July 16, 2018 BCSD Board of Directors Meeting
5:30 Work session facility study - I couldn’t attend this so I have no notes on this.
6:30 Expulsion hearing- closed
6:45 Expulsion hearing - closed - cancelled.
I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m. by Robberts.
II. Pledge of Allegiance
III. Adoption of Agenda - Vickstrom moved, Hatteberg seconded. Robberts asked to put two items together ( didn’t catch which one).
IV. Public Comments - none
V. Consent Agenda
4. Minutes, Bills, Financial Reports, Human Resources Report, and Gifts
Motioned to accept Hatteberg, Courtney second - Bross abstained.
VI. District Positive Accomplishments- Middle School Summer School-Camp Journey Update
Angie Butler and Michael Carper presented info on 45 - 60 kids in middle school summer camp. This is the second year of this relationships oriented summer school where they worked on social skills and executive functioning skills and academic “things”. They had special speakers including olympic athletes and Trevor Ragan. Carper then showed a video of the summer camp. The camp lasts for eight days. Carper said the staff was great and this year was smoother than last year. Robberts complemented and thanked them for doing it.
VII. Superintendent’s Report
Last week’s cabinet meeting was referenced. Evaluations are out for Mrs. Butler, Mr. Yeoman and Mr. Keane. Coen turned in his own evaluation for the board. He did a radio interview for KBUR. Janet received a call from a concerned citizen about his phrasing “locked, cocked, and loaded”. He apologized for that language. James Madison may be used as a food distribution point for community food pantry. Brian Johnson is looking into this. Coen is working on the 2018-19 welcome back and reeorganizing with Mr. Cory Johnson. He met with teacher leadership and others recently. He met with someone about solar panels but theymay not be financially feasible for district. Jeremy, Greg, and he attended Mr. Kendell’s father’s visitation. In his draft evaluation given to the board, he made a comment about valor in education and great things he sees in staff. That’s in response to Dr. Steffensmeier survey of staff, parents, community. Diane Todd met with Hatteberg and him about attendance problems. Mr. Richards is going to try and pilot a program to stop chronic absenteeism elementary students. Attendance letter is online. ISBA legislative priorities will be discussed later.
VIII. Items for Discussion
6. Iowa State University Cooperative Student/Practicum Agreement
Cory Johnson presented this. District has had this in place before and it just needs to be approved. Courntery, Bross - passed.
7. District-Wide Assessments 2018-19 School Year Information Only
Cory Johnson - information only item. He gave them an extensive paper explanation on testing and the one page sheet that was published in the board meeting packet. He explained what the different test are and what they are used for in the district.
Bross asked if he felt we are overtesting. C. Johnson said he tried to pare it down. Bross asked if this was going to be stable and consistent. Johnson - Yes. He stated which ones are state mandated and that two of the tests on the lists may be taken away in the future. Vickstrom asked which test is most predictive of student success. Johnson said he couldn’t comment on the new test state test (ICAP) and is not familiar with the district writing assessment. FAST is relatively predictive of progress but he more or less endorsed all the tests on the list. Coen agreed with that but said to keep in mind that every test is a snapshot of a child that day. Vickstrom doesn’t want to test the kids to death. C. Johnson said the test is only as good as how we use it. We need to use the data not just give the test.
8. Shoquoquon Choir 28 E Agreement with Notre Dame
Reynolds said it is a continuation of an agreement that we’ve had for the last 8 years. Courtney, Hatteberg, passed.
9. Milk Vendor for 2018-19
Brian Johnson presented this. We have to follow the state procurement rules for purchase and we only have two choices. A and E was the lowest bid. Hatteberg, second by someone, passed.
10. Single Vendors for 18-19
Brian Johnson presented this. Vendor for non commodity food. Every three years it is bid out and Kohl’s had the best bid. They were the only company that bid. Courtney, Bross, passed.
11. IASB Legislative Priorities
They had a list of them in the board packet. Robberts said there were a number of responses from the board members and they needed to choose four to recommend to IASB. Bross tallied all the results. Courtney didn’t rank any.
Greg explained whether we were well funded for at risk or sped. We break even on sped and have lost funding in the at risk. Bross asked about unfunded mandates. Robberts asked about what Courtney thought. He said the board had spent more time on it than the legislature did. Courtney said we need to stop giving insane amounts of money to big business and put it back in education. Coen said there is a process to write and submit this to IASB. Robberts said for him to go ahead and do it. Coen for every dollar that comes to a school district one dollar is gone before it hits the school. He agreed with Courtney. Vickstrom - What do we have to lose in doing this? Coen then gave an example of Courtney helping out when he was in the legislature with Smart Balance funding. Robberts then said they will send four. Chosen were school funding formula, supplemental aid, mental health at that point
Courtney suggested to do mental health and then write up our own saying to fund us instead of funding business.
Vickstrom, Bross motioned to do this. Courtney and Coen will draft something. Coen has to submit it to IASB through a series of hoops. Then they decided to draft it and try to get other school to join. We can get press on this. Passed.
12. Athletic Training and Sports Enhancement Services
Coach Shay presented the only proposal which was from Universal Therapy Group. Courtney, Hatteberg. Courtney asked why there was only one bid. Shay said last year GRMC bid but declined to do so this time. Passed
13. Handbook/Attendance Discussion 5. High School Handbook 2018-19 (combined items)
Keanne presented. He had met with board members. Robberts opened discussion.
Courtney asked if Kendell should be here since he had significant issues with it. Robberts said that Keane and Kendell had emailed back and forth about it. Kendell and Robberts discussed that Kendell had looked at other districts and had good ideas. He recognized that they need staff, students, and administration vetting instead of just the board doing this. Summer is not the best time for this. It was discussed that perhaps next year need to move this up in December and January so this input could happen. Robberts said we aren’t the same as other districts. She has been on the board for seven years and they haven’t done anything. Staff and students need notice and time to respond. It’s too late to make big changes now. Courtney - we need to pass this and work on for next year? Robberts - yes Bross - we need to have a work session. Parking concerns, student appearance concerns, etc. Closed campus, id cards, attendance enforced. Keane met with Hatteberg about attendance concerns. Robberts - not at BHS everyday, and silly for her to tell teachers what works at BHS without the input from staff. Vickstrom said we need to have consistency and need to enforce it. He sees what happens with cell phones because he is at the high school. Keane said he can say the same thing about chromebooks. Some of the changes have been made because the staff is not willing to enforce rules. The backpacks and hats are not causing a problem. It will mean disciplining staff. Coen said teachers have rights to conduct their classroom (not sure what he was saying). Keane if a teacher doesn’t want a backpack or hat they can ask students not to do it. Teachers need to model the expectations. Keane said that the hat issue seemed to be a big deal but Carper wore a hat tonight and no one had a problem with that. In a science classroom, he didn’t allow food or gum but he allowed it in his shop classes. He wants to support the teachers and their expectations. He will have problem writing up teachers. Courtney won’t some teachers welcome the board making a decision on this? Wouldn’t it take the pressure off the teachers if they could just say the board said they had to?
Keane - No. It is the same with parking. He painted staff parking spots and he will pull the kids that park there. Courtney - tow the car? Keane didn’t really answer this. He said when he started at BHS, he got complaints about students parking so he went out to the parking lots and wrote down the license plate of cars without stickers and they were all staff members. There are things that you don’t want to do as a leader. It’s not fear of consequence but building quality relationships with people. Then some staff don’t model it and kids see that. He wants the students to challenge the status quo and ask why the rule is the way it.
Hatteberg referenced page 41 in the handbook about absences. Four days for trimester but 16 days per year doesn’t add up. It talks about unexcused absences and not truancy. Board policy says that admin meets with students at 6 unexcused absences. Board policy and handbook don’t agree. Hatteberg said we have made great improvement but we need to focus in on the groups in the halls. She liked the program that Mr. Richards will be piloting (not a lot of detail given on that program). We need to make sure what is said in the handbook is actually something we can do. Robberts agreed that they are important concerns but do we change language now or what? Hatteberg - No, but at the beginning of the year the administration needs to go over the rules with students and staff and get the same verbiage. Vickstrom something need to be done that minimizes disruption to educational process. How do we minimize it? Robberts tried to summarize and said we need to go over a proposed handbook with Mr. Keane, staff, and students. Keane asked for a cross section of students. Keane said he has a problem with this but he will do it (?). Bross said we want to use a carrot and not a stick but we need a process. Vickstrom said there is a fine line between supporting and enabling. Keane got testy at this point. Robberts brought it back to the process of getting a handbook. This time she added administrators into the process and restated the due date of December/January. She wants to have a work session for the board because they aren’t all on the same page. Coen has tasked Cory Johnson with organizing a linear document to make sure these are done on a timely basis in the school year. Robberts said she is very supportive of Keane and he was given something that has been the same at the high school. We need to update in general. Keane agreed with Mr. Coen that there needs to be a process. It has been the exact same as it has been except the hats and he put that back in that students can’t wear them after the last board meeting. Courtney was uncomfortable about ruling on this without Brueck and Kendell are there. Kendell does want staff input in this according to Robberts but we need to get a handbook for next year. Bross asked about the hat thing (I’m not sure if they are in or out). They decided to approve last year’s handbook with date and name changes. Hatteberg we all agree on we want you to do your job to the best of your ability. We want to offer the best situation that we can. Robberts asked for a motion. Hatteberg said that the motion
needed a taskforce established for the new handbook. The taskforce would be composed of students, staff, and administration. Keanes asked if this is limited to the high school handbook? Vickstrom seconded. Robberts didn’t really answer directly but said that the principals watching this would probably decided it was a good thing to do. Passed.
IX. Board Communications
Hatteberg - I want to echo my thanks to Mr. Keane for taking extra time to me with me. Yearly total of gifts over $100,00
Vickstrom - nothing
Courtney - nothing
Bross - Experienced online registration and worked well. Continue to be pleased with the summer learning opportunities. Thanks to Cory Johnson for great detailed information on the testing.
Robberts - Asked Coen about evaluation in August that there will need to be a work session. When is welcome back? Coen - August 20 at Memorial Auditorium, 8 A.M.
Encouraged people to register online. Thanked Mr. Keane for his contributions.
Adjourn: Vick, Hatteberg - 8:26
