The school board approved an additional 180 days of difference pay during Tuesday’s meeting for two teachers on military leave.
The Newport Mesa Unified School District Board of Education approved the updated memorandum of understanding between the district and the Newport-Mesa Federation of teachers regarding military leave.
The current district regulation limits difference pay to up to 180 days for employees on military leave while on active duty and some employees have exhausted this leave and will suffer a loss of pay.
In addition to all other military leave rights and provisions in current board policy/administrative regulation and the education code, the board approved an additional 180 days of difference pay for teachers Gary Mathieson and Tim Salvino.
The changes began July 1, 2011, and will go until the employee completes active duty or when the addition 180 days is utilized.
“The employees shall receive the difference between the amount of his/her military pay and allowances and the amount the employee would have received from the district and all benefits that the employee would have received if he/she had not been called to active military duty, unless the benefits are prohibited or limited by vendor contracts,” the staff report explains.
According to the staff report, the memorandum of understanding does not apply to any future military leave requests though, it is limited to Mathieson and Salvino only.
The board also ratified the award for the bid for refurbished computer equipment to CDI Computer Dealers Inc. as primary vendor and Insight Investments as secondary vendor for a period up to three years, renewable annually, per unit prices as listed on the bid pricing sheets and factory discount schedule of manufacturer’s catalogs. Funds vary, year to date 2010-2011 expenditure was $200,000.
The district advertised for refurbished computer equipment in September.
“The purpose of the bid is to provide the district with a cost-effective means of maintaining current technology levels in the classroom, while achieving savings by standardizing hardware and streamlining support operations throughout the district,” according to the staff report.
Although there were 24 prospective bidders that downloaded the bid package, the district only received four bids by Oct. 6 and after careful evaluation the bids from CDI Computer Dealers Inc. and Insight Investments were chose as the primary and secondary vendors.
Also on the agenda was the award of the electrical supplies bid to Main Electric Supply Company for 10 items and to California Commercial Supply Inc. for five items.
Both were the lowest qualified bids for those specific items. Awards were based on the percentage discount from manufacturer’s list prices as shown on bid pricing sheets, according to the staff report.
The funds budgeted may vary, but the annual 2010-2011 expenditure was $126,934 and is not expected to change.
The district advertised for electrical supplies in September and October.
“The purpose of the bid is to provide the district with a variety of frequently used electrical items such as conduit, fittings, wire, circuit breakers, lamps, ballasts and fixtures,” the staff report states.
Bid packages were downloaded by 11 prospective bidders and the district received three bids by Oct. 20.
The board also approved an agreement with the Orange County Superintendent of Schools to provide Angel Learning Licenses for a total sum not to exceed $1,950.
The funds will be taken from the education technology budget. The licensing fee is $3.00 per student user account and $15 per teacher user.
The school district has been offering online courses since 2004 and has been using the Angel Learning online service through the OC Department of Education since the 2007-2008 school year.
The new agreement went into effect July 1 and will go through June 30 of next year.
