UPPER LAKE, Calif. – On Tuesday evening the Upper Lake Unified School District Board continued with the work of determining key administrative positions and completing the tasks needed for the district unification to be complete by the end of June.

The board met for a closed session at 4 p.m., emerging just after 5:30 p.m. with no action to report. The meeting took place at the Upper Lake High School library/student center.

In an open session that ran just short of a half-hour, the board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the new unified district and the Upper Lake Union High School District regarding the business manager position.

Upper Lake High's business manager, Sue Milhaupt, also will hold that job with the new district.

The board also unanimously approved resolutions authorizing Milhaupt and Dina McCrea, an Upper Lake High district employee who is the new district's administrative assistant, to sign documents on behalf of the district.

Including interim Superintendent Patrick Iaccino, the district now has three administrative members who are approved to sign district documents.

Milhaupt and Becky Jeffries, the chief business official of the Upper Lake Union Elementary School District, gave brief updates on their work to complete the necessary tasks on the administrative side, including updating vendors and grantors of the unification, and making notifications related to the unions.

Jeffries also reported during the meeting that she has accepted a position at the Mendocino County Office of Education. The unified school district board had wanted to name her the new district's chief business official.

In his report, Iaccino told the board that the administration is working on establishing seven new ad hoc committees that deal with issues like organizational structures, policies, student programs and facility maintenance.

He said that, at the board's next meeting – 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 8 – board members will vote on the new district's organizational structure, which will include the administrative group and directors of programs.

Iaccino said that the district's new Web address has been established at www.ulusd.org , but the site isn't yet up. It is being designed by BitSculptor, which oversees the high school Web site.

The work to combine the teachers' unions from the two districts also is continuing, and a California State Employees Association chapter has been established.

He said the district got some surprises on Tuesday from the Division of the State Architect, the state agency that oversees school construction. The surprises related to buildings that the agency hasn't signed off on since 1990, which no one knew about.

He said the Division of the State Architect has been trying to get caught up, and it only took them 26 years to notify people of those outstanding issues.

Iaccino said the elementary principal job also is being advertised. Valerie Gardner, the principal/superintendent of the soon-to-be-dissolved elementary district, is retiring at the end of the school year.

As of Tuesday, Iaccino said four people had applied – three of them from Lake County, one from Michigan – and he anticipated having more applicants. The application can be found online at https://www.edjoin.org/Home/JobPosting/765362 .

He's planning to form a committee that includes himself, two elementary teachers, an elementary classified employee and a parent of an elementary student to interview candidates. Board member Keith Austin also suggested having Gardner included, and she said she was happy to do it.

Iaccino said he hopes to have the group meet after March 4, the application deadline, to draft questions for the elementary principal candidates.

Board President Mel O'Meara said that he wanted to gauge the board's progress in March and then consider meeting just once a month rather than twice.

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