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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-19-11_Board_RetreatDr. Charles J. Shackett, Superintendent Dr. Bruce Roberts, Deputy Superintendent 3497 North Ammon Road, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 83401  (208) 525-4400  Fax (208) 529-0104  www.d93.k12.id.us Board of Trustees  Craig Lords  Annette Winchester  Wendy Horman  Kip Nelson  DeVere Hunt Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 is an Equal Opportunity Employer Marjean McConnell, Assistant Superintendent Board Retreat July 19, 2011 9:00 a.m. I. Call to Order Chairman Lords called the meeting to order at 9:20 a.m. II. Roll Call Board members present were Craig Lords, Wendy Horman, Annette Winchester, and Kip Nelson. Others present were Superintendent Chuck Shackett, Deputy Superintendent Bruce Roberts, Assistant Superintendent Marjean McConnell, Chief Financial/Operations Officer April Burton, Director of Operations Todd Hicks, and Board Clerk Valerie Messick. DeVere Hunt arrived at 9:29 a.m. III. Approve the Agenda MOTION: Annette Winchester made the motion to approve the agenda. Wendy Horman seconded. The vote was 4 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. IV. Discussion Items A. Additional State Allocation $2,000,038.00.  Chairman Lords stated that we should have a public meeting to get ideas on what to do with this money.  Each furlough day for certified personnel saves the District $180,000 – $200,000 per day.  Classified personnel had a calendar adjustment not furlough days. If the District were to decide to pay classified employees who work with students for 170 – 180 days they would be paid even though students are only in school for 165 days. They should not receive additional days until the calendar is adjusted to increase student school days.  Chairman Lords asked April Burton how much of the additional allocation the District should save. She responded that $1.4 million in one-time federal jobs money is included in this year’s budget. Also the salary based apportionment will be cut $470,000 to pay for pay for performance. In light of these facts, April would like to save the entire allocation for next year. Chairman Lords asked if it would be feasible to give back two furlough days. We need to consider the impact of the 4% the state will withhold on the salary based apportionment for next year.  This additional money is based on the support units and is more than amounts we have seen before. It is 20 support units over previous accounts from the state. It is based on the best 28 weeks of attendance. April should have a report within the next couple of weeks detailing the allocation.  We need to do something to bring moral up in the District  April asked the Board where they want the fund balance to be. It is now 3%.  The consensus was to give back some but save some to offset next year’s decrease in funding.  If the Board chooses to give back furlough days it will need to make a decision soon because there are only two days in the calendar that could easily be changed. They are August 22, that could be given back as a workday and October 7 that could be given back as an in-service day. B. Board Work Session Locations.  The Board asked to change the Ucon work session location to Sandcreek Middle School and the Tiebreaker work session to Rocky Mountain Middle School.  The possibility of changing the starting time of the regular meetings from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. was discussed. A motion has to be made in a regular or special meeting. Since this meeting is a work session, the start time will be placed on the August 10, 2011 meeting agenda. That meeting’s start time will remain at 7:30 p.m. C. Board Plant Facilities Assignments  Chairman Lords made the following assignments for Board members to attend the Facilities Planning Committee Meetings: July 20 – DeVere Hunt August 3 – Kip Nelson August 17 – Wendy Horman September 7 – Annette Winchester September 21 – Annette Winchester October 5 – Craig Lords  DeVere stated that if ITEC is seriously considering chartering a professional technical high school, it may change the way we look at our plans for a new high school. D. Board Travel Budget:  The Board considered past travel expenses and this year’s travel budget.  All members will attend the Idaho School Boards Association conference in Coeur d’ Alene.  Valerie will register Board members for the ISBA conference. Rooms have already been reserved at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Hotel.  Annette will not attend the Day on the Hill the others will attend.  Annette and DeVere would like to attend the National School Boards Association Conference in Boston.  DeVere asked if the District would pay his registration if he gets there and pays for his food and lodging.  There will be further discussion on attendance at NSBA. E. Board/Superintendent  Goal Setting  Timelines for building a new high school are upon us. A decision needs to be made soon.  Need to make sure we build something that meets our needs and is visionary – we need to bring all three schools along not just the new school  Need to let kids own their own learning by implementing a project based inquiry based model that is student driven and they own the devices that facilitate that learning  What does the facility look like that facilitates that type of learning  Start with small steps. Maybe take a program that the school excels in and offer it after school. That is already happening to some extent. Maybe schedule longer blocks of time for certain courses.  Give teachers choices for when they teach  We are now getting teachers that have been raised on the internet  Pay for performance will make a great difference – peer pressure – collaboration – professional development may come from in house – one teacher at a time  Formative assessments are needed to help teachers know where students are – the system will allow teachers to focus on individual students and not being required to teach the masses  Give students an opportunity – take kids from where they are to where they can be  With our Board and administrative combination we can do it  Communication will be important  How will parents react?  We can do something regardless of what parents do  Need to bring the community along  Need to make parents feel welcome in our schools  Safety is critical  Protect the child  Kids have incredible resilience – environment needs to be conducive to learning  Make sure we enforce what we have in place  Superintendents’ Input  Superintendent Shackett gave the Board a list of potential goals for 2011 - 2012.  Student success needs to be the lens that we look through.  We’ve already started the change that will establish that lens.  We need to discuss what professional development will look like.  Dr. Shackett discussed the possibility of the high schools being open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., allowing students to schedule classes at times that best meet their schedules or learning styles. The model could look somewhat like a junior college schedule.  It was suggested that we may need to keep freshmen someplace else because the scheduling may be difficult for them.  Concerns about providing transportation to students were voiced if this schedule were to be implemented. F. Bond Election  The question is when and how much.  Copies of the demographics study showing the projected needs for a new high school, middle school, and elementary school were distributed to the Board. The study recommended that the District should pass a bond this fall for High School. Building a high school is a 3½ to 4 year process.  Both high schools are full now and we are moving into trailers  If we refinance the 2005 and 2007 bonds to extend repayment terms, we could bond for $50,000,000 without raising levy rate. However, a couple of years later we will need a new middle school.  Election dates are November, March, May, or August. The goal is to have a bond election in March. A resolution would need to be brought before the Board in January in order to meet county election deadlines.  We should look at the new high schools in Madison, Rigby, or Meridian for traditional plans.  We should go other places to see something different.  The building should be designed by function not by funding.  The Facilities Planning Committee meetings will shape the direction the District will go with the new high school plan. Then there should be public hearings in November and December. Hopefully the community will be well informed and ready when the District asks the Bond Election question.  Split sessions at the high schools as opposed to a collegiate model as well as year round school schedules were discussed.  We will need to work on communications. Options will need to be disseminated as soon as possible so people have time to think about them. We can include the media so they understand what we are considering and hopefully they can facilitate feedback from the patrons.  The possible need for a change in the culture of community was discussed: we may need to restrict traditional classes and promote online options or change where learning happens.  It is an economic issue as well as a learning stand point.  We need to research and find a model that has successfully made changes in the structure of their high school schedules and course presentation. G. Supplemental Levy Election  We will not need to ask for another supplemental levy for two years. 11:30 V. Media Open House/Luncheon – Board Room 1:00 p.m. VI. Board Discussion A. Board goals 1. Ensure Student Success through the following: a. Welcome Parents in Our Schools  Pay attention to increasing parent participation and involvement.  Present a message of welcome at the front entrance and the front office.  Ask Guy to take photos of front entrances at each school.  Pay attention to the atmosphere presented in the front office.  Pay attention to the interactions of the person in the front office with patrons and students.  Designate patron parking spaces that are close to the entrance. b. Improve Morale  Consider making changes to the RIF Procedures in the future so we don’t have mass layoffs.  Administrators need to be honest in JAPAS then use the evaluation to lay people off.  Check inter-rater reliability and know who the outliers are. c. Establish a Safe and Supportive Learning Environment at Each School  Send a clear message that the school environment is safe and respectful.  Treat students with kindness and respect.  Report to the Board on expulsions and what has happened to those students – Were the interventions helpful? Trends over the last several years? How many have been expelled? Is it getting worse or better?  Morten & Company could be invited to present to the Board and the administrators  Conduct a climate survey with students  Reinstate the 40 Assets survey.  Bullying often is the result of bullying at home, consider reading, “Don’t Kick the Dog” by Richard Carlson.  Instead of School Presentations, report on the school climate, incidences of suspensions, in-school suspensions, hazing, and bullying through a data dashboard format.  Look at adult behaviors as well as student behaviors  Use a Client Complaint Log to look at patterns at the schools d. Monitor Performance Data  ACT, SAT, COMPASS  SchoolNet data  College courses  Dual enrollment  How many online credits were earned?  Where are we compared to last year?  Where should we be?  Look at the Freshman Academy – is it working? Compare Bonneville freshman to Hillcrest freshman. 2. Set Personal Goals a. Visit the elementary schools - drop in to see what is going on and how things are running when there is not a show - look for things that are going right b. Personally contact the principals - make sure you are acting in the capacity of a parent or patron and not as the Board – do not micromanage c. Attend more activities at the schools 3. Keep Funding Sound VII. Agenda Discussion – Send all agendas to the media and post them on the website. Also send them to the PTO presidents. Approval of the Agenda will be added as an agenda item in the future. Information that is relevant to current changes may be added to the agenda as needed. VIII. Other August 10 Board Meeting – New Business add discussion and input regarding additional allocation from the state. Make sure the PTO presidents are aware of the discussion and post it on the Website. Old Business Discuss changing the time for regular meetings from 7:30 to 7:00 Committees and Reports -Report on Plant Facilities Committee meetings Work session Expulsion Report The Board will nominate Chuck for Superintendent of the Year Award. It was suggested that the nomination include reference to the eCenter and the Bonneville District Virtual Academy. Adjournment MOTION: DeVere Hunt made a motion to adjourn at 3:30 p.m. Kip Nelson seconded. The vote was 5 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion passed. Approved: Chairman Attested: Clerk Date: