Special Meeting of February 28, 2005

[Diane Blevins]

Proceedings of the Board of Trustees

District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

February 28, 2005

 

Call to Order

 

The Special 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, February 28, 2005, at 12:00 p.m.

 

Those present included: Superintendent Rod Svee, Clerk Leo Hudetz, Dale Getz, Conrad Stroebe, Katharin Kelker, Judith Herzog, Karen Moses, Gene Jarussi, Malcolm Goodrich, and Stephanie Krueger. Mike Dimich was absent.

 

Registered guests included Julie Brown, Chip Alwood, and Ira Anderson.

 

Orchard Elementary Addition/Renovation – 2005

 

Rich Whitney met with the Business Committee to review the Orchard addition/renovation project. The committee approved the bid award to Hardy Construction for $4,327,000. By letting the contractors know who was awarded the bid, it lets the subcontractors and suppliers schedule their workload for the summer. The bidder for Meadowlark was significantly over budget and it is felt Ponderosa might also be over budget. An evaluation process will be done to make minor changes in the designs to lower the bids. Value engineering is done during the design process to assure the renovations will be economical to build. It looks at everything in the construction project and price fluctuations.

 

Dan Martin reported the projected cost for Boulder is $500,000, Meadowlark $1,600,000, Orchard $5,400,000 and Ponderosa is $1,600,000. The budget is short but the solution would be to look at what the site committees have developed that has value for those people in the schools, and look at the building funds. The buildings funds have been held whole in the last few years. Mr. Martin suggested it is time to take as much as $500,000, which would leave a considerable amount. The building fund is currently $980,000. The $500,000 could be used to try to fund the alternates the site committees have developed. Mr. Martin also recommended putting the Highland HVAC project into the building reserve levy.

 

Trustee Goodrich made the following motion with a second by Trustee Jarussi:

 

Motion to approve the base bid on Orchard Elementary.

 

Those voting in favor were Dale Getz, Katharin Kelker, Karen Moses, Gene Jarussi, Malcolm Goodrich, and Stephanie Krueger. The motion passed. Trustees Herzog and Stroebe are ineligible to vote on elementary issues.

 

The Chair stated the study session portion of the meeting would now begin.

 

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.

 

Julie Brown voiced her concerns over issues that she felt continue at Skyview: lack of administrative follow-up; lack of administrative leadership and integrity; and, lack of documentation. Lorraine Hanson stated she felt administration was covering up for faculty’s bad behavior. Chip Alwood stated the Board still has not investigated what was asked to be conducted by the parents, which is the policy that does not exist. When he filed his report, no one spoke to him or his daughter.

 

 

 

Skyview Appeal Work Session

 

Superintendent Svee stated he contacted Bea Kaleva to conduct the investigative review of the incident at Skyview High School. Ms. Kaleva reviewed the scope of the investigation and the chronology of incidents. She did not re-investigate the incident. Her investigation was only to see if policies and procedures were followed. The individuals interviewed included Rod Svee, Bob Whalen, Carol Wicker, Jane Stevens, Jeff Weldon, Bruce Raw and Larry Martin.

 

Ms. Kaleva referred to investigative notes in her recounting of the investigation. On September 8, 2004, prior to the beginning of school, a student walked into an area called the nest and found a compromising situation by two staff members. The male staff member came out and indicated to the student not to tell anyone what was seen. The student reported the incident to her mother who made contact on September 9th with a counselor prior to school beginning. The counselor met with both parents that morning but his notes do not show what the student saw. There is a dispute as to what was said between the mother and the counselor. Mr. Whalen was called in briefly as he was in an IEP CST meeting. The staff members have denied the sexual implication but the male staff member stated he did ask the student not to tell anyone of the incident. Mr. Whalen met with each staff member individually to determine if there was any change in his or her responses. There were no changes. Mr. Whalen gave a letter of reprimand to the staff members indicating there might be more consequences to follow. The mother of the student phoned back on Friday to find out what had been done. At that time, he found out the specifics, which were of a sexual misconduct nature. Mr. Whalen was unable to reach Mr. Svee but informed him of the incident at the Friday, September 10th football game. On September 13th, Mr. Whalen met with the father of the student and assured him that consequences would be forthcoming. The father directed Mr. Whalen to keep the identity of the student confidential and to be the only one in the school to speak to the student. The father declined the services of a female counselor for his daughter.

 

Mr. Whalen met with the student on September 13th to determine how she was doing. She indicated everything was fine and was not experiencing any negative consequences. She stated she had seen the teacher’s bare butt but was not able to see the other teacher. Mr. Whalen re-interviewed the staff members who affirmed they were not undressed but were attired in shorts as they had jogged that morning. On September 14th, Rod Svee, Jeff Weldon, Bob Whalen, Carol Wicker and Dave Williams met and discipline was handed down.

 

Superintendent Svee stated, outside of the grievance procedure as outlined in the agreement, a written reprimand can be given with no loss of pay. Mr. Svee stated the Board is no longer a board of appeal and can now hear the details of the incident.

 

Ms. Kaleva reported a meeting was held with Mr. Svee and two members of the public on September 20th. One individual was the mother of the student. Concerns were raised at that time of the handling of the incident by building administration. On September 24th, Mr. Whalen again checked with the student to make sure everything was all right. On September 23rd, Mr. Svee spoke to the mother of the student and was informed she and the father were not comfortable with their daughter testifying. On September 29th, Mr. Whalen checked with the student and was again informed she was not experiencing any negative consequences. Between October 5th and 11th, complaints were filed challenging the decision that was made at the administrative level on the discipline. Mr. Svee responded on November 5th to the four complainants. On November 15th, an appeal was filed with this Board. Ms. Kaleva reported she was asked in a January letter to come to Billings to investigate the procedure used in regards to the policy.

 

Ms. Kaleva reported her investigation showed there was not a single piece of information in the District that states how an investigation should be conducted. Staff had indicated to her there was not enough training in that area. No staff members had seen the booklet put out by MTSBA on investigations and there are different ideas of how an investigation should be conducted. Ms. Kaleva recommended training in investigations for administrators and to develop a back-up person to handle the situation if another administrator is in an important meeting. Trustee Stroebe asked if Ms. Kaleva had contacted the county superintendent’s office for information. Ms. Kaleva indicated she had not but would contact that office.

 

Bea Kaleva stated she reviewed Policy 1700 and identified areas of concern: three of the four complainants were found not to have standing; and, there was a bypass of level three due to the severity of the complaint and a group response to the allegations should have been made more promptly. Part of the staff training should include walking staff through Policy 1700. Trustee Getz asked, in regards to this incident, if there was any evidence that the Superintendent was aware of other policy violations. Ms. Kaleva responded her investigation centered on Policy 1700 only.

 

Trustee Goodrich asked for an explanation of the ‘standing’ decision. Ms. Kaleva reported the other complaints were from parents who were concerned about the handling of the incident by administration but their children were not involved. She stated there needs to be a gatekeeper and Policy 1700 is designed to have a system on how to get to the Board.

Ms. Kaleva reported she found no evidence of a cover-up and there is a dispute as to what happened in the nest area on that morning by the student and teachers. No corroborating evidence was found to go ahead with further discipline. Ms. Kaleva reported there was no other history of incidents on file. On witness tampering, the teacher did make the statement he directed the student not to tell. Ms. Kaleva also determined the district does not have anything in writing on progressive discipline. She recommended policies or procedures be developed that would be uniform throughout the District. She felt there was a miscommunication between all the concerned parties.

 

Trustee Stroebe requested a written report from Ms. Kaleva at some point. He felt the Board should consider if the witness tampering does not belie why we do not have a witness and the District should have a policy that addresses intimidation of students. Ms. Kaleva encouraged the Board to identify the needs and have a procedure to address the best practices. Trustee Stroebe also felt there is a need to address the Board’s responsibility to deal with situations such as this one. He recommended the MTSBA packet be a part of the District’s procedure. Trustee Herzog agreed with Trustee Stroebe and, due to the extremely difficult situation, hoped the Board was never in this place again.

 

The Chair stated the Board: will receive a written report from Bea; would like to have a discussion and take action in terms of a procedure under Policy 1700 for investigations and training for administrators and any other policies that would need an investigation; determine how one considers the seriousness of a complaint; develop a standard of progressive discipline, which would also need a legal opinion; and, determine how independence is gained for an investigation.

 

As there was no further business, the study session ended at 2:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Katharin Kelker, Chair

 

 

 

Diane Blevins, Recorder