BEA notes from 11-13-17 BCSD Board meeting

I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m.

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Adoption of Agenda- moved by bross, 2nded by Brueck. Passed unanimously.

IV. Public Comments

The Board encourages citizens to attend its meetings. Citizens have this opportunity

to comment on issues and concerns (Policy 210.9 & 213)

Liz Sanning- HR Agenda- 404.6- may to require- for FMLA- asking for clarification on the HR report- sick leave separate from FMLA.

No one else commented.

V. Consent Agenda

2. Minutes, Bills, Human Resources Report, and Gifts- Hatteberg moved adoption of consent agenda- Bross 2nded. No discussion- passed unanimously

VI. District Positive Accomplishments- BHS Hound Locker Program- Amy Morgan- last 3 years- Hounds Help- 4 lockers- now 12 lockers- 11.5 stuffed full of things for students- recently received $400 from a credit union. Lots of donations from the community- BHS is a team and a family- helping out everyone as much as we can. Used daily- asks students to pay it forward- students add to the lockers as well. Started out with encouragement from Krieger Coen-

Robberts- can we publicly thank the donors- FB page posting

Bross- how many students you have helped? Morgan- 15 to 30 students helped daily.

VII. Student Representative Report- Matt Rowland- busy with end of trimester and play- Halloween- Leo club and NHS helped with safe trick or treat at auditorium. Play went great. End of trimesters doesn’t have Finals built in. Lots of students happy about that. Fall sports coming up- fall fest. Friday at 6 pm. New trimester starting. Food drive- raised over 100 cans, over $300. Winners were Mr. Bishop, Mr. Huff, and Mr. Osborne.

VIII. Superintendent’s Report- Coen- Friday busy doing veteran’s day activities, and saturday. Tightening down on tech expenditures. Cabinet notes are on a shared drive. Fireball run- some students got mayor’s awards. Special ed numbers are up. Concern if a voucher is put in place. Gen ed numbers would go down while spec ed go up. Family rights and privacy act. Shouldn’t talk about things we shouldn’t talk about. Remind staff not to talk to kids about stuff. Shawn Stringer rosters? Don’t know what this is.

Staff and community issues- parent stopped and talked about conferences at Stone- great to talk to teacher who was making accomodations- test anxiety. Thursday am at BHS- halls and IA building- very cleaned up.

Spoke to group of Burlington International Alterisa (?)- ladies formed their group instead of Rotary- how can they help burlington- wants to help citizens become teachers- 2 and 2 program with SCC and UNI. 4 individuals paid for to get certificate.

Transportation audit-Alan has done a nice job, need to continue to push to save money.

Corse round table- loss of 170 students- 1.25 mil loss- they brought up corse being an early childhood center- cabinet and Coen already coming up with plans- we have gone from 5500 to under 4000 now. What is burlington going to look like- we’re not going to go up. Open enrollment out is flat lined, but we have families moving out. Release supt advisory team- leaders vetting the document. Finalized agenda for IASB conf meeting. Supt from across the state of iowa- how can we find teachers, how can we find subs. Fine Arts gala sat night.

Des Moines Register article- Sharon quoted in it- couple of examples- seniority is dog gone important, especially when things are equal. Discussion point for board when we meet and talk on 20th work session. Dentlinger making a name for herself. Right now is a difficult time to advocate for professionals- narrow interpretations- digging in next couple of months.(I don’t know what this is about)

Keane had an engineer look at the house. Communication protocol- idea of a superintendent advisory committee- leaders will be vetting. Attachment sent out for IASB agenda. Draft for Nov 20th work session agenda. 2nd floor library- 6 pm. Board members can add to agenda. Last item on that is wordsmith a board agenda item. Hopefully can get that done in the session.

Kendell- 16th meeting- who is going to attend? Most have confirmed- senate ed committee members unable to attend- sending someone else- issues trying to address are listed there.

Kendell- lots of meaty topics on there. Glad to see. Appreciate you doing that.

XIV. Items for Discussion

3. Board Policy 404.6 First Reading- Jeremy is home sick. In light of public comment, Coen recommends tabling so can address concerns before voting. Motioned and 2nded but i dunno who.

4. 9th Grade Academy Information Only- David Ruehs and Amy Morgan- working with 9th graders- 11 teachers work collaboratively- don’t have an academy yet- trying a couple things. Trying to meld it into what’s right. Why?- research shows that resources lower dropouts if put toward 9th graders- 4 lang art, 2 ss, 1 science, 3 math, 1 spec ed, and Ruehs. Big meeting every day. Morgan- teacher side- transition class- 4 classes to 1 class. 7 habits of effective students- proactive- assignment students made a mission statement- how are you going to get there. Have to set goals to get to their mission. Lots of phone calls- 3-7 per week. 50 parents called every week- positive phone calls-after school, sat school, give students rides home- trying to be as proactive as possible.

Key for us is getting students to understand how proactive they have to be. Great experience- learning experience.

Ruehs- high school expectation for 5 contacts a week. Tuesday is contact day. Each day is structured diff- aligning curriculum- making sure not all testing at once. Aligning skills across content areas. Writing the same across content areas. If successful can move to rest of the school.

Artifacts showing 7 habits.work smarter instead of harder.

Data- one day a week look at attendance and D’s and F’s. looking at kids that are 50-63%- who needs an extra push to get the credits. Graph- bars represent years- 4 years ago nearly 300 9th graders F’s. This year- a lot less F’s for 9th graders so far. Team is excited about progress. Professional learning- aligning writing goals- working on UbD’s- whole high school is working on it in diff ways. Authentic intellectual work- professional learning model- is it authentic and relevant. Management strategies- toolbox for teachers. Being proactive w kids. Video from transitions class. Video showed random acts of kindness day.

Bross- this is so excited- are you finding the students ready to receive it now- would they be ready to receive in 8th grade. Small intro would be awesome- goal is to get them to continue with these habits.

Vickstrom- trying to heal at the high school not always successful

Hatteberg- is this all year long. Transitions is just 1st trimester. It’s a lot like teaming.

It’s a one trimester class- works well with steps to success class that Mrs. Long started.

Brueck- the curriculum is working with her 9th grade daughter.

5. Desk Audit Preschool Information Only- part of a pilot group audited this year. Preschool is a state grant. 5 centers in am and pm. State evaluates program. Have to show criterium of 10 things. Submitted electronically. Kids playing and behaviors. 32 subcategories. Preschool has to be a combo of play and learning. Very hard to balance. Kids learn most when they’re playing. This is due mid december. Not about reducing challenging behaviors- reinforcing positive behaviors.

Look for ways to look at books in a quiet environment. Orientation w books. Exposure to literacy before preschool is very important. Manipulative activities. Developmental areas. How they put things into context. Gold system- monitors students and reports for parents. Process is important to education system. Frustration with testing- preschool allows school to address those skills. Very pleased program wasn’t cut. This is a new system. Important to continue to discuss.

6. Depository Resolution- Reynolds- part of annual resolution required. I zoned out on this- money talk- asking board to approve with no changes. Courtney and Bross moved, passed unanimously.

7. Financial Update Information Only- reynolds- review where the district is at conclusion of fiscal year. Budget enrollment- 4262- down around 170. Significant loss- only thought we would lost 50. Ranking is maintained. We might drop a couple spots. ISL levy- 10%- expires 2020. Tax rate 15.85- 74th highest of all districts. Most set by funding level. We are 17th lowest in state in assessed valuation. (property poor)

Enrollment trend- 2005- 4600 students, now down to 4200- projections loss of 58 students per year. Fertilizer plant growth and loss- caused the bump.

Solvency ratio- fund balance went up- not a true representation of cash. Went up 345,000- most was in categorical funds. 9.5 mil in fund balance. Solvency rate of 19.7%. Large portion comes from state aid. It’s important that we keep cash reserves in case of an across the board cut. Trying to keep it around 20%. Can quickly erode if we don’t monitor this. 1 mil in typical salary and benefit increase. We could go through 4 mil in reserves if we weren’t careful.

Unspent balance- credit card spending- went up 520k. Ended with around 19 mil unspent balance. Moderate increases in budget authority.

State recommends we stay around 75%- we are almost 77%.

Robberts- what kind of fund raisers do we have lined up. Lolz.

Courtney-

Coen- violent crime causing people to move. Property valuation- if we can build a new house every year, we drop millions of new money into our valuation. We are trying to do something about it- 10 years before you see a change. Burlington discontinued building trades- we would have millions more if we hadn’t stopped building trades.

Courtney- are other districts losing students around the state?

Coen- yes- 70-80% are. Iowa’s economy is based on agriculture.

Robberts- encourage state legislators to fund our schools.

X. Board Communications

The members will have the opportunity to share items and events.

Kendell- thank the audience tonight- play was fantastic. Lot of time and energy and practice. Great show. Wish we had better stage microphones to improve audio. Congratulate everyone involved.

Went to ed stone to sit in on social problems class (?)- 6 minute presentations. Very creative and insightful students. Well thought out solutions to issues. Hounds help is great.

Hatteberg- thanks presenters. Freshmen academy.

Vickstrom- musical was good- Coens son did well. Acoustic needed improved.

Brueck- liked the stone presentations. Thanks to carper for inviting. Theme on the lunches was interesting.

Courtney- sexual assault at every level- if you’re assaulted, please report it. Don’t be afraid to report.

Bross- social problems presentation- impressed with students at both middle schools. Students like to be social, want to be happy and successful. Need to continue to engage the students. Bross continues to enjoy Grimes PTO.

Robberts- thanks teachers that email and invite us to things. Please keep emailing to invite us to things. Fall sports schedule is out.

XI. Adjournment