News from Union Public Schools Board of Education
Board of Education Approves New Start and End Times
The Union Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved Option B for the 2019-2020 start and end times for all of the district school sites based upon feedback from the public and the recommendation of the administration.
“We are grateful to all who provided feedback,” said Associate Superintendent Charlie Bushyhead. “We appreciate the more than 4,300 people who took the survey and helped us gauge the impact on students, families and teachers. I’m excited that we are going to be able to get students to school on time.”
Below are the new times:
• 7:40 a.m. – 2:25 p.m.: All Elementary Schools
• 8:10 a.m. – 3:11 p.m.: High School
• 8:15 a.m. – 3:00 p.m:. Union High School Freshman Academy
• 9 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.: 7th Grade and 8th Grade
• 9:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.: 6th Grade
Board Approves Changes to Board Policy on Weighted Grades, Class Rankings
The Board of Education on second reading unanimously approved a change to Board Policy 5032 on weighted grades and class ranking procedures.
The change allows more students to be designated as valedictorian and salutatorian in a way that is recognized by higher education and not dependent on the coursework taken by peers. The data for the past four years show that students who met these criteria included a significant percentage of participants in athletics and fine arts.
The changes include:
Replacement of the current method of using the upper 1 percent and 2 percent of the graduating class to determine valedictorian and salutatorian designations with a fixed set of criteria to determine those designations.
Students with a weighted GPA of 5.00 and above will be designated as valedictorians. Students with a weighted GPA of 4.80 – 4.99 will be designated as salutatorians.
To be sure that a minimum of 2 percent of students are selected for valedictorian and salutatorian designations, at least the upper 1 percent of students are to be selected for valedictorian and at least a total of the upper 2 percent of students are to be selected for both valedictorian and salutatorian designations combined.
The valedictorian or salutatorian designation will be official only if the above criteria are met on the final high school transcript.
The new policy will affect incoming seniors – the Class of 2020 – increasing the number of students recognized without penalizing anyone.
Shana Harris named principal of Jefferson Elementary School
Board members named Shana Harris principal of Jefferson Elementary School and Joshua Robinson as director of operations.
Harris, who has been serving as assistant principal at McAuliffe Elementary, will replace Kim Rampey, who is retiring. Previously, she had served as assistant principal at Grove and Boevers as well as an instructional coach at Boevers.
Harris graduated from Rocky Grove High School in Franklin, Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She received a master’s degree in elementary and early childhood education from Troy State University of Alabama. She also received an add-on to her Master’s Degree in Elementary Administration from Oral Roberts University.
Robinson has been serving as assistant principal at Union High School. He will oversee operations for the entire district. Art Churchill who had served as manager of operations will serve as manager of facilities.
Robinson is a 2000 graduate of Union High School. He graduated with distinction from the University of Oklahoma in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in science education and has been certified to teach secondary life sciences and earth sciences. Robinson began his education career with Union in 2005 teaching science at the 8th Grade Center. He was named administrative intern for Union Intermediate High School in the summer of 2010 and High School assistant principal in 2011.
Board Approves Several Purchases
Board members approved a number of purchases for the district, including new football helmets for $58,351 from Riddell and band uniforms for $156,705 from Stanbury Uniforms, Inc. – both from bond funds.
Other purchases include:
• New headset system from CoachComm, LLC. for $51,989.
• Network infrastructure components from RFIP, Inc. for $113,618.
• Three-year campus-wide agreement with Crayon Software Experts for a Microsoft license.
• Two-year subscriptions to Infinite Campus for $377,511.
• Two new trucks from Bill Knight Ford for the grounds department for a total of $53,068.
• Contract with RSM US LLP to perform the financial audit for the 2018-2019 fiscal year for $89,000.
• New learning materials from Lakeshore Learning Materials for Ellen Ochoa Elementary for $180,832.
• Furniture for the new Innovation Lab from Krueger International for $67,698.
• New box truck from Summit Truck Group for $89,871.
• Professional development training agreement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $52,164.
• Two-year subscription to Edgenuity for digital curriculum software for $82,000.
