coen Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 Board of Trustees, School District No. 2, Yellowstone County and Billings High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Special Board Meeting Billings, Montana Call to Order The Special Board Meeting of the Board of Trustees, School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, was held at Lincoln Center, 415 N 30th, Billings, Montana, Monday, May 4, 2009. Trustee Kathy Kelker called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. Members present included Trustees Peter Gesuale, Mary Jo Fox, Katharin Kelker, Kathy Aragon, Malcolm Goodrich, via phone, Superintendent Jack Copps, and District Clerk Leo Hudetz. CTA Architecture Engineers included Keith Rupert, Karen Kelly, and Kristine Keller. JGA Architecture Firm included John Eisen and Terral Sukut. Registered guests included Travis Niemeyer, Elizabeth Potter, Roger Webber-Dereszynski, Carolyn Caefield Chakos, Sandy Weiss, Jon Dyre, Terral Sukut, Steven Wieder, Jerry Hansen, Anne-Marie Wade, Will Ralph, Rick Leuthold, Casey & Kerra Olson, Jaq Quanbeck, Karen Hall, Corby & Renee Freitag, Chris Capetanakis, Karin Lucas, Sandra Abraham, Kristen Graves, Ann Miller, CeCi Bentler, Aimee Brown, Nicole Chakos, Eran Thompson, Josi Wilgus, Lisa Posada Griffin, Jim Hartung, B Joan Holbrook, Nancy Boyer, Julie Anderson, Janet Cole, Mike Walker, Jeffrey Kay, Heather Rahr, Beth Ross, Jennifer Molk, Barb Bryan, Sue Baker, Paige Darden, Karen Maxwell, Nancy Dimich, Kristi Brenden, Angie Gray, Andrea Chambers, Shauna Kerr, Julie Seedhouse, Becky Shay, Maggie Martinez-Brink, Alex & Kristin Brady, Tricia Parkan, and Julie Morris. 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. Sue Baker requested the bond issue not be put on the ballot until further fact finding missions and transparent discussions including what the entire community expects in the school system are done. Jeffrey Kay voiced his support for the Task Force plans. He urged the Board to combine the two bond issues and run them as one bond issue. Nancy Dimich urged the Board not to run a bond as it would be fiscally irresponsible by the Board. She voiced concern regarding the lack of planning and public input. B. Joan Holbrook voiced concerns regarding school closures if other schools are built, controversial mega school concept, operating funds shortfalls, and flat enrollments. Janet Cole is in favor of presenting the bond election to the public for McKinley. Nancy Boyer suggested there are many issues and questions that have not been answered. She would like to see the district partner with the community for support and see the planning process re-visited. She urged the Board not to put the bond election forward. Lisa Pasada Griffin voiced concerns regarding how long term decisions are made and implemented in the community. She urged the Board not to put forth the bond issue to the public. Jennifer Howe encouraged the Board to look at the work and history of the Twenty Year Planning Committee in order to develop a plan the community will support. She urged the Board to address past mistakes of school closures. Eran Thompson voiced concerns regarding crumbling schools, deferred maintenance, and the need for diversity in the community. He feels the district has failed to maintain schools and urged the Board not to move forward with the bond issue. Paige Darden voiced the concern that there is a disconnect between the Committees and the Board. She feels the Board did not follow their own policies. She urged the Board not to move forward with the Bond election. Nicole Chakos urged the Board not to move forward with a bond issue until the funds to operate schools are identified. She suggested posting the OPI ANB numbers on the district web-site. Jim Hartung urged the Board to vote against holding a bond issue any time soon until strategic planning is done. He suggested the district needs to build trust with the community so mill levies and bond issues will pass. Aimee Brown urged the Board to vote no to the bond issue due to the discord within the community regarding this issue. She suggested the Board has failed to use their own planning process and failed to work with the city. Kerra Olson supports all three issues and feels the issues are crucial to the development of the city. She would like to know the Board’s current plan to address the growing overcrowding in neighborhood schools. Sandy Abraham is concerned that with schools being filled to capacity specialty rooms will have to be turned into classrooms. Mary Jo Fox made the motion seconded by Kathy Aragon to expand the public comment period to allow comments for everyone that has filled out a sheet and allow them the same amount of time that everybody else has had. Those voting in favor were Peter Gesuale, Mary Jo Fox, Kathy Kelker, Kathy Aragon, and Malcolm Goodrich. The motion passed unanimously. Jaq Quanbeck urged the Board to postpone the bond issue until more planning is done. She suggested the district include more community stakeholders in the planning. Shauna Kerr thanked the Task Force Committees members for the plans brought forth to the Board. She is advocating separating the two bond issues as the Broadwater and McKinley bond issue is a separate issue from the Cottonwood bond issue. She disagrees with the comments that no district long term planning has been done and believes the community deserves a chance to vote on the work the Committees have done. Ce Ci Bentler urges the Board to vote no to the bond issues. She believes ushering in the mega-school concept to the loss of neighborhood schools is a big philosophical change to how we educate our children and lay out our city. She encouraged the Board to wait for the 2010 census data, follow their own planning policies, act quickly with transparency and public input. Josie Wilgus asked the Board not to put the bond issue on the ballot due to many unanswered questions. She feels it is deceptive to ask the public to support the bond issue when the operating funding has not been identified. She feels the three page facility plan is inadequate and the subsequent phases calls for the closing of schools. She suggested a transparent open master plan for the whole district which includes city planning input. Sandy Weiss encourages neighborhood schools and urges the Board to vote no or postpone the bond issues. Report From The Broadwater, Cottonwood, and McKinley Task Forces Julie Anderson, Broadwater Task Force Chair and Kevin Odenthal, McKinley Task Force Chair reported their committees’ recommendation is to renovate the original building and construct a new addition that will be sympathetic to the original historical design, but will not be a replication of the original historic building. Julie Anderson and Kevin Odenthal stated their members did not reach a consensus regarding the bond issue. David Trost, Cottonwood Task Force Chair reported the committee recommendation is to build a new school. The committee supports combining the two bond issues into one bond issue and presenting the bond issue to voters. CTA Architect Engineers and JGA Architect firms previously provided a report to the Board of Trustees. Each firm provided a summary report which included designs, floor plans, elementary school program comparisons, costs, schedules, etc. of their respective schools. Bond Issue Election Kathy Kelker reviewed the historical context in which the Board set up the Task Force Committees. The Task Force Committees were charged with one task, to design a school, not to be obligated to be in the politics of passing a bond issue. Kathy Kelker reported the Board used the bond issue process as a way of addressing deferred maintenance. The Board believes the public will support relatively smaller projects, such as the renovations of Orchard and Ponderosa that can be completed in a shorter amount of time. The Board believes in order to achieve life safety issues and equality of education for students, McKinley and Broadwater’s infrastructure requires improvements and a new school was planned to ease overcrowding in the Arrowhead area. Kathy Kelker on behalf of the Board thanked the Task Force Committees for providing concrete plans that can eventually be incorporated into the facilities plans the community promotes. Mary Jo Fox made the motion for the Broadwater, Cottonwood, and McKinley projects to be put forward for a bond election. Hearing no second the motion failed. Kathy Kelker asked Mary Jo Fox if the motion was to affirm the bond election. Mary Jo Fox replied yes. Malcolm Goodrich is concerned with the operational shortfall for the next fiscal year. Malcolm Goodrich suggested that if the bond election is put forth to the public and it does not pass it may negatively affect the out come of a mill levy the district may have to run in the spring of 2010. Malcolm Goodrich made a two part motion. The first to accept the work of the study groups with a great degree of thankfulness and a job well done. The second part of the motion is not to run a bond election in the fall of 2009. The motion was seconded by Peter Gesuale. Those voting in favor were Malcolm Goodrich, Peter Gesuale, and Kathy Aragon. Those voting against were Mary Jo Fox and Kathy Kelker. The motion carried. Mary Jo Fox stated she believes her role as a Trustee is to identify needs, prioritize those needs, share the needs with fellow Board members, and then put forth the needs to the public. Mary Jo Fox stated Broadwater and McKinley are neglected and unsafe for children, the public, and especially the disabled public. Mary Jo Fox suggested it is the Board’s responsibility to address the long term facilities maintenance plan and bring the buildings up to par. Mary Jo Fox suggested due to the public repeatedly rejecting mill levies for operating funds it limits Board decisions and makes difficult budget cuts. Mary Jo Fox believes voters should be asked to consider the bond issues and not putting the bond election forth limits the public’s right to participation in the process. Peter Gesuale suggested the budget process is more complicated than it appears to the public. Peter Gesuale reported that the Board has heard public concerns and believes the Board has been more dedicated to moving through issues. Peter Gesuale is concerned with the public perception of the concept of “mega-schools”. He does not believe three class sections per grade constitutes a mega-school. Peter Gesuale thanked the Task Force Committees and acknowledged the task force work was useful and provides information the trustees did not have before. Peter Gesuale suggested the Board could move rapidly on the long range planning in a process that is more visible to the community; possibly as soon as the next Board meeting to create a more comprehensive plan. Kathy Aragon suggested the Board produce a “reality based plan” with the planning and development committee conducting due diligence. Kathy Aragon believes the Board did not follow their own planning policies and a plan was created independently and without thought for the cities growth plan and census data. Kathy Araron stated the plan was not vetted through the public process. Kathy Aragon suggested moving forward quickly with a plan the community can support after questions by the public have been addressed. Kathy Kelker asked Malcolm Goodrich if the intent of his motion indicates, “never” or “not to run the bond issue this fall” in regards to putting forth the three projects by the Task Force Committees. Malcolm Goodrich stated his intent was not never, but at the appropriate time after more planning. Board members presented certificates and a copy of their respective plans to each Task Force Committee member. Adjournment As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. _____________________ Katharin Kelker, Chair _____________________ Brenda Cross, 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.