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