PALOUSE SCHOOL DISTRICT #301 - GARFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT #302
JOINT BOARD MEETING - THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2003
John Leendertsen called the meeting to order at 9:03 p.m.
The flag salute followed.
Skipped introductions.
Present: Palouse board members Paula Echanove, Kent Keller, Mike White, and John Leendertsen
Garfield board members Mike Cronk, Jill Palmer, Craig Cochran, Roger Pennell
Also Present: Superintendent Beverly Fox, Principals Bill LaMunyan and Skip Wilson, Business Office Manager Patsy Dunning and Recorder Jody Akins
Guests: Marvin Pillers, Dan Parrish, Tim Coles, Ruth Vertrees, Amberly Kent, Patty Kent, Ron Rosebrook, April Pfaff
Under the Consent Agenda, add: C. Resignations, Delete B. Hiring Recommendations
Under New Business, add: A. 2003-2004 Co-op Pilot Plan, B. Special Ed. Policy Changes, C. Board Meeting Times, D. Cost sharing
John moved to accept the April 11, 2003 and March 27, 2003 board meeting minutes. Paula 2nd. Motion Passed.
Craig made a motion for Garfield and Jill 2nd. Motion Passed.
The resignations of Skip Wilson, elementary and middle school principal in Garfield, and Bill LaMunyan elementary and high school principal for Palouse were brought before the boards.
Craig moved and Mike 2nd to approve the resignations. Passed.
John moved for Palouse and Kent 2nd. Motion Carried.
Mickey Sell could not be here tonight because she was attending the FCCLA State Competitions with her teams.
Ruth explained about the Conducting Experience Curriculum Guide. Amberly Kent has chosen to do this as a pilot program this year. It is great for any person if they are going to have a music major or minor, and it looks great on their resume. The kids love it. She is conducting, runs sectional, score studies, looks at the music and sees how it relates, etc. Instrument technique goal is for her to learn all the instruments. Final project is to conduct a piece at the spring concert and then write a paper. Kids love her and are having a great time with her. Amberly shared some pieces that she has picked to play. This is a class that generates credits for Amberly. Mrs. Vertrees would prefer 1 or 2 students but not more. A junior or senior looking at a future in music and they need to be able to drive.
Bill said the high school schedule for next year would be similar to the one we had this year, unless there are some personnel changes. There may be a few changes in elective classes, maybe one of the staff taking on the culminating exhibition class. Other than that there won’t be any other change. John Leendertsen wanted to know about conflict between getting students out of class for sports. Bill said that we are often in a situation where we just can’t avoid it. The weather report looks like this game will need to be rescheduled. Bill said that Becky Nelson was a 1st place winner in the Speech/Spelling/Math competition.
Skip said that Grandparents/Special person day turned out very well. We had a couple winners in the Speech/Spelling/Math competition. We had a number of middle school kids that earned blue ribbons. So, it was very successful for us. The schedule will be what we have this year. We did build in the TV class as an enrichment class each quarter. The students will do some of the daily announcements over the TV’s. Experimenting this spring quarter with having two classes in the same classroom and it is working out very well. Next fall, 1st quarter, we might do this again. This may help some of the 6th graders that are moving from a self-contained classroom. Core classes and elective classes will remain consistent.
Tim Coles did a very nice presentation explaining the Culminating Exhibition project. This was a requirement for his Principal Internship. He also passed out handbooks for the board to review. The Culminating Exhibition was created in response to the State Board of Education’s mandate that, “Each student shall complete a culminating project for graduation.” The project consists of the student demonstrating both their learning competencies and preparations related to learning goals three and four. Each district shall define the process to implement this graduation requirement, including assessment criteria, in written district policy.” State law also requires that “Each student shall have an education plan for their high school experience, including what they expect to do the year following graduation.” The new graduation requirements goes into effect in the fall of 2004 for the freshman class scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2008. The development of the Culminating Exhibition was guided by the new graduation requirements and the “four P’s” (Pathways, Plan, Portfolio, and Project) suggested by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Our school is already doing these things. The Research paper might be a little extra for them. If a student transfers to our school from another Washington State school, they would already be in this and would bring what they have done with them. Performance assessments will tell us that the students know what they need to know to move on.
John wanted to know if one class would need to be devoted to the instructional effort of this. Tim told him that teachers would advise freshman and sophomores on what they will need for this.
Tim said that the English class would do the research paper. That teacher will sign off that student is done. John asked about the instructional time that would be needed. Tim suggested contacts with mentors outside and keeping contact to make sure they are meeting the qualifications. You will need to make sure the students have the skills so when they get up there we know they will have the skills they will need. The student will need to have 20 hours outside of the classroom and that is where the mentor comes in and will signoff on. Other than that, a lot of it can be done in the classroom, keeping track is what that person will have to do.
Jill would like to see a letter to the mentor so they know what will be expected of them. Tim said that they did that and it is in the book. Jill asked if what Amberly did with Mrs. Vertrees would be a project that qualifies? Tim said it would but you can’t have your mom be your mentor. There are criteria that has to be followed to qualify and that is outlined in the book also.
April Pfaff asked Tim who yeah or nays whether the project is feasible or not? Tim told her that a committee would take a look at this to make sure it qualifies. It has to be a learning stretch.
Dan Parrish wanted to know if Tim would be the coordinator. Tim suggests that we do it as a co-advisorship where you will have 2 people in charge of it. Dan wanted to know if, as a teacher, would Time have time to do this? Tim told him he would but he would have to spend time after school working on it.
John told Tim that if this is run as an advisorship, it doesn’t sound like a teacher teaching a class. Tim said that if it were him, he would take one of the classes he teaches now, drop that and teach this class as the coordinator instead of piecemealing it out. This class is just for seniors. The coordinator keeps contact with the advisor to make sure the students are getting everything done that needs to be done. The coordinator would need to do staff development to make sure everybody is on board doing what he or she need to. John wanted to know if this was an additional appointment out side of the class. Tim said he would tie it all together. The Board needs to decide what that class will entail. Community involvement is one of the key elements in this program. The coordinator needs to contact the mentor to make sure the student is working on track.
Students are going to be using computers to do their presentations. So there may be a cost there to get the computers set up so they can be taken where the computer is needed for the presentation. Portfolios need to not be let out of the school. They should be kept with the coordinator. Special Ed kids will have the same requirements but it will be addressed in their IEP. Freshman entering high school in 2004 will be required to do this program. So, we have one year until they reach high school.
2003-2004 Co-op Pilot Program
The Boards went over the rough draft Mrs. Fox presented. They discussed how the Administrative Appeals Committee would be formed and how it would operate. Corrections to the draft were made and will be approved at the May meeting.
Changes need to be made to the Special Education Procedures that were adopted in 2001 in order to qualify for the IDEAS grant. We don’t have a choice on this. We were instructed on what needs to be deleted. The board reviewed the document and approved the changes.
Jill made a motion, for Garfield, to approve the changes and it was 2nd by Mike. Motion passed.
John Leendertsen made the motion for Palouse and Mike White seconded. Motion passed.
The Boards discussed how they would like to run the time frames for their meetings. They decided to have one agenda and give one time for the meetings to begin. The meetings will roll from one to the other starting at 7:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. Unfinished business will be resumed after the joint. Then if both boards need additional time, they can split up. The recorder will stay with one board and someone else would take hand notes with the other board.
Mike Cronk asked where we were at on this. John said that Jerry has something on this so it wouldn’t be fair to discuss this issue without him present.
Bev shared a thank you note she received from Bill Thurston thanking the Boards for the support they gave him while working on his Doctorate.
John recess for executive session at 10:26 p.m.
The meeting reconvened at 10:54 p.m.
There being no further business the meeting was recessed at 10:56 p.m
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GARFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT #302 - REGULAR BOARD MEETING - THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2003
Chairperson Mike Cronk called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m.
Present: Garfield board members Mike Cronk, Roger Pennell, Jill Palmer and Craig Cochran
Also Present: Superintendent Beverly Fox, Principals Bill LaMunyan and Skip Wilson, Business Office Manager Patsy Dunning and Recorder Jody Akins
Guests: Marvin Pillers, Dan Parrish, Tim Coles, Ruth Vertrees, Amberly Kent, Patty Kent, Ron Rosebrook, April Pfaff.
No changes were made to the notebooks.
Motion is needed to void Warrant #39576, issued to Bagott Motors for 1/2 the cost of the Dodge Caravan. Surplus the blue van is added under New Business D.
Mike Cronk asked for a motion to accept the consent agenda. Craig made the motion and Roger seconded it. Motion passed.
Craig moved to accept the minutes from the March 27, 2003 board meeting and Roger seconded the motion. Approved.
The business manager shared the financial report with the Board.
2003-04 Preliminary Budget
Mrs. Fox walked the Board through the Preliminary Budget Considerations Report they were given for next year.
Garfield has three areas that still have real problems: The boys’ shower room and hall, The Science room. The ramp and skylights.
All these problem areas are caused from the seam. Ray suggested a lean-to from partway down the wall to the flat roof to get rid of that seam. This will cost $6,000 to $7,500 to fix. The crack runs from the hallway door by the pop machines all the way into the showers. There is a light in the hallway that fills up with water. The science room also has a similar problem and will cost $6,000 to $7,500 to fix.
All of those skylight windows, above the ramp, are single paned and are rotting. They need to be closed off and eliminated. Ray broke those three areas up and the Board will need to decide when they would like to make the repairs. The rest of the roof in Garfield will just need yearly maintenance. A lot of it is maintenance that Richard can do or Spokane Roofing for a very small amount.
The new stage lift is being stored in the shop area. Richard wants to have the cafeteria door nearest to the shop altered to allow the handicap lift for the stage to be moved into the cafeteria easier. The cost for this is $1,760.
Three quote amounts for painting the gym were presented to the Board along with a reference vouching for the quality of work done by the lowest bidder.
There is a tremendous amount of sidewalk repair needed, and the one around the pool is the worst. It will cost $2,000 to repair the sidewalks and that does not include the sidewalk down the big school hill along the playground/softball field. The sidewalk areas are a definite consideration. The ADA says you need to have a ¼ inch space between the two meeting sections of the sidewalk. Richard has been instructed to identify the worst areas and we will spend about $1,000 to fix those next fall.
Mike wanted to know if the ramp is leaking again and if it was an insurance interest. Bev said it was torn out and fixed within the ramp itself but it leaked this year once that she knows of. It leaks when there is heavy rain. Mike asked if there were stains visible on the wall and he was told there were not any visible. Bev told him that taking care of the skylights is not going to take care of this ramp issue. They don’t know where the leak is coming from.
Mike said that in prioritizing them, he thinks the one by the boys’ locker room is the worst because of electrical issues. The ceiling over the ramp would be lowered and that would help to save on heat and taking care of those ramps. Jill asked where the money would come from to pay for this. Patsy said it would come from the Capitol Projects fund. Jill asked if $20,000 would do all three and wondered how much of the Capitol Projects budget should be used for this. Mrs. Fox suggested not using more than half and then using General Funds to pay for the rest of the cost. Mike said they have used money out of the General Funds before. Mike suggested to that they study this and make their own priority list.
Mrs. Fox said that in May they will be talking about some joint budget issues and she is suggesting that they eliminate the transportation fee for next year. They have brought in enough money and both fund balances are solvent enough now to discontinue it. Bev also suggested paid positions for middle school football coaches and the cheerleading adviser. The football program has had volunteer coaches for 2 years and the fund balance is good enough for these to be paid positions. She also asked the Board to consider adding back the high school C Squad coaches as a paid position. Mike asked if there was a C-Squad in all five of the sports and Bev told him it would only be for volleyball and basketball. She told the Board that each C-Squad coach is paid $1,700 in step-one.
Special Ed does not have as many students projected for next year but several students require one-on-one help. Their needs are very significant. We are not anticipating on adding any more paid Para-educators but the Board needs to be aware that we will have some very high need students. Other than that we don’t need to make any other changes at this time.
Next month we will take a look at the Jazz band, AV, FFA, FCLA, Driver’s Ed. programs. These positions are at about 75% of the original amount they were paid three years ago. The Palouse Board would like to take a look at the possibility of reinstating the funding for these programs.
Patsy said that Garfield could spend $9,000 out of Capitol Projects, for the roof, without doing a budget extension. The balance for that project and any other project they wanted to do would come out of the General Fund. She will need to know what they would like to do by next month.
Projects completed: Lawn mower mulching kit purchased, Fertilizer spreader has been purchased (joint purchase), 25 gallon sprayer with boom has been purchased (joint purchase), Handicap stage lift has been partially or completely purchased out of Federal Flex Ed. Money, Electricity for the old AV room being turned into a TV studio
2003-04 Administrative Configuration
Mike wants to open the administrative position as a combination Superintendent/Principal for next year. He suggests that later they may need to look at a lead teacher that would cover for that individual if they need to leave the building.
The Board discussed the pros and cons of the various options for this position and decided to post it in-house for a Superintendent/Principal.
Craig moved to open this position for a Superintendent/Principal and advertise it in-house. Jill 2nd the motion. Motion carried.
Surplus The Blue Van
Mrs. Fox suggested a motion be made to add the blue van to the Palouse surplus list since it is owned 50/50. Jill made the motion and Craig 2nd it. Motion carried.
There being no further business the meeting was recessed at 8:40 p.m.
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PALOUSE SCHOOL DISTRICT #301 - REGULAR BOARD MEETING - THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2003
The meeting was called to order by co-chair, Paula Echanove, at 7:12 p.m.
Present: Palouse board members Paula Echanove, Kent Keller, Mike White, and John Leendertsen
Also Present: Superintendent Beverly Fox, Principals Bill LaMunyan and Skip Wilson, Business Office Manager Patsy Dunning and Recorder Jody Akins
Guests: Marvin Pillers, Dan Parrish, Tim Coles, Ruth Vertrees, Amberly Kent, Patty Kent, Ron Rosebrook, April Pfaff
No changes were made to the notebooks.
Delete V. C., Cost Sharing. Motion is needed to void handwritten warrant #26383, issued to Bagott Motors for 1/2 the cost of the Dodge Caravan. A motion is needed for Resolution 100 canceling the warrant for $175 for a workshop that was cancelled.
Kent moved and Mike 2nd the motion to accept the consent agenda, Resolution 100 cancellation, and voiding warrant #26383. Motion passed.
Mike moved to accept the minutes from the board meetings held on April 2, 2003 and March 27, 2003. Kent Keller 2nd the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion was passed.
The business manager shared the financial report with the Board.
Mrs. Fox presented the Board members with an updated copy of the Palouse Elementary and Garfield-Palouse High School surplus list. It was pointed-out that the blue van is on the list and since it is jointly owned, Garfield will also need to okay it as surplus. Once this list is approved it goes to the ESD member schools and they are given the first option of purchase. The items that are not sold to the ESD member schools are then posted to the public for purchase.
Mike moved to authorize the sale of items contained on the surplus list and Kent 2nd his motion. The motion was approved.
2003-04 Preliminary Budget
Mrs. Fox walked the Board through the report they were given on the preliminary budget considerations for next year. The first phase of the roof project is scheduled and will include taking care of the brick points on the gym to help with the leaking. That is the worst of the roof. This phase will cost $23,726 and is being taken out of Capital Projects.
The rental house roof needs to be taken care of this summer and is still awaiting an estimate.
All or most of the money spent on the handicapped bathroom will be taken from Federal Flex Ed. Money. The cost will be $10,760. Ray McCown is doing the work.
The power handicapped door will be a project for next summer.
Rick and Bill are working on getting the estimates for an area for uniform and equipment storage. Once the information has been obtained, they will look at where it will go and how to get it done.
We will need to have a landscaper look at the tennis court to see what they think we need to do. This needs to be taken care of this summer because we need to stop the erosion. A substantial amount of dirt and rock will need to be brought in to repair the erosion already done.
The landscaping around the new building is ready to go. Jack Nagle was ready to do that work but is now on a big job in the Tri Cities. If he can’t do it maybe Randy Kriebel can do it.
The fire alarm system to connect the two buildings will cost at least $15,000. Mrs. Fox suggests that we watch for Safety Grant money to apply for. In the meantime, we can coordinate the drill bells for the upper and lower buildings.
It will cost $960 to repair the sidewalks. The seams have become a trip hazard in quite a few sidewalks. The ADA approval says they need to be within 1/4 inch.
Mrs. Fox is hoping to have an estimate on the football stairs by fall.
Mr. LaMunyan collected three estimates for painting the gym and got a very reasonable bid from Mikes’ Painting. Their bid amount was much more reasonable then the other ones collected.
Projects completed: Cross seeding of the FB Field, Crawler sprinkler has been purchased, Lawn mower has been purchased, Fertilizer spreader has been purchased (joint purchase), 25 gallon sprayer with boom has been purchased (joint purchase)
Mrs. Fox recommended that the Board eliminate the transportation fee for next year. This fee was definitely a help to the district this year but the fund balances are solvent enough now to discontinue it. Further, Mrs. Fox suggested paid positions for middle school football coaches and the cheerleading adviser. The football program has had volunteer coaches for two years and the fund balance is good enough for these to be paid positions. She also asked the Board to consider adding back the high school C-Squad coaches as a paid position.
Special Ed. does not have as many students projected for next year but several students require one-on-one help. Their needs are very significant. We do not anticipate adding any more paid Para-educators but the Board needs to be aware that we will have some very high need students. Other than that we do not need to make any other changes at this time.
John wanted to know what we were spending on C-Squad coaches. Bev told him our costs were low. We only used to pay for the boys’ Basketball C-Squad coach and a third coach in football. Patsy said $1,700 would be step-one for C-Squad basketball.
Kent Keller wanted to know if the cut made to the extracurricular programs are back to 100% yet. Mrs. Fox said that Jazz Band, AV, FFA, and FCCLA are the four that were cut. These positions are at about 75% of the original amount they were paid three years ago. She will add that to the next agenda for consideration. Paula wanted to take a look at the Driver’s Ed. fee. Mrs. Fox will obtain the information and report back on that at the next board meeting.
Wendy O’Neill will propose the following facilities to DSHS: The Federated Church, The Bank of Latah trailer and the school district lot, The resource room in the elementary wing for the Before and After School Program
The trailer looks feasible and we can make an offer that will be really appealing to them and to us. The trailer can be put into the district’s empty lot. The trailer has two bathrooms, a room for an office, a room for infant care, and the main area has enough room for 16 children. There are 3 people that have said they have infants full-time that they need daycare for. That looks like the best option. We can put it on runners instead of cement slabs. It is pretty inexpensive to do that. There is room for a playground and if we put it lengthwise along the bus garage, and if the need is there, you could put another double wide there. Unless the Federated church is okay, this will be our best option in order to get it opened up by the beginning of school. It wouldn’t be big enough for before and after school, but one possibility is to share the resource room in the elementary wing and it wouldn’t interrupt their program. We would run the before and after program there. There is quite a bit of request for a before and after program. It takes 90 days after getting the paperwork in for them to approve your license. Sewer and water hookups are there for the trailer.
John thinks the advantages of the church is so great that it should really be “Plan A” if we can make it work.
Paula called for a recess at 8:00 p.m., until after the joint meeting.
Meeting resumed at 8:40 p.m.
2003-04 Administrative Configuration
The Board members looked at what we are spending now on administration and what would be spent if we hired a principal that was 70% HS Principal/ASB Advisor/Special Ed. Director or a principal that was 100% HS Principal who teaches the Senior Project class/ASB Advisor/Special Ed. Director.
Next year we should have a day care and will need a certified person to be the director. The other staff needed will depend on the numbers.
We are going to need someone to take on the Senior Project Class. The recommendation is that this class be a required class for seniors. It will not be a requirement to graduate next year, but will step the kids into the four-year program wherever they are at. We will need somebody to take that class and coordinate it.
Kent wanted to know if they could assess the long-term impact of this because it seems like a lot of money to be spending. We are required by the state to do the senior project and it means the class time? Mrs. Fox said, “no they could do this outside of school." Kent asked, “So, it is either do this or lose an elective?” Bev told him they would not lose an elective if they had the counselor do it. John wanted to know if that would dovetail nicely with her other duties. Mrs. Fox said that she would be very involved in that anyway due to some of her other duties.
John’s preference would be a 100% High School Principal with some teaching duties and a 100% Superintendent/Elementary Principal/Day Care Director, and maybe looking for somewhere else we can make some cuts. Maybe, make some type of trade-off with other projects.
Paula recessed the meeting at 9:00 p.m.
Meeting reconvened at 10:56 p.m.
The Board continued to discuss the pros and cons of the various scenarios for the principal position. They discussed how the Senior Project Class would work and whether or not they wanted to require this as a class next year. The class schedules and how this class could work into it next year were considered.
The Board decided that the Senior Project Class would be a required class. The principal opening would be posted in-house and out for a 100% HS Principal/ASB Advisor/Special Ed. Director who has some teaching duties.
There being no further business the meeting was recessed at 11:20 p.m.