Budget, performance plan on District 1 agenda

A performance plan and proposed budget for 20172018 are on the agenda for the Monday meeting of the Yuma Elementary School District No. 1 Governing Board.

The board members will hold their regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the District Administration Office, 450 W. 6th St.

Duane Sheppard, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, will present the performance plan, while Chief Financial Officer Denis Ponder will present the proposed budget. They are listed as action items on the agenda, which means the board might approve them. The action agenda also contains a second reading of several policy advisories by Superintendent James Sheldahl.

The consent agenda includes approval/ratification of terms and conditions for acceptance of monies from Building Renewal Grants Fund, salary adjustments for highly performing personnel and out-of-state travel for administrators, certified and classified personnel.

The board is also set to consider possible approval of the Food Program Permanent Service Agreement and approval/ ratification of hiring for certified, classified and substitute personnel and a request to retire.

Other consent items include consideration and possible approval of early kindergarten admissions and denials, student fields trips, leaves of absence for personnel, student activities, tax credits, donations and school activity calendars.

Information items include the following topics: community schools, a new principal support presentation and reports of enrollment and the monthly budget.

The agenda also includes the following items: summer art recognition, board report, superintendent’s report, donation recognition and enrollment reports.

A copy of the agenda background material provided to board members (with the exception of material relating to possible executive sessions) is available for public inspection at Yuma School District 1 Administration Office, 450 W. Sixth St.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign have sparked questions, agreed Saturday to appear before the Senate intelligence committee as it investigates alleged Russian meddling in the election.

Sessions recused himself in March from a federal investigation into contacts between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump after acknowledging that he had met twice last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States. He had told lawmakers at his January confirmation hearing that he had not met with Russians during the campaign.

Sessions has been dogged by questions about possible additional encounters with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Senate Democrats have raised questions about whether the men met at an April 2016 foreign policy event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The Justice Department has said that while Sessions was there, for a speech by Trump, there were no meetings or private encounters.

Former FBI Director James Comey raised additional questions at a hearing on Thursday, saying that the FBI expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he actually did. Comey declined to elaborate in an open setting.

In a letter Saturday to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Sessions said that he had been scheduled to discuss the Justice Department budget before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees but that it had become clear some members would focus their questions on the Russia investigation. Shelby chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee.

Sessions said his decision to accept the intelligence committee’s invitation to appear was due in part to Comey’s testimony. He wrote that “it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum.” He said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would appear before the subcommittees.

Briefing congressional appropriators on the Justice Department’s budget is a critical part of the attorney general’s job. The fact that Sessions would delegate that task to his deputy showed the Russia investigation was distracting him from his core duties.

Sessions did not say in the letter whether his appearance would be in public or behind closed doors. Comey testified in public and then met with the committee in a closed session to discuss matters touching on classified information.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he was troubled that Sessions wouldn’t appear before the appropriations panel.