The TUSD Governing Board was considering whether to award a performance bonus of more than $15,000 to Superintendent H.T. Sanchez Tuesday night for his work over the last year.
The bonus is based on Sanchez achieving five sets of goals over the last year in the areas of communication, curriculum, diversity, facilities and finance.
While the board did not vote by the time the Star went to press, Sanchez pledged to donate whatever he was awarded to Camp Cooper, which provides camping experiences in the desert to elementary and middle school students from across the region.
Each category carried equal weight, worth a maximum of $3,120 each, for a total of $15,600. A presentation by Sanchez and his team showed that he achieved 100 percent of the goals laid out in the areas of facilities and finance but fell short in communication, curriculum and diversity.
As far as communication is concerned, Sanchez and his staff were tasked with promoting the districtโs goals. Specifically, a survey was created to obtain 70 percent staff participation.
The district, however, did not attain 70 percent in all areas. It was believed that timing โ in May โ contributed to that and in the future the survey will be administered at a different time of year.
In the area of curriculum, the district set out to ensure all third-year teachers and beyond meet the needs of every learner by delivering curriculum that engages students. At least 96 percent of those teachers must be proficient in using effective questioning and discussion techniques.
However, only 93.2 percent of teachers were proficient in that area.
Also, all designated support personnel were required to attend bi-weekly professional development sessions. They were then required to conduct a self-assessment. About a handful of employees failed to meet the standards.
The final area where Sanchez failed to achieve 100 percent of his goals was diversity.
The district was tasked with piloting after-school language programs at five elementary campuses. Only three of the five have implemented their identified language and culture programs: Fruchthendler with its Korean program, Roberts-Naylor with its Spanish program and Soleng Tom with its Chinese program.
Wright Elementary will implement its Arabic program next school year. Maxwell will offer an Arabic program but no instructor has been hired. The instructor at Wright may split time between the two campuses.
Some board members have expressed concerns about whether the standards are high enough.
For example, rather than seeking to increase the number of students enrolled in TUSD, Sanchez is working to maintain the existing population or ensure the attrition rate stays level.
The academic achievement goals require at most 40 to 60 percent of students to pass district-developed math and English tests, even though traditionally a student earning a 60 percent on a test would receive a letter grade of D.
TUSD numbers show more than half of TUSD students who were tested failed to make the grade but Sanchez was awarded 100 percent credit for that goal.
