Diane Blevins Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana September 15, 2008 CALL TO ORDER The Regular Board Meeting of the Board of Trustees of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana, was duly held at The Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, September 15, 2008, at 5:30 p.m. Members present included Trustees Peter Gesuale, Mary Jo Fox, Sandra Mossman, Katharin Kelker, Joel Guthals, Kathy Aragon, Malcolm Goodrich, Tim Trafford, Superintendent Jack Copps, and District Clerk Leo Hudetz. Trustee Dawn Achten was excused. Registered guests included Gary Ostermiller, Weldon Birdwell, Janet Baum, Diane Elan, Butch Kochel, Kim Anthony, Lori Booke, Becky Shay, Paige Darden, and Representative Elsie Arntzen. COMMUNICATION FROM THE PUBLIC The Board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of listening to members of the public in its meetings. The Board also recognizes the statutory and constitutional right of the public to participate in governmental operations. The Board encourages members of the public to participate in and express opinions about issues important to the District. This part of the Board’s meeting is dedicated to public comment on any public matter that is not on the agenda of this meeting and is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Trustees. Members of the public may also address particular items on this agenda either now or at the time the Board considers the particular item. There were no public comments. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The Chair stated there would be no study session this evening. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Goodrich: Motion to approve the agenda as amended. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Joel Guthals, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. GIFTS AND DONATIONS Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Gesuale: Motion to accept the gifts and donations with gratit Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Joel Guthals, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. The gifts and donations are as follows: Broadwater – Justin and Christina Schye, backpack with school supplies Barnes & Noble, Adventure Series library booksMr. And Mrs. Art Borwnell, school supplies McKinley – Dave Williams and Gina Bradley, school supplies Shiloh United Methodist Women, school supplies Ponderosa – Jordan Bell and Jess Sloan, school supplies Mr. and Mrs. Allen Karell, school supplies Mr. and Mrs. Ron Panian, school supplies Edward Goodman, school supplies Rose Park – David Heidinger, school and office supplies Grace United Methodist Church, school supplies Joan Dantic, $50 for student needs Mr. and Mrs. Bob Pitcher, school supplies Washington – Mr. and Mrs. Ron Panian, school supplies Mr. and Mrs. Dick and family, school supplies Antoinette Grosulak, school supplies West High – Best Buy, Margaret Aukshun awarded Best Buy Teach Award for 2007 and 2008 for $2,000 each year Eagle Cliffs – Jay Kohn, piano that belonged to his sister, Leslie Clemens Selover Trading Card Program – First Interstate Bank, Keith Cook, $3,500 The Board recognized Margaret Aukshun as the recipient of the Best Buy Teacher Award for 2007 and 2008. PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING FACILITIES Trustee Guthals reported the Board has been working on the long-term facilities plan which includes Phase 1 of rebuilding McKinley and Broadway, and a new school on the Cottonwood site. The Board has decided to hold off on the bond issue until next year so the public meeting will be postponed to gather more information and continue to work on the long-term facilities plan. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to supersede motion made on July 21, 2008, requiring a public meeting by September 15, 2008 regarding facilities. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. TIMELINE FOR BOND PROJECT TASK FORCES Nancy Hines, Communication Director, reviewed the draft timeline for the bond election. There are three phases with the third phase being the election. The first phase looks at the actual projects with the second phase bringing information to the stakeholders in the community. In considering the date of the election, the good will of the community needs to be considered as to when it should be run. There is a higher propensity to pass a bond election in September but that is not definite. Trustee Gesuale asked why the mill levy election was listed as a mail-in vote. Leo Hudetz, District Clerk, responded it is due to a piece of legislation that will come up recommending ten counties conduct a mail ballot and Yellowstone County is listed as one of those counties. Trustee Guthals asked for the cost of a mail-in ballot. Mr. Hudetz stated it cost approximately $65,000 for the mail-in election. Trustee Goodrich stated the District has not decided to declare a mill levy or a bond election at this time. Trustee Gesuale asked why the date for the task force findings for a bond issue was listed as the day before the mill levy election, if one were held. Mrs. Hines stated it was the desire not to give the bond information at the same time as the mill levy election. It was the consensus of the Board not to mix up the bond information with the mill levy information and to set the bond levy date after the mill levy. Trustee Guthals asked if the mill levy and bond election could be held in November. Mr. Hudetz stated that would not be possible to hold a mill levy election in November, as the budget must be set in August. The Chair reported request for a Communication from the Public had been received but the rules would have to be suspended in order to receive the comments. Trustee Fox made the following motion with a second by Trustee Trafford: Motion to suspend the rules regarding communication from the public may only be received at the beginning of a meeting. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. Barbara Bryan addressed the Board and suggested that public comments also be received during an agenda item, as it is hard for some parents to arrive by 5:30. She addressed the Board regarding task forces and the time line for a bond election. Ms. Bryan was concerned that the Board is discussing specifics when the bond election has not been discussed in public. She felt there was a terrific amount of opposition in building a new school on the Cottonwood site. Ms. Bryan further stated she believed there was a lack of a long-term facilities plan and a huge barrier for a mill levy or a bond election. She urged the Board to go back and develop a plan before moving forward. Paige Darden addressed the Board as a new member of the Budgeting for Results (BFR) Committee. She has researched the mega school concept and felt it would have a negative impact on the students. She urged the Board to seek public input before moving ahead on the election. She believed a discussion should be held on the future infrastructure and the possibility of reopening Rimrock for a kindergarten center and plan a partnership with Rocky Mountain College. APPOINTMENT OF BOND TASK FORCE MEMBERS Trustee Mossman made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the members of the McKinley task force as follows: Parents Todd or Kristen Graves, Shannon or Ryan Westerman, Lisa DuBeau, Ann Marie Wade, Jeffrey Kay, Heather Zindt, Mark Restad; Principal Bert Reyes; Teachers Sara Olsgaard, and Elizabeth Perius; and, Kevin Odenthal as the community member. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, and Sandra Mossman. The motion passed unaimously. Trustees Guthals and Trafford are ineligible to vote on elementary issues. The Chair stated that the appointment of the Broadwater Task Force would be held later in the meeting to give Trustee Aragon time to speak with Kathy Olson. Trustee Kelker reported the following proposed members of the Cottonwood task force: Parents: Pam Christiansen, Elizabeth Potter, Lee Gibb, Liane or Tom Frieders, Summer or Jim Gappa, Mike or Nancy Vermeulen, Mike or Rochelle Stock, and Andrea Chambers: Teachers Steve Wieder and Dani Kieckbusch;, and David Trost as the community member. She further reported that two parents from Miles Avenue would be sought and added at a later date. Trustee Mossman made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve those mentioned as members of the Cottonwood Task Force. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, and Sandra Mossman. The motion passed unanimously. Trustees Guthals and Trafford are ineligible to vote on elementary issues. LEGISLATIVE SESSION PLANNING Trustee Guthals reported it is important for the Board to determine how to meet with legislators and decide on how to communicate with the legislators during the legislative session. During the last legislative session, the Board invited the legislators and those running for office to meet with the Board and community leaders prior to the opening of the legislative session in January. Those present broke into six to eight separate groups to discuss the issues. That was followed by a question and answer session in order to reach a commonality. A follow-up meeting was held with the legislators who were elected. Once the legislative session began, the Board had a small committee who met with AA schools via video telecommunications. The committee members kept track of the bills passing through the session and sent information on the Board’s stand on those bills until the very last day of the session. Trustee Guthals asked if the Board wanted to have a meeting with the candidates, community members and parents. Trustee Kelker felt the notebooks made up for the last meetings were very helpful and should be done again. It was the consensus of the Board to have two sessions with the legislators before and after the election. Trustee Guthals suggested the Montana Quality Education Coalition’s remedy for school funding also be included in the notebook. Trustee Mossman felt the information on entitlements was very helpful to the legislators. It was decided that October 22 be the first meeting. It was decided that the second meeting date would be set after determining when the training sessions would be held for the newly elected legislators. Trustees Mossman and Guthals will meet with Jack Copps and Nancy Hines to plan the meeting. RESEARCH SURVEY ON SCHOOL FACILITIES Trustee Aragon reported The Center for Built Environment at the University of California is embarking on a study of trends in classroom buildings across the country. She recommended that the District take advantage of this as it addresses improvement of facilities. The study would be free to the District. The information from the study would be received by the District by January. Superintendent Copps stated it is an open survey that asks the employees to answer questions on the environment of the work place. Trustee Gesuale felt it was valuable if it was district wide. Trustee Trafford believed it would establish benchmarks for satisfaction. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Aragon: Motion to authorize the superintendent to have School District 2 participate in the survey, as may be feasible, with him todetermine the representative schools that would participate. The decision to participate and the level of participation would be at the discretion of the Superintendent with no mandatory instruction from the Board. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. INFORMATION ON NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND RESULTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS Superintendent Copps reviewed the normal distribution curve that shows ‘A’ students equaling students who are failing. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted by a federal law put into motion in 2001. Mr. Copps stated some kind of test value must be found that is reliable. NCLB sets percentages for students to be proficient and increases each year. There are subgroups such as special education, racial/ethnic groups, etc. If one groups fail a test, the entire district fails. In 2006, 83% of schools in our District met annual yearly progress (AYP). In 2007, 93% of schools met AYP but 2008 shows only 41% met AYP with 12 out of 30 schools passing No Child Left Behind. If one would look at the district as a whole without looking at subgroups, the numbers change drastically. Mr. Copps felt NCLB needed to be reauthorized by congress. A yearly analysis will have to be done to determine where students are doing better. Students in 8th grade math are doing very well and are above the passing line, but 10th graders test out lower than the line. Eventually all schools in the state will fail AYP unless they are so small that they do not have subgroups. Mr. Copps stated one suggestion to improve scoares was to put 8th grade students into algebra in the freshman year and geometry in the sophomore year. Trustee Fox felt they should also look at how this District teaches math. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT Superintendent Copps reported enrollments are fluctuating so much at this time that it is hard to get a handle on them. Stronger numbers will be available after the October 1st count. Mr. Copps stated, if he were to speculate, elementary numbers are increasing and high school numbers are dropping, which is typical across the state. Mr. Copps further reported that the lawsuit regarding inadequacy for educational funding is going back to the courtroom a week from today in Helena. Mr. Copps stated that construction workers ruptured a gas line by Bench Elementary, which caused an evacuation of the school. The parents of the 320 students were notified within one minute using the emergency phone system. Classes will resume tomorrow. BROADWATER FACILITY TASK FORCE CONT’D. Trustee Aragon made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the members of the Broadwater Facility Task Force as follows: ParentsWendy or Jason Jam, John or Mary Dyre, Rachael or Gary Romei, Jodi or Craig Cockburn, Dennis or Jen Deppmeier, LuAnn or Weldon Birdwell, Erik & Julie Anderson, and Nate Allie; Community members Jim Hartung and Sheryl Alpers; Counselor Maureen Klaboe and Teacher Travis Niemeyer; and Principal Lee Kvilhaug. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, and Sandra Mossman: Trustees Guthals and Trafford are ineligible to vote on elementary issues. The motion passed unanimously. MTSBA REPORT Trustee Guthals reported he is a District designee on the Montana School Board Association (MTSBA). At the recent meeting of the MTSBA, the resolutions were reviewed for the upcoming MTSBA session during the legislative session. One of the resolutions proposed would authorize school boards to elect to pay trustees but it was not received well. Another resolution was for legislation to allow a high school trustee of combined districts to serve as chair of the school board. The resolution was drafted in official form and presented to the MTSBA meeting on Friday, August 22nd. This resolution received approval as an action item for the delegate assembly. But the delegate assembly did not approve either resolution. It was felt this is the wrong time to ask taxpayers to pay for trustees due to the economy. Trustee Gesuale said that this District is unique as it is the only one in the State that has single-member districts. Trustee Guthals reported this District is allowed to have four delegates and if there would have been four delegates present, it would have been a tie vote for high school trustees serving as chair. Opposition was received from the other AA districts. Trustee Guthals stated he was told to introduce it into the legislative session to see if it would pass. Other resolutions that did pass included one for school funding that states the MTSBA supports enforcement of the Columbia Falls case including the timeline for implication and that MTSBA supports all remedies. There is also a resolution that passed to clear up a few items on school elections, which would help to make them less expensive. Another resolution is for impact fees for developers. There are some areas of the State that do have impact fees. MTSBA will also support efforts for health care, more flexibility for distance learning, and support efforts for dual credit programs. Trustee Guthals reported another issue to be addressed is bonding capacity with building reserves being included in bonding capacity. There will be legislation that would allow districts to combine bonding capacities in the two districts. Another issue is support of funding of all students who have not turned 20 but are 19 years old. There is also legislation that would support alternative high school diplomas and would support passage of mill levies for higher education. Trustee Guthals reported that the Montana Consortium of Educational Leadership (MCEL) convention will be held in Billings and would begin on October 15th and would end on October 17th. He urged all members to participate if possible. The AA Caucus will begin at 4:40 on October 15th. MONTHLY LEGAL REPORT There are no pending new cases and no long-term suspensions. BUDGETING FOR RESULTS REPORT Trustee Goodrich reported the Board, a few years ago, decided to implement the budgeting for results process. There was a concern that budgets seem to be a process of adding an inflationary factor and it seemed that the District was not upfront as to how the budgets came together. The Board was concerned on how to sell the public in terms of results and reorienting the budget process. The Board decided to implement a new committee, Budgeting for Results, and some of the process has occurred in the 10% of the budget that is not taken up by salaries. Trustee Goodrich stated he wanted to revisit the concept of budgeting for results and bring it forward at the October Board meeting. He reported the focus would be on technology, facilities, the business office, and then the high school and elementary districts. Trustee Goodrich suggested a practice run be done this year and then follow that process in future years. BILLS PAID – AUGUST 2008 The bills were reviewed by the Budgeting for Results Committee. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Goodrich: Motion to approve the bills paid for August 2008. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. The following are the bills paid: Claims $2,351,900.16 ACH Tax Deposits 346,499.37 Payroll Warrants & Direct Deposits 1,143,966.35 Procurement Card 241,078.58 INTERCAP Loan 77,100.31 (Network Infrastructure & Vehicle purchases) TOTAL $4,160,544.77 FINANCIAL REPORTS – AUGUST 2008 (UNAUDITED) Budgeting for Results reviewed the financial reports. Those reports received are as follows: CS101 Account Expenditure by Fund CS102 Account Receipts by Fund CS105 State of Estimated and Actual Revenue CS108 Object Cost Analysis PERSONNEL REPORT Trustee Goodrich made the following motion with a second by Peter Gesuale: Motion to accept the Superintendent’s employment recommendations as presented in the personnel report. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Fox voiced her concern that there were no longer reading tutors in the elementary schools. CONSENT AGENDA Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Goodrich: Motion to approve and accept the items within the Consent Agenda without objection to recommended action. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Katharin Kelker, Sandra Mossman, and Tim Trafford. The motion passed unanimously. The following are those items approved: Regular Board Meeting Minutes, August 18, 2008\ Special Board Meeting Minutes, August 11, 2008 Budgeting for Results Minutes, august 11, 2008 Meth Survey Approval Trustees’ Financial Summary FY2007-08 Approve Committee Member Approve Bus Runs FY2008-09 1st Floor Restrooms/Office Renovation-Adult Education As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Katharin Kelker, Chair Diane Blevins, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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