September 8, 2009 Board Meeting
Synopsis
SYNOPSIS
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OF
BLAINE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 61
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8,
2009, 6:30 P.M.
DISTRICT OFFICE
I. Call to Order and Welcome
Chairman Julie Slocum Dahlgren called the Regular September
meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and welcomed everyone in
attendance.
Present were Board Members Dan Parke, Steve Guthrie,
and Paul Bates. Also in attendance were Dr. Lonnie Barber,
Superintendent of Schools; Matt Murray, Director of
Curriculum/Dual Language Learners; Mike Chatterton, School
District Treasurer; and Laurie Kaufman, Board Clerk.
Chairman
Dahlgren stated that a quorum was present.
II. Pledge of
Allegiance
III. Consent Agenda
a. Consideration of Minutes
Regular Meeting of August 11, 2009
b. Acceptance of Monthly
Financial Report – Payment of Bills
Please click here to view
the August 2009 Financial Reports.
c. Approval of Up to
Twelve-Week Family Leave Request
Leigh Ann Sandal – Special
Education Teacher, Woodside Elementary School
d. Approval of
Personnel – Exiting and Entering
Classified Staff – Exiting
Mallam Prior – Custodial Supervisor, DSB-Buildings and Grounds
Cecilia Arteaga – Student Services Paraprofessional, Wood River
Middle School
Classified Staff – Recommending for
Hire
None.
Certified Staff – Exiting
None.
Certified Staff –
Recommending for Hire
Jacob Nilsen – 1.0 FTE Spanish/ENL/GATE
Teacher, Carey School (Category 1 Contract)
Casey Mills – 1.0
FTE Special Education (BASE Program) Teacher, Wood River High
School (Category 2 Contract)
David Allred – 1.0 Certified
Athletic Trainer, Wood River High School/Carey School (Category
1 Contract)
Karl Nordstrom – 1.0 FTE Speech/Drama Teacher, Wood
River High School (Category 2 Contract)
Action was taken to
approve items “a” through “d” of the Consent Agenda.
IV. Public
Comments
Paraphrased:
a. Announcement: Nicole Ching, Woodside
Parent
Nicole Ching extended an invitation to everyone to
Woodside Elementary School’s Back to School Barbeque on
September 18th at 7:00 p.m.
b. Bob Corker – The Plant Facilities
Levy
Bob Corker stated that he is grateful that he had the
opportunity to meet with the Levy Committee and is here in
follow-up. He salutes the committee members for the great work
that they did. Bob has two requests of the Board as they
deliberate on what is put before them this evening regarding the
Plant Facilities Levy.
I ask that in these very difficult
economic times, that for every dollar that you approve and
spend, you give great consideration to ultimately what the
benefit is to the kids in terms of their educational experience,
even though it’s a Plant Facilities Levy. Times are so tough, I
just really feel like it deserves that extra consideration on
how the dollars are being spent. Hopefully the kids in every
situation, from an academic standpoint, are benefiting from
those dollars. After the approval, going forward, I
also ask that the community is kept very much involved in
important decisions that come before you as a Board, and that
you evaluate them and reach out to the community; because I
firmly believe that this district is a better district and a
stronger district with an active and very involved community.
c.
Penfield Stroh – The Plant Facilities Levy
Penfield Stroh
pointed out that there are 39 foreclosures listed in this week’s
newspaper. I have friends that are unemployed and struggling
with mortgages and it is a concern to me that the scope of the
Levy is so very broad. I feel that taxes should be going down at
this point and not staying the same in these economic times.
The
new High School has been built, additions have been made to the
Middle School, and fabulous upgrades have been done to the other
campuses. When I attended meetings while the High School was
being built, there was so much minutiae about building and
details; it felt like most of the meetings were spent on
construction. I just hope the focus will stay on the best
education for our children and not construction, which diverts
from the mission.
d. Alex Sundali – The Plant Facilities Levy
Alex Sundali stated that she is speaking in support of the Levy.
For those of you who have been following what the School
District has been doing since 2007, it began with a Strategic
Plan. That Strategic Plan was created by over 100 community
members attending meetings for over a year. That Plan came from
the School District’s desire to continue the good and hard work
of making sure that every student in Blaine County School
District receives the best education that we can give them. That
education comes from curriculum, employing the best teachers,
making sure that classrooms are not closets, that our students
receive the very best that we can give them in technology, and
that the schools are safe and secure. In this day and age,
safety and security is certainly more important than when I was
growing up. We have seen the results of what has happened when
our schools are not safe and secure. I remember a comment here
during the School District Budget Workshop; someone suggested
that blackboards last a lot longer than smart boards. I would
argue that if you become an employee of Google or Microsoft, or
any of the smaller software companies, medical technology
companies, anywhere that our students are going to be working;
they are going to have to know how to use the best technology. I
would encourage the approval of this Levy because this is the
end point to what we began as the next Strategic Plan following
“Promises Made – Promises Delivered.” It is absolutely
necessary. Penfield pointed out that there are foreclosures; we
cannot reduce taxes but we can keep them the same. One of the
first gut reactions people have in times of economic trouble is
to think that taxes should be decreased. Decreased taxes take
away from education. We cannot take away from education;
education is our future. Funding the future of our students is
the most important thing this community should be doing. People
moved here in the 1980’s, 1990’s and the early 2000’s because of
Blaine County School District. People will leave
other communities like California, a state that cannot afford to
educate its students, to come back to this School District.
e.
Kathryn Graves – The Plant Facilities Levy
Kathryn Graves stated
that she loves the goals and the mission of the Strategic Plan.
I see that there are some needs; I think of it as a big wish
list. I think we need to have some more discussion about it. I
would ask that the School Board really look at this Levy in what
is needed. What are the wish lists for this? Go back to your
great mission of being a world class, student-focused community
of teaching and learning. Some of these things proposed, yes
they would be great, yes, they might make things easier; but
does it go back to our kids? I’m also concerned that all the
time it takes to plan for facilities and upgrades will take time
away from Board leadership, the community, and our district
administrators. I worry that’s going to take away from working
on things in the classroom. I really want you guys to think
about that. I did think about asking to see if you could
postpone this and table the discussion on whether to stop the
Resolution tonight. I know you have timelines but I think the
only way to get more community involvement would be to move the
Resolution and October 29th vote dates.
V. Guest Presentation –
Jim Finch and Danielle Travers, Mountain Rides –
Information/Action
a. Elm Street Safe Route to School Connector
Project
Jim Finch updated the Board regarding the Elm Street
Safe Route to School Connector Project and introduced Danielle
Travers, Mountain Rides’ new Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator.
Danielle Travers announced that
the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Elm Street Connector will be
held September 16th at 2:45 p.m. The International ‘Walk or Bike to School Day’ at all
Elementary Schools and the Middle School has been bumped up to
September 23rd to make sure that the weather is better for the
event.
Mountain Rides has renewed their contract with Blaine
County School District so all School District employees and
children can ride Mountain Rides busses by showing their
activity cards.
Mountain Rides will ask the Board to approve
in-classroom tallies taken by K-8th grade teachers twice a year
to learn the numbers of students walking, biking, or car-pooling
to school.
Dr. Barber stated that when the District’s
partnership began last year with Mountain Rides, teacher passes
and 2,500 student passes were purchased. Those passes were used
before March. This year Mountain Rides graciously
assigned the same contract and unlimited passes for teachers and
kids.
Please click here to view Jim and Danielle’s report and a
‘Safe Routes to School Student Arrival and Departure Tally
Sheet’.
Action was taken to approve the completion of Safe
Routes to School “in-classroom” tallies by all K-8 teachers.
VI.
Superintendent’s Report – Dr. Lonnie Barber, Superintendent of
Schools
a. Student Performance Data
Dr. Barber reported on
Blaine County School District’s Student Performance Data for the
2008-2009 school year in comparison to the 31 largest school
districts in the State of Idaho.
Please click here to view Dr.
Barber’s Student Performance Data report.
Board Member Steve
Guthrie stated, “These statistics are incredible. I’d simply
like to say that we owe our school administrators and our
teachers a huge, huge thank you.”
Angie Martinez, Bellevue
Elementary School Principal, commented that she and her staff
really appreciate having this type of data at their fingertips.
These are the conversations we need to have with our staffs to
figure out how we can continuously improve. That’s what
education is really about; to make a model school district.”
Board Member Dan Parke stated, “I know there has been a lot of
talk about the time we spend on facilities, but part of the
reason the teachers and administrators are able to do their job
so well is because we have the technology to do this type of
work. We have facilities where they can teach the students
adequately and that’s part of the reason why they are able to
have statistics like this.”
John Blackman, Wood River High
School Principal, commented, “Last year was the first time we
really got to look at this data at the High School. It provided
us an opportunity to see who we thought we were and who we were,
and where we lacked in a couple of areas. We missed in three
areas out of 41 last year in AYP. This year we made 40 out of 41
with a 30 percent increase in LEP Reading from last year to this
year. That’s huge; and it was because we were able to target
those students specifically using the Milepost program compared
with this data, and putting it together. We were able to create
a very precise target of which kids were in that range; we could
move them and were able to really put a concentrated effort into
them because of this data. We could fine-tune rather than use
the shotgun approach, and zero in on those kids that really
needed the help. It made a huge impact. I really thank Dr.
Barber for this data.”
b. State of the Strategic
Plan
Blaine County School District has, in cooperation with the
community, teachers, and the administration, adopted an
extremely progressive Strategic Plan that will guide the
District towards model status over the next 8-10 years. Although
the Strategic Plan was officially adopted at the Regular August
Board meeting, the District has already been working on some of
the areas of the strategic plan over the past year. Dr. Barber
will periodically present on the District’s progress towards the
completion of the Strategic Plan.
Dr. Barber stated, “We won’t
die if the Levy is not passed, but the Strategic Plan will not
go forward like it is designed because there will be too much
off-set for what we cannot do in curriculum with the money we
have right now. It would be very difficult to push that forward
in all of its glory without the other side funding things so
we’re not taking out of the general fund.”
Please click here to
view Dr. Barber’s first Strategic Plan update report.
VII.
Curriculum Report – Matt Murray, Director of Curriculum/Dual
Language Learners – Information
a. Math Fluency Presentation
Matt Murray explained the process of student Math Fluency
Assessment and finished his presentation by testing the Board of
Trustees and the audience on their math fluency. Grades,
fortunately, were not issued!
Please click here to view Matt
Murray’s Math Fluency Presentation.
b. Music Curriculum
Presentation
The Music Curriculum will be included in October’s
Action Agenda for approval.
Please click here to view
the Music Curriculum.
VIII. Construction
Report – Howard Royal, Director of Buildings and Grounds
a.
Silver Creek Project Update
Howard Royal updated the Board on
the Silver Creek High School and Technology Building
construction projects.
Please click here to view Howard Royal’s
update report and construction photographs.
IX. Action Agenda
a. Approval/Adoption of Plant Facilities
Reserve Fund Levy Election Resolution – Mike Chatterton, School
District Treasurer, and Lynn Askew, Levy Committee Co-Chair
Chairman Dahlgren introduced the Resolution:
A RESOLUTION
CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE HELD FOR THE PURPOSE OF
SUBMITTING TO THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 61,
BLAINE COUNTY, IDAHO, THE PROPOSITION OF THE CERTIFICATION OF A
SCHOOL PLANT FACILITIES RESERVE FUND LEVY.
Please click here to
view the Plant Facilities Reserve Fund Levy Election Resolution.
Mike Chatterton introduced the Co-Chairs of the Levy Committee,
Janet and Lynn Askew.
Lynn Askew stated that the Plant
Facilities Levy planning process started in May 2007 with
300-plus citizens of the community. These citizens were actively
involved in strategizing and brainstorming critical components
of the Strategic Plan. Literally thousands of sticky-notes
covered the walls of Hailey Elementary School’s gymnasium
containing ideas that were evaluated to help direct our
education for the future. This process led to ten goal areas
that were worked on in 2008 and 2009. The 22 members of the Levy
Committee were then approached to help evaluate the Strategic
Plan goals, as well as prioritize the areas the Committee
thought should be funded.
Please click here to view the details
of Lynn Askew’s 2009 Plant Facilities Levy presentation.
Action
was taken to adopt A RESOLUTION CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE
HELD FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF
SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 61, BLAINE COUNTY, IDAHO, THE PROPOSITION OF
THE CERTIFICATION OF A SCHOOL PLANT FACILITIES RESERVE FUND
LEVY.
Following motions and voting, Chairman Dahlgren declared
stated motion is carried and said Resolution is duly passed and
adopted.
b. Approval of Plant Facilities Reserve Fund Levy
Election Timeline, Seattle- Northwest Securities Corp as Fiscal
Agent, and Hawley Troxell Agreement – Mike Chatterton, School
District Treasurer
Please click here to view
the
Plant Facilities Reserve Fund Levy Election Timeline,
Seattle-Northwest Securities Consulting Agreement for Financial
Advisory Services, and
Hawley Troxell Agreement.
Action was
taken to approve the Plant Facilities Reserve Fund Levy Election
Timeline, the Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp as Fiscal Agent,
and the Hawley Troxell Agreement.
c. Appointment of Susie
Reese as Clerk Pro Tem for October 22-23, 2009
Board Clerk Laurie Kaufman will
be out of town October 22-23, 2009.
Action was
taken to appoint Susie Reese as Clerk Pro Tem in order to
perform the Clerk’s Plant Facilities Levy Election duties during
Laurie’s absence.
d. Permission to Award Bid for the Purchase of
Two Activity Busses – Rex Squires, Director of Transportation
The Bid Opening for the purchase of two activity busses was held
on August 25, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. in the District Office. Two
sealed bids were received.
Please click here to view the
Activity Bus Bid Summary.
Action was taken to award the bid to
Lake City Companies for the purchase of two activity busses in
the amount of $150,236.00 per bus.
X. Information Agenda
a.
Opening Enrollment Report – Mike Chatterton, School District
Treasurer
Mike showed day-one through day-four average daily
attendance numbers and enrollment numbers for the new school
year as compared to 2008-2009.
Please click here to view the
average daily attendance and enrollment spreadsheets.
b. Idaho
School Board Association Annual Convention Planning – Laurie
Kaufman, Board Clerk
The 67th Annual Idaho School Board
Association Convention will be held November 11- 13, 2009 in
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The Board is encouraged to attend this
worthwhile educational opportunity. A block of rooms have been
reserved; these reservations will be retained and the District
will be able to take advantage of early registration fees if
completed registration forms are received by September 21, 2009.
Please click here to view the ISBA Annual Convention
Registration Form, Registration Policies, and Draft
Agenda-At-A-Glance.
There being no further
business to discuss, action was taken to adjourn the meeting.
The Regular September meeting of the Board of Trustees of Blaine
County School District No. 61 adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Action was
then taken to convene to Closed Executive Session pursuant to
Idaho Code §67-2345 (1)(b) for the discussion of personnel.
XI.
Closed Executive Session
The Board discussed personnel matters.
After the conclusion of their discussion, action was taken to
return to Regular Open Session.
XII. Return to Open Session
No
action was taken as a result of the discussion of personnel in
Closed Executive Session.
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