coen Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Cottonwood Task Force Minutes – January 26th, 2009 Call to Order The Cottonwood Task Force Committee of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County and High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana met at St Johns Lillis Center on Monday, January 26th, 2009. David Trost called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm. Committee members present were: Andrea Chambers, Liane Frieders, Summer Gappa, Lee Gibb, Dani Kieckbusch, Jim Majerus, Elizabeth Potter, David Trost and Steven Wieder. Ex-Officio members present were: Nancy Hines, Kathy Kelker, and Kathy Olson. JGA staff present were John Eisen and Terral Sukut. Others in attendance were Angie Grey and Teri DeRudder, Admin. in training, and Todd Cormier, concerned parent and Civil Engineer for City of Billings. David asked if there were any objections or changes to the Agenda. There being none the agenda was approved by unanimous consent. David asked if there were any objections to the minutes from the January 12th meeting. There being none the minutes were approved by unanimous consent. Public Communication – Todd Cormier, who resides at 3835 Fairmeadow Drive stated that in the next school year his three children will be going to 3 different schools, Arrowhead, Meadowlark and Will James. He was at the meeting to show his support for the new school. Nancy Hines introduced herself as the Director of Communications for School District #2. She said that she will do all she can to help publicize our public meeting. John Eisen then asked the task force to review the Guiding Principals paper that was passed out at the first task force meeting on October 13th. He asked if the design chosen met the mark. Is it cutting edge but not over the top? Liane Frieders raised the question of what the budget range for this school would be and whether this design is possible to build within a budget that was not defined. Kathy Kelker reported that she presented to a Chamber of Commerce group and estimated that the budget might be between 11 to 12 million and much more work needed to be done before any solid number can be committed to. In a discussion regarding funding the school, Dani Kieckbusch made a motion that the Cottonwood Task Force would support a single district bond issue combining the work by all three facility tasks forces. The motion was seconded. After discussion, a motion was made by Steven Wieder to table the previous motion to explore with the other facility task forces regarding their progress and interest in a mutual communication by resolution to the School Board. The motion to table was seconded and approved unanimously. David facilitated a discussion preparing for the committees upcoming public presentation. A discussion was held about the School Board’s work session in which a presentation about the Cottonwood Taskforce took place. David facilitated a discussion about developing the “agenda” for the public presentation. Major Agenda points were: • Identify and communicate the “needs” to build a school o Supporting the neighborhood school model o Ease overcrowding at certain schools o Minimize and eliminate neighbors from commuting to 5 different schools • Focus on Neighborhood Education • Focus on Serving the Community o Possible motto… Educate the Neighborhood, Serve the Community. • Establish that the community/Neighborhoods already exist and will grow based on growth plans and development progress. • Hold up the quality in other schools, specifically at Orchard. Compare and contrast that a brand new school should embrace the ideas of Orchard and capture the opportunities of being brand new. • Present a timeline of major School Construction and locations. The committee agreed to hold the public presentation on February 18 at 7 pm at Will James Middle School. David asked each member to express where they were at, how they were feeling about our process and to keep it to 30 seconds. The next meeting will be on February 9th at 6 pm at the St. John’s Lillis Center, 2429 Mission Way. The primary focus is preparing the presentation. There being no other business, David Trost adjourned the meeting at 8 pm. Adjournment David Trost, Co-Convener Karen Frizzell, Recorder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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