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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-22-2014 Minutes LHS Student Council - 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 October 22, 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 and Trustee Jeff Bird. Mr. Bird left at 12:54 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, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Michaelena Hix, Principal Gordon Howard, Principal Craig Miller, Food Services Director Heather Plain, and Board Clerk Valerie Messick. III. Welcome Visitors and Delegations Chairperson Winchester welcomed the Lincoln High School student council and thanked them for letting the Board attend their school. She then asked the Board, administration, and student council to introduce themselves. Student Council members in attendance were Zacary Davis, a senior at Lincoln High School who came from Bonneville, Emily Freeman a teacher at Lincoln and Student Council Advisor, Andrew Atken a senior from Bonneville, and MicKnley Cheney a senior from Bonneville High School. IV. Lincoln High School Student Presentation Chairperson Winchester then asked the students to present how they feel about the school and what their plans are for the future. She asked Zac to begin. He talked about his plans after graduation. His church offers a scholarship for students who want to become a youth minister. If you want to get your Bible major, they offer scholarships for that as well. There is a missionary program called AIM. You go to Levitt, Texas for eight months and study the Bible. Then they ship you to where they think you are needed. Then he will go into sports medicine at Utah Valley University in Orem or Idaho State University. Coming to Lincoln has been less stress about classes and homework. He plays on the Bonneville High School basketball team. He likes two classes per day because you can get more credits. The make-up time policy is good and students can make-up the time depending on the reason for their absence. They can make-up the time at the eCenter either in the morning or in the afternoon. Andrew will go into the technology field. He wants to go to EITC first to get his associates degree so he can get a job and then he wants to get his master’s degree after that. He has been at Lincoln since last year. Bonneville High School was too stressful. It was hard to handle eight classes on the A-B schedule. You don’t fall behind at Lincoln. He would recommend Lincoln to other kids if they are having issues at the regular high schools. MicKnley wants to go to University of Idaho or Idaho State University and wants to start a Vintage Coffee Shop in either Washington or Canada. She left Bonneville High School in the middle of her sophomore year. She was so stressed that she couldn’t do the homework and then got so far behind she couldn’t make it up. Having two classes a day at Lincoln isn’t that bad it gives you a chance to get more credits. She works at Promart Research. She will graduate this year and that is all that matters. McKinley wouldn’t be able to graduate if she was still at Bonneville Chairperson Winchester asked if the students had questions. She stated that the Board loves to come to Lincoln and meet the students at Lincoln they have thought through what they want to do and have a lot more common sense or understanding of the world. There are kids that are at Lincoln who could have given up and didn’t once they received the help they needed. The kids that come to Lincoln could have given up and quit but they didn’t they have come and tried and haven’t given up. Micknley wishes the three buildings were together at Lincoln. Chairperson Winchester stated that the Board was happy that they could offer the school to the students. She then asked if there were any questions or concerns. Meeting with the students is the enjoyable thing. V. Items for Discussion A. Patron Survey Update and Timeline - Scott Woolstenhulme Chairperson Winchester asked Mr. Woolstenhulme to talk to the Board about the upcoming patron survey and timeline. Mr. Woolstenhulme is hopeful the survey will start next week. It will depend on the outcome of the meeting tonight. They will go through the options and rank their choices in survey monkey because there are people that will not be able to be at the meeting tonight. They will narrow the choices down by Monday. Then they will get the results to Patron Insights so they can get the survey started next week. Results will be available by the last facilities committee meeting on November 19th. The survey will be posted on the District Website and it will be open to the patrons in the District. It will be open for about three weeks. We can advertise it through Power Announcement. Maybe we can do a news story and put it out on an easy link. Channel 8 will have coverage of the meeting tonight. As soon as we get the options narrowed down, we can run the survey. Paton Insights has the whole survey done except for the options. The Board wants to see the questions but doesn’t need to approve the survey. That information should be available at the work session scheduled for next Wednesday. B. Student Code of Conduct - Hats Marjean McConnell Chairperson Winchester asked Mrs. McConnell to talk to the Board about the request made by the Bonneville High School Student Council regarding the wearing of hats at school. In the last work session, the students asked about the possibility of students wearing hats at school. They asked the principals at the last administrative meeting. The principals were concerned that allowing kids to wear hats would be a safety issue. It is harder to identify kids on camera when they pull their hats down over their eyes. It is very easy to pick out intruders because those kids usually wear hats. The principals asked to not let our kids wear hats. They can wear hats at TCHS because it is a safety issue if they don’t wear them. They need to keep their hair covered when working at TCHS. Dr. Shackett asked principals at both Bonneville and Hillcrest how they felt about the request. They agreed that it is easier to pick out intruders and see individuals on the camera. Mr. Jackson said that Whitney Johnson who brought this to the attention of the Board wants to listen to the students and bring their concerns forward. Mr. Nelson wondered if there is some kind of verbiage that would cover the technical school so that students from the other high schools won’t come back and wonder why there is a discrepancy. Chairperson Winchester asked that Ms. Johnson be made aware that the Board has reviewed this and make sure she knows that we need to address the safety issues that were brought up. So, wearing hats at school at the regular high schools is not acceptable for safety reasons. But, it is necessary for students to wear hats at the Technical Careers High School for the same reasons. C. 2015-2016 Calendar - Marjean McConnell Chairperson Winchester asked Mrs. McConnell to discuss with the Board any input she has received from the 30-day review of the draft Calendar for 2015-2016. There have been no comments addressed to Mrs. McConnell. She has talked with George Boland, Superintendent from District 91. They are starting differently because of the fact that they have trimesters as opposed to semesters. Mr. Boland will talk to his committee about spring break changes. There was a concern that some teachers can’t go vote because of PTC schedules. There is flexibility with regard to when PTC is held. Principals don’t have to hold it on Tuesday but can do it on other days during the week. So there shouldn’t be a problem. There was a suggestion that the calendar for 30-day review could also be put under the Calendar tab so it could be more easily found. Some comments about getting out of school so late have been brought to Board members. People want to know when school will start and end. Spring break has been was controversial in the past. You will always have some people upset. There are two positive things with a late start: (1) the schools are not so hot and (2) if kids stay a little longer in June, there is not so long to lose so much during the summer. District 91 is not so much concerned with the start and end dates but with the vacations. People like a pattern. They like to know that school will start after Labor Day and that the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring breaks are consistent in the amount of time that is allotted. The Board will vote on the calendar at next Board Meeting scheduled for November 5th. D. Input from the Board to Phil Campbell Chairperson Winchester asked the Board to talk with Mr. Campbell about their expectations for him with regard to his new position within the District. Phil introduced himself and told the Board what he has been doing. He has worked in TV for 14 years and started to get burned out. He did everything from news management to anchoring but was looking for something different. Dr. Shackett asked him to apply at the District. He can apply his skill set, the degree, and the things he has learned through the years to help the District. He has two nephews who attend the District’s schools and a brother who teachers at Ammon Elementary. He lives in the boundaries of the District as well. He gets feedback on FaceBook from page manager each week. It is showing an increase in activity. People are going to the social media pages for information. You can like the page and share things that are on FaceBook. We have triple digit growth on likes. It’s all about getting a structure in place to get information to Mr. Campbell. We are getting lots of likes and feedback on our FaceBook posts. A huge part of his job is to get stories on FaceBook and on the news. We are averaging close to three mentions in the major media a day. Part of that is because Phil is being aggressive. He knows the mentality of planning a news day. He wanted to be first with the story about National School Bus Safety Week and sent out a press release on Monday. We need to get a jump on stories and highlight what the District is doing as far as safety goes. We want to get information on the TV websites as well as ours. He wants to be aggressive and wants it at the beginning of week because it highlights what your district is doing. The media outlets won’t do another story on the same subject for a couple of months. Whenever there is a national anything that will highlight our schools, we will be first with it. Mr. Campbell will take care of the hard things because he has the perspective of getting students and principals to talk. He will run through a couple of questions with them to make sure they are comfortable and can articulate the message that we want to convey that they are proud of District 93.. Chairperson Winchester asked what we should do about radio. We will reach out to all of them. We can get to the radio through television. We will have Dr. Shackett out there in the media weekly. We all need to all be on the same page and have the same talking points and answers if contacted by the media. All media referrals need to go through Mr. Campbell. His job is to get the right people in place. He has strategies for damage control as well. An individual Board member can’t speak for the whole Board. If the media calls one Board member, they need to be careful what they say because they are representing the Board. They cannot speak as individuals but need to speak as a united Board. Mr. McBride wanted to know if it costs to put things on the TV and Radio. They offer free coverage for news stories. We will dominate the coverage in TV. People go to the websites for information and news now days. The percent of our patrons who like the KIFI webpage is about 90%. He is sharing on our page as well when it is appropriate. Their coverage is a commercial for us if done right. He will continue to work with Post Register, but TV is where it is at. Mr. McBride wondered if the bond will be news worthy or will we be required to take out an advertisement. If we are running adds that can cause a problem. Mr. Campbell can do B footage for everyone or get reporters there at the right time. Mrs. Landers wondered how we will advertise the supplemental levy. Mr. Campbell will push a story as it gets closer and there will be a flyer that is going out to our schools. There was a request to send the information to the Board when things are sent out. It would also be good for Mr. Campbell to attend Board Meetings and Work Sessions. There is a perception about the District Office out there that is not good and there is a trust issue out there that the folks at the District Office are not honest. Maybe come to the faculty meetings today and observe the flavor. Then please tell us how we can fix the perception. Mr. Campbell’s approach is to show the public that we value the money that they are giving the District and let them know that they can trust us by showing the things we are doing for the students. He wants to know what the people are saying about us. He will be there to support as much as possible. The Board would like to know how to deal with difficult patrons. If we have nothing to hide then we will open the records up but it takes a lot of time from the regular duties of the people who work for the District. Chairperson Winchester asked if there were any other questions or concerned. This District has risen to the top over the years that Mrs. Winchester has been on the Board. But, people don’t know that. We need to get that message out so they can understand. We are trying to do what is best for the kids. The hope is, through good public relations, people will see what the District is about. The hope is that Mr. Campbell, through good public relations, can get the information out that the District cares about the students and is doing the best we can for them. There is so much concern against common core. It would be nice to get information out about the Math in Focus program, regarding how well the kids are responding and how well they are doing. We need to let the patrons know what we are doing. There are 20% of the people who will vote no on anything. For too long, that 20% has had the only voice. Once our positive stories are out there, we will see some positive results. Chairperson Winchester asked if any Board member would like to add any agenda items to any upcoming meeting. There was none. VI. Call for Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings A. Secondary Facilities Committee Meeting - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - Sandcreek Middle School Cafeteria - 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. B. Work Session - TCHS and BOL Student Councils - Wednesday, October 29, 2014 - District Board Room - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. C. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - 7:00 p.m. D. ISBA Annual Conference - Wednesday November 12 - Friday November 14, 2014 - Riverside Hotel, Boise, Idaho E. Work Session - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - Fairview Elementary Media Center - 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. F. Secondary Facilities Committee Meeting - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - Hillcrest High School - 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. G. Legislative Luncheon - Wednesday December 2, 2014 - District Board Room - 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. H. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 7:00 p.m. VIII. Adjournment Chairperson Winchester then asked for a motion to adjourn at 1:01 p.m. MOTION: Amy Landers made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Kip Nelson seconded. The vote was 4 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion was carried. APPROVED: _____________________ Chairperson ATTESTED: _______________________ Clerk Date: _______________________