First to speak was Mountain Vista 4th grade teacher Janet Bergamo, who stated, "It's not just about salary increases....(referring to the elementary level teachers) we're concerned with the class size." Mark Sebek who teaches math at Fillmore High School (FHS) spoke of the 20 furlough day’s teacher gave up and the extra hours teachers work.

FHS 9th grade math teacher Brian Ricards read a written statement that conveyed his stress of receiving numerous layoff notices and the unusual situation he experienced while attending a layoff hearing. He learned how layoffs were chosen when there was a "tie" between some teachers based on the FUSD's point system. The solution was to put numbers on paper, then into a hat and then have the teachers who "tied" for seniority pick a number out of the hat. Those with the higher number would be given a higher rank of seniority. This was done while the layoff notice hearing was in progress. Ricards continued stating, "I knew at this point that there was something drastically wrong with our school district. I found out later that the district had a budget reserve of over three times the state-required amount during the same year that we were picking numbers out of a hat at the layoff notice hearing to determine our position on the seniority list."

Two parents of students who attend FUSD addressed the Board in support of the teachers. One was Nancie Paquin whose sons attend Mountain Vista Elementary (MVE) and Fillmore Middle School (FMS). Paquin spoke of the importance of an educated population and teachers in guiding students. She stated, "What differentiates a civilized country from an uncivilized one is not education? What sets Americans apart in this world and makes us one of the most admired nations? Education! In my experience the teachers at MVE and FMS are some of the most enthusiastic switched-on people I've had the pleasure to meet. Their passion for teaching is evident. It is reassuring."

The teachers' and staff's next mediation to try to work this impasse out will be held at a meeting on Tuesday, May 24, 2016.

The Board Meeting began with two students who participated in the Migrant Education Program Speech & Debate Tournament reading their speeches. First to speak was Yulissa Fregoso who is currently a senior at FHS where she attends Honor and AP classes. Fregoso has won 10 first place honors at Regional competition and 5 first places at State level. She has participated in the Upward Bound Program at Cal Lutheran University where she received 28 college units and volunteers as a mentor which earned her Mentor of the Year.

Second to speak was Erik Magana. Magana is a freshman at FHS and holds a 4.0 GPA in Honor classes and has also won several first place trophies in the Migrant Debate program.

Five first place winners from Fillmore will be going to the Speech & Debate State Tournament in Fresno to represent Ventura County Region 17 for three days on May 13th, 14th, and 15th.

Winners of the Migrant Debate Tournament on combined prepared and extemporaneous speech in English held at Oxnard High School on March 12, 2016 are as follows; Fillmore Middle School-Coach Marisela Gomez, Jimena Cortes, 6th grade, 2nd Place; Anahi Pascual, 8th grade, 1st Place; Perla Martinez, 8th grade, 3rd Place.

Fillmore High School-Coach Lorena Felix. Erik Magana, 9th grade, 1st Place; Mirella Magana, 9th grade, 2nd Place; Daniela Castillo, 11th grade, 1st Place; Daniela Orozco, 12th grade, 1st Place; Yulissa Fregoso, 12th grade, 1st Place.

There were two presentations; the first was the ASES/Bridges After-School Program and the second, Core/Basic Materials. Also approved was a new course, Academic Decathlon, which will begin in the 2016-2017 school year.

The first presentation was conducted by Tom Chan, Dean of Curriculum for the ASES/Bridges After-School Program. There are approximately 400 students attending the program; FMS has 60 students, MVE has 90 students, Piru has 70 students, Rio Vista has 90 students, San Cayetano has 95 students.

The program provides supervision for elementary and middle school students until 5:30 p.m. Students are given snacks and perform activates that include hands-on project-based learning and common learning objectives. The program has a website, monthly newsletter along with parent meetings and family nights.

The second presentation was Core/Basic Materials by Martha Hernandez, who informed the Board there is a need to upgrade the textbooks at FHS. Textbooks must be less than 10 years since their copy write and the Advanced Placement textbooks are not current enough. Also needing replacement are Native Speaker (Spanish) and Spanish 1and 2 texts.

The new textbooks on public 30 day review from 5/3/2016-6/3/2016 ; The Practice of Statistics, Living in the Environment, Psychology for AP, American Pageant, Western Civilization.

Pending approval are textbooks; Mariachi A&B, AP Economics, AP Chemistry, Agribusiness Fundamentals and Applications, Plant and Soil Science.

A new course was approve by the Board, the Academic Decathlon which is a college prep elective and designed for grades 9-12. It has a unit value of 1.0 (one year equivalent) and is a UC-approved course. It has a pre-requisite that requires teacher approval, test scores and grade eligibility.

Students use the United States Academic Decathlon Study Guide textbook, a number of resource guides and online materials to complete the course.

The twelve highest performing students in the course will be offered the opportunity to participate in the California Academic Decathlon. The participants will consist of a nine-person student team (three students at each level: Honors, Scholastic and Varsity) which are chosen based upon their GPA for the areas of focus, and will be selected to compete at the scrimmages, regional competitions and hopefully at the state level.

Students not chosen to compete will remain a part of the class and will participate and support the competing members.

The course seeks to develop the "Renaissance" student, one who is exposed to all areas of study, by using the annual curriculum from the USAD text. The topics of study include the math, science, social studies, language and literature, art, music and a special unit concerning world culture. There will be individual and group research, special projects, speakers and perhaps field trips. Since study topics change yearly, a student may take this class every year and encounter something new.

The Board approved the contract for emergency repair of concrete and asphalt walkway at FHS for $73,457. They also approved the completion of the re-roofing project at Piru Elementary which came at a cost of $774,898.