Planning and Development Committee Meeting, April 9, 2007

[Marta McAllister]

Proceedings of the Planning and Development Committee

School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

April 9, 2007

 

 

The Planning and Development Committee Meeting of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and the High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana was duly held at The Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, Monday, April 9, 2007 at 5:30 p.m.

 

Members present: Trustee Kathleen Aragon, Kathy Olson, Executive Director of Elementary Education, Scott Anderson, Executive Director of Secondary Education, Cheryl Malia- McCall, Margaret Aukshun, Jim Berry, Stan Jones, Al Bloomer, Cindy Gopp, and Alicia Manning. Also attending; Superintendent Jack Copps and Guest Speakers in attendance were Barbara Bryan and Randy Hafer

 

Sandra Mossman presided

 

Call to Order

 

Communication from the Public-There were no comments from the public

 

Approval for Planning and Development Committee Meeting Minutes February 12, 2007-

 

Kathleen made the motion for approval of the minutes and Cheryl seconded it. Al Bloomer questioned the wording of paragraph nine and thought it should be reworded. The paragraph would be amended.

 

Those who voted in favor were Kathleen Aragon, Kathy Olson, Scott Anderson, Cheryl Malia- McCall, Margaret Aukshun, Jim Berry, Al Bloomer, Stan Jones, Cindy Gopp, and Alicia Manning.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Billings Chamber of Commerce Education Task Force Presentation-

 

Chair Mossman introduced presenters Barbara Bryan and Randy Hafer, members of the 20- year Planning Committee.

 

Barbara Bryan reviewed their study results. The committee met in 2004. It was a committee comprised of diverse community members, who met approximately 32 times over a period of one year. The goal was to decide how to best serve the schools of District 2. They had included Anne Clancy, a professional consultant, and the public. Their focus was mainly high schools. They had people come in and talk to them and they participated in teleconferences. The 20- year Planning Committee looked at certain criteria to study. They polled 50 community groups and evaluated their ideas and ranked them. They discovered 50-75% of students do not graduate from college.

She discussed the Career Center and claimed students that go to the Career Center typically continue on to college. Kids that go to the Career Center could also go on to the College of Technology.

 

Barbara found it interesting that a recent drop out survey revealed that one of the reasons high school students drop out is relevance. The Career Center can be a solution. She said Tim Cranston did a computer model on local population and the enrollment trends for the committee. The model is close to the numbers we have today. It was determined in the year 2020, the state of Montana will have more people over the age of 55 than under the age of 18. Baby Boomer population has not been replaced. The committee determined that growth is split throughout the city. The homes are more expensive on the west end vs. the Heights. Transportation continues to improve and the City Highway Dept. will be working on the Northwest by-pass to connect Lockwood and the Heights that could affect growth in the schools.

 

Barbara said an issue for her was how to get public support for schools when only 19% of homes in Billings have school-aged children. She found people were concerned about economic development and the local economy. She claimed automatic civic support is no longer prevalent.

 

Things that might help increase support would be:

• Train students in school for a medical career, and be a part of the growing medical community.

• Train students to build a strong workforce here to work for large companies.

• Educate the kids to stay here as Montana has a critical workforce shortage. Montana has a shortage for nurses, construction workers, plumbers, and electricians. The COT has 2-year programs to address some of these needs and a 90% placement rate.

 

Another concern of the public was the Lincoln Center was primarily an administration building. They looked at the 9 administrators, Community Ed, Adult Ed, Human Resources, Dare, and various other departments housed there.

 

Ali Manning asked to clarify the Career Center.

 

Barbara Bryan explained that juniors/seniors in Billings Public Schools are allowed to go to the Career Center ½ day for electives. There are varied programs and the Career Center works with the COT. You could earn a certificate at the Career Center for a certified nurse’s assistant certificate and at the same time move towards an LPN, RN, and on to a nurse practitioner at the college level.

 

Al Bloomer asked if there are any surveys to determine how many students stay in Billings.

 

Chair Mossman said they could follow up on that data.

 

Anne Barlowe said there are many trade jobs in Montana available to students. Eighty percent of the jobs in Montana do not require a 4-year degree.

 

Ali Manning questioned at what level of education excellence is the goal.

 

Superintendent Copps stated that students who have a two-year degree earn a good salary. He used the example as a diesel mechanic. He said things are changing and so are the skills needed. He said 25% of students graduate from college.

 

Ali Manning asked if we were doing enough to prepare our kids for college.

 

Superintendent Copps stated that we sometimes direct students to a place they don’t belong. The students who don’t graduate aren’t necessarily failures. Various factors are cost, choices made, or other opportunities. The engineering department in Bozeman said the best thing the schools could do is offer pre-engineering course so the students will understand what this pathway looks like. This summer, District 2 is sending 2 teachers for training for 3-4 years at MSU to start a pre-engineering program, which will be coordinated with MSU to make sure students who choose this course, have a better chance of succeeding. As that happens, we are intentionally electing a higher-level curriculum to be at the Career Center with the programs that are already there. Eventually there will be a need for Advanced Placement classes. He said students shouldn’t feel like failures if they go to the Career Center.

 

Barbara Bryan reported they narrowed down their recommendations. The committee prepared documents for future planning committees to continue the process.

 

Randy Hafer reported that his research showed that the thinking process to fix the air system was not thought through thoroughly. He said the windows weren’t considered for improvement. After adding the cooling system at the Lincoln Center, it left a big capital cost along with an ongoing operating cost. This was exacerbated because it was decided now that there is an air system, a cooling coil could be added and there could be air conditioning. He said it didn’t make sense and the problem still isn’t fixed. He stated that most of the school buildings were designed before cheap energy was around but the buildings have tremendous assets that need to be understood. The facilities planner must look at what the buildings are designed for. We need educated citizenry to make it work. We need to change how we have been doing things.

 

Chair Mossman thanked the presenters for their input.

 

Al Bloomer questioned what they, as a committee, were to do with the current information they were given.

 

Chair Mossman encouraged the group to peruse the information that the 20-year Planning Committee put together. It would be discussed at the May meeting.

 

K-12 Education Update-

 

Superintendent Jack Copps updated the committee on the elementary school situation. He commented some of this information is repetitive information. He told the Planning and Development Committee that long- range planning is critical. The work of the 20-year committee is a living document and there is a lot of material that is of value and any effort for the future should build upon it. Copps stated the District pays a lot of money to engineers and architects that provide plans and designs. The district uses qualified people to make structural facility decisions. The district is now preparing to open Beartooth Elementary School in the Heights. Both engineers and architects are involved in that effort to make sure we are satisfying all the building codes, efficiencies, and make it ready for instruction. The estimate this district puts toward facility maintenance exceeds 80 million dollars. To best understand the space we have between students and high schools, the committee members need to go to one of the facilities for inspection. He recommended a visit to West high. Also, if they wonder about the deferred maintenance, they should visit West High as well.

 

He reported an update on the Career Center space.

1. He discovered the kids do not want to come to the Lincoln Center.

2. The Career Center has great possibilities.

3. The demand for the Career Center has far exceeded the space.

4. The West High freshman academy is currently using that space.

5. Superintendent Copps thought the West High academy could go to the Lincoln Center and administration leave Lincoln.

6. After further discussion, a facility utilization study was done at the Career Center and it became apparent that 125 additional students would have an opportunity at the Career Center, and it would reduce the classrooms at the academy by 3.

7. West High had a choice to accommodate the additional students, move the students back to the campus, or move the students to the Lincoln Center. It has been decided that additional students would be accommodated at the Career Center and the West High Academy students will stay at the Career Center through next year.

 

Superintendent Copps stated COT and MSU-B are very interested in partnerships with the Career Center. They view it as a feeder program into the COT and some instances to the campus of MSU-B. Also, there are plans to do additional things at COT to address all the workforce needs in the Billings community and region.

 

Superintendent Copps shared the fact that Billings doesn’t receive any monies for the Career Center from the state. The Billings community funds the Career Center.

 

Superintendent Copps reported on the Neighborhood School Concept. He firmly believes students do best in those schools. New subdivisions are planned and families want to know if their kids will go to West High School. He would answer those questions with a “No”. Enrollments at present are basically flat. The enrollments and demographics are changing and the pressure point (the edge of the community) is the Heights and West End communities. More kids will have to be bused to school. Young families will not be attracted to come to the community when they hear their child will have to be bused to a school not in their neighborhood.

 

Superintendent Copps reported on Full-Day Kindergarten. There is a bill that will provide for districts to have full-day kindergarten. It is voluntary not compulsory. The state will provide approximately 80% of the cost of those students to go to kindergarten. The community will have to pay the rest. In addition, up to this last week, the school districts also had to provide all the cost to prepare the facilities for those kindergarten students. At this point, the Legislature is planning to provide an additional 10 million dollars to the state for all the school districts to start kindergarten. Billings receives 10% of all money for public education from the state. That would mean Billings would receive 1.1 million to start up kindergarten. If Beartooth Elementary School opens, it will be ideal as those students in that area will not have to be bused. Below the rims, it is a mess. There is no room in neighborhood schools for kindergarten. Orchard Elementary and Rimrock Elementary could be schools that kindergarten students get bused to. ECI and Young Families would have to be moved from Rimrock Elementary to accommodate the students. He is not convinced that people understand how large Billings is. To demonstrate the size he used the example: If you combine all the students in Kalispell, Whitefish, Bozeman, and Havre, you still haven’t met the size of Billings’ schools. Billings has 16,000 students. He felt if we don’t protect our neighborhood schools, there will be a price to pay and that will be young families not moving here. He stated the price of an elementary school is reasonable. If it was built, it could be paid off in one year. There was discussion of large high schools. As the size of the high school increases so do the drop out rates. The AA districts exceed 20% dropout rate. He held that we need to ask ourselves what we want the size of our high schools to be 2000, 2200, 2400, or 3000. At-risk students are more likely to fall through the cracks in large schools. Students tend to find it easier to drop out in larger schools.

 

Scott Anderson shared that Senior High had 138 dropouts before the Academy and currently there are 62 student dropouts. It may not necessarily be the influence of the Academy as there are many variables to consider. The academy provides more one-on-one for the student. It is a fact that we are retaining more students to date. Freshman students that usually drop out, stay freshman the next year in the recovering program. Now they may be sophomore or juniors before they drop out. Scott declared we are retaining them, but questioned if we are in fact, finishing the journey. The longer you prolong that dropout, the better off they will be. He claimed they mature, they are older, and they will have more options in the community, and have a better chance of recovery success rate. Those that do drop out of school are afflicted with variables such as: drugs and home life. Currently, there are programs addressing those issues. The Truancy Department is helping tremendously with that. He completely disagreed with the idea of adding on to the large high schools. He also would like the academy students back in the schools, but in an environment that makes sense.

 

Superintendent Copps believes that Denver is in the process of trying to diminish the size of their high schools. The talk is that the ideal high school would have 800-1200 students.

 

Jim Berry asked if it had ever been addressed with the developers of these new communities that they charge extra fees to help with the growth issues in schools. He felt developers could charge a surcharge of $10,000.00.

 

Superintendent Copps stated there is a Montana law that you can charge impact fees for infrastructure for schools.

 

Al Bloomer asked where the fees would go.

 

Superintendent Copps said it could go right into the district. When there are new subdivisions built, the developer must provide for a park, not a school. The city council must approve the process of an impact fee. It would be difficult to collect impact fees in smaller developments.

 

Chair Mossman shared the Montana School Board Association brought forward an initiative on charging impact fees and it was quite controversial. The western part of the state-(Missoula area, Kalispell and Bozeman) were very interested but they had to have a unanimous vote of the commissioners. They were unable to get it passed because of the realtor lobbyists.

 

Chair Mossman stated the meeting time had expired and appreciated the attention the committee gave to looking at comprehensive planning as a group. She advised they look over the background and write down questions. Next time as a group, they will be looking at an analysis of the process what the committee will propose to the Board.

 

Al Bloomer addressed Chair Mossman that he felt lost in the direction of the committee. He would like to have more discussions.

 

Cindy Gopp wanted to know what the Board wanted from them.

 

Chair Mossman said the committee is grasping for their identity. She said they are an advisory committee. They are to participate in discussions and make recommendations to the Board. Some charges were put before the committee that the Board recommended that they take back and that was the education study of the district. She said they would stay more focused. The process of recommendations to the Board will be the focus of the next meeting.

 

Al Bloomer commented he would have liked to ask more questions of the presenters.

 

Jim Berry also shared Al Bloomer’s frustration of not knowing what they were to recommend to the Board.

 

Superintendent Copps stated that he senses the committee wants to make some decisions. He asked the committee if they felt overdosed with information. He told the committee if they want to narrow this down, they could zero in on the elementary district and ask questions what they want the district to look like 10-15 years from now. Do they want to continue to upgrade our existing elementary facilities where they are presently located and drive our population into those facilities, or do we want our facilities to move where the communities move. These are recommendations the committee can make. Copps said he could recommend to the Board that there should be a new elementary school located at the Cottonwood Park, and there should be a bond issue on it next November. He recommended the committee look at that. He told the committee the Board wants a long-term planning committee. They need to determine what the committee wanted for the future of the elementary schools. He was willing to take members on tours of the schools.

 

Al Bloomer asked Superintendent Copps and Chair Mossman what the committee could do to best serve the Board. He would like to talk to the presenters about the message, the messenger, and the terms of the planning, and other topic discussions. He would like to be able to spend more time in meetings addressing these issues.

 

Superintendent Copps said if the committee wanted specifics, he proposed the committee decide if the district should have a new school at the Cottonwood site. The committee responded yes, that is something to consider. The committee could decide what information they would need to help with that decision. The committee consensus was to answer that question and come up with a recommendation.

 

Chair Mossman said if the committee would prefer specific charges, other than those that were broad based, that could be accomplished. She recommended several members could be looking at research on specific topics and bring it to share with the rest of the committee to help with the bigger picture.

 

Cheryl Malia-McCall questioned if the land was already purchased for the school at Cottonwood Park. She questioned if building a new school needed to be debated. Copps said the land hadn’t been purchased but there is a 6 month deadline. She commented the committee shouldn’t be addressing things that are already in process. Her concern is addressing the kindergarten issue. She wanted to address how to handle the shifting of the students. She asked the committee members how to educate the population that doesn’t have children in school as to how it will affect them.

 

Al Bloomer would like to narrow down the targets and prioritize them.

 

Superintendent Copps said without the long-range planning committee jumping into the middle of this need for a new school or some other plan to accommodate these students, he will take it on his own and make his own recommendation to the Board. He welcomes discussion and help from the committee.

 

Superintendent Copps was asked if the legislature does not pass this money for kindergarten would all-day kindergarten not be implemented. When the legislature makes its final decision the District will know whether to go forward or not. He would prefer to have a full-time kindergarten program for the economically disadvantaged kids in the community. Full-day kindergarten will be commonplace in Montana and Billings will want to be a part of it. We have 21 elementary schools and we get the same base and titlement that Lockwood gets. It doesn’t matter how many schools you have or how many students you have, every school receives $30,000.00. Billings’ high schools get $150,000.00, as much as Ekalaka and Shepherd Schools. When we reach a certain number by Montana law, we have to deduct 50 cents per student from state resources we receive. It is called “decrement”. The idea is the more you can put in a single building, the more efficient, the greater economy scales, the bigger the district, the greater price you pay for that.

 

Sandra Mossman stated that Kathy, Scott and herself will meet to consider suggestions from the committee and come up with an agenda for next time.

 

 

As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm.

 

 

_____________________

Sandra Mossman, Chair

 

 

______________________

Barbara Gustafson, Recorder