Early on during Thursday’s more than five-hour Burbank Unified School Board meeting at city hall, it was revealed that member Charlene Tabet, who has been censured by the board, turned in her letter of resignation the day before, and that it had been accepted.
Tabet, who wasn’t present and hasn’t been present since June, has been under criminal investigation after a conflict-of-interest involving her adult daughter, BreeAnn Weist, who was awarded a $93,000 clerical contract.
Tabet formed Specialized Support Services LLC on the day the district made the initial payment.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Oscar Macias said, “This is a time for us to move forward.”
It’s known that Macias wants the title of superintendent, but first there is going to be an open search, and Macias will be in the running.
The district counsel has advised the board that engaging a third‐party search consultant is common and a best practice to ensure an open, competitive process.
The search consultant fees are generally in the range of $25,000 to $40,000 according to Vice President Abby Pontzer Kamkar.
Additionally, the board’s bylaw requires open‐session discussion and vote to issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) for search services.
There will be an open-session discussion with public participation to establish broad leadership priorities and skills for the next superintendent.
These skills are essential and include instructional leadership, community engagement and fiscal acumen.
The proposal and statement of qualifications will take about three to four weeks and will be posted on the BUSD website.
Proposals will be ready in early December and in mid-January at the board meeting, a consultant will be picked to assist in finding the next superintendent.
The high school A-G rate which are the percentage of students who have completed the specific college-predatory course requirements for admission into the University of California or the California State University systems are as follows district wide: 45 percent in 2020-2021, 50 percent in 2021-2022, 48 percent in 2022-2023, 47.1 percent in 2023-2024 and 50.5 percent project for 2024-2025.
For Burroughs High, the projected rate for 2024-2025 is 56.4 percent and for Burbank it’s 54.2 percent.
Dr. Peter Knapik, the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, addressed the board and presented a slide show.
“We’re on the right track,” he said. “This is good growth, but it’s not where we want to be as a district.”
The graduation class of 2025 at Burroughs was 98.7 percent, for Burbank it’s 98.7 percent and for Monterey it’s 93.1 percent.
