Governing Board Meeting Meeting Minutes December 14 15, 2017 Presiding Officer President Eric Hogue A Governing Board Meeting of the Texas School for the Deaf was held at the Texas School for the Deaf campus, in Austin Texas December 14-15, 2017. The Board found and determined that, in accordance with the policies and Order of this Board and with Chapter 551 (Open Meetings) of the Texas Government Code, as amended, the notice of the meeting has been properly complied with, including the posting of notice as to time, date, place of the meeting, and the subjects to be discussed at said meeting. Call to Order President, Eric Hogue called the meeting to order at 2:17 p.m. December 14, 2017. Board members attending are: Vice President Shawn Saladin, Board Secretary Angie Wolf, Sha Cowan, Ryan Hutchison, Susan Ridley, David Saunders. Other attendees: Claire Bugen, Leonard Schwartz, and Russell West. Public Comment A request for visitors or public comment was made. No one came forward with any items to address the Board. Legislative Briefing of the 85 th Legislative Session Beth Polo explained the online training for the 85 th Legislative Session to the Board. The Board reviewed the training and passed the online group test. Each Board member will receive two hours of training credit for this session. Closed Session President Eric Hogue called for an executive session to discuss the Public Information Officer position. Under Texas Code 551.074 the session was closed at 3:10 p.m. Open Session President, Eric Hogue called to open the Board meeting from a closed executive session at 3:24 p.m. Recess President, Eric Hogue recessed The Texas School for the Deaf Governing Board meeting at 3:25 p.m. The session will re-open December 15, 2017. Call to Order President, Eric Hogue called the TSD Governing Board meeting back to order at 9:05 a.m. December 15, 2017. Board members attending are: Vice President Shawn Saladin, Board Secretary Angie Wolf, Sha Cowan, Ryan Hutchison, Susan 1
Ridley, David Saunders. Other attendees: Claire Bugen, Julie Dodd, Leonard Schwartz, Justin Wedel and Russell West. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of allegiance was lead by Board member Susan Ridley. Public Comment A request for visitors or public comment was made. No one came forward with any items to address the Board. Recognitions The Special Education SWAT team that helped with TEA Special Education Assessment audit was recognized for their outstanding work and organization during the audit. Consent Agenda Items All matters listed under the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine by the Governing Board and will be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed by a board member from the Consent Agenda and will be considered separately. a. Board Meeting Minutes of October 20, 2017 (Eric Hogue) b. Gifts and Donations (Justin Wedel) c. Operations Report (Russell O. West) d. FY2018 Operating Budget Update (Justin Wedel) The above Consent Agenda Items were motioned by Ryan Hutchison to be accepted as is. Vice President, Shawn Saladin, seconded the motion. All were in favor of accepting the Consent Agenda items as is. Superintendent s Report Superintendent, Claire Bugen updated the Board about continued support from the public for TSD families that suffered from Hurricane Harvey. She let the Board know that the TSD girl s volleyball team has won national deaf champions for the second year in a row. She informed them of the signing Santa events for students. She updated the Board about the Public Information Officer applicants and let them know interviews will be held after the winter break. She went over the recent lock down drill at TSD. It was a great learning experience and she is very glad the school was able to do a first of many of these drills. Enrollment is growing there should be additional 15 20 families joining TSD in January. She let the Board know that elementary is working on a new program that allows a variety of different type of students in deaf education and specialized programing for other educational needs. The middle school drama was a huge success. She let the Board know what a great job the drama students did. She informed the Board of a new partnership between Apple and TSD. Several classes are going to the Apple store to learn STEM technology along with the Girl Scout troop. Apple will be coming to TSD for a day of service. They plan on a beatification throughout the 2
TSD campus. Some Board members are interested in helping with the Apple day of service. Special Education Monitoring Visit Elizabeth Sterling went over the TEA special education monitory audit. TSD was found to be a school of excellence with just one violation on related service minutes. She and her team are working on clearing up the violation as soon as possible. The audit team will be back in a few months to monitor the updates made to the program. Board member Ryan Hutchison would like the number of hours spent on audits for 2017. SORM Campus Audit Results Justin Wedel went over the lockdown drill done at TSD. He then briefed the Board on the SORM audit. In a previous audit we had seven recommendations from SORM that we were able to resolve. SORM was very impressed with the campus overall and said it looked much safer than past visits. There were only three recommendations this year, and those recommendations have already been taken care of. Justin let the Board know that we are working to keep the campus safe and we have safety officer meetings on a monthly basis. Annual Report Superintendent, Claire Bugen, went over the annual report for TSD and requested the Boards approval. Sha Cowan motioned to accept the Annual Report. Secretary, Angie Wolf, seconded the motion. All were in favor of accepting the Annual Report. District Improvement Plan / Strategic Goal Teams 1, 2, and 4 Updates Donna Altuna, Stella Egbert, Renita Kennedy, Ann Meredith and Joey Vaughan went over their strategic team goals, and what they have been working on since their last Board briefing. President Eric Hogue and Ryan Hutchison along with other Board members thanked Renita Kennedy for her participation as a TSD parent on team one. She is the first parent to present to the TSD Board. Certification of Board Training Hours President Eric Hogue went over the Board training hours. All Board members with the exception of Tyran Lee have completed their training hours. Election of Board Officers President Eric Hogue called for election of officers. Ryan Hutchison nominated Eric Hogue as Board President. Sha Cowan seconded. All were in favor of Eric Hogue as Board President. 3
David Saunders nominated Shawn Saladin as Board Vice President. Ryan Hutchison seconded. All were in favor of Shawn Saladin as Board Vice President. Sha Cowan nominated Susan Ridley as Board Secretary. David Saunders seconded. All were in favor of Susan Ridley as Board Secretary. President, Eric Hogue, appointed Sha Cowan as the chairwoman for the Policy Committee. He appointed Ryan Hutchison, Tyran Lee, Shawn Saladin and David Saunders as members of the Policy Committee. President, Eric Hogue, appointed Angie Wolf as the chairwoman for the Finance Committee. He appointed Susan Ridley and Eric Hogue as members of the Finance Committee. President, Eric Hogue, appointed Melanie Weaver as the recording Secretary. President, Eric Hogue, appointed Beth Polo as the Board Liaison. Discussion of June Meeting The Board decided they will begin discussion on the LAR in upcoming scheduled meetings. They will assess at a later date if the June meeting will be needed. Approval of Superintendent Performance Goals for 2017-2018 Before the approval; President Eric Hogue, asked the Board to let Superintendent Bugen know if they are interested in creating policy to allow all student to eat free in the cafeteria. President, Eric Hogue, reviewed the superintendent performance goals for 2017 2018 by stating the Board is pleased with Superintendent Bugen and want to approve her goals with a revision and directive to hire a Public Information Officer, which is a priority no matter what the current budget issues are. The Board also plans to approve the superintendent s salary. Sha Cowan motioned to approve the Superintendents goals with the revision to hire a Public Information Officer and approve the Superintendent s salary to be $148.908.00. Susan Ridley seconded the motion. All were in favor of approving the Superintendents goals with the revision to hire a Public Information Officer and approved the Superintendent s salary to be $148.908.00. Policies Policy Committee Chair and Board Member, Sha Cowan, requested Board approval for the following policies. Approved as is: BBD EC EHBAB FFI Board Member Training School Day Special Education ARD IEP Student Welfare Freedom from Bullying 4
FNE Pregnant Students Approved with minor revision: Table: BE BBD-Exh BBFA BDAE BDB BJA BJCD BJCG CO EB EHAA EHBAD EHBB FFH Training Orientation Exhibit Board Member Conflict of Interest Board Officers and Officials Funds Depository Board Internal Organization and Internal Committees Superintendent Qualifications and Duties Superintendent Evaluation Superintendent Resignation or Retirement Food Services School Year Required Instruction All Levels Special Education Transition Services Gifted and Talented Program Student Welfare Freedom from Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Board Meetings add quality and audio accessibility and what are the accessibility requirements and add at the President s discretion for video conferencing in. All were in favor of approving all the above policies as stated. Sha Cowan announced that there will be a statewide conference in July in the Grapevine area. She encouraged the Board members to attend. It will be a three day conference, and they will be able to earn several hours of training credits. She also wanted to mention that there was an article in the Lone Star about the Austin Sign Language School. Adjournment President, Eric Hogue adjourned The Texas School for the Deaf Governing Board meeting at 10:48 a.m. Eric Hogue, President Angie Wolf, Secretary 5