Corruption
-
Removed a corrupt superintendent, and swept out his underperforming cabinet
-
Purged other self-serving employees across the district
Fiscal Solvency
-
Revised the Audit Charter to provide increased oversight of the district’s financial operations
-
Selected a new, experienced Audit firm committed to transparency.
-
Revised the budgeting process to provide honesty, exposing a $10 million underlying structural deficit
-
Identified numerous errors in budgeting and the misuse of Title funds.
-
Collaborated with the California Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) in an advisory capacity to ensure the implementation of best practices and to address multiple prior audit findings which had resulted in over $1million in fines to the district that had to be paid back out of current funding (further straining our budget).
-
Helped bring the district from a 2023-2024 qualified budget to a positive budget by 2nd Interim.
-
Approved a Budget Reduction Plan to cut nearly $6 million from the 2024-25 budget.
-
Oversaw phase 1 of a plan to “right size” the district, conducting layoffs of administrative, certificated and classified positions to address years of declining enrollment
-
Approved a district-wide Free & Reduced Meal Plan lunch application campaign to ensure every student who was eligible for services and funding received it. This resulted in an increased unduplicated count, which increased funding to the district.
-
Adopted new procurement policies based on best practices to 1) prevent conflicts of interest, and 2) deliver higher quality products and services at lower costs
Staffing
-
Approved a Recruitment Plan for hard-to-fill teaching vacancies.
-
Updated the district registration and enrollment process to secure projected enrollment 2 months earlier to promote accurate staffing allocations.
-
Aggressively recruited qualified personnel to form a new championship team. In three months we went from over 72 open positions to less than 3.
-
Adopted a 16% pay raise for teachers to make NUSD competitive with surrounding districts.
Facilities
-
Oversaw numerous campus beautification projects, including paint, landscaping, junk removal and repairs to improve the learning environment for students
-
Approved numerous needed repairs that had been delayed for years prior, including the replacing of rotting walls and acoustic tiles, tenting for termites, repairs of handicap ramps, unsafe and cracking asphalt
-
Worked with principals at various sites to improve the parent drop-off/traffic circles
Educational Programs
-
Partnered with the Mission Valley Regional Occupation Program (MVROP) to build a pathway in computer science at Newark Memorial High School (bringing focus and funding to the program)
-
Also partnered with MVROP to return the ROP Culinary program to Bridgepoint High School (BHS)
-
Partnered with Ohlone College to bring college counselors to NMHS and BHS to enroll seniors in community college
-
Encouraged increased, open communication with teachers and classified staff members through voluntary lunch meetings and regular staff meetings
-
Encouraged principals to review and track discreet, special population data, which has previously been difficult to pull using the Synergy student information system
-
Began exploration to replace these outdated systems (which are not only impacting the harnessing of student data across the district, but also complicating student class scheduling development at Newark Middle School and Newark Memorial High School)
