Cibola High gets new principal appointment OK’d at Wed. meeting

Derek Bosch approved to start next fall by YUHSD Board

Derek Bosch will be the new principal at Cibola High School this fall.

Bosch’s appointment was approved Wednesday evening by the Yuma Union High School District governing board at a special meeting.

The special board meeting opened with a public hearing on the revisions to the district’s budget, which was presented by Chief Financial Officer Dianne Cordery.

The district’s maintenance and operations budget saw an increase of $1.3 million due to an increase in average daily membership, which is the “total enrollment of fractional students and full-time students, minus withdrawals, of each school day through the first 100 days in session,” according to the Arizona Attorney General’s office. The district has seen its ADM increase by 157 students, Cordery reported to the board. The district also had a reduction in its capital budget (also called district additional assistance) of $128,359. The district also over-estimated the number of teachers that were eligible for Gov. Doug Ducey’s 1.06 percent stipend.

The district was able to carry over $4,737,809 from fiscal year 2017, Cordery noted.

Board President Phil Townsend opened up the floor for public comments on the budget revisions, and seeing that there were none, adjourned the hearing and moved into the special meeting.

Community member Gary Wright, a former teacher, coach, board member and city councilman, addressed the board during the call to the public.

Wright told the board that they ought to make “classrooms and teacher salaries a priority.” He said he believes one way to eliminate teacher shortages in Arizona and in Yuma, especially, would be to break up the high class counts.

“We need to make Yuma a destination for teachers, not a stepping stone, and I hope your budget will reflect this,” he said.

The board also voted to make coaches employees of the district, instead of a third party.

Superintendent Gina Thompson said that several years ago, it was decided to pay coaches using a third party vendor. However, once the coaches became employees of that third party, they were no longer allowed to drive YUHSD vehicles, which put teams in a bind when it came to transportation.

The special meeting ended with an executive session that dealt with a student suspension.