BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING (Thursday) The School Board minutes are not official as they have not been approved by the Hood River County School District Board of Directors. These minutes are for review and are subject to change and/or approval. Once approved, signed and dated, they become official. EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER ORS 192.660 (2) (I) SUPERINTENDENT EVALUATION CALLED TO ORDER AT 5:30 P.M. PRESENT: Board Members: Board Chair Mark Johnson, Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz, Board Member Tom Scully, Board Member Benjamin Sheppard, and Board Member Rich Truax. Absent: Board Member Corinda Hankins Elliott and Board Member Chair Julia Garcia Ramirez. Administration: Superintendent Dan Goldman. EXECUTIVE SESSION ADJOURNED AT 6:28 P.M. REGULAR MEETING WELCOME AND CALL TO ORDER AT 6:34 P.M. Board Chair Mark Johnson welcomed all to the Hood River County School District Board of Directors meeting. PRESENT: Board Members: Board Chair Mark Johnson, Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz, Board Member Tom Scully, Board Member Benjamin Sheppard, and Board Member Rich Truax. Absent: Board Member Corinda Hankins Elliott and Board Member Chair Julia Garcia Ramirez. Administration: Superintendent Dan Goldman, Chief Financial Officer Saundra Buchanan, Hood River Valley High School Vice Principal Nate Parson, and Wy east Middle School Vice Principal Patricia Cooper. Staff and Community Members: Kelvin Calkins, Dale Kuykendall, Garrett Apland, Amirra Malak, Rene Liri Sara Badillo, Emily Liri, Emma Vega, Allison Thompson, Nathan Smith, Paul Thompson, Kristin Uhler, and Board Administrative Assistant Terri Martz.
REVIEW/REVISION TO AGENDA: Supt. Goldman noted the following changes to the agenda: A revised Personnel Report The deletion of the appointment of a Finance Advisory/Bond Oversight topic which will be moved to the November 8, 2017 board meeting Approval of Contractor for Westside Softball Facility addition handout on estimates SUPERINTENDENT - BOARD COMMUNICATION: Supt. Goldman welcomed all and provided the following information to the Hood River County School District Board of Directors: inacol Conference: Supt. Goldman, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Neely Kirwan, and HRVHS Alternative Education/On- Line Principal Kelly Running just returned from an international conference on Online schooling. Supt. Goldman noted speaking to an on-line school staff member from New Hampshire that serves 20,000 students with around 20 staff members. Outcomes related to online learning were noted inconclusive - the best programs basically employ research-based curriculum, instruction and assessment practices. He noted that our district is on the right track as far as our program design, which is only for students within Hood River County and will be a combination of online and face-to-face learning. There are 170 students in our community who have opted to be homeschooled or attend an out-of-district on-line program. We had a goal this year to have 15 students enrolled by the end of the year. We currently have over 30 students enrolled in the program. Our staff and administration will work hard to make sure this is a high-quality, rigorous program and that our students succeed. October State Data Month: October brings a lot of state data on absenteeism, graduation rates, 9 th graders on track to graduation, and school and district state report cards. In 2013, the Oregonian published a three-part series on chronic absenteeism in which our school district was highlighted with some of the worst chronic non-attenders in the state. At that time around 22% of our students were missing over 10% of the school year. Since that time, our district has focus on Positive Behavior Support and other data-informed systems to concentrate on student early intervention to make sure students are in school and learning. Since 2013, we have made much growth and our chronic absenteeism rate is now just over 14%. The state average is at 20%. Our long-term goal for 2020 is 10%, which equates to having our students miss seven or less days per year. Supt. Goldman noted he is very proud of these accomplishment made by our staff on behalf of kids. He noted further that state funding resources are lost for every day a student misses school. We are funded on average daily enrollment for students and when students are absent we lose funding. Funding loss from absenteeism means less teachers and less programs for kids. 2
Auditors In District: This is the time of year that auditors are in our district for a week. The business office is very busy with the audit team. Our district has had three consecutive years of un-modified opinions which means there are no questions about our books, everything is in order, and community members should have confidence in the district s financial stewardship. This was a priority goal for Supt. Goldman when he came to the district. This is a very important goal to have community members feel confident about our financial practices. Consecutive unmodified audits manifests itself into real dollars for the school district, especially when we got in the market to sell voter-approved bonds investors are willing to pay more for our bonds than we asked on the market because of our high ratings, which resulted in over $8 million in bond premium. These additional dollars will be spent on improving the safety of our facilities, tackling critical roofing projects, and improving our athletic fields and playgrounds. RECOGNITION AND GOOD NEWS: Hood River Valley High School Vice Principal Nate Parson presented HRVHS teacher Amirra Malak and the students she worked with, Emily Liri, Emma Vega, Allison Thompson, that earned Gold Key awards for their artwork and traveled to New York to be recognized at Carnegie Hall. The artwork, the students, and their teacher were noted as being impressive. PUBLIC COMMENT/HEARING OF DELEGATIONS OR VISITORS: There was no noted public comment at this meeting. CONSENT AGENDA: A. October 11, 2017 Board Meeting Minutes Human Resources Report/Personnel Action It was moved by Board Member Rich Truax and seconded by Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion approved unanimously. A full copy of these items may be found at the District Office as well as on the District website. REPORTS AND DISCUSSIONS: A. Health/Physical Education Curriculum Adoption Update: Garrett Apland, ELD Coach and Title III Coordinator and HRVHS Teacher Kristin Uhler presented the Hood River County School District Board of Directors with an update on the District s Health/Physical Curriculum Adoption. A timeline and major component of the process was discussed. 3
Presentation and discussion topics included: o Timeline o Who is on the committee o Community Resources o Trainings o Next Steps A full copy of this report may be found at the District Office as well as on the District website. B. Financial Report: Chief Financial Officer Saundra Buchanan presented the Hood River County School District Board of Directors with a Summary of Revenue and Expenditure Report as of June 30, 2017. Presentation and discussion topics included: Summary of Revenue and Expenditures as of June 30, 2017 A preliminary financial report and year to date financial data General Fund Summary/Balance Total Operating Revenue/Requirements Expenditure Variance Analysis A full copy of this report may be found at the District Office as well as on the District website. C. Bond Projects Report: Dale Kuykendall with the Wenaha Group presented the following updates on the District s Bond Projects to the Hood River County School District Board of Directors: 4
A full copy of this report may be found at the District Office as well as on the District website. ACTION ITEMS: A. Acceptance of Donations: Board Chair Mark Johnson asked the Hood River County School District Board of Directors to accept the following generous donations as presented: $60.46 worth of pizza from Andrew s Pizza to Hood River Valley High School s Speech and Debate team 5
$100 worth of tortilla chips from Juanita s Fine Foods to Hood River Valley High School homecoming dance An Everett Piano valued at $1,000 from Sue Hand to Hood River Valley High School s music department $175 from David & Quinn Clarkson to Community Education Total Donation Value $1,335.46 It was moved by Board Member Benjamin Sheppard and seconded by Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz to approve the generous donations as presented. Motion approved unanimously. A full copy of this action item may be found at the District Office as well as on the district website. B. Approval of Contractor for Westside Softball Facility: Dale Kuykendall with the Wenaha Group presented the Hood River County School District Board of Directors with information on approving a contractor for the Westside Softball Facility. The District issued an Advertisement for Bids for General Contractor services on September 27, 2017 for construction of a softball batting facility at Westside Elementary. District received three responsive bids. District administration recommends awarding of the construction contract to Griffin Construction, LLC to provide construction services as described in the bidding documents. Funding for this contract will be from general obligation bond proceeds. It was moved Board Member Rich Truax and seconded by Board Member Benjamin Sheppard to approve Griffin Construction, LLC, as General Contractor for the construction of the new softball batting facility at Westside Elementary School; and to authorize the administration to negotiate and execute a contract with the firm as presented. Motion approved unanimously. A full copy of this action item may be found at the District Office as well as on the district website. C. Resolution #17-18/04 M98 Budget Adjustment: Chief Financial Officer Saundra Buchanan presented Resolution #17-18/04 M98 Budget Adjustment to the Hood River County School District Board of Directors. Expenditure of grants to the District for a specific purpose may be made after enactment of an appropriation resolution authorizing the expenditure per ORS 294.338(1). The attached grants budget appropriation resolution describes the requested budget adjustments to resources to recognize the specific purpose grant, Oregon Department of Education Measure 98 grant, and to recommend an increase to appropriations to the Grants Fund. 6
It was moved Board Member Benjamin Sheppard and seconded by Board Member Tom Scully to approve Resolution #17-18/04 M98 Budget Adjustment as presented. Motion approved unanimously. Board Member Rich Truax Yes Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz Yes Board Member Benjamin Sheppard Yes Board Member Tom Scully Yes Board Chair Mark Johnson Yes Board Member Corinda Hankins Elliott Absent Board Member Julia Garcia Ramirez Absent Board members discussed wishes for having or not having a voice vote on resolutions. While not required, it has been past practice of members to utilize the voice vote system. A full copy of this action item may be found at the District Office as well as on the district website. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS: Board Member Tom Scully had no comment at this time. Board Member Benjamin Sheppard noted he loves the student presentations at board meetings. Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz had no comment at this time. Board Member Rich Truax noted the Hood River Middle School was again recognized in the Hood River News for the science and music building being zero energy buildings. He also noted he would be willing to help out with the Local Option campaign where needed. Board Chair Mark Johnson noted a productive evaluation meeting with the superintendent this evening during the executive session. REGULAR MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:20 P.M. Superintendent Board Chair Date 7
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