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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-29-2014 Minutes Special Meeting-Work SessionDr. Charles J. Shackett, Superintendent 3497 North Ammon Road, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 83401  (208) 525-4400  Fax (208) 529-0104  www.d93schools.org Board of Trustees  Annette Winchester  Kip Nelson  Amy Landers  Brian McBride  Jeff Bird Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 is an Equal Opportunity Employer Marjean McConnell, Deputy Superintendent Special Meeting/Work Session Technical Careers High School Student Council Bonneville Online High School Student Council District Board Room October 29, 2014 11:30 AM I. Call to Order Chairperson Winchester called the meeting to order at 11: 40 a.m. II. Roll Call Those Board members in attendance were Chairperson Annette Winchester, Vice-chairperson Kip Nelson, Treasurer Amy Landers, and Trustee Brian McBride. Trustee Jeff Bird was not in attendance. Others in attendance were, Superintendent Chuck Shackett, Deputy Superintendent Marjean McConnell, Director of School Improvement and Technology Scott Woolstenhulme, Chief Financial/Operatio ns Officer April Burton, Director of Human Resources Shalene French, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Michaelena Hix, Principal Ty Salisbury, Principal Craig Miller, and Board Clerk Valerie Messick. III. Welcome Visitors and Delegations Chairperson Winchester welcomed Renee Cook, Judy Brower, Ryan Ballain, Idaho State University Students Elise Hansen and Jackie Ammon, Heather Thompson, Terri Angel, Carissa Lewis, Angie LeBlanc, and members of the Bonneville Online and Technical Careers High School Student Councils. She then thanked them for coming to the Board’s meeting. IV. Bonneville Online Student Presentation Principal Ty Salisbury stated that they have 345 high school students taking at least one online class. At the elementary they have 514 Kindergarten through eighth grade students working online full time. Right now they have a total of 859 students doing at least one online class. It has come a long ways in the three years that Mr. Salisbury has been here. He has great help to manage all the students. Th ey added a new high school registrar this year to assist their secretary in finalizing the 8 in 6 Program grades. They have a full time math teacher and hopes to add more full time staff next year. Terry Angel is their Social Studies teacher and Teresa Lewis is their English teacher. They spend their mornings at the Technical Careers High School and the afternoons at Mr. Salisbury’s building to work f ace to face with students. This year they have changed the schedule so that students get three core classes for the first nine week block instead of six classes that need to be finished by January. Then after they have finished those classes, they will receive three more classes; one more core class and two electives so they are on track to earn the 48 credits required to graduate. This helps them focus on the core classes during the first block of classes. Their school-wide goal is to have 35 senior graduates this year. They had eight last year. They are also dealing with early completers as well as fulltime students. Mr. Salisbury was able to get hold of three of their premier online students that have been with them for a couple of years. He introduced Nick Bohman has been in the online setting since first grade. Abbey Jensen has been with BOL High School since Mr. Salisbury stated. Mary Thompson is in her first year with BOL High School. They will explain why they go to the online school and what their experience has been. Also they were asked to tell the Board what school they would have been attending. Nick does online school because it lets him work at own pace. He wants to graduate when he is a junior. He takes classes over the summer and extra classes during the school year. Then he can work at different hours when other kids are at school. He would go to Hillcrest but now he just does it all online. He took band as a dual enrollment last year. Chairperson Winchester asked what his plans for the future are and how has this school helped him. He wants to be a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard. He plans to get his EMT during his senior year, then serve a mission for his church, and then work on an ambulance or nursing while he is in college. Abbey plans on graduating early this spring at the age of 16. She would have attended Skyline High School and attends Seminary there as well. She has chosen online schooling so she can pursue becoming a professional ballerina after high school. She likes online school because there are opportunities that she can take advantage of that she wouldn’t be able to if she went to the tradit ional high school. Last year she spent three weeks in Boise and performed with a professional Ballet Company. While living there, she was still able to go to school online every day. Occasionally she will do an audition during the week or at a strange time. She is able to make that time up online in the evening or on the weekends. Her sister and brother also do online school and it allows here to spend more time with th em. She plans to audition for a pre-professional program in Salt Lake, Seattle, and New York. She is planning on attending partial college at the University of Utah and dancing with Ballet West in their training program. She has a lot of good friends that keeps her in the social activities at high school. Mary is a second year student at the school and would normally attend Bonneville High School. She is a sophomore and will graduate when she is 17 or 18. She chose online courses because her dad has worked all over the United States and Canada. He gets a week off every six weeks so she can go to New Mexico to be with him during that time rather than having to wait to see him. She has been able to see a lot of the United States as well. She thinks it is an efficient system where you can work at your own pace and finish early if you want to do so. Mrs. Landers thanked the students for coming and sharing the things the District has to offer students and seeing the results of these offerings. We hope that by offing choices it will benefit students. Mr. McBride asked how the teachers have interacted with the students. Mary appreciates the teachers and their willingness to help with things she does not understand and they are willing to coordinate help through email or they schedule a time that they can come in face-to-face to get help. Fulltime kids have to come in and take written finals before graduation. That may be a challenge this year with scheduling. V. Technical Careers High School Student Presentation Chairperson Winchester asked Mr. Miller to introduce the students from Technical Careers High School. Breanna Miller is the studentbody president this year. She went to Bonneville for her freshman to junior year. She dual enrolled at TCHS last year in the collision repair and finishing class since her freshman year. She has enjoyed being at TCHS because she is in the career she wants to be in. She wants to become a painter or body man. Then she wants to go into business management and eventually open her own shop. She is hoping t o get an internship with Zero Gravity. She still cheers for Bonneville High School. Was captain of junior varsity team her freshman year then moved up to varsity her sophomore and junior year. She moved to an all-star team this year. That way she can still work on her career. She coaches at her all-star gym as well. She teaches younger kids from ages 4 -6 to do cheers like the older girls. Her senior project is developing physical motor skills in younger children. Alex Steen is the studentbody vice president. Has gone to both Bonneville and TCHS throughout his high school years as a.dual enrolled student in auto tech and welding. This year he decided to enroll at TCHS full time to help kick start what he is going into as a career. But there is not a class yet at TCHS for his specific career. He wants to be a machinist and own the business his family owns. They are general machinists. They make things for the INL for the nuclear cleanup project. He has been drag racing cars since he was eight years old. This past race season he took Technical Careers High School name and put them as number two in the state for AA category single handedly. He thinks the prize will be a grant. The other schools had about eight kids in the point’s chase which is a high rate series. He raced his dads 20/15 Dooley pick-up and put TCHS 2nd in the state. During the school year, he goes to school and then goes to work. TCHS has helped develop a work ethic and taught him how to be a professional and do his work right. He really likes the one-on-one time and he knows the teachers personally. They take the time to get to know him. Alexa Wagner is the student body secretary. She has been at TCHS since she was a freshman and has been enrolled at Hillcrest as well. She has been attending the auto body classes since her sophomore year. She went to state last year and placed in the top 20. She chose to leave Hillcrest because she never felt like she got a good connection with any of her teachers and didn’t feel like anyone cared there. At TCHS the teachers want to help you, get to know you, and understand you. Teachers will come in to help before or after school. She wants to go into insurance part. She wants to look at wrecked cars to see if they are worth fixing or whether they should be totaled out. If that doesn’t work out, she wants to go into the auto body part of it. That comes with a certified welding degree to fall back on. Mr. McBride wondered how many girls are attending TCHS. There are three. She feels like it is just one big family at TCHS. They always help each other. Scotty Miller is the student body activity coordinator. He is part of the Automotive Technology Program. He wants to own his own auto performance shop. He will go to the Lincoln Technology College in Denver. He is also dual enrolled at Bonneville. He takes a college algebra class and debates on the varsity Lincoln Douglas team. He is also on the Skills Team at TCHS. He loves TCHS. He started by taking welding and auto tech as a sophomore. He feels like they are like a big family at the school. Chairperson Winchester asked him what kind of advertisement he thinks he is for other students. They struggle with humility at TCHS. They have so much fun and are so far ahead. They have already stated on their senior projects and research papers. He encourages other students and tries to be a good role model. It is a great opportunity to watch the school blossom and grow from what it was when they first saw it to what they hope to get it to be. The facilities are a little old but they are always getting new equipment. The shops are really great and the welding shop has been updated with a lot improvements in the last year and the seniors helped with that. The auto tech shops are great. They have lots of tools and have got some new lifts in. The facilities for the size of the high school are good. They keep up with what is going on in their careers. They get things that are new in the industry so they can work those materials. They would like to see the school have more programs such as machining or fabrication or EMT classes, or agriculture classes. We need to incorporate classes that the students need. Some want to do computer graphics classes. Mr. Nelson wondered if the students would have made it through the regular classes at the traditional school. It is a much better experience at the TCHS. VI. TCHS Information Presentation - Principal Craig Miller Chairperson Winchester asked Principal Craig Miller to present information to the Board regarding technical education. Mr. Miller said the school is about economic development because our region has such a shortage of people being able to do these jobs. The focus is to help students become better citizens and better employees. He showed a presentation with data from the department of commerce and the department of labor as well as information from various meetings he has been involved in. What is the purpose of our schools? Is it learning to sit in rows, get up and move at the sound of bells, or stay in place for 45 minutes? That is what our students are being taught and what they are learning. TCHS has shifted away from that focus and emphasizing thinking outside the box by thinking something different than traditional. They took a field trip to Premier Technologies where the CEO Doug Saywer conducted the tour for the students. Those jobs are not low paying jobs and they are begging for people who can perform them. The skills they are looking for are the ability and willingness to learn new skills, TCHS students are taugh t how to do new and different things and become lifelong learners. They are working on developing interpersonal communication skills. Now 65% of all jobs require more than a high school diploma. There is a focus towards certification, attaining college credits, and attaining a bachelor’s degree or beyond. He talked about the return for investments for college degrees. He also showed slides regarding first year earnings by degree. A Technical Associate’s degree will earn more than a bachelor’s degree. People are not unemployed in the technical fields. The Silver Tsunami is something they are worried about. The Baby Boomers are getting ready to retire and we don’t have enough people to fill the vacancies and people may end up working longer. The City of Idaho Falls Power workforce has 50% over 50 years and they will be retiring soon. There will be a lot of retirements and they are wondering who will fill those jobs. The job growth will be much higher than the workforce growth. Construction has the highest job growth rate of about 40%. Health care is next. Leisure and Hospitality will grow because of all the recreational opportunities in Eastern Idaho. Retail trade will go up. Manufacturing is predicted to go up in Eastern Idaho by 11%. We will be known as the manufacturing hub of the future. EITC just got approved to start a Manufacturing Program and Mr. Miller is working with them the become part of that. There is a skills gap in mathematics, writing, communications, engineering, programing, automotive, and IT. The TCHS hits hard on math, reading, and writing. They have great core teachers that provide a lot of resources to help the students. They want students to see that reading and writing matters other than just in their language arts classes. Hard to fill positons are auto mechanics, machinists, programmable logic controllers, welders, software programmers, and web developers. They are trying hard to do the best for their students. They are also try to make the job of Board members easier by giving them information like this. So when people ask why we are doing what we are doing we can tell them what the Department of Labor is asking for. TCHS students will be better prepared to go out and work than if they attended a traditional high school. The PowerPoint presentation will be available on the website and if more information is needed, Mr. Miller will get it for the Board. Chairperson Winchester thanked Mr. Miller and the students for coming to the Board meeting. VII. Audit Report - April Burton, Judy Brower Chairperson Winchester asked Mrs. Burton to introduce Mrs. Brower and Mr. Ballian. They handed out copies and explained the Trustees’ Report to the Board. They gave a qualified opinion that the financial information was fairly presented and appropriate accounting principals have been followed. There is some comparative information from last year and this year. There is also information regarding current concerns. Please contact either Mrs. Burton or their firm if the Board has any questions. The back of the big report is a single audit that will be sent to the State as well as the Federal Government to show compliance to their guidelines regarding federal funds that have been supplied to the District. The Trustees’ Report is more of a management tool and gives the Board a big picture of what is going on with the general fund. The general fund cash is down by $1.9 million. That was part of the overall plan and the District budgeted to deficit spend. In the governmental environment the key is balancing the budget. The District figures out what they have and how they are going to spend it. There is an analysis of what the District has in the fund balance. The District didn’t put as much in the budget to use from the fund balance for next year. The District received more revenue from the State so we didn’t have to dip into the fund balance as much as we have in the past. But, it was budgeted. With the funding going in a positive direction, Mrs. Burton hopes that the District will have a balanced budget next year and get back towards level spending. Currently the unassigned fund balance is $4.27 million and April is motoring it very closely. The difference in the general fund is that the wind energy is in that fund this year. The District has worked really hard to manage the debt service fund. The District has not had to change the overall levy rate even with all the growth. Now it is a challenge because in Idaho part of the overall system is to put funding back on local school districts with supplemental levies to fill in the gaps. Now the District also needs to pass a bond to deal with the kids as they grow older. Graphs show a comparison of last year with former years. In 2011 -2012, the District really pulled back and made some pretty deep cuts to plan for the future. The District cut 45 fulltime certified staff and District imposed furlough days. That is when PE and Music specialists were cut, librarians were cut to half-time and the number of duty aides were cut. The class size was also raised and the District eliminated fulltime aides because of benefits costs. That allowed the District to carry on without continuing to make major cuts year after year. The District continues to make cuts but they are not as major. The District needed to understand how much it needs to save because funding isn’t what it was. This year because of problems and concerns on the playgrounds, we had to add duty aids back. The District has added a few things back because of problems and concerns, but the District isn’t back to where we were. The District is still looking at deficit spending. Eventually, we will get to a point where the District can longer deficit spend, so we are hesitant to add too much back. There is a graph that shows funding in terms of per student. There was a fair amount of support from the federal government i n 2010 and nothing more except a little in 2012. That was the AARA Money. The District opted to save the federal money from 2011 and spend it in 2012. In 2011 the District got $198 per student from the State Rainy Day account. But, they didn’t continue that. Figures per student in 2014 shows $4168. In 2010 it was $5072 from the federal government plus $3916 from the state. Going back two more years, it was $4692 per student in June of 2009 and in 2008 it was $4602 per student. What the District had in 2008 compared to 2014 is the reason for the supplemental levy. That is what the district did to keep the spending level up. Mrs. Burton is basing the funding based on the number of students that show up and not based on enrollment. We are showing a per student drop in money from the state to our District and equates to the need for a supplemental levy of $3 million. The District doesn’t get federal money into the general fund any m ore. That was just the AARA money and jobs money for a brief period of time. Now the Federal money is very specific. Mr. McBride wondered what basing state reimbursement to the District on enrollment rather than attendance would do to our District. It would be fine if the State increased the funding amount. But if it stays the same, the District would get less money because our attendance is so high. We have worked hard to keep our attendance up. Funding is currently based on a1990 demographic funding model. Operations includes custodial, utilities, maintenance, busses, business operations, and plant facility. The new high school will be an impact but, it would save some dollars by not having trailers. Mr. Trauntvein is contacting the districts that have built new high schools to see what the cost saving has been. If we build additional schools, we may need to look at an increase in the supplemental levy. We will get funded for the teachers but we won’t necessarily get funded for operating costs of a new building. Supplemental levies are a survival need. Ninety percent of the general fund goes to salaries and benefits. The legislature requires reporting back on how we are spending the money the state allocates for specific projects. The state is taking away the Board’s local control with the strings attached to the funding. We get $700,000 for leadership premiums that have to be spent on instructional staff with required minimums and maximums. There is a letter from the auditors to the Board letting them know that the fiduciary responsibility has been fulfilled. It gives them a chance to say if there were problems working through the audit and what they may have been. Ms. Brower thanked Mrs. Burton and staff for their help during the audit and asked if there were any questions from the Board. Chairperson Winchester then asked for a motion with regard to the audit report as presented. MOTION: Brian McBride made the motion to accept the Audit Report as presented. Kip Nelson seconded. The vote was 4 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion was carried. Chairperson Winchester thanked Ms. Brower and Mr. Ballian for working with the District. VIII. School Improvement Plans - Scott Woolstenhulme A. Lincoln High School B. Telford Academy C. Bonneville Online D. Rimrock E. Tiebreaker F. Rocky Mountain Middle School Chairperson Winchester asked Mr. Woolstenhulme to talk about the school improvement plans for the six schools listed. The state has taken three months off the school improvement deadlines for all schools that required to do them. All of our schools who are required have done so. We are in the same boat as we have been in for two years because there is no state testing mechanism for allowing schools to move out of school improvement. They are progressing through and doing a great job. He just needs the Chairperson’s signature saying that they have a program. The state won’t wait for two years for getting out of school improvement. We are still years from growth scores so we just need to jump through the hoops. Our saving grace is that we invested in the STAR testing program several years ago and we know how our students are doing. Mr. Woolstenhulme does not need a motion but does need the Board Chair’s signature. Chairperson Winchester asked if there were any questions from the Board for Mr. Woolstenhulme. Hearing none, she then moved on to the survey discussion. IX. Items for Discussion Review Patron Survey Questions - Scott Woolstenhulme. The first questions are on people’s impression on how the District doing. There are questions on how the principals and teachers are doing and the quality of education. They are asked to rank them from A to F. If there is a low score, they are asking for some clarifying input on why they feel that way. If should give us some good feedback. Fr om there it goes into the three choices for building that have come out of the committee. The three options are (1) Build a new high school; (2) Add on to the existing high schools; and (3) Annex Sandcreek to Hillcrest and build a junior high school that would house 2100 students and move the 9th grade down. That would mean there would be huge schools in the south housing 2000 students. The schools on the north would house about 1000 students. The choices represent the diversity of the committee. The telephone survey will be a stratified random sample. They divided the District into three areas: (1) South of Sunnyside; (2) between Sunnyside and Lincoln and (3) North of Lincoln. Patron Insights will pull 33% from each area. In addition to that the survey will be online for anyone to be involved. There will probably be a separate online survey for the staff. We need to make sure that the staff gets to take the survey. Chairperson Winchester thanked Mr. Woolstenhulme and asked if there would be any questions for him with regard to the surve y questions as presented. Hearing none she then asked if any Board member would like to add any agenda item to any upcoming mee ting. X. Call for Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings A. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - 7:00 p.m. B. ISBA Annual Conference - Wednesday November 12 - Friday November 14, 2014 - Riverside Hotel, Boise, Idaho C. Work Session - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - Fairview Elementary Media Center - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. D. Secondary Facilities Committee Meeting - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Hillcrest High School Media Center - 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. E. Legislative Luncheon - Wednesday December 2, 2014 - District Board Room - 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. F. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 7:00 p.m. G. Work Session - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - Woodland Hills Elementary - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. H. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - 7:00 p.m. XI. Adjournment Chairperson Winchester then asked for a motion to adjourn and 1:34 p.m. MOTION: Amy Landers made the motion to adjourn. Brian McBride seconded. The vote was 4 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion was carried. APPROVED: _____________________ Chairperson ATTESTED: _______________________ Clerk Date: _______________________