Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-03-2014 Minutes 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 Work Session of the Board of Trustees District Board Room December 3, 2014 11:30 AM I. Call to Order Chairperson Winchester called the meeting to order at 11: 34 a.m. II. Roll Call Those Board members in attendance were Chairperson Annette Winchester, Vice-chairperson Kip Nelson, Treasurer Amy Landers, Trustee Brian McBride arrived at 12:30 p.m., and Trustee Jeff Bird left the meeting at 12:58 p.m. Others in attendance were, Superintendent Chuck Shackett, Deputy Superintendent Marjean McConnell, Director of School Improvement and Technology Scott Woolstenhulme, Chief Financial/Operations Officer April Burton, Director of Human Resources Shalene French, Community Relations and Communications Liaison Phillip Campbell, Plant Facility and Purchasing Director Roger Hill, Director of Safe Schools John Pymm, Energy Education Specialist Don Trauntvein, Curriculum and Instruction Director Michaelena Hix, Ty Salisbury, and Board Clerk Valerie Messick. III. Welcome Visitors and Delegations Chairperson Winchester welcomed the following: Sue Ann Dabell, Tammie McCammon, Heidi Southwick, Karla Harris, Steven Murphy, Boud Schwieder, Brad McKinsey, Renee Cook, and Becky Foster IV. Items for Discussion 1. Rental Issues – Don Trauntvein Chairperson Winchester asked Mr. Trauntvein to talk to the Board about rental issues. Mr. Trauntvein stated there are a lot more teams wanting to use the gyms. There are 110 teams that have signed up for Bonneville School District/Iona City Basketball league. The Belnap league is eight or 10 teams bigger this year. Belnap is using Rocky Mountain but playing longer game days. There have been complaints from patrons that they are not able to get gym space. For principals, it is nothing but a headache to rent the buildings because of all the required paperwork and they don’t get anything out of it because all the rental goes to the District. Maybe the Board policy could be changed to allow a 50/50 cut on community rentals like the commercial rentals. The elementary schools would get something for the headache they have with the time their secretary needs to take to fill out the paperwork and submit it through the system and then deal with the cash and the finances. At 50/50 they would end up with $1.25 per hour out of every rental. That will cover the utilities. All gyms have been retrofitted with high efficacy lighting with the exception of Rocky Mountain Middle School and the two High Schools. So a 50/50 cut would cover our costs. The elementary schools would probably be more willing to rent it if they could get something out of it. The elementaries don’t have commercial rentals. The secondary schools have commercial rental quite regularly. The commercial rental helps buy different things for those school. If we didn’t do the 50/50, then we could divide money we do get back to the elementary schools. More teams are asking for a space to play. Next year we will need to use the Campbell Gym for Saturday games rather than the city of Idaho Falls because we will need more room than is available. We will see some benefits if we make a change in procedure. We need to make it easier for the principles. A 50/50 cut is easy to calculate but even a 25/75 would cover the costs. The high school gyms are already maxed out for their own practices. They don’t have the ability to open them up to community use. Chairperson Winchester asked if there were any questions or concerns. Mr. Bird wanted to to know how many hours they are used. It differs with different buildings. At Rimrock it is opened up at 4:00 and occupied until 9:00 every hour on the hour. Woodland Hills in the past is not as busy. Tie breaker and Falls Valley have heavy usage. Summit Hills is maxed out. Some principles don’t allow people in until 4:00 because teachers use the building during that time. There are a lot of people requesting facility use. The older kids need more than an hour a week to practice. Part of the problem with volleyball has been the equipment because some of the schools don’t have it available. Individual principals have purchased the equipment. We have four schools that have that equipment. Chairperson Winchester will task the administration to look at a change in policy for next year. There has been a problem with locking down the buildings. There are four badges at the school for use each day. They are active from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. They have given them to the coaches. They need to stay at the doors to open them for their team members. Some can enter the gym doors but many have to enter into the school. Sandcreek leaves the front doors open. Some schools such as Bridgewater, Summit Hills, and Discovery don’t have gates to keep kids from running through the schools. Bridgewater puts a table up across the hallways and they have asked people to please stay out of the halls. Mr. Trauntvein will send out a letter of best practices for renting the schools. The gyms are closed if we are on school vacation. They could use the building if the custodians can be available. We would need to change the policy if that would be done. Maybe we can use the schools where we have outside entries. When the board policy is revised, we can put some options in that could allow use during school vacation times. Chairperson Winchester asked if there were other concerns or questions. Hearing none she asked Mrs. Burton to tell the Board about our Food Services Department. Mrs. Burton had the opportunity to sit with the State Department and our food service personnel this morning as they did their audit exit review. They were very complementary about our program. Bonneville’s Food Service Department is an outstanding success story. Our participation is increasing even with the changing regulations. We are 100 percent compliant in all of our components. However the kids weren’t taking enough dry chickpeas and they were going to work with us to create more recipes for legumes. Everyone on our staff was very knowledgeable and knew what the program needed to do. They were in compliance with all the safety standards as well. It was a great review. Chairperson Winchester then went on to the Secondary Facilities Committee Recommendation Discussion. She encouraged the Board, patrons, parents, and staff to have a vision like those who created the Mayo Medical Clinic. Without a vision, we can’t create what is needed. We need to look ahead and we need to plan what is best for our students. She appreciates the fact that we have people here that want what is best and appreciates their opinion and their input. 2. Secondary Facilities Recommendation Chairperson Winchester asked the individual Board members what they were feeling about the committee’s recommendation and what they feel we need to do from here. She began with Mrs. Landers. She believes that the new high school is the best option for our kids. We need to provide them a school that is not continually needing additions or needing kids to travel between schools that have been annexed. Annexation causes safety and administrative concerns for her. This is the same recommendation as the former committee that Mrs. Landers sat on when she wasn’t a Board member. We need to look at the tax situation and understand when we can come back for elementary and middle school funding without having to raise the levy rate again. Our survey concurred that we need a new high school. It was a professional survey and is very reliable. There are people that aren’t on board with it but the majority see that this is what we need to do. Chairperson Winchester then asked Mr. Nelson to express his feelings. He agrees with Mrs. Landers that the new high school is what is best for our kids. It is his opinion that there is no perfect solution after looking at all the options brought before the committee. He appreciated the third party to make sure there was good facilitation at the committee meetings. One side did not dominate. There was good conversation between the committee members. We will continue to grow and it is tough to think about where we will have to draw the line with regard to what we need to build. It has been well thought through on both sides. She then asked Mr. Bird to express his opinion. He believes that the new high school is definitely needed. If we are going to go that direction we need to look at the financing terms to see how we can do it on a smarter plan and raise our levy rate a bit so we can pay for things down the road. We need to put together a financial committee so we can make a smart decision that way as well. Mr. Bird would like a shorter term on the bond but he believes building a new high school would be acceptable. He will support the committees’ recommendation as long as we do it on smart terms. Dr. Shackett will put committees together to look at options. There will be a finance committee, a site committee, a publicity and informational committee, and a committee regarding what should go into the high school. We are working with our bonding attorneys and advisors to see if we can we write the bond question asking support for several different structures and/or fields, etc. That way everyone can have a voice. Dr. Shackett has talked to Mark Bird about heading the finance committee and Craig Simpson to work with site design committee. Chairperson Winchester felt that this decision is going to be hard. But when you realize that is the right decision, it is the only decision that is best for kids. We need to get on board and make it happen. There has been a lot of time, thought, and energy put into this decision. It will be hard to pass it. She believes that our patrons, parents, and community will support it when they understand the way the Board and committee understand. They have supported the District with so many of our other Bonds and levies. Lary Larsen’s words come to mind, “If you can’t educate parents and patrons then you shouldn’t be educating our kids.” It is our job to make sure that our community understands that we need a high school. It is not a want. It will bless everyone in our community not just our high school students. We need to sell the new high school as a community thing not just a District thing. She then asked the administration what we need to do now to prepare for the next step. Brian arrived at 12:30 p.m. Mrs. Burton responded that we need to decide what projects we put in the bond. That will determine the amount of the bond. Then all the calculations can be done for the financing that will impact the levy rate. Two committees regarding the financing and what will go into the high school need to be working now. The finance committee will need to have some drawings before the group meets. There won’t be a complete drawing available before they meet. They may be able to draw what the outside will look like. We probably will put everything on the drawing with a notation that it may or not be included. We need to determine where the football field will be even if that may come later. We need to do a whole site plan even if we don’t do the different parts now. We will need to have a traffic study done after the site plan is determined. We will need the traffic study before meeting with the public in open meetings so that information will be available. The site we have now will house both a high school and middle school. We need to educate people that the drawing is only the artist’s conception and may change in appearance. It should be a bird’s eye view of Middleton, Logan, Cache Valley, or Valliview. It is important to present enough information and not something that will dissatisfy patrons. We want to help patrons be satisfied with entrances, busses, and parking. We need to see the basics and that it is a practical building. We need to understand the difference in the hallways of the proposed school and what we have in the current high schools. We will have many small meetings to present this information. We hope to reach more people that way. We need to find out how much time the architects can put in at this time and give the Board as much detail as they need. Right now we need a bird’s eye view of where things can be placed on the site. They can provide a schematic of classrooms, auditorium, gym, cafeteria, commons, and have those laid out. People need to be able to give ideas and make it work for them. It all comes down to access control and code requirements with regard the number of accesses required, etc. Chairperson Winchester would like to see the option of additional classrooms so we know where they will be and possibly how much it will cost. The design and bid process happens after the bond is passed. Right now we need to have the big picture in mind. With a 1500 student building and 1800 core, they will size the commons and hallways appropriately. They could then show future classrooms. Right now the projected cost is $60 million based on a best estimate at this time knowing. You can get the cost down by reducing something like the auditorium or the football fields, etc. That could be anywhere from $5 to $9 million. The site plan needs to show where everything will be eventually placed. The code will dictate the minimum amount of parking required. The keys are the hallways, stairwells, and the commons. The estimate is $238 per square foot for the entire project. Based on other projects, the estimate for the building alone is around $170 per square foot. If you add in sports fields and utilities that increases to about 213 per square foot. Those estimates include about $8 million for all of the site work. That includes water, power, sports fields, bleachers, soccer, tennis, and parking, etc. The finance committee can’t be tasked with anything until we know what size of building and costs for different components. We need to know if we are going with the 1500 students – 1800 core and $60 million. The Board needs to determine the size of the building. There was not an estimate for 1800 students – 2,000 core. Mr. .McKinsey will go with the 1500 – 1800. The auditorium needs to be just under 1000 seats because the codes are so restrictive. The footprint will show everything. When you build an auditorium, do you still put the classrooms in that you need for the auditorium? That will affect the costs. Is there a drop dead date of when the budget needs to be done? January 14th is the Board meeting when the resolution needs to voted on. We have a work session on January 7th so we need to know what we are doing by then. The site plan could be given to the Board very quickly within a day or two so you have something to work with. We need a site plan, put committees together, will use the site plan to determine the entries and exits, etc. Committees should conclude January 4th so they can come up with a solution before the 7th. Mrs. Landers is willing to go with a tiered bond question if that is possible. If we try to piece the thing together it interrupts the flow of things and affects the kids. If we don’t have the right facilities for them. Will $5 million or 8 million make the difference? We can design the core to a budget. Trustee Jeff Bird left the meeting at 12:58 p.m. We need to build so they will have a core to work with. We need to be aggressive and not skirt around the auditorium and fields issues. If don’t have a tiered question, we will need to upgrade Thunder Stadium. It important that we are careful in how we word the question. The District needs to make a commitment of what they will use the bond money for. Mr. McBride talked about the committee’s recommendation. He feels that we need to support the committee’s recommendation. It lines up with survey and putting kids first. We need to go to schools right after the first of the year so they know and understand. Mrs. Messick will schedule a meeting with each school’s faculty. Heidi Southwick hopes to schedule information meetings in each area. She asked that there be a picture available so people can see what the new high school will look like. A rendering should be available at basketball games, wrestling matches, etc. The District should have someone there to answer questions at the different events. Chairperson Winchester asked if any Board Member would like to add any agenda item to an upcoming meeting. V. Call for Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings A. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 7:00 p.m. B. Work Session - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - Woodland Hills Elementary - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. C. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - 7:00 p.m. D. Work Session - Wednesday, January 28, 2015 - Iona Elementary - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. E. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - 7:00 p.m. F. ISBA Day on the Hill - Monday February 16 - Tuesday February 17, 2015 - Boise, Idaho VI. Adjournment Chairperson Winchester asked for a motion to Adjourn at 1:09 p.m. MOTION: Amy Landers made the motion to adjourn. Kip Nelson seconded. The vote was 4 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion was carried. APPROVED: __________________________ Chairperson ATTESTED: __________________________ Clerk Date: _________________________