The Douglas Unified School District officially hired its new superintendent, Earl Pettit on Tuesday, March 4, after a 45-minute executive session.

The board had offered the position to Pettit more than a week ago, but some aspects of the contract still needed to be worked out Tuesday.

The board approved a two-year contract to Pettit for $111,000 annually plus a benefit package similar to the one current Superintendent Gail Zamar has in place.

The board also approved a request form Rebecca Grijalva a one-year extension on a leave of absence.

She has been facilitating the full-time ASU-PDS coordinator position in Douglas. As coordinator of the Douglas program, she is responsible for the training and preparation of future teachers for this district.

In other action, the board:

• Approved a second reading of revisions to policies “Professional Staff Hiring” and “Support Staff Hiring.”

• Approved a donation of $1,500 received from Freeport-McMoRan to Clawson Elementary School for the purchase of new folding chairs and a chair storage rack.

• Approved the hiring of substitutes Cory Beyer, Vanessa Roman, Gustavo Altamirano, Anissa Varela, Arthur Bassett, Aixa Gonzalez , Laura Alvarado and Patricia Alatorre.

• Approved extra stipends for Edward Molina, $441.50, and Gustavo Enriquez, $331, to serve as Student Council sponsors at Faras.

• Approved the hiring of Miguel Sanchez, Maintenance Worker I, $9.83 per hour; Gerald Barnett, Maintenance Worker I, $10.07 per hour; Terry Rojas, Joe Carlson office aide, $7.37 per hour; and Erika Peralta, Special Ed Instructional Aide at Early Learning Center, $8.70 per hour.

• Approved volunteers Gina Tartaglia and Lorena Tapia, girls softball coach; Monica Estrada, parent volunteer at ELC; Carol Melis, volunteer at Sarah Marley; and Cricelia Ogas Lugo, volunteer at Stevenson.

• Approved the resignation of Tom Cox, Ray Borane Middle School principal, for the end of the 2007-08 school year.

• Approved the support staff retirement of Mary Siddons, Special Ed instructional aide at Joe Carlson at the end of the school year.

• Approved staff resignations of Elizabeth Acosta, Special Ed teachers aide at Huber; Jaime Felix, secretary for D-PASS; Jaime Ortega, speech technician; Jody Tadeo, teachers aide at Huber; Arturo Gonzales and Joe Montano, bus drivers.

• Approved Cochise College Intro to Education students for classroom observations Ashok Bhatnager, Veronica Cantwell, Lupita Chavez, Johnna Herrera, Melanie Molina, Brenda Pena, Laura Randolph and Michelle Vasquez.

• Approved Youth Traditional Program for fundraiser.

• Approved out-of-state travel for Career & Technical Ed staff (Lourdes Mora and Maria Figueroa) and CTSO Distributive Education Clubs (DECA) students to attend the 2008 International Career Development Conference in Atlanta; Judy Herbert, Associate Administrator, to go to Spokane, Washington, to recruit district personnel; Denise Evans and Sonia Barcelo to attend the Arizona Association of School Business Officials 2008 spring conference in Laughlin.

• Approved the district calendar for 2008-09.

• Approved the contracts for Project Lead the Way programs, Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, for the 2008-09 year.

• Approved the intergovernmental agreement between DUSD and The Superior Court of Arizona for a Juvenile Probation Officer in accordance with the School Safety program grant.

• Approved a service contract for Earl Pettit to assist Judy Herbert to recruit in Spokane.

Spring Break starts on Monday, March 10; and the Spring Holiday will be held on March 21 and 24. All schools and district offices will be closed for those days.

The next regular board meeting will be held on April 1.