RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
JOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 365
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
March 11, 2010
I. WELCOME AND CALL TO ORDER
A. The Board of Trustees, Joint School District No. 365, met for the regular meeting at Rimrock Music Room on Thursday, March 11, 2010. Chairman Dixie Black called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. then led the Pledge of Allegiance and thanked patrons for attending the meeting.
B. Roll Call – Chairman Dixie Black, Vice Chairman Ray Meyers, Marie Robertson, Joe Merrick, Superintendent Vickie L. Chandler and Clerk Cathy Sellman were present. Howard Field was absent and excused. Also attending were Principal Phil McCluskey, Principal Gerald Chouinard, Will Goodman, Jessica Sonnen, Jim Dawson, Trent Bodily, Melodee Burnett-Simper, Erin Burnett, Kelly Buckingham,
II. APPROVE AGENDA
Superintendent Chandler stated no action would be required on Item E & G; they will be information only.
Joe Merrick made the motion and Marie Robertson seconded to approve the agenda for the March 11, 2010 meeting. Motion carried.
III. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Approve minutes of the February 11, 2010 Regular Board Meeting
B. Accounts Payable
C. Bruneau Elementary Activity Accounts
D. Grand View Elementary Activity Accounts
F. Rimrock Activity Accounts
Ray Meyers made the motion and Joe Merrick seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion carried.
IV. REPORTS TO THE BOARD
Superintendent Chandler requested adding Item C under Reports; Jim Dawson with the Safety Report.
A. Principal Reports-Phil McCluskey, Gerald Chouinard
Principal Gerald Chouinard reported on the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS) Reviews conducted at both elementary schools on March 10 at Grand View Elementary and March 11at Bruneau Elementary. He thanked Principal Phil McCluskey for helping with the review which is a three month process. A report will be given to the board at a later date. Science Fair projects were judged by high school students on March 10 at Grand View Elementary. Science projects will be judged at Grand View on March 16th. Book Fairs were held at both schools on March 10th through Parent Teacher Conferences on March 17th & 18th. Bruneau Elementary Health Fair will be March 17 starting at 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (See attached invitation) The fliers will be mailed to everybody in the district. Breakout sessions will be held in conjunction with the Health Fair. Students of the Month for February at Bruneau Elementary were Yesenia Juarez, Enrique Godinez and Madison Burbank and at Grand View Elementary they were Mitchell Erwin, Clarissa Barth, Christina Sharek, Mylee Myers, George Mowery, Jessica Riley, Sakota Hall and for the library they were Clarissa Barth and Haley Hegerhorst. Board members were given copies of the newsletters. Discussion was held on the Bruneau Health Fair and the garden project.
Principal Phil McCluskey reported the FCCLA Blood Drive goal was 30 pints and they actually collected 40 pints. Discussion was held on the blood drive. The Shakespeare play, Othello took place February 24th. IDFY Ski Trip was held at Bogus Basin on March 1st with 42 students and 4 chaperones attending. He thanked the board for allowing students the time as a reward for the IDFY commitment. Mr. McCluskey had a meeting on March 5 with Greg Munson regarding the Benchmark Grant which is a prevention program. Mr. Munson would like to have someone staff the program from the community. Penny Jones would like to be the staff member and Tammy Payne is helping write the grant. Chemistry students judged the Grand View Science Fair on March 10th. Physics students will judge the Bruneau Elementary Science Fair. BPA has 25 students competing at the state level this week. He commended Mrs. Bollinger for an excellent job. The 8th grade orientation will be held on Monday, March 15th during advisory. Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, March 17th and 18th. There will be a pre-registration during conferences. Spring sports have started with a baseball team also. Mr. McCluskey explained some of the Rimrock student accounts. He had several accounts which have been inactive for many years so he moved the amounts from the inactive accounts to active accounts. Discussion was held on making the pre-registration mandatory and having a translator to assist.
B. Superintendent Report—Vickie L. Chandler
Superintendent Vickie L. Chandler reported enrollment in the district is down 16 students since last May and down five students since last board meeting. Discussion was held on the reasons families are moving from the area. The school events calendar was discussed. The end of the 9 weeks is Friday, March 12 and students will be dismissed early to allow teachers time to work on report cards and grades. Mrs. Chandler, Will Goodman and Cathy Sellman have been investigating new copy machines to save money because the contracts are expiring on the existing copiers. A student notification system was also explained. Staff members have been asked to submit health information so we can get some quotes from brokers because that is a big cost to the district. During the meetings with District III small schools superintendents, next year’s budget was the main topic. Mrs. Chandler suggested a budget workshop special session once she has final numbers and can get input from staff and other stakeholders to help with ideas they would support. The ARRA stimulus funding was discussed. The Federal funding will be approximately $200,000 less for next year. JFAC budget proposal was discussed. Idaho has received notification they were not chosen to receive “Race to the Top” grant funding. She thanked board members for attending “Day on the Hill” with the legislators and she believed the legislative delegation heard the issues school districts are experiencing.
She gave board members a copy of emails she has sent to staff members regarding field trips, freezing all general fund accounts, not hiring substitutes for para-professionals and an email to IHSAA voting on classification. Field trip funding will not be funded next year and that will be the money which would fund this year’s field trips. She is encouraging staff to look at alternatives to fund their field trips. The substitute funding has been maxed out for this year so she has asked the schools to not hire substitutes for the last 10 weeks of school. Safe and Drug Free School money, textbooks, supplies, etc. can be carried over. With ag replacement phase out, the district will receive $25,679 less. The district use to receive $108,000 in ag replacement. (see email) She discussed the IHSAA reclassification and the survey. (see attached email)
Discussion was held on what districts can do to change the ISHAA classification. Athletic Director Will Goodman explained that at the last vote it was over a super majority but then they said it would need to be 75%. The ISHAA board still voted to keep the classification the same. Schools cannot play other schools if they do not belong to ISHAA. Several schools are considering going independent. Loss of revenue by playing less games was discussed.
C. Safety Report – Jim Dawson
Maintenance supervisor Jim Dawson read each buildings safety report. At Rimrock Jr. Sr. High School there was an extension cord on a coffee pot, paper on a wall regarding the Olympics and an eye wash station not functioning correctly. No unsafe or hazardous conditions were reported for Rimrock box car storage, Bruneau Elementary School, Rimrock fuel service area, district maintenance building, Bruneau-Grand View District Office, Rimrock Pump House, Rimrock Power House, Rimrock Vo-Ag Shop, Rimrock box car storage, Rimrock outdoor concession, Bruneau Elementary maintenance shop
Last year the district had 14 issues; this year there were four which were not big issues. Mr. Dawson commended the staff for keeping their rooms clean and uncluttered. Superintendent Chandler and the board commended Jim Dawson for the safety report.
The state audited all school buildings state-wide. During Christmas break an engineering firm reviewed every building. He recommended changing some numbers on heating and cooling temperatures a few degrees to conserve on energy. Discussion was held on energy level usage and the thermostat settings. Controls turn on at 8 a.m. and turn off at 3 p.m. The three fresh air exchangers at Rimrock use more energy.
V. PUBLIC INPUT
None
VI. ACTION ITEMS
A. Approve Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach
Superintendent Chandler recommended Sadan Selimovic as the assistant varsity baseball coach. There are currently 20 students playing baseball with Coach Chance Skerjanec.
Ray Meyers made the motion and Marie Robertson seconded to approve Sadan Selimovic as assistant baseball coach. Motion carried.
B. Calendar Options Presentation and Request to Survey
Will Goodman and Jessica Sonnen gave board members information on a 4-day school week. More than 67 schools have gone to a 4-day school week at the start of 2008-09 school year. The committee received data from 12 different districts. They reviewed cost savings, impact on student learning and other benefits and concerns. None of the Idaho schools have switched back to the traditional school week. Committee members were Will Goodman, Jessica Sonnen, Patty Dalyrmple, Trent Bodily, Phil McCluskey and Sherri Karren. Only one school district has shown a decline, however they had a decline before the 4-day week. Every other district stayed the same or increased ISATs and IRI’s. On average the districts had a 2-3% savings, which would be around $100,000 in our district. State law requires high school students to have 990 hours of instruction per year. Student impact benefits include (see attached sheet). A discussion was held on starting earlier or going later in the day. The benefits of having Monday off - (see sheet) The committee specifically looked at the county fair so school would not be in session during the fair. The calendar was discussed day by day for each month. Students would attend 1009 hours. Elementary would attend 921 hours and they are required to attend 900 hours. The equality between first and second semester was discussed. The committee requested the board’s permission to hold community meetings in all buildings after spring break, then survey the community for their input. The calendar must be submitted to the State Department of Education by May 15th. During parent teacher conferences the committee would like to have a brochure available for parents.
Ray Meyers made the motion and Joe Merrick gave the committee permission to pursue the 4-day school week with community meetings, surveys and more research. Motion carried.
The board commended the committee for all their hard work.
C. Approve Elko County Border Contract
Superintendent Chandler reported the contract is exactly the same as the district has signed in prior years. She and Cathy Sellman spent an hour with the district’s special education attorney on a conference call with Elko County Superintendent and their special education attorney from Reno discussing the contract. Elko County wanted Bruneau-Grand View to sign a contract admitting liability for special education students. Superintendent Chandler read through the contract discussing Item #4 regarding special education students. The tuition for 26 elementary and 28 high school students will be $12,247.06 per student. Superintendent Chandler has been discussing transporting the students to Bruneau Elementary School District with Tim Hill, Finance Director from the State Department of Education. Discussion was held on paying for a nurse, speech therapist and occupational therapist for a student in Owyhee. The district will be reimbursed through Idaho Medicaid for the expenditures.
Ray Meyers made the motion and Joe Merrick seconded to approve the Elko County Border Contract.
Discussion was held on item #4.
Motion carried.
D. Current Budget Update
Superintendent reviewed the budget which was in their board packets with board members. Discussion was held on the reasons for so many substitutes, summer maintenance salary and other line items.
E. Negotiations
Superintendent Chandler emailed Gary Jones regarding negotiations and his committee members. He responded that he would not be handling negotiations and he did not know who the team would be for the teachers. Mrs. Chandler would like to get together to get ideas and information regarding negotiations.
F. Personnel Issues
Item tabled until Executive Session
G. Student Issue
None. This item may be discussed at a special meeting at a later date.
VII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Ray Meyers made the motion and Joe Merrick seconded to adjourn into Executive Session for a personnel issue. Motion carried.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees of School District No. 365, recess from an open meeting into Executive Session pursuant to Section 67-2345, Idaho Code, to discuss personnel issues.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that following the Executive Session, the Board will reconvene in public session to conduct further business or for adjournment of the meeting.
The board recessed into Executive Session at 9:30 p.m.
The board reconvened in Open Session at 10 p.m.
VIII. ADJOURNMENT
Joe Merrick made the motion and Ray Meyers seconded to adjourn. Motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 10 p.m.
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(Catherine R. Sellman, Clerk)
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