Ruth Ricards, Director of Child Nutrition, and Joe Ricards, Agriculture Teacher at Fillmore High School, both were honored with "Be The Change" awards for their hard work.

Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Board held the open session of its regular meeting September 2, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the District Office. The Board approved a new fee-based after school program to replace Stone Soup at Mountain Vista Elementary School, and honored Joe and Ruth Ricards.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Bush reported that the Stone Soup After School Program has ended. When the District notified Stone Soup administrators that the program would be discontinued at the end of September, the administrators refused to provide services for the rest of the month. At most schools, students who had been in the Stone Soup program can participate in the free Bridges program instead. At Mountain Vista, that was not possible because the Bridges program there is full. There are approximately 80 students in Bridges at Mountain Vista, and there are almost 30 students on the waiting list. After School Program Coordinator Carol Barringer researched fee-based after school programs, developed policies and procedures, and will implement the new program, Journeys, on Monday, September 8th.

The Journeys program is not free, but offers more flexible schedule arrangements than Bridges and is expected to be less expensive than private child care. Some families have already indicated interest. According to the Journeys Parent Handbook, registration is on a "first come, first serve" basis with enrollment limited by the number of staff available. Registration Forms will be available at Mountain Vista. Child care fees will be due in advance. Monthly rates will be $135 per month for the first child and $210 per family. Daily rates are $15 for the first child and $10 per additional child. Hourly rates are $5 per child per hour. Journeys will run only on school days from whenever school lets out until 6 p.m. The program will pay for itself if at least eight students participate. The staff to student ratio will be at least 1 to 12. Journeys include educational activities, recreational activities, social activities, and snacks. It is available only at Mountain Vista.

In keeping with this year's theme, "Be the Change," the Board honored Teacher Joe Ricards for his work with students and agriculture, and his wife Director of Child Nutrition Ruth Ricards for her work improving school food. Ms. Ricards is excited about developing plans for Piru's school cafeteria to "go green". If the program prospers, other schools in the district could follow. She was surprised and pleased to be honored. Mr. Ricards is the Advisor for Fillmore High School Future Farmers of America (FFA), and his FFA students won many awards at this year's Ventura County Fair, as usual. Mr. Ricards said that he appreciates the support of the Board, school, parents, booster club, and especially his wife. Regular Thursday evening showmanship practices contribute to the students' successes. Mr. Ricards mentioned that the FFA students are also accomplished in FFA student government, and have held regional and county offices.

Bush indicated that FUSD will not receive September apportionments from the State because the State has not passed a budget yet. He said, "Cash is becoming a real concern." The District's first priority is meeting payroll, and the District might temporarily stop placing purchase orders. District staffers are evaluating the situation and have discussed it with school administrators.

Griffin Industries has requested that the land transfer for Rio Vista School move forward, even though Griffin has not completed the street curbs which are supposed to be included with the land. Griffin has proposed that an escrow account be set up to cover the cost of building the curbs. Negotiations are in progress.

The Fillmore High School stadium will be ready for this Friday's football game. To ensure that fire trucks and ambulances have access, and to keep pedestrians safe, parking will be more restricted than at previous games. Maintenance Manager Gama Aguilar and Director of Facilities Bob Sube have rebuilt the press box. The scoreboard will be dedicated Friday night.

Superintendent Jeff Sweeney and Bush met with City staff. They are trying to form a sub-committee consisting of two representatives from the FUSD Board and two from the City Council. The committee would meet with the public to brainstorm possible solutions to the lack of a running facility for the community. Board members David Dollar, Tony Prado, and Liz Wilde volunteered to be on the committee. There will be a joint City-FUSD meeting on September 30th, and they are hoping to discuss the brainstorming results then. The committee does not yet have representatives from the Council, and so a committee meeting date has not been set. The City Council meets September 9th.

Open houses have been held at various schools across the district. Sierra High School will hold its open house on September 4th.

The next Board meeting open session will be September 16th at 6 p.m. in the FUSD Board Room. The Board announced that two public hearings will happen then. One is on the Sufficiency of Textbooks and Instructional Materials for the 2008-2009 School Year and the Provision of Standards-Aligned Instructional Materials. The other is on the Adoption of Pupil Textbook and Instructional Materials for the Structured English Immersion Program for the School Year 2008-2009.

The Board reported that it had evaluated Superintendent Jeff Sweeney's job performance at a closed session meeting on August 26th. Performance evaluations are confidential.