Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Notes from Board Meeting 5/8/07

Sorry for the delay. Computer troubles :(

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes. Please follow-up for official minutes upon approval. For copies of printed reports presented visit Board Docs.

Public Forum


  • Male - Pleased with board involvement in NSBA, San Francisco, Germany visitors.
  • Female - LaPlata 10% of county growth. 100 seats given to LaPlata. Quotes other statistics on LaPlata, growth, new developments, etc. Against Hawkins Gate redistricting.
  • Female - parent visitation policy. Envision a child with limited communication skills. Write questions in communication book with no response. Has to pick-up child in the front office, no staff communication. Volunteers are in classrooms. Open doors for parents.
  • Female - against Hawkins Gate. Lost all respect for system. Told they are not "truly LaPlata residents." Base vote on conscience, not politics.
  • Male - Against Hawkins Gate redistricting. 90 students currently at Matula that reside outside of school zone. Please re look at Proposal A.
  • Male - Can't find anything positive out of this redistricting. Misinformation given by staff. Disappointed in Board if passed. Members have said in private they don't want to set a precedence.
  • Female - Parent, teacher, volunteer. Hawkins Gate Road. 8 year old son at Matula. Could not explain to him reasons for move. Because "they said so," sons response. No good reasons. Go back to drawing board.
Action - Approval of Minutes from 4/3/07 and 4/23/07


  • Abell - List of public forum comments should be added to the work session notes.
*Vote to approve minutes as amended
Unanimous
PASSED


Correspondence/Board Member Updates

  • Wade, Wise, Cook– Briefed the public on the conference and chose their favorite session to discuss.
  • Abell - Stated she had given all her notes to the Board secretary for copy and disbursement to other Board members and they can also be found on her web-site.
Report – EACC – Bill Fisher


  • Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!
  • Negotiations complete and accepted.
  • Reported results from election of officers for EACC

Report - Student Board Member – Andrew VanWoerken

  • Reported results from elections
  • Farewells and plans for the future

Report – Superintendent – Jim Richmond

  • History AP hints were available on I-tunes
  • High school assessments coming up
  • CISCO Education Day
  • Walldorf Germany visit
  • Dedication of Diggs
  • Meeting with NASA, top astronomers, re new high school
  • Strengthen Math & Science through entire system.
  • Partnership with Pensa, Russia on live satellite feeds for classrooms
  • Abell - update on Tri-County Board meeting
  • Richmond - Supt.'s to get back with him after discussing with their boards

Report – Curriculum - Judy Estep & staff

  • New text book for 8th grade Social Studies
  • New text book for "Meeting the Middle" - middle school reading intervention
  • New text book for teaching program at the high school level
  • All books will be available for display at certain schools and at the Starkey building for 30-days
  • Wise - Questions on the teaching program, is it new? NO
  • Bailey - Social Studies book questions. History is interpretive. New history?
  • Pedersen - Is technology available with the text. YES.

Report – CIP - Chuck Wineland; Steve Hagis, Jerry Barrett

  • Davis MS on schedule to open 8/07
  • Abell - Gwynn Center Pool heating element
  • Richmond - trying to renovate entire school under special ed through state and federal grants.

Report – Budget – Paul Balides

  • See report
  • School system projects fund balance to be in the range of $3 - $5 million depending on expense factors. Used for support/start-up costs at Davis Middle School, television studio equipment, textbooks, school priority requests and various building maintenance projects.
  • Food Service Program Update -Price increased by .10 in February cut the expected deficit in half. Fund balance will help offset remainder. Possible price increase again for next year.

Action - Negotiations

*Vote to approve negotiated contract
Unanimous
PASSED

Report - Technology Update - BJ Devakota

  • Electronic Gradebook Presentation & Discussion
  • Pedersen - Hopefully a future for system wide requirement

Report – Legislative – Eric Schwartz

  • Bridge to Excellence
  • Master Plan Updates will continue for the next two years
  • School construction 2009 $400M then drop to about $250M
  • HB619 - requires Supt. to notify the BOE of any criminal charges
  • Charter school bill never passed
  • Labor relations board bill did not pass

Action - Personnel

*Vote to personnel Package A
Unanimous
PASSED

*Vote to personnel Package B
Yes - Bailey, Carrington, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
No - Abell
PASSED

Action - 2008-2009 Calendar

*Vote to approve 2008 - 2009 Calendar
Unanimous
PASSED

Action - Redistricting

  • Abell - Motioned seconded by Bailey to accept the Supt. recommendation (Package A) with the exception of Hawkins Gate Subdivision.
  • Bailey - Always support open enrollment. Board need to re look at process.
  • Abell - Contrary to fellow Board members opinion, does not believe it sets a precedence. Each vote and situation should be taken on a case by case basis
  • Carrington - Clarification of Case by case
  • Pedersen - Consistency among schools including redistricting
  • Wise - Committee was fair and came up with the same solution in both packages
  • Cook - A lot of angst. Only 27 students as opposed to 27,000 in system.
  • Abell - Consider the circumstances of each case, not past cases or future cases.
  • Bailey - kudos to fellow members. Best board in years.

*Vote to approve Package A with exception of Hawkins Gate
Yes - Abell, Bailey
No - Carrington, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
FAILED

*Vote to approve Package A
Yes - Bailey, Carrington, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
No - Abell
PASSED

Action - New Business

*Vote to approve architects for new schools
Unanimous
PASSED

Future Agenda Items

  • Wise - next step for parent visitation policy?
  • Abell - asked for a sub committee to review and discuss public input; possibly break into two policies one for classroom observation and one for volunteering. Believes there is confusion with the one policy.
  • Wise motioned seconded by Cook to continue with the current visitation policy

*Vote to approve to continue with current visitation policy
Yes - Bailey, Carrington, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
No - Abell
PASSED

ADJOURNED

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