Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Schools Regular Board Meeting OCTOBER 18, 2010 Location: Hector Campus 5:30 PM

Transcription

1 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Schools Regular Board Meeting OCTOBER 18, 2010 Location: Hector Campus 5:30 PM The regular monthly meeting of the Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Schools Board of Education was called to order at 5:30 p.m. at the Hector Campus, ITV Room with the following members present: Kurt Kottke, Brad Dobberstein, Brad Oldre, and Ken Anderson. Excused: Rick Kramer and Allen Schmidt. Others present: Rick Clark, David Hansen, Leon Witter, Becky Boll, Eileen Koeberl, Kent Weispfennig, Deb Rudy, Nikki Kramer, Alisha Grams, Ben Hillesheim, Cathy Christianson, David Penkert, Laurie Schultz, Daryl Ilgen, KerryAnn Petersen. Public Time (5:33 PM) Tracy Holtz explained the band fundraiser policy which was written recently but has been verbally practiced since she arrived and inherited the policy. Members of the public expressed concern about students taking both a band and senior trip this Spring. Concern stems from two factors, including cost and time away from classes. The board discussed scheduling the band and senior trips every two years and/or having one or both trips scheduled during the summer months. The public also requested the board look at whether funds are raised for a specific team or group or, alternatively, if the funds raised are specific to a student only. Kurt Kottke recommended this discussion be placed on the November agenda as an action item. Motion Ken Anderson moved to adopt the agenda as printed with the addition of 8.8 Announcements and movement of 8.6 before the consent agenda, second by Brad Dobberstein. All members voted in support of the motion and the agenda was adopted. (5:35 PM) Motion Ken Anderson moved to approve the consent agenda, second by Brad Oldre which consists of the following: (5:37 PM) o Approval of Minutes of the Regular September 20, 2010 Meeting o Approval of Claims for September, 2010 o General Fund - $272, o Food Service - 20, o Transportation - 16, o Community Education - 3, o Capital - 38, o Investment - 1, o $363, o Review and approval of Trust and Agency Accounts Fund 09 As of September 30, 2010 o Finance Report As of September 30, 2010 o Employment Kathy Dean Para Professional 1FTE Pam Hopp - National Honor Society Leon Witter - Fall Play Page 1 of 6

2 Tracy Holtz - Instrumental Music (includes pep band) KerryAnn Petersen - Jr/Sr High Vocal Music Cathy Witter - Elementary Music Steve Wolff - Sr. Class Trip Advisor Tracy Holtz - Prom Advisor Matthew Pursi - Speech Advisor Susan Alstrom - Student Council Advisor Duane Hauer - Yearbook Advisor Mary Rasmussen - Present lane/step BA+30/17; Request to BA+45/17 Karlene Wog - Present lane/step BA+45/6; Request to MA/6 Scott Powers - Head Boys Varsity Basketball Bryan Ehlers - Asst. Head Boys Varsity Basketball Bryan Lade - C. Squad Boys Basketball Duane Swanson - Head Jr. High Boys Basketball Brandon Neseth - Asst. Jr. High Boys Basketball Josh Tjosaas - Head Girls Varsity Basketball James Bertsch - Asst. Girls Varsity Basketball Chad Paulson - C Squad Girls Basketball Duane Hauer - Head Jr. High Girls Basketball TBD - Asst. Jr. High Girls Basketball Community Education Letters of Assignment - Ari Holtz - Dance Class o Action - Policy Adoption -Third and final reading of Policies - BLHS, ISD# , 412, 413, 417, 418, 419, 515, 521, 522, 524, 526, 532, 616 and 806 Policies adopted and to be implemented immediately. The adoption of these policies is required under MN Statute and revised as of June 2010 by MSBA/MASA Model Policy Revisions for the 2009 Legislative Session. o Adoption of ED Assurance of Compliance with State and Federal law Prohibiting Discrimination Annually certified o Approval of Memorandum of Understanding Hutchinson Health Care for services of certified trainer at home athletic competitions. o Approval of MSHSL Foundation Application for Grant for Student Participation. Annually renewed. Roll call vote indicated all members present were in support of the motion. The Superintendent's report concerned the ongoing facilities study by Energy Services Group Kevin McGauley and Brian Grenell located in Wayzata, MN. The group will visit BLHS during the week of Oct 25th. Following the study, an improvements priority list will be developed. During MASA, Superintendents were prepared to consider what their schools and budgets would look like if $500 ppu was cut from the current $5,124 ppu rate. For three years, this rate has remained unchanged and now Superintendents are preparing for a cut should it occur. The Legislative conference report and Legal conference reports were discussed. The Federal Title flow through also did not bring good news from St. Paul. Should Title programming be eliminated, this is approximately $150K in lost revenue to the district. BLHS currently works with Title I and Title III programming. Page 2 of 6

3 Principal David Hansen reported on the LCTN-MRVED ITV enrollments, including 11 in Accounting, 13 in Personal Finance, and 6 in Spanish I. The wood working class is constructing a slotted shelf for laptop storage. Mr. Hansen plans to attend an ITV meeting in Willmar to discuss ideas and needs. Discovery Works began last Tuesday with students participating. This week is Teen Read week, whereby each class period begins with the students reading for 10 minutes. MEA is this Thursday and Friday while National FFA occurs this Tuesday thru Friday. Subsection volleyball is on 10/25 and subsection football occurs 10/26. The principal plans to attend a law workshop on 10/27 and a Grade 6-8 Dance will occur on 10/29. Lead Teacher Leon Witter noted that NWEA should be close to finished except a few make ups. These results will be compared with Spring test scores to determine growth. The court yard shrubs are being trimmed, replaced or added and made accessible to students. This effort is appreciated and was headed by Yvonne Ewert and with the help PTA Organization. Discovery works started on Oct. 8th with 50 students of the 58 eligible. RtI is up and running. Math is being pushed into the classrooms for tier 2 while tier 3 students are pulled out and reading students are being pulled out for tier 2 and 3. Kindergarten is down to 1 para between them. At 47 students, kindergarten teachers are asking for another para. Board reports were presented by Anderson and Oldre (6:15 PM). Anderson summarized there were 18 schools in attendance for the Multi-School Cooperation Meeting held September 30, Catalysts for change include 1) transportation, 2) technology, 3) cooperate without consolidation and 4) school system framework from the ground up. In Europe, activities are not a part of the public school system. Mr. Anderson views activities to be meaningful, but wonders where the funding will come from when the State moves further and further into debt. Expect borders to dissolve in the coming decades. Twenty-five schools in southwest Minnesota are already sharing a common calendar and beginning school before Labor Day. Brad Oldre provided Foundation Information, including an online donations site being added to the school's website. The web address is Stewart-School-Foundation. Additionally, the organization now has a FaceBook Group. The public is encouraged to look up both communications. Minutes of Curriculum Development Meeting - Sept. 28, 2010 and the Minutes of Continuing Education Meeting - Oct. 7, 2010 were referenced. Old Business commenced at 6:30 PM. Motion Brad Oldre moved to approve the Band Trip during the school year, second by Brad Dobberstein. Cost per student is estimated to be $840. Two school days will be missed, which is only one more than a normal Large Group Contest year. Oldre commended Holtz for the best scheduling possible. All members voted in support of the motion. Discussion was held regarding the consideration of employment for one FTE for kindergarten para professional, resulting in one para per Kindergarten classroom. This year's class has both behavioral and skill challenges on top of volume. This para position will be reviewed at yearend. Page 3 of 6

4 Motion Ken Anderson moved to move 7.2 to an action item, second by Brad Oldre. All members voted in support of the motion. Motion Ken Anderson moved to employ one additional FTE for Kindergarten para for the school year, second by Brad Dobberstein. All members voted in support of the motion. Motion Brad Dobberstein moved to approve the purchase of handicap accessible van to replace the van that must be removed from service due to MN student transportation rules, second by Brad Oldre. Administration may purchase a used van for $15,000 or if it has been sold, Administration must adhere to the $15,000 to $40,000 budget for a new van. All members voted in support of the motion. Discussion was held to review the Committee Schedule and meeting dates for the School Year. Board members will be notified five working days prior to a committee meeting date and time. Eileen Koeberl will send out the master list of committee assignments for the school year. Discussion regarding how the use of electronic board preparation could change the use of office time for preparation was led by Eileen Koeberl. Reduced copy and mailing costs would be a substantial savings. Another benefit would be saving personnel time expense on the reproduction, collation and bundling. The board packets can be searched easily in electronic format; additionally, transmitting them to the public at their request will be quicker. Motion Ken Anderson moved to bring 7.5 to an action item, second by Brad Oldre. All members voted in support of the motion. Motion Ken Anderson moved to implement electronic board preparation and packet dissemination, second by Brad Dobberstein. All members voted in support of the motion. The establishment of a board of education account at school for school business was discussed next. All members have access to send and receive command. Oldre expressed concern over administrative rights to monitor and view exchanges. Leon Witter at the Elementary and Justin Vogt at the High School are the only school personnel with administrative rights to the system, ensuring confidential and efficacious exchanges. Board member s will be created and posted on the school website, so all stakeholders may communicate with school board members. Motion Ken Anderson moved to bring 7.6 to an action item, second by Brad Dobberstein. All members voted in support of the motion. Motion Brad Oldre moved to establish accounts for all board of education members for school business, second by Ken Anderson. Board of education packet and agendas will be sent to these addresses once established. All members voted in support of the motion. Page 4 of 6

5 New Business began at 7:30 PM. Eileen Koeberl led the discussion pertaining to changing elections to even years in conjunction with local, state and federal election schedules. This change will save the district approximately $2,000 per election. Motion Ken Anderson moved to bring 8.1 to an action item, second by Brad Oldre. All members voted in support of the motion. Motion Ken Anderson moved to direct BLHS Administration to research and collect data on changing elections to even years in conjunction with local, state and federal elections schedules, second by Brad Dobberstein. Oldre believes the action to approve this item should be conducted when full board member attendance occurs due to potential changes in length of service. November 2011 is the effective date for this action. All members voted in favor of this motion. Superintendent Clark demonstrated appreciation on behalf of the district to Director Allen Schmidt for completion of Phases I, II, and III Certificate of Training. This Board of Education Training Award was displayed to all attendees and formal recognition will be shown to Schmidt when he is in attendance. Preliminary discussion was held for board members to consider who will serve as district representatives for the negotiation sessions in the spring/summer of Oldre cannot serve due to conflict of interest. Schmidt and Kottke currently sit on the negotiation committee, and only one of them may step aside at one point in time. Kottke indicated he will follow through. The EA will make intent to negotiate in Jan Negotiations occur every two years. Board Members discussed methods to distribute information from school to home (based on Meet and Confer outcomes). Responsibility may reside with the EA, media para, and/or Principal. A comprehensive Google calendar with an overlay of activities was discussed. A monthly newsletter would also assist with the communication bridge from school to households. A $500 stipend was discussed as compensation for the person completing this item. Generating a "map of the year" was another idea for household benefit. The district council in collaboration with Principal Hansen will work on this target. Discussion surrounding the consideration of the 2011 Calendar year meeting schedule for board of education meetings yielded board meetings occurring on the third Monday of each month, except for Jan and Feb where the third Monday is a holiday. Further discussion in November, followed by action in December. Deb Rudy led discussion for consideration of Cooperative Sponsorship of the sport of Gymnastics with the partnership of Glencoe-Silver Lake School and Buffalo Lake-Hector- Stewart School for the school year and thereafter. Superintendent Clark recommends moving this item to action. GLS board of education has approved this cooperative. Transportation is the responsibility of the family. Students will be allowed to depart from school Page 5 of 6

6 five minutes early on meet days. Total cost is anticipated to be $12,000. This opportunity is open to students in Grades The season runs from Nov 15 to the last week in February. Motion Ken Anderson moved to move 8.6 to an action item, second by Brad Oldre. All members voted in support of this motion. Motion Brad Oldre moved to accept the GSL Cooperative for Gymnastics, second by Brad Dobberstein. Anderson expressed concern about raising revenue to offset increased number of school activities. Oldre, Dobberstein and Kottke voted in favor of this motion while Anderson abstained. Majority is in favor of the motion, and it carries. The second cooperative discussion involved consideration of a Cooperative Sponsorship of the activity of Speech with the partnership of BOLD School and Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart School for the school year and thereafter. Superintendent Clark recommends this initiative. Instructor Matthew Pursi will present this cooperative to the BOLD board of education and a handshake agreement will occur between the districts' administrators. Anderson presented three announcements, including 1) Brad Dobberstein will take over payables review on the Friday or Monday leading up to a board meeting, 2) the next Multi-Year School Cooperation meeting will be held Dec 3 and a board member will need to attend, 3) many thanks to everyone who recommended him for the MN State School Board Member nomination. Title III Consortium Summary September 24, 2010 submitted by Doreen Nelson, ELL Teacher and Notes from Multi-School Meeting held on September 30, 2010 were this month's correspondence items. Motion Ken Anderson moved to adjourn at 8:10 PM, second by Brad Oldre. All members voted to support the motion and the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Brad Dobberstein, Clerk Page 6 of 6