The PRJUSD Board of Trustees held a regularly scheduled board meeting on Jan. 27 which went over teacher raises, the 2025 to 2030 strategic plan, and featured public comment to display the communities worries and comments.
First on the agenda was the public comment for the closed session, which started at 6pm. The closed session went over several things but most important was the deliberation with the union about raises for the teachers. During public comment on items for the closed session which occurred beforehand, many teachers showed up wearing red in solidarity and support for each other due to the 1 percent salary increase for cost of living adjustment (COLA) not being enough.
“The district begrudgingly offering a 1 percent COLA increase is disappointing and a huge slap in the face of all our unappreciated and unacknowledged hard work,” Alexandra Thompson said to the board. She is one of PRHS’ counselors, showing up on behalf of people on her District Counseling team that remained unnamed.
“Teachers are not asking for extravagance, we are asking for sustainability, respect, and acknowledgement that our work has value beyond a symbolic race,” 3rd grade Virginia Peterson Elementary teacher Julie Scheiffele told the board.
After the board listened to the public comment they went into closed session. After they returned they announced that no reportable action was taken, meaning the 1 percent COLA was pass through.
Vicente Gonzales, principal of both Liberty High School (LHS) and Independence High School (IHS), performed a presentation on the current state of both high schools, featuring high student engagement and performance, with LHS having 25 early graduates and IHS having nine.
What followed was the public comment for items in the open session or things the public wanted to express that pertained to the board in general. Three students, senior Dyzek Wilding, senior Nigel Nutter, and junior Bailey Andrews, all spoke up in defense of transgender students being able to use the bathroom of the gender they self identify as.
After public comment, the board moved onto the consent items., These included the reclassification of the kitchen revamp for Georgia Brown due to the scope changing and approving Michael Bray Construction’s proposal to reroute the PRHSAgriculture Barn sewer line due to damage done during construction, among others. All were approved five to none.
Next were action items, starting with the 2025-2030 strategic plan for the district presented by Superintendent Jennifer Loftus. The plan mostly followed pushing for the improvement of students and monitoring their success to better understand what’s working and what is not. This plan was passed five to none. Another action item was the annual audit, which simply stated that after third-party review the district was in compliance with regulations. This report was approved five to none.
Finally were information items, first of which was a presentation on America’s Semiquincentennial, or 250th birthday, presented by Maggie Tatman, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. The presentation showcased multiple activities they would encourage teachers to integrate into their curriculum such as mapping data of the United States 250 years, as well as wanting schools to do a schoolwide commemoration. Last was a presentation about current enrollment by Brad Pawlowski, which projected a drop of TK and Kindergarten enrollment in the next 3 years.
Afterward the board called to adjourn with a vote of five to none around 9:30pm. If you want to know more about the board meeting please refer to the agenda and the livestreamed board meeting on youtube.
