Board Retreat, September 28, 2009

[Diane Blevins]

Proceedings of the Board of Trustees

District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

September 28, 2009

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

The Board Retreat 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 28, 2009, at 5:30 p.m.

 

Members present included Trustees Kathy Aragon, Dawn Achten, Joyce Weber, Joel Guthals, Malcolm Goodrich, Mary Jo Fox, Teresa Stroebe, Barbara Bryan, Peter Gesuale, Superintendent Jack Copps, and District Clerk Leo Hudetz. Administrators present included Gail Surwill, Nancy Hines, Carrie Miller, Thomas Harper, Dan Martin, Scott Anderson, Dave Williams, Kathy Olson, and Rich Whitney.

 

Registered guests included Clay Herron, Paige Darden, Amy Griffin, and Jeff Weldon.

 

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.

 

Jeff Greenfield, BEA President, addressed the Board regarding collective bargaining action on several issues presented in the report from the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Facility Issues. He stated he believed in a strategic plan but felt the hiring of a consultant was a waste of money. Mr. Greenfield checked out one consulting firm in the report that only had one employee who had a degree. He took exception with the statement contained within the report that teachers had received 120% over the cost of inflation for the past few years. He also took exception to the term ‘expertise’ in the report as there are people within the District who have ‘expertise’. Mr. Greenfield stated that everything must be looked at, including elementary. Mr. Greenfield reported he was offended that the BEA was listed as a possible donor to fund a consultant to look at how education is administered.

 

BOARD LEGALITIES

 

Jeff Weldon, District counsel, reviewed several issues for the Board members. Emails among Board members can be construed as violating the open meeting laws for Montana as they do not have the benefit of public participation if there is a quorum of the Board. This applies to both private Board members’ email accounts and the District’s email system. There are only two ways in which a meeting can be closed to the public: 1) if it exceeds the public’s right to know; and 2) in matters of litigation. The Chair asked how Board members should reply to the public’s inquiries. Mr. Weldon stated, by state law, at each meeting there must be a time where the public is allowed to speak. The public should also be given the opportunity to speak during a particular agenda item. The public may comment after a motion and before the vote on an issue on the agenda.

 

Mr. Weldon addressed past practices of the Board. If a public person wants to make a statement, it is allowed that the person may speak before the Board. District Clerk Leo Hudetz reported the Chair could state that anyone wishing to speak should fill out the form and turn it into the Clerk.

 

Mr. Weldon stated the duties of the Board include adopting policies of the District, hiring and firing staff, evaluating the Superintendent’s performance, hiring and evaluating the District Clerk, set the budget, and expel a student when necessary. The Board may not do anything to promote the passage of a ballot issue, such as a bond or mill levy, but members could go out on their own under a recent change in state law. The duties of the Board for long-term suspensions will change where the Board would just act on expulsions. Trustee Stroebe asked if the State requires the Board to develop a list of goals. Mr. Weldon reported that is an administrative role.

 

REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATION

 

Superintendent Copps reviewed the list of vision and beliefs as developed by administrators. A new system, the Cognos System, is in place to see how everyone is doing in the classroom and might be able to, in the future, put together an improvement plan for a teacher.

 

Mr. Copps reported the strategic plan calls for a review of the mission statement and to get the best possible input from the community as to what they see the vision is for the schools that they own. It is the intent to get community level participation in order for the strategic plan to work.

 

Mr. Copps shared the core values as set forth by the administrators of the COLT team. The Office of Public Instruction requires a five-year comprehensive plan.

 

DISCUSSION OF REPORT FROM AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE ON FACILITY ISSUES

 

The Chair stated the Board may decide if the report from the facilities subcommittee should go before the Planning & Development Committee.

 

Trustee Guthals stated he appreciated the hard work of the subcommittee and the report presented. He voiced his concern about committee addressing issues beyond the mission given to it by the Board. He stated he was in favor of the concept of a strategic plan but was concerned with some of the arguments that support the recommendations to develop a strategic plan. Trustee Guthals also voiced his concern about some of the data that was used and felt the Board needed to make sure of the accuracy of the data. He felt the comments on the lack of maintenance priorities is a source of angst in the community and felt the lack of maintenance was not related to the lack of planning but due to the fact there is a lack of funding. Trustee Guthals wanted less arguments on why the District needs a plan. He reported he would not accept the report but would vote to receive it. Trustee Guthals stated the items listed on page iv of the report from the committee are being addressed by the Budgeting for Results (BFR) Committee at this time. He felt, if the report recommendations were followed, there would be a number of meetings in the community that he would not be able to participate in due to his duties in his office. He said, currently, there are many open meetings that the public are invited to and can voice their concerns. He felt it was important to get the word out regarding strategic planning and do it during the regular meeting process.

 

Trustee Stroebe urged the Board not to overlap the duties of the various committees. She urged the Board to look at the committees as there may be better ways to divide issues and involve the community in the plan.

 

Trustee Goodrich stated he was concerned about planning for facilities as the Board might not always be sure how that facility sed in 10-20 years from now. He felt it was hard to develop a long-range facilities plan when the future is not known. He was concerned about some of the things in the report, he was still digesting information; and the consultant cost bothers him because a few years ago, the District actually investigated hiring an outside facilitator for the buildings for a price of $150,000. At that time, the public felt the work should be done internally to save money. He believed it might be possible to pay for a facilitator out of the Crossroads account as it was set up for capital improvements. If the Board does not get a levy passed by the voters in 2009/10, the District will be in dire straits. The Board must be cognizant of the community and he felt they needed vision and strategic planning. The Chair felt the message needed to get to the public as the District has a high number of retired people who do not have a stake in the District. The District must be diligent in how we use the funding it receives and it also needs to focus on a more comprehensive Budgeting for Results (BFR) process.

 

Trustee Fox thanked the subcommittee for their work. She felt strongly that the District needs a strategic plan. She wanted to see a strategic plan that may not need a consultant to do work which is available internally. Trustee Fox voiced her concerns: 1) she felt there were too many editorial comments in the report; 2) statements were included that do not have data to back them up; 3) as a Board, we need to agree on some issues; and, 4) we need to get close to the concept of neighborhood schools if possible. Trustee Fox felt there were things in the report that the Board members could agree upon and the Board should not continue to beat up on all the past plans as it hurts the purpose of selling the plan to the public. She felt some projects should move forward and the Board needs a unified front.

 

Trustee Weber stated she agreed with Trustee Fox and that the Board could get quagmired in the planning and not accomplish anything. She stated the Board needs to make sure it provides a safe place for students to go to school.

 

The Chair asked the members if the issue should go to the Planning & Development Committee or the Board. Trustee Fox felt the Board should work on it during its regular meetings in order to address the concerns of Trustee Guthals. Trustee Achten agreed with Trustee Fox as the Board needs to gain community input and to show them that we want openness.

 

Trustee Gesuale stated the subcommittee felt a lack of direction which will continue to be a problem as long as the Board has not gone through a planning process itself. He felt that strategic planning was the responsibility of the Board and should be done at the Board level.

 

The Chair asked the members if they felt they need to develop their own core values. Trustee Gesuale felt the Board should develop their core values. Trustee Fox agreed but wanted the public to aid in the development of those values. Trustee Achten believed the Board needed to take into consideration the Central Office Leadership Team’s (COLT) core values as they know how to teach the children. Trustee Gesuale felt the administration needed to hear a clear vision from the Board. Trustee Achten did not feel the Board needed to hire a consultant as there are people in the District who could give the Board the necessary information. Trustee Guthals suggested the Board take the plan one step at a time beginning with the mission statement at an upcoming Board meeting, then a vision statement could be developed at the following meeting. Trustee Aragon wanted to look at the mission statement and the core values first. She believed the Board would need to have some difficult discussions on neighborhood schools and base their priorities on reality. Trustee Aragon emphasized that any strategic plan developed must be used when setting budgets and determining priorities.

 

The Chair asked if the Board could take the 3rd task of Attachment #5 and try to make sure data is agreed upon as it relates to core values? Trustee Stroebe recommended the Board include the in-house people with outside people to decide what is wanted by the Board. Trustee Weber stated it was important to take into consideration the economic times when determining if funds should be spent on outside consultants. Trustee Aragon suggesting using the Montana School Board Association’s (MTSBA) expertise in developing a strategic plan. The Chair felt that the MTSBA could be contacted to aid in developing the strategic plan. He further suggested that the Board investigate inviting MTSBA to help in the narrowing focus for the Board’s goals. The Chair reported he will try to schedule it for the next meeting in October. Trustee Guthals volunteered to contact Lance Melton at the MTSBA to see about the October meeting to walk the Board through the process and what other people could do to help. Trustee Stroebe recommended blending their people with the District’s people. Trustee Bryan reported the subcommittee did not feel this report would be adopted by the Board. Trustee Fox felt the most important facility projects to consider are the ones at McKinley and Broadwater.

 

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Malcolm Goodrich, Chair

 

 

Diane Blevins, Recorder