By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Addressing the Rim of the World Unified School District board of trustees, Amanda Markovich, the president of the Rim Teachers Association, said she wanted to “acknowledge the positive communication between the district and the teachers. I hope this continues and grows.
“I look forward to working with the district to make it the jewel of the Inland Empire as it was once nicknamed. We want to have schools and programs that encourage families to move to the mountain and attract teachers as well.”
In his first report to the board, Dr. Paul Sevillano, the newly appointed superintendent of schools, thanked everyone “for allowing me to go out to the schools.” Those visits, he said, help him understand the staff’s needs and “how we can be more responsive.
“Students will continue to thrive and teachers will continue to excel. I am very proud to be your superintendent.”
Dr. Sevillano added he has started to meet with parents, is attending the Municipal Advisory Council meetings and has attended Rotary meetings. “I would like to have some student forums,” he said. “I am thrilled with being here and knowing the quality of the people we have in the district who will continue to do amazing things.”
During the time for board member comments, Jordana Ridland said she had enjoyed her Time with Trustees at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School and Lake Arrowhead Elementary School. “We had some tremendous input,” she said. “Great questions, great turnout. I know we have a lot of things to work on but it’s encouraging to hear the enthusiasm of the community and the staff. We have challenges but also a lot of love and care.”
Trustee Scott Craft said that he liked “what Amanda had to say. We are finding that balance between RTA and the entire staff. We are looking to make things as equitable as we can for everyone.”
The piece that is still missing, Craft said, is the students. “I know they receive a lot of care and attention from their teachers and the staff. I hope we can keep pushing for the bond to make our classrooms as safe as possible for our students. We need to provide our students with the #1 thing they need – safety in our school district.”
“The bond is an extreme necessity for us in many ways,” Trustee Bill Mellinger said. “We have to provide resources that bring more security to our campuses. We have some significant security needs.”
Trustee Cindy Gardner said that the California School Boards Association is “advocating to at least maintain our programs with no cuts.” The Legislative Analyst’s Office, she said, gave a menu of options of cuts to education for the governor to consider. That menu, she said, “is nasty. It hits kids and teachers hard. It’s just sad.”
President Jordan Zarate noted that the projected budget deficit has grown to $73 billion. “The name of the game is preserving as many student education funds as possible.” He met with a representative from Senator Ochoa Bogh’s office to discuss preservation of those programs, including universal meals. “We will continue our advocacy work,” he said.
Rim High Principal Brian Willemse and Athletic Director Ryan Reisbord brought a proposal to the board for a universal booster club. Now, they told the board, each sport has its own club. This proposal would put them all under one umbrella, creating more equity across sports. Such a club is already in place in other districts.
“This single entity,” said Reisbord, “would connect all stakeholders seamlessly. Fall sports are the first to the well in the community, asking for help.” By the time spring sports ask for help, “a lot of the businesses that are helpful say they’d love to help but have already donated.”
A universal booster club would give the sports the ability to put on events and fundraisers on a larger scale, the two men said.
When asked what motivated this proposal, Reisbord said it is coach driven. “The coaches have come together and said running their own booster clubs to subsidize their sports is a tremendous amount of work.” They asked, he said, why they can’t all get together with one unifying force.
“I was always amazed,” Ridland said, “at how much was on each coach’s shoulders. This is really exciting. It becomes almost punitive to be a coach.”
“Smaller sports get pushed out, the arts, too,” Craft said. “This is a great opportunity for coaches and the community to come together. I think it will benefit new coaches – everything will be set for them.”
The Rim school board was asked by Senator Ochoa Bogh to sponsor SB1429, which has a number of benefits for the school district. It would add snowstorms to the list of natural disasters for which the district could be reimbursed for reduced attendance. It would allow the district itself to declare an emergency. The five trustees voted unanimously to be added as a sponsor of the bill.
The bill was heard in the Senate Education Committee on March 20 and was re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations with the recommendation to be placed on the consent calendar.
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