Diane Blevins Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana August 18, 2008 CALL TO ORDER The Joint Meeting of the Broadwater, McKinley, and Cottonwood Task Forces 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 29, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. Members present included Trustees Katharin Kelker, Kathy Aragon, Superintendent Jack Copps, and District Clerk Leo Hudetz. Registered guests included Terry Sukut, Elizabeth Perius, Wendy Vessur, Lisa DuBeau, Steven Wieder, Jodi Cockburn, Wendy Jam, Summer Gappa, Karen Kelly, Bert Reyes, Heather Zindt, Jeffrey C. Kay, DanI Kieckbusch, Amy Griffin, Dennis Deppmeier, Jon Dyrs, David Trost, Andrea Chambers, Julie Anderson, Travis Niemeyer, Karin Lucas, Lee Kvilhaug, Kristen Graves, Ann-Marie Wage, Jim Hartung, Jim Majerus, Lee Gibb, Weldon J Birdwell, Becky Shay, Liane Fuches, Kevin Elizabeth Potter, Pam Christianson, Sara Olsgaard, Nate Allie, Michael Stock, Nancy Vermenlen, and Rachel Romei. Trustee Kelker reported one principal will serve on each of the task forces, but they are not there to talk a lot or run the meeting. She expressed her gratitude for those serving on the task forces. The Board has agreed on the mission, vision, values, assumptions and facilities plan. The boundaries will also have to be changed . Mrs. Kelker reviewed the mission, vision, values, and assumptions for the various task force members. A parent asked how long it has been since Broadwater or McKinley has been remodeled. The only work that has been done is a new furnace in the last 30 years. The annex on each building was constructed in the 1950’s. Another parent asked what the time frame was for a new school. The timeline is to build within 2 years. A parent asked why it is so hard to have equal opportunities for schools. It is a matter of money, as the District cannot afford to take care of all of the schools at once. Another question was, schools were closed, but there were concerns about classes in cellars, and what is wrong with Billings that we cannot get money out of the citizens. Mrs. Kelker responded that only 18% of people in Billings have children in the schools. Another question was if there was a limit for a bond issue. Superintendent Copps stated it is against the law for any school funds to go toward passing a bond that is why there is the Yes for Kids group. Property taxes have gone down so that public education taxes have gone down in the last 5 years. We are not using any of our funding capacity, which is at $290,000,000. Other schools are using all of their funding capacity. Mrs. Kelker reported that these 3 projects are being developed because these are the most acute problems. There are over 400 students who are bussed past their neighborhood school to attend a school that has lower enrollment. Additional housing projects have been approved by the City in the Arrowhead attendance area. The task forces are being asked to review alternatives that have been developed by the architects. There are 3 or 4 alternatives in each case. The time frame is to report back to the Board by May 4th and the task forces are asked to start immediately. Boundaries will also be changed but that is not the job of the task forces. The task forces will meet in Broadwater, McKinley and Arrowhead for the Cottonwood project. Architectural firms will facilitate the meetings. CTA Architects will work on the Broadwater and McKinley projects, and JTA will work on the Cottonwood project. The task forces will elect a chair who will run the meetings and set up agendas. The task force meetings will follow Robert’s Rules and the principal will act as the parliamentarian. The meetings will have to be announced in advance and open to the public. A District employee will take minutes and a portion of the meeting must be set aside for public communication. The task force members met in their group to elect the following: Broadwater Julie Anderson, Chair McKinley Kevin Odenthal, Chair Heather Zindt, Vice-Chair Cottonwood Mike Stock, Dave Trost, Steve Wieder, Chairs The first meeting for Broadwater will be October 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the Broadwater library. The first meeting for McKinley will be on October 14th at 6:00 p.m. at McKinley. The Cottonwood meeting will be held on October 13th at 6:00 p.m. at Arrowhead School. Katharin Kelker, Chair Diane Blevins, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.