HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-30-2017 Minutes Work SessionDr. Charles J. Shackett, Superintendent Marjean McConnell, Deputy Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme, Assistant Superintendent
3497 North Ammon Road, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 83401 (208) 525-4400 Fax (208) 529-0104 www.d93schools.org
Board of Trustees Paul Jenkins Amy Landers Chad Dance Greg Calder Scott Lynch
Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Work Session of the Board of Trustees August 30, 2017 11:30 AM District Board Room I. Call to Order Chairman Paul Jenkins called the meeting to order at 11:50 a.m. II. Roll Call Amy Landers present Chad Dance present Greg Calder present Scott Lynch present Paul Jenkins present III. Welcome Visitors and Delegations Chairman Jenkins expressed the Board’s appreciation to the Food Service Department for serving lunch today. He also was grateful to Jason Lords for guiding the RMMS tour this morning. Chairman Jenkins outlined meeting courtesy for all who would add comment to today’s meeting. Those in attendance were Superintendent Dr. Charles Shackett, Deputy Superintendent Marjean McConnell, Assistant Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme, Chief Financial/Operations Officer Guy Wangsgard, Director of Curriculum & Instruction Jason Lords, Director of Maintenance & Operations John Pymm, Director of Safe Schools & Technology Gordon Howard, Director of Secondary Special Education & Federal Programs Julian Duffey, Director of Elementary Special Education & Federal Programs Rex Miller, Community Relations and Communications Phil Campbell, D93News Samantha Williams, Thunder Ridge High School Principal Doug McLaren, Headwaters Construction Project Directors Eric Alba, Logan Bingham, and Brent Douglass, Owner’s Representative Brad McKinsey, Piper Jaffrey Financial Advisor Eric Heringer via phone, Renee Cook, and Board Clerk Mary Hansen. IV. Items for Discussion A. Rocky Mountain Middle School Tour Capacity Recap Chairman Jenkins invited Scott Woolstenhulme to give a recap of the capacity of Rocky Mountain Middle School from the tour of the facility earlier today. Mr. Woolstenhulme emphasized that the capacity of the middle school has been increased without the use of modular classrooms. The school utilizes the Annex and Vo-Tech classrooms, other campus buildings, as the school has continued to grow. To define capacity for schools is a complex process; he outlined four ways school capacities can be determined:
Square Footage method: Divide building square footage by minimum square feet per student
Maximum Capacity method: Multiply all instructional spaces by 25 students
Designed Capacity method: Multiply designed instructional spaces by 25 students
Optimal Usage method: Multiply designed instructional spaces by 25 students and allow use for intervention, support, and enhancement programs. During the discussion, methods pertaining to Square Footage and Designed Capacity were chosen as capacity parameters for upcoming district building projects. Capacity is determined by student enrollment and the needed FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) for each school, which in turn the school needs to provide instructional space for each teacher and their classroom students within their buildings. This creates the need to rearrange classrooms, use adjacent buildings, repurpose computer labs and common areas, or add a modular trailer. Currently, our district has created 19 extra classrooms at the elementary schools by adding modular trailers. Teachers are hired based on every 25 students; if a teacher is not hired for those students, the district loses funding for those students. Sometimes the FTE employee is not a teacher (athletic director, librarian, etc.); then the 25 students for that FTE is spread among other classrooms, creating overcrowded classrooms. Capacity then, is space for every teacher and their 25 students within the school building. The teacher/student ratio changes for special education classrooms. When looking at square footage per student, non-instructional space, such as, hallways, restroom space, cafeteria, common areas, playgrounds, etc. need to be included.
B. Building Option Chairman Jenkins opened the discussion on the District’s building options by asking if the Board could come to common ground on future need for additional school buildings. Mr. Woolstenhulme stated that the Board approved elementary boundary changes from last spring has proved to have been a good plan. Iona and Discovery elementaries have not reached 600 students for this new year; however, Woodland Hills elementary is now over 600 students. At Cloverdale, approx. 40 students have optimally enrolled at the school. The district has grown by 384 students from last year, with a current enrollment of 12,591, not including homeschooled students. Special education and pre-school student enrollment is at 1,369, Rocky Mountain MS at 1,028 and Sandcreek MS at 898, Hillcrest HS at 1,664 and Bonneville HS at 1,652. Hillview, Ammon, Fairview elementaries are under capacity; all other elementary are at or over capacity. Throughout the entire district, there are 3-4 empty classrooms. The school stages are being used as music rooms and PE classes are being taught in the gymnasiums. Chairman Jenkins stopped to ask, “What about kids? What about the quality of education?” [The district buildings will be out of space in a few years and elementary schools will be over capacity.] In growing school districts, modulars are required when new facilities are built. So it is not possible to take modulars out of the equation if growth continues. The question might be, “How do you feel about modulars?” Maintaining and moving modulars can take needed funds from the plant and facility fund that could be used on other school building maintenance projects. An option to adding more trailers would be to use our bonding capacity for building necessary facilities. Eric Heringer, from Piper Jaffrey Financial, joined the conversation via phone. He stated that the district could bond for $75million assuming a 9% market value growth rate and without raising the tax levy. Repayment would be 17.5 years. This would allow the District to build needed schools and do needed repairs. Chad Dance stated he had contacted Rockwell Home builders who had sold 200 homes in 2016, and are on track to sell 200+ homes in 2017. The building will continue on the north end of the district and then move south. Many more homes are planned in the area. Chairman Jenkins asked the Board to look at the possibility of building both an elementary, a middle school and a special needs hub. He asked Headwaters Construction, hired CM/GC for both the elementary and middle school projects, to provide the building costs for each of these buildings, which includes a 4.25% contingency cost:
Elementary School: 550 core capacity - $16M
Middle School 1,000 core capacity, no auditorium - $32M
Special Education Hub – 8.6M Bond could also include Iona roof replacement ($1M), Falls Valley parent loop ($500K), transportation center ($4M), and complete areas at Thunder Ridge HS where construction costs were cut ($1.1M). V. Call for Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings Chairman Jenkins called for an extra work session to be scheduled on September 13, 2017 at 4:30 p.m. in the District Board Room to review the capacity numbers and future projections, possible boundary changes, building costs, and a resolution proposal for the November bond election. Any information requests should be submitted to Mr. Woolstenhulme prior to this meeting. Bond wording is due to the County election office on September 18, 2017. A. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - District Board Room - 7:00 p.m. B. Work Session - Wednesday, September 20, 2017 - Ammon Elementary - 11:30 a.m. C. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, October 11, 2017 - District Board Room - 7:00 p.m. D. Work Session - Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - Bridgewater Elementary - 11:30 a.m. E. Regular Meeting - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - District Board Room - 7:00 p.m. VI. Adjournment Chairman Jenkins asked for a motion to adjourn at 1:27 p.m. MOTION: Amy Landers moved to adjourn. Chad Dance seconded. The vote was 5 in favor with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions. Motion was carried. APPROVED: _________________________________________ Chairman ATTESTED: _________________________________________ Clerk Date: ________________________________