Briefly in Education: Board seeks more details in temp dietitian contract
A part-time dietitian will be paid the hours she’s worked, but Laguna Beach Unified School District board members would like more clarity surrounding the position before signing off on any contract extension.
Megan Hartshorne, a registered dietitian, will receive $10,800 for 18 days worked from April 1 to June 30, the board voted at last week’s school board meeting with staff’s suggestion.
The board’s action amended a proposal to pay Hartshorne $49,800 from April 1 through Sept. 30, according to a district staff report.
Hartshorne has filled in as a consultant for food services director Debra Appel, who has been out on medical leave since March 27, district assistant superintendent of business services Dean West said.
West said in an email that he did not know when Appel would return but that she has not indicated she wouldn’t be back.
School board members said they needed more job description specifics, such as hours and pay, before approving a future contract.
“I would rather have a definite amount of days,” board member Jan Vickers said. “If we need to expand, then we can bring the item back at another meeting.”
Hartshorne is paid $600 per day, according to the staff report, for developing new menu items and improving existing ones, training nutrition staff and educating students.
She has been a boon to the students, parent Sheri Morgan said during the meeting.
“She makes healthy eating fun, which goes hand-in-hand with the district’s goal for students making healthy eating choices,” Morgan said.
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$5,000 approved for field house renderings
A design company may create renderings for a building that would house restrooms and equipment next to the track at Laguna Beach High School.
Board members approved an agreement not to exceed $5,000 for ITZEN to provide two renderings of a proposed 1,520-square-foot field house, called the Breakers Field House in a staff report.
The drawings will be part of a handout or brochure that will include a project description.
The field house, part of original modernization plans for the school, would have a snack bar, ticket booth, room to store equipment and men’s and women’s restrooms, the staff report said.
Spectators and players now use rented portable toilets, which give off an unpleasant smell, Laguna Beach High School Principal Joanne Culverhouse said.
“It’s embarrassing,” Culverhouse said of the current set-up. “The odor is not pleasant. This building will be open for track practice and soccer games.”
The high school received a donation of $25,000 — no strings attached — of which $5,000 will be used for renderings and brochures, West said.
The project is estimated to cost $300,000, facilities director Ted Doughty said.
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Up to code in a matter of minutes
Laguna Beach High School students will be at school three minutes more Mondays through Wednesdays and six minutes longer Thursdays and Fridays next year. The school board approved the new schedule to comply with the state’s education code.
Each of three passing periods — the time allowed to get from one class to the next — will be six minutes instead of five Mondays through Wednesdays, while four minutes will be added to one class on Thursdays and one on Fridays, Principal Joanne Culverhouse said in an email. One minute will be added to each of two passing periods Thursday and Friday as well, she added.
The changes are a result of the discovery that two block periods — the time dedicated weekly to one specific subject — were 100 minutes and the third 96 minutes, according to Culverhouse.
First period will begin at 7:30 a.m. and sixth period will end at 2:35 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays next year, according to a district staff report.
School will start at the same time Thursdays and Fridays, but sixth period will end at 2:22 p.m.
Schedules for Top of the World and El Morro elementary schools and Thurston Middle School already comply with the education code, the staff report said.
—Bryce Alderton