Diane Blevins Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana August 20, 2007 Call to Order The Regular 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, August 20, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. Those present included: Trustees Joel Guthals, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Katharin Kelker, Kathy Aragon, Superintendent Jack Copps, and District Clerk Leo Hudetz. Trustees Dawn Achten, Tim Trafford and Sandra Mossman were excused. Registered guests included Jeff Greenfield, Jerry Hansen, 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. Dale Getz addressed the Board to introduce Jeff Kraft, the new Exxon Manager. Mr. Kraft stated he was looking forward to working with the Board on various issues. Approval of Agenda Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Guthals: Motion to approve the agenda. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Gifts and Donations Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Guthals: Motion to accept these gifts with gratitude. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. The following is the list of gifts and donations: Bitterroot – Julie Majeske, money Broadwater – Bill and Fran Rony, school supplies Meadowlark – Faith Chapel, painting, landscaping, purchasing and planting trees, providing sod and labor for the New greenbelt Sons of Norway, money and volunteering Orchard – Judy Moore, school supplies Senior High – Bess Lovec, television Update of District Instructional and Facilities Changes for 2007-2008 Kathy Olson, Executive Director of Elementary Education, report on the elementary schools. There are 60 new teachers in K-6 grades with a total of 364 classroom teachers for this year. There will be 53 sections of full-day kindergarten compared to 58 one-half time last year. Arrowhead has no kindergarten classrooms, as they will be on site at Rimrock. Newman’s kindergarten classes will be housed at Orchard. As Beartooth has been reopened, Cheryl McCall will be the principal. Rimrock has also been reopened and Mark Venner will be the principal. Beartooth has 330 students registered and 16 classrooms plus specialists. Rimrock will have 140 kindergarten students with 6 classroom teachers plus 3 special education teachers, Head Start classrooms and a library. Training for staff has begun. A new K-6 social studies adoption has taken place. Superintendent Copps reported that $1,400,000 was received from the mill levy. $1,500,000 was used for the reopening of Beartooth. Trustee Fox asked how many parents had requested half-day kindergarten for their students. Only 1 section of half-day kindergarten class will be at Rimrock as parents of 9 students requested half-day. Kathy Olson stated Stacy Lemelin is the new principal at Sandstone, Robin Bedford has been assigned to principal of Arrowhead, and Greg Senitte will be the new principal at Bitterroot. Scott Anderson, Executive Director of Secondary Education and Middle Schools, reported new textbooks have been received for the students. The Credit Recovery Program is ongoing and the Career Center expansion has been completed. In middle schools, staff is going beyond the team concept with the focus on math, climate, and safety. The Success Program for Math is being targeted at Lewis & Clark and is now a title school. Castle Rock had 18 leaders come in and talked about safety. Riverside had 50% less discipline problems last year. There is a new principal at Will James, Troy Zickefoose, and the new associate at Riverside is Rusty Martin. In the high schools, teaming and collaboration efforts are a tremendous job. All of the high schools shared their ideas and best practices with each other. The leaders came in during the summer to try to establish a plan to reach all students at risk. Math NovaNet has been effective and efforts have increased in science. The restoring of offerings that were cut has also been a tremendous gift. New textbooks have been received in Science, Human Anatomy, Earth Science, Biology, French, and Math. The District is now up to standards. The expansion of the Career Center allowed the addition of 170 students. Classes added were photography, web design expansion, design advertising, design layout and animation, metals manufacturing and machine, geometry and algebra II. Another class that was added is Lead the Way, which is a pre-engineering class. Trustee Aragon asked if there was anyway to track the students after high school who took the Lead the Way class. Mr. Anderson reported that concept is being reviewed and will come at a cost. Trustee Fox asked if the old security systems from the high schools could be used in the middle schools. Rich Whitney, Director of Facilities, is in the process of getting bids and what it would take to accomplish that. It was not known yet if the old systems could be used. Trustee Kelker asked about the general picture of overcrowding at Senior and West. The enrollments will be similar as last year’s numbers – 2,100 at West, 1,900 at Senior, and 1,500 to 1,600 at Skyview. 7th grade at Will James is reaching the 300 mark. The Career Center expansion displaced a couple of classrooms at the West High Academy. Rich Whitney, Director of Facilities, thanked the Board for their hard work in the mill levy passage and the available dollars. Skyview’s boiler will be completed one month ahead of schedule. The deductible for the District is $10,000. Another insurance project is Castle Rock’s roof, which has been completed. $50,000 of that project was from insurance with the balance coming from the general budget. The construction at Beartooth was completed by Fisher Construction and went very well. Asphalt playgrounds at Beartooth were also completed. The pit in Rimrock’s library was filled in to make it more ADA accessible. Most of the work at the Career Center was done by the Facilities Department, which was cost effective. The computer lab at Senior’s Academy has been completed. West High’s track was completed by private donations and the striper will be here by the end of next week. Sidewalks at Senior, West and the Career Center have been repaired to take care of trip hazards. Contracts for asphalt work have gone out for Senior, West, Skyview and the Career Center. The Young Families project is not a District project but there has been a delay on getting the modulars into place. The modulars will be placed on District property by Washington Elementary. The benchmark for facilities funding is maintenance and operational cost per square foot. In using the American and University standards, the District always comes in approximately $2,000,000 short each year. Mr. Whitney encouraged the Board to take it seriously that systems could fail at any time, such as Senior High’s heat system, and more funds are needed. The Chair asked Mr. Whitney to prepare a report on priorities for the new Board members. Trustee Kelker asked if it was time to do a reprioritization of projects for the District. Mr. Whitney felt it was a good time to revisit that and review the old list. Trustee Kelker will place the issue on the plan list for the Budgeting for Results Committee. Continuation of August 5, 2007 Budget Hearing for Final Budget Review and Adoption for 2007-08 Jerry Hansen addressed the Board regarding the final budget. He asked how many positions are contained in the $9,500,000 from the miscellaneous program funds. He was concerned, if any funds are lost in the programs, is there a contingency plan. Mr. Hansen stated the state share in the elementary fund was increased from 65% to 81% for 2008, and 59% to 69% in the high school district for 2008, which totals approximately $17,000,000. He was concerned that the district’s reserve funds continue to decrease and the downward spin must end. Mr. Hansen reported every employee’s salary and benefits must be included in the budget as per State law. He was also concerned that $2.67 per square foot was spent for maintenance where the standard is $5.00 per square foot. He stated the budget does not meet the needs of the students. Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the elementary budgeted funds as proposed and ask administration to correct the titles in the agenda packet. Trustee Gesuale asked why there was an increase of $2,700,000 in special education. Thomas Harper reported special education underspent their budget in 2007. Special education services must be provided for a new student as per State law. Trustee Kelker responded that some positions couldn’t be filled as it is hard to find people and the contingency fund for special education was cut a number of years ago and was used for those students whose service costs are high. There are also no State funds that could be sought to help the District. Thomas Harper reported the State increased funds for the Billings schools but the fund increases were to be used for new programs such as all day kindergarten and other funds have strings attached, as more of the District’s funds must be spent. The high school district is at the maximum and the elementary budget is at 99% so there is some room for movement. As of June 20, 2008, the District will be debt free except for a small intercap loan on the technology infrastructure. Those voting in favor of the motion were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Guthals: Motion to adopt the high school budgeted funds for year 2007-2008. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Approval of Trustee Committee Appointments for 2007-08; Approval of Community Committee Members for 2007-2008 Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Gesuale: Motion to approve the trustee committee appointments for 2007-2008. Trustee Kelker asked if the Policy Review Committee would remain the same. The Chair reported that was correct. Trustee Fox asked who the chairman was of the School/Community Committee. The Chair stated a chair has not been appointed at this time. Trustee Fox requested information be given to those who have served on the School Community Committee members to keep them in the loop. The following are the approved committee appointments: BUDGETING FOR RESULTS PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Kathy Kelker (Chair) Sandy Mossman (Chair) Joel Guthals Dawn Achten Mary Jo Fox Kathleen Aragon Peter Gesuale Tim Trafford Malcolm Goodrich AUDIT Joel Guthals DIVERSITY Peter Gesuale Tim Trafford (Chair) Tim Trafford Malcolm Goodrich Dawn Achten CALENDAR Mary Jo Fox Dawn Achten Mary Jo Fox ENERGY INNOVATION Joel Guthals (Chair) CITY COUNTY PLANNING LIAISON Kathleen Aragon Kathleen Aragon INSURANCE MTSBA LIAISON Kathleen Aragon Joel Guthals Peter Gesuale MQEC LEGISLATIVE Sandy Mossman Joel Guthals Joel Guthals Sandy Mossman Malcolm Goodrich (N.B. Jack Copps remains designated representative) STAFF DEVELOPMENT Kathy Kelker (job share) POLICY Sandy Mossman (job share) Malcolm Goodrich (Chair) Kathy Kelker Mary Jo Fox Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Gesuale: Motion to approve members of the community for the committees as listed in the agenda. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Community committee members are as follows: BUDGETING FOR RESULTS ENERGY INNOVATION COMMITTEE Dan Farmer Larry Grendahl Peter Grass Jeff Gruizenga Shanna Henry Ed Gulick Duane Smith Ronald Pecarina Don Stanaway PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Anne Barlow Alicia Manning Sara Nyquist Policy Approvals on Third Reading: Policy 2100 – School Year Calendar and Day; Policy 3231 – Searches and Seizure; Policy 3250 – Student Discipline: Gambling; Policy 7320 – Purchasing: Bid Limits Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the changes to policy 2100 on third and final reading. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the changes to policy 3231 on third and final reading Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the changes to policy 3250 on third and final reading. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Aragon. Motion to approve the changes to policy 7320 on third and final reading. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Policy 5007 – Policy Review Committee Recommendation Jeff Greenfield, BEA President, addressed the Board with the BEA’s position. The BEA has not bargained yet on this issue. He urged the Board to rescind the Policy Review Committee’s recommendation and revert back to the original policy. Mr. Greenfield stated he did not want to have to file an unfair labor practice against the District. Trustee Kelker reported that there are other areas in the policy handbook that have been impacted and other issues will be reviewed. Policy 5007 deals with warning staff when hired that the facilities are drug and alcohol free. Trustee Kelker stated the Policy Review Committee recommended against going back to the old wording because the federal law or state law requires that harsher language be used. Policy 5008 has been in place for a long time and deals with the District’s commitment to be of assistance to employees who have drug or alcohol related addictions or illnesses. Policy 5007 and Policy 5008 need to be parallel to each other. The District must also have a policy for facilities being drug and alcohol free. The Policy Review Committee requested that Leo Hudetz and Jeff Weldon clean up the language and bring it back to the committee for approval. That meeting is scheduled in September. Jeff Weldon, legal counsel, reported one option is to tell employees they do not have to comply with the part the BEA is objecting to, because if the language is not kept in the policy, federal law still applies. Another question for the Board is do you have the correct policy in place. The Department of Labor states that the employer must tell the employees that it is a ‘condition of employment that employees must tell the employer of a violation of the drug free workplace act’. This policy would take it beyond that. Trustee Kelker asked if the Board were to agree with the recommendation, what would the status of the bargaining be with the BEA. Jeff Weldon reported the federal regulation may have to be bargained under Montana law but the Board may not have much choice in the imposition of it. Trustee Kelker stated that she would personally be very open with a conversation with any of the units on the issues being contemplated. Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion, per the recommendation of the Policy Review Committee, that until the new policies are approved by the Board of Trustees through our usual process of three readings, that the Superintendent be asked not to enforce the bulleted items under ‘as a condition of employment’ on the bottom of page 1 of Policy 5007 as long as it is not in conflict with state or federal law. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Monthly Legal Report Jeff Weldon reported there was no action to report on pending litigation. There were also no long-term suspensions. Resolution Calling for a School Election on November 6, 2007 for the Selection of an Elementary School Site The Chair reported that this is not intent to use mill levy money to build an elementary school or use those funds to purchase the property. The funds are specially targeted for that purpose in the building fund, a capital improvement fund. Trustee Kelker made the following motion with a second by Trustee Fox: Motion to approve the resolution as presented calling for a school election by mail ballot on November 6, 2007 for the selection and purchase of an elementary school site. Trustee Gesuale voiced his concern on the canal on the site. Superintendent Copps stated the proposed property is at the northwest corner of the original site, which is not in the flood plan and away from the traffic on 56th Street West. A proposed park is also being planned by the City which will be adjacent to the school property. The City of Billings also has plans to cover the canal. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Trustee Guthals is ineligible to vote on elementary issues. Superintendent’s Report Superintendent Copps reported that 257 students attended classes this summer for the Credit Recovery Program. Classes included History, Earth Science, Math and English. Over 400 semester credits were recovered. MTSBA Report Trustee Guthals reported that this coming weekend, there would be meetings in Helena including the 2007 Delegate Assembly on Saturday for the Montana School Board Association. The board meetings will be held on Friday. Board members who would attend the Delegate Assembly are Malcolm Goodrich, Tim Trafford, Joel Guthals, Peter Gesuale, and Kathy Aragon. Bills Paid – July 2007 Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Gesuale: Motion to approve the bills paid for July 2007. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. The following are the bills paid for July 2007 as approved: Claims $4,012,995.98 ACH Tax Deposits 314,945.41 Payroll Warrants & Direct Deposits 4,105,429.24 Procurement Card 172,271.94 (July) INTERCAP Loan Network Infrastructure Elem. Bond Payment TOTAL $8,605,642.57 Personnel Report Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Kelker: Motion to approve the Superintendent’s employment recommendations as presented in the personnel report. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Consent Agenda Trustee Guthals made the following motion with a second by Trustee Gesuale: Motion to approve and accept the items within the Consent Agenda without object to recommended action. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Mary Jo Fox, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Katharin Kelker. The motion passed unanimously. Items contained within the Consent Agenda are as follows: Regular Board Meeting Minutes, July 16, 2007 Special Board Meeting Minutes, July 9, 2007 Special Board Meeting Minutes, August 6, 2007 Budgeting for Results Committee Minutes, June 11, 2007 Policy Review Committee Minutes, July 13, 2007 Procedure 3231-P1 Searches and Seizures Addition of Andrew Youlden Performing Arts Memorial Scholarship Trust Fund at West High As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Malcolm Goodrich, Chair Diane Blevins, 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.