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FUESD board grants superintendent emergency powers amid pandemic

Fallbrook Union High School District’s governing board held a special teleconference meeting the morning of Monday, March 16, to grant emergency powers to the district’s superintendent amid the ongoing worldwide novel coronavirus pandemic.

While some staff members were present at the district’s board room, the superintendent and board members all called into the emergency meeting remotely to avoid contact during the outbreak.

With board members Caron Lieber and Patty de Jong unable to call in, the board voted 3-0 to approve a resolution authorizing Superintendent Candace Singh to “take any and all actions necessary to ensure the continuation of public education, and the health and safety of the students and staff at the District sites.”

Some of the actions the resolution allows Singh to take include “the relocation of students and staff, continued daily student transportation, provision of alternative educational program options, direct staff to serve as disaster service workers … and/or make alterations, repairs or improvements to school property.”

Singh told board members that while schools would be closed through April 10 to help stop the spread of the virus that has sickened dozens so far in San Diego County, including a North County firefighter, and killed more than 6,000 worldwide, school staff would continue to be paid for the duration of the shutdown.

“I just want to start by publicly thanking every employee in our school district who has helped us move in a very rapid fashion to where we are today,” Singh said at the beginning of the meeting. “School closure is not what we wanted for our community but we will do what is necessary and safe at the direction of our public health department.”

Singh said the only district workers who are being asked to continue to come into work are those who have been deemed essential, including child nutrition workers who will continue to cook meals to be served to students from school sites during the school closures.

“We have some departments who are working from home. For example business services, accounting payroll, they have the opportunity to access their computers safely from home,” Singh said. “All of our teachers are on call from home, so we need them to be supporting students academically, and then all of our custodial staff, our maintenance operations staff, we have on call at home.”

Fallbrook Union Elementary board member Lisa Masten praised Singh for her leadership during the unprecedented crisis.

“Weeks ago you told us that this is going to be the number one concern and we need to focus at the district office and you have prepared us, you have prepared the families, you have prepared the employees,” Masten said. “You were calling this way before we heard about it on TV.”

Singh, for her part, attributed the district’s response to its entire leadership team.

She also said some an emergency response team consisting of district officials has been meeting regularly at the district office for updates, “sometimes as much as every hour,” and the district would explore ways to make its board meetings available remotely if the pandemic crisis continues — members of the public still had to physically go to the board room on Monday to hear the meeting.

Fallbrook Union High School District Superintendent Ilsa Garza-Gonzalez already has approval for the emergency powers that elementary school district’s superintendent was granted on Monday, according to Carmen Hatcher, executive assistant to Garza-Gonzalez.

Meanwhile, the North County Fire Protection District had already declared a local state of emergency in a special meeting Sunday night, shoring up federal and state relief funding.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to open up funding,” North County Fire spokesman Capt. John Choi explained via telephone.

While no deaths from novel coronavirus had been reported in San Diego County as of Monday afternoon, county officials announced on Monday that confirmed infections had jumped to 55 from 39 the day before.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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