Federal Cutbacks Eliminate Johnson O’Malley Funding

By Linda Kor
   Janelle Chee, coordinator of the Johnson O’Malley (JOM) Program for the Holbrook School District, advised those attending the March 11 meeting of the district governing board in Indian Wells that the JOM program has been eliminated from the 2008-2009 federal budget.
   The JOM Program is federally funded and provides supplemental education programs for Native American students attending public schools. Chee stated there is lobbying taking place to restore the funds, but that they would be using more of the Title VI funds as needed in light of the cutbacks.
   Chee stated that a lot of the funding is used for incentives and that approximately 95 percent of the funds went to pay salaries at the schools. She added that she is hoping to be able to continue with every-thing.
   According to Chee, her student count is 1,254, or 20 more than the previous year. The program helped the K-3 students at Indian Wells Elementary School go to the pumpkin patch, helped fund book fairs and gave each student $10 to purchase books.
   In other action March 11, the board:
   * Authorized the final reading and adoption of the recommended changes to policies that pertain to hiring certified and classified staff.
   * Authorized the final reading and adoption of changes to regulations and exhibits that deal with com-munity use of school facilities.
   * Approved Odyssey Ware as supplemental curriculum for Holbrook High School.
   * Approved the online courseware IC3 as the curriculum for Holbrook Junior High School technology classes.
   * Approved Chief Architect Software for instruction in the HHS Computer Aided Design (CAD) pro-gram.
   * Approved Navajo Sanitation as the only vendor serving the Indian Wells area for trash pickup and disposal. Estimated 2007-08 expenditures for this service are $8,000, which exceeds the state mandated bid limit of $5,000. Permission to waive the bidding requirement was requested since no other vendors can provide this service.
   * Authorized the governing board president to sign the statement of assurance that verifies that the teacher evaluation system is in compliance.
   * Authorized the appointment of Superintendent Mary Koury as the district’s authorized representative to the Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, which provides general liability, vehicle and other insurance coverage to most school districts in Arizona.
   * Approved the first reading of policy changes that pertain to leaves of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. The changes were recommended because of a recent law that allows a spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin to take up to 26 work weeks of leave to care for a member of the armed forces who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness.
   * Approved the first reading of the policy that pertains to student records. The Individuals with Disabili-ties Act of 2004 changed the numbering of the regulations, but no changes were made to the language of the policy.
   * Approved the salary placement schedules for certified faculty who will be new hires for the 2008-09 school year.
   * Approved the selection of Ferral Knight, with Lisa Aragon as the alternate, as the district’s delegate at the Arizona School Boards Association Delegate Assembly scheduled on Saturday June 28.
   * Authorized rescinding the bad weather make-up day scheduled on March 21.
   * Approved additions and changes to HHS course curriculum, including Introduction to Human Institu-tions, Honors World History, Advanced Biology (Botany), Advanced Biology (Zoology), Audio-Visual Technology and Topics in Advanced Math. Also approved was the deletion of Basic English courses and replacing them with an inclusion model; and changing the name of Business Preparation to 21st Century Computer Literacy, and having all freshman meet the criteria for this course.
   * Approved hiring three new teachers for IWES.
   * Approved Scholastic Inc. as a sole source vendor for Scholastic Red Staff Development and for the required program components to complete the coursework.
       * Approved the Arizona Nutrition Network Partnership Agreement between the Navajo County Public Health Services District and the school district.
   * Approve hiring several classified employees, including Alex Baker, HHS assistant softball coach; Katrina Sullivan, daycare substitute; Henry Spencer Jr., Park/Hulet custodian; Leilani Yazzie, IWES per-sonal health assistant; Kelly Lozano, speech practitioner; Sabrina Arend, computer services student techni-cian; Erlita Kee, IWES personal health assistant; and Pauline Williams-Yazzie, custodian.
   * Approved hiring two certified employees, including Andrea Williams, IWES sixth grade teacher; and Ricardo Lyons, long-term substitute for Tom Sibcy.
   * Approved the resignations of several classified staff members, including Marlene John, special needs assistant; Elizabeth Spencer, substitute custodian; Euphemia Clendon, special needs assistant; Lena Singer, bus monitor; and Jarvis Begay, custodian.
   * Approved the resignations of two certified staff members, including Susan Salam, IWES teacher; and Estefana Chavez, HHS teacher.
   * Approved several extra duty assignments, including: Delmar Johnson, HHS assistant baseball coach; Adrian Tubbs, welding tutorial; Paul Demuth, HHS assistant softball coach; Mari Smithson, Karen Estridge, Joy Burroughs, Estefana Chavez and Annette Rothman, technology peer coaches; and Chris Obren, Darrin Thomas, Kelly Buckwalter, Debra Thomas, Bruce Black, Brian Gohl and Daisy Gohl, audi-torium technicians.
   * Approved the gift of a wood sculpted roadrunner from Gilbert Gallegos and Carl Kempton; and do-nations from Laura Casey in the amount of $52, Jenny Jones, $177.66, and Victoria Montoya, $67.31.
   * Approved professional leave for the following personnel: Robbie Koerperich, Principal Leadership Academy meeting on March 5 in Phoenix at the estimated cost of a district vehicle; Daphne Lamb and Vir-ginia White, More Keys to Success on Feb. 26 in Flagstaff at an estimated cost of $130 plus a district vehi-cle; Lance Phaturos, 3A State Wrestling Tournament Feb. 8-10 in Glendale at the cost of a district vehicle; Mary Koury, Linda Yazzie and Rosie Sekayumptewa, Arizona School Boards Association Spring Legal Seminar on March 7 in Flagstaff at an estimated cost of $375 plus a district vehicle; Susan Nafziger, Test Item Review and Development Committee on Feb. 28 in Flagstaff at an estimated cost of $159.15 plus a district vehicle; Lora Mulstay, observation on Feb. 20 in Indian Wells at no cost to the district; Jeri McKin-non, English Language Development (ELD) Classroom Practices Training April 22-24 in Queen Creek at an estimated cost of $407; Les Rumpca, Rosemary Jacques and Dave Wright, Structured English Immer-sion (SEI) Training Feb. 26-28 in Winslow at the estimated cost of a district vehicle; Melody Myers and Trina Garner, Assistive Technology March 3-4 in Tucson at an estimated cost of $632.68 plus a district vehicle; Heidi Hunsaker, Discover the Joy of Singing on March 1 in Tempe at an estimated cost of $60; Bob Dorsey, exam and treatment of foot and ankle on March 13 in Albuquerque at a cost of $340 plus a district vehicle; Ann Gardner, Karen Estridge, Brian McMahon, Ginny Novell, Annette Rothman, Joy Bur-roughs and Jeff Strong, Microcomputers in Education Conference (MEC) March 10-12 in Tempe at an es-timated cost of $5,412 plus a district vehicle; Beth Self, Kodaly on March 1 in Tempe at an estimated cost of $30 plus a district vehicle; Teri White and Dawn Turley, Performance Measure Regional Workshop on Feb. 28 in Show Low at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Susan Nafziger, curriculum review on March 6 in Snowflake at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Ginny Novell, Info Tech curriculum, on March 13 in Snowflake at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; JoAnn Smith and Laura Layden, Full-Day Kindergarten Transition Conference April 1-2 in Phoenix at an estimated cost of $749 plus a district vehi-cle; Dale Larsen, Jim Mendell and Adrian Tubbs, Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology meeting on March 4 in Snowflake at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Nita Black, ANCIN, March 7, Holbrook High School at the cost of mileage reimbursement; Annette Rothman, meeting with State Senator Jake Flake and representatives on March 5 in Snowflake; Susan Hayden, Theresa Yazzie, Summer Charlie and Chanda Hayes, Navajo Nation Spelling Bee on March 13 in Window Rock at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Rebecca Young, Reconciling Student Membership Data in SAIS on March 10 in Flagstaff at an estimated cost of $11; and Pam Sparrow and Linda Crumrine, Dealing Effectively with Unacceptable Employee Behavior on May 13 in Flagstaff at an estimated cost of $398.
   * Approved expense and revolving fund vouchers in the amount of $535,023.68.
   * Approved payroll and expense vouchers in the amount of $1,593,049.78.
   * Approved expense and revolving fund vouchers in the amount of $227,337.97.