BEA notes from 8-27-18 BCSD Board Meeting

School Board Meeting August 27, 2018




Call to Order - Welcome


Bross starts (Robberts gone, Vickstrom over the phone in Canada)


Pledge of Allegiance


Adoption of Agenda


Hatteberg - motion, Brueck - second


Public Comments


Craig Nises (sp?) from Boy Scouts - introduced himself and troop - 4 scouts and 4 leaders


Consent Agenda


Courtney - lots of money mentioned - Hatteberg second - no discussion


District Positive Accomplishments - Dale Kurth Award


Mr. Keane - Greatest honor in Speech Tournament is to be a judge in the national competition - recognized Dale Kurth said good things about him and the program. Asked Dale to speak. Dale - Thanks, it has been a long journey. Started at BHS in 1997, and started coaching. Have had several state champions and national recognitions. The forensics league has traveled a lot. It is highly competitive and leads up to the nationals in the summer. Took Katie and Alexander Frevert to the national competition. It was great to see their growth in their years in speech and debate. Top honor is to sit in the front row and judge the best speakers in the nation. Got to see JJ Kapur, a top speaker from Valley High School in WDSM. Being a judge is an honor that took 20 years to get. This year is a rebuilding year, but has been rewarding. Great to see how the students have gone after their time here. We have many rewards over the years. Questions? Courtney - Stats on how these students succeed beyond high school? Dale - 66% greater chance to go into the college of choice. This opportunity builds networking ability to help in future jobs and colleges. One can be recognized in other locations around the USA. The competition process allows a school to network with other schools and become a national circuit to see what the competition is nationally. Would love to put the banners around the room of all the colleges that his students have gone to. Experience at the national level is unforgettable. Board - thank you for all your years. Coen - Kurth has those 25 year moments where a student can come back to a reunion and say thank you, you have made a difference. It is awesome to get one of those experiences.


Superintendent’s Report


Coen - Powerful week. Monday last week I was up since 4:30 in the morning - triple checking everything. Jaden Tabor, Jeremy’s daughter, set up the PowerPoint presentation. She did a great job. Steffensmeier set the stage for the year. Valor message was received and the importance valor quotient is being used in our community. Went to a multitude of trainings. If teachers have to do it, I should be there to. ALICE, coaching, CPR, etc. . Cory Johnson has not been here long, but is making a huge impact. I have been wrestling with what to do about the size of the district, what to do about the buildings. Restless sleeps, but has to focus on what is the best thing for the students and parents. Looking for the right sizing for the district. Mr. Keane struggled to get trimesters through and look at the last board meeting and Ruehs showed improvement. Trying to find possible solutions, such as possible looping at grade levels, 1-6 periods (not sure what he was suggesting) teach kids at their instructional level (like tracking regular/honors maybe?). We are not looking at this as a brick, but as a child and teacher. Spent time with attendees after Memorial Auditorium to get feedback. County attorney sent check for $5,000. Greater partnership meeting. There are lots of issues going on right now in the schools. Calling parents back to help find solutions. Admin is doing a good job doing what is best for students. Met with Monica and Cory. Stop Monica and thank her because she does a good job. Something about being at Blackhawk with professional development and set what is going on in PD this year. Sept. 8, 10am -1pm South Hill, 9th/10th St. Block party will be a good time. Thanked building and transportation because they have done a great job this summer, our buildings look amazing. Bracewell looks good, but still more work to do. Probably dress next year for games. Went to community health needs meeting at the hospital instead of walking around the first day. Wanted to be there so they could hear the schools voice. Dunk Tank at Hyvee was fun and brought a squirt gun to get the kids back. Did an outline from the last BLDD and had a smaller list of the right sizing (I think to 4 options, shared with the school board). Shared and article from the DSM Register (printed a copy for the board) He highlighted certain areas. It talked about larger challengers for learning. If schools are losing numbers and keep the same programs, the schools are going to struggle. Issue is declining enrollment. It is not just us. It’s happening elsewhere. One out of six districts have lost 1/3rd of the population. 80% of Iowa districts have lost enrollment since 2001. Humor - Coen said 1981 not 2001. 50% of the children in Iowa schools are in 9 districts. More districts need more financial solutions to their problems (1% guarantee). He wanted them to see the article to see that the district is not alone and other boards are in similar situations. Nothing to do with Burlington. It’s a good place, with less babies. Courtney - During 1994-96, there was the newer and fewer push. He got a lot grief for dropping to 5 buildings instead of growing and now we would have likely closed two schools. Coen - shared some story that pointed out a town used to have 27 houses with 8 kids each, and now only two houses remain. The farms are now owned by a farmer from Colorado with two people to help.


Items for Discussion


Edgenuity Agreement


Cory - Welcomed Boy Scouts- Edgenuity is an online learning. Over three years, 1400’s have been earned making it about $60 a credit. So it is a good investment. Hatteberg motioned, Brueck second for discussion. Brueck - Are there any other programs? Keane - Plato is and example we used to do. Hatteberg - How does it differ? Keane - has pictures, extra reading help, translations for spanish speakers. Don’t want to move since we have people who are good at the management component to it. Coen - Mr. Keane, can you explain face to face classes at BILA. Keane - Face to face is when a teacher directs classes. It can be blended with teacher and Edgenuity, some are just project based learning with the teacher and no Edgenuity. BILA has smaller classes, not completely self paced because it has to get done during the trimester. Courtney - Asynchronous? Keane - Means you don’t have to be on it with other people. Have to test to under supervision, however. Try to align Edgenuity classes to core like Social Studies and Math. Mrs. Sanning is working with management to align classes for science. Use with kids who are excluded from school during the day and get help in the evenings. Can be at own time and pace. Can see when students are working, and how long they are working. He referred to a girl student who was behind and worked hard to get caught up and was able to get back into the regular class setting after she was caught up. Coen - students can do some of this to free up your schedule to take the classes they want like choir and art. Approved by board to renew for 3 years.


Board Policy 605.10 2nd Reading


Courtney motioned - Hatteberg second - Therapy dogs - Courtney - How many do we have? Tabor - One at Edward Stone but expect to see more at buildings. Approved


Steff 7 Report of Open Enrollment - Information Only Gary Steffensmeier


Steff 7 Solutions - I am here to help you succeed, and need to find out where we are at. Did an open enrollment analysis. His background is focused here. Population is going down, enrollment is decreasing because people are going out of district. Numbers are only accounting for public schools, not the private sector. Trend of open enrollment out has been increasing in 10 years. Let's do something, but need to figure out the problem. 676 students mean $4.67 million lost each year and that number is going up. Need to improve iowa report card. Academic performance is a factor for leaving. The process of collecting data was a survey parents who moved students, survey to staff, and looked at existing data. Who are your customers and what is our product? Community is the customer, and students are the product. Staff are talking negatively about district in community. Need to be careful about how staff is talking in the public. Talk to the staff about that. Need to git the right message to people in the public. There are a lot of positive things to share. Staff felt that the school is dangerous and has control issues. If people are wanting to send students elsewhere because of what is perceived or real, then it is not good. Biggest concerns brought up are safety, class size, instruction, reputation. Impression affects people's choices. Reputation that the schools are not as good as they should be based on perception, not necessarily reality. Interviews are not anonymous so true honesty might not be there. Safety is the biggest issue. Schools are too big. Bross - Can’t change that. Steff - you are right. Perception on safety is not based on the number of fights because there is a small percentage of fights. Some parents don’t want to send kids to district to be negatively influenced by kids in school. Class size is another issue and teachers are not happy with discipline. Positive media cover is needed. We need to control the message. Like Cory said, if we are not positive and don’t share our story, someone else will. Promote what BCSD is good at. Recognize honor roll. Summer school, 18 credits, AP Course, lots of opportunities, National competitions. Action plan for this. 1. Communicate to faculty about positive talk. 700 voices to speak positively about students. 2. Work with admin about addressing behavior. 3. Promote positive events. 4. Work with staff/secretaries to create welcoming environment, since secretaries are the first face people usually see. 5. Work with teachers for a better learning environments. This means to give resources to teachers. Questions? Bross - Do you think not having a local television station helps or hurts us? Steff - Depends if they support you or not. Newspaper is impactful and a big resource. Get things in there that represent the good things. Those conversations should be of value. Bross - Perception, what is the reality of this compared to what is really happening? Steff - I have been in several schools and there is no difference from yours to another. There are issues, but there a lot of great things. I would consider the issue is more perception and not reality. Perceptions are very important. Burlington is the biggest in the area and has a lot going for it. Things need to be embraced. But losing $4.6 million is not benefiting anybody. Need to put a focus on it and move forward, but we need to stop the bleeding. People should know that we have a nationally recognized speech and debate. Brueck - So are you saying we need a media specialist? Steff - Getting positive achievements out there wouldn’t hurt. Great things should be put on social media. Courtney - The information, where did you get it? Steff - Anything written was anonymous. I did make phone calls, the feeling was similar. Anonymous is more negative and more honest in that moment of time. Phone interviews are tougher to get honesty because people hold back negative commentive. He pushes at it and may get a response, but surveys are easier to get that honesty. Courtney - So the research is not valid? Steff - It is accurate and valid. I can publish it. Accuracy is what you are looking for. Brueck - As for teachers, were you getting a lot of the same comments? - Steff - It was universal feeling (behavior). Mr. Coen is trying to slow down the open enrollment numbers from increasing. You are making some strides. Need to keep getting the positive message out. Bross - What can we do? Steff - Not only are you an important member of the district, you are the leaders. What you say and do is more important than you realize. Your can set the tone. The message is what we are making happen. There are some things you can’t control, like living by another district. The key is not letting the next 10 kids leave the district. Don’t try to get the ones who left back because they are gone. Keep the ones who are here. Our customers need to want the product.


Board Communications


Courtney - talked a lot, nothing to share. Dean - Bad weather so he read - How’s Schools Work by Arne Duncun, the Secretary of Education during Obama. Hatteberg - Best of luck to everyone at the beginning of the school year and many have worked hard to get this year started. Brueck - nothing. Bross - Sitting through the drive through and saw Coen dunked too many times to count and people really enjoyed that. Joking about it. Got purple paw in driveway, attended Ottumwa game and it was a good game and the players played hard. I want to echo that it takes a lot of passion and patience to work with kids.


Adjournment


Courtney - motion to adjourn

Notes from 8-13-18 BCSD Board meeting

Work Session on Facilities- 5 pm

My notes on this are going to be hard to understand, because they went really fast and we don’t have the info they have (the board and the planners)

Coen- hands off to Estes construction- assessment was sent out to board members. Going through a lot of info.

Paul Newhart- ICAT team. Program since 2009. 51st district assessment.

ID Needs- determine which buildings

James Madison, High School, IA

On site began 6-13

3-D building imaging

Kesterke helped identify needs and issues.

3D imaging within an inch accurate.

Enrollment projections-

Construction costs and ranges

Design and cm fees

Fixtures furniture and equipment

Contingency

-not included

land/property acquisition

Financing

Escalation inflation

Range of costs

Square footage reduction




James Madison- needs a new secure entry vestibule




BHS

Needs new tennis courts- 557-775 k




4.27 mil- 5.9 in improvements to Madison possible




BHS- 14.7-24.9 mil

Required- Asbestos containing materials- 328k

ADA compliance- 738k

Building Code Compliance Modifications- 163k




IA Building- 839-1.2 mil




HS needs most of the work

Urgent work- 1-5 years completion




Time to retire a school- none of them are at that.

Funding sources in the book




QLEO analysis- outcome from brainstorming session- a lot of information- facility capacities versus enrollment

Number of choices district has at elem

More capacity than students

Ran buildings at same capacity

Repurposing elem facility- changing grade levels at ms

What if did not grade a like

Pk-6, 7-9, 10-12




Should we close JMEC?

Should we sell admin building?

More 21st century/Iowa Big




Approach

Capacity and enrollment- how many facilities will be needed in 5 years




What does success look like

Lots of technical jargon- using math to decide how many kids can fit in what area




Average elem school uses a classroom 90%

85 for MS

80 for HS




Enrollment has declined across the country

Open enrollment in and out

These are based on projections for the year 2223

Pk-4 would need 3 buildings

Pk5 would need 3 or 4

Pk6 would need 4

6-8- only need one building

5-8- would need 2 buildings




Early Childhood center- admin building combined with it would equal square footage of corse

Cost benefit analysis- corse is best choice, north hill 2nd best, blackhawk would be the worst




Next set- what if we distributed students evenly across all the buildings- #sections required- awkward sized classes that require adding sections

77 sections- save money over long term- allows you to reduce sections




Grade alike and other re-makes would- more effectively use the MS’s- we have more buildings than we are expected to need




Could re-configure a space to host an academy like Iowa BIG to hopefully retain students/keep them from open enrolling out




Scenario pk-6 7-9 10-12- includes HS with regional academy

Retires admin building and aldo




Scenario PK-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12- North Hill as EArly Childhood and admin building, retires corse and admin building




Scenario- PK-4, 5-8, 9-12-




Started throwing scenarios out- no discussion about them yet





Regional academy= higher performance. Planning to reverse open enrollment

These scenarios are all based on guesswork, in my opinion- anything involving a regional academy assumes that we would create both an early childhood center and a regional academy




Needs to be vetted with admin for example the bakery hasn’t been considered




All projections require only 4 elem buildings

How important is it to the community to keep a Preschool in the building where they will continue?




Effect of enhanced programming could be felt district wide- closing too many buildings may be a problem- might need room for growth




Next steps- identify which scenarios warrant further exploration- refine assumptions with admin

Come back with fewer scenarios

Timeline- comeback in sept- pick top 3 or 4- community involvement in October- roll out in January




Hatteberg- did any of the scenarios not include a regional center? Yes, some of them did.




Kendell- requests simpler scenario explanations




In all scenarios a building was retired- no scenario kept the admin building in it

Coen- regional academy idea is already in progress- not a good idea to compete with SCC

Courtney- we can’t get rid of admin building- we can get rid of the admin building

The cell phone tower may create a zoning issue when they try to sell the admin blg

The cell tower earns 1500 a month

Coen- Kesterke recommends selling the building- 10k a year on building for utilities

Brueck- regional academy? Coen- it doesn’t make sense to do it for us- it would make us competitors to SCC. we already partner with SCC in a regional way.

Iowa Big will be considered.

Board sending thoughts by Aug 23.

Hatteberg- concerned about adding something- wants to make sure what we do, we do well

Adding another element to that concerns her

Work session ended at 6:05pm




Call to Order – Welcome 7:05 p.m.

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Adoption of Agenda- moved by Kendell, 2nd by Courtney

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)- none

V. Consent Agenda

3. Minutes, Bills, Human Resources Report, and Gifts- moved approval by Vickstrom, 2nded by Hatteberg- question by Vickstrom- changes by staff- will there be more before we open? Coen- yes- medical situations caused people to not fill contracts- diligently trying to fill all the positions- passed with Bross abstaining

VI. District Positive Accomplishments- Freshman Initiative- Reuhs- chair in the middle- will come back to it

Reuhs- asst principal- new team freshman initiative- focused on 9th graders- support and curriculum- empty chair- data outcomes- Powerpoint will be shared with staff and board- Kendell going to talk about Personal reflection

Johnson- boot camp- 50 students

Mosbach- transitions class

Reuhs- data from summer school

Empty chair- envision a student who has impacted you- Reuhs thinks of a student from Dubuque

How they started school year with whole staff- focused PD sessions- kept coming back to empty chair

Read a thing about it- what is in that student’s best interest- we are working for specific learners in specific places- learning communities where everyone is on the same page- common goal- what kind of school they want to have- always focused on welfare of children- little chair- this year all the board members are getting pictures of an empty chair- help them remember why we are in the work we are in

Reuhs- lot of resources expended in 9th grade- lots of research shows 9th grade is critical- 2 years ago- 9th graders earned 10.9 credits- this year they earned 14.1

Total F’s- 440- this year- 407- 28% more classes offered

Core F’s- 227 2 years ago- 190

Students with a Core F- 95- last year 76

Met every day-

Video- Reimagining Freshman Year

Freshman Academy model- looked at Ottumwa and Muscatine- ours is a hybrid

Attempted a lot of things- efficacy diminished toward end of year

Tried to do too much-

Lack of communication outside of team

“We are not a freshman academy”

New name- Freshman Success Team

Clear two part process- stduent and parent relationships- 9th grade houndrooms- transition to high school course- after school course- after school students- google voice texting and calling- contact logs- academic plans-

Improving Instruction- incorporating exit outcomes- higher order thinking strategies

Frequent communication with staff- through email

Links to minutes will be provided in emails

UBD cohorts and meeting times overlap

First 2 weeks

Remaining year simplified

Exit Outcomes introduced and reinforced each week

2 houses-

What can you do to help? Ask questions, offer suggestions, use our common language

Attend our meetings




Mrs. Kendell- last year focus was on creating a safety net- spent a lot of time on parent contacts- building relationships- foundational piece- didn’t waver throughout the year- could address student concerns at daily team meetings

Mr. Johnson- Freshman boot camp- team building with national guard- breakout sessions- meetings with teachers in breakout sessions- brain chemistry- effective study habits- meant to equip students with what they need

Mrs. Mosbach- transitions class- wasn’t excited to teach it at first- amazing class- use 7 habits for highly effective teens- 1 tri class- kids would come back and show their learning- inviting board members to come in and visit their classroom

Think it made a difference in the 9th graders

Reuhs- whole school- summer school- unique here- conservation very popular- PE and science- water quality- kayaking- bike riding- trips taken in history class- wanting to help kids get credits back- had some 8th graders come to get a headstart- class offerings designed as at-risk- getting kids to “buy back in”

#s- 171 sign up- 128 active students- 151 credits- and counting- half of the credits they received last year

Student Achievement Center- 178 credits earned

Lots of teachers offered credit recovery- students who just barely flunked-

Other districts are starting to pay attention to what we are doing- asking about summer school and trimesters

Robberts- shout out to freshman boot camp- her student loved it- he’s excited to go to BHS- it’s wonderful- he’s not nervous at all to go

Courtney- great course offering list- wonderful

Bross- brings joy to his heart- trial and error- it’s awesome- such a transition from ms to hs- this is really helping them

Courtney- do other districts offer this?

Reuhs- some of the parts make us unique- Understanding Social Systems- Freshman transitions

Freshman Math topics- math you need to be an adult- how to use a spreadsheet- all 9th graders took it

Courtney- summer school length? 4 weeks

Reuhs- take care of pictures

Robberts- thank you to staff

VII. Superintendent’s Report-

Coen- SAI conference- firming- walked away knowing BCSD does a lot of good things- getting after it- last 3 years of work have led up to this- nice to be approached-

Attended summer reading program- thanks to parents who continued to read- library staff- room was full kids excited

Hyvee- will have principals in a dunk tank-

LMC meeting- positive- Cory Johnson review norms- talked about communication- discipline- fairly new- best LMC meeting he’s been to

P and G discussing locker rooms- banners

Art show- awesome art- Onesto

3 days in des moines- learned a lot- exchanged ideas- affirmation- we’re moving in the right direction

If a student is behind at end of freshman year, they are exponentially less likely to finish high school. Impact of freshman stuff is going to pay off for years to come- he’s asking them to not forget this night because freshman stuff is so valuable- can’t thank them enough- thank you for caring so much for the students you have in your classrooms

Kendell- p word- were people talking about politics at SAI

IPERS briefing- people nervous

School funding- didn’t come up at all. 95% about instructional practices and 5% about ipers




VIII. Items for Discussion

4. Outreach & Grant Coordinator Job Description Revision- Tabor- job description is an extension on current description- Ms. Gerst’s position- moved for approval by Hatteberg and Bross

Kendell- Gerst is so important- key position

Coen- cassie is invaluable- Brueck- two meetings with her

Vickstrom- how much help does she get- Coen- she’s at admin building now- she’s a self starter- asks for help when she needs it- she has a personality and energy level that a lot of people wish they had- she’s not isolated- Keane helps her out when she needs it- Johnson- management structure- she has resources- Coen she’s good at delegating- passed unanimously




5. Elementary Power Standards and Standards Based Grading- Johnson, Vanerstrom, White, and Myers- packet outlining what power standards are and what we do with them- curriculum is different now than it used to be- living document

Grade levels- iowa core standards- some are highlighted- those are the priorities

Way of focusing instruction- expectations for students- students at each school get the same level of education-

Myers- each school and grade level was represented- met monthly and sometimes more- talked about how they were scored and chosen-

Vanerstrom- real score- then had to align standards to see where they were assessed at the elem level-

Myers- in years past, had a large amount of items we were just touching on- now we are giving students a deeper knowledge

Johnson- AEA job he had- this is common practice- it’s hard work- curriculum work is not done- it’s ongoing




Bross- this is massive- how many hours went into this- hundreds- at least 20 hours this summer- regular meetings during the year-

White- something teachers have been waiting for

Bross- obstacles?

Johnson- giving teachers time and focus to concentrate on them- making sure each grade level team has a common understanding to define priority areas

Hatteberg- what should teachers accomplish this year?-

Johnson- teachers time to work around them- develop common assessments- soft implementation year- it’s overwhelming

Bross- is this easier for a new teacher or seasoned teacher? Myers- new, they don’t have to relearn

Robberts- thanks for all your time and effort and putting it in board packet




6. Morningside College Agreement for Internship, Field Experience or Practicum Courses-

Johnson- regular standing agreement- no cost to district- recommended approval- moved by Brueck, 2nded by Hatteberg- Vickstrom- long distance to get here

Johnson- grad level work- teachers doing grad work and field experience- sometimes student teaching- regional cohort

Passed unanimously

7. Resource Officers Agreement with City of Burlington- Coen and Reynolds- continuation of agreement- school protection plan- Resource officers key component- Vickstrom moved, Bross 2nd- passed unanimously

8. Board Policy 605.10 1st Reading- Tabor and Brueck and Butler- Therapy dogs policy- Brueck had the idea- she has a puppy- Butler- great way for kids with emotional disorders

Brueck- dog is still in training- has to have more training- already has been incredibly rewarding- she works her magic. Students suggested we get a therapy dog. One of the students was really struggling- it worked to break through to the student

Grimes- the dog is a reward- Check in Check out- they get to have their time with the dog- socialization- augmenting the counseling program- want to be proactive and have a policy- she’s a Goldendoodle-

Kendell- so happy- exceptional- Sparty and Strabala- great program- so fantastic- dog lives with Brueck- dog has to pass good citizen test- does she go to diff buildings- dog goes with her

Brueck- does this add insurance? Reynolds- becoming more prevalent- AKC will also have an insurance policy on her-

Courtney moved, kendell 2nd- passed first reading unanimously




9. Steff7 Report on Open Enrollment- tabled to next meeting- Steffensmeier didn’t attend the meeting, and no reason was given why.




Board Communications

Courtney- none

Hatteberg- thanks to presenters- success will continue- Vidya Mullangi and Sam Schulte recital in July- mature and far beyond their years.

Vickstrom- made a pass through on freshman boot camp - nice to see kids smiling. Well worth the effort.

Brueck- good luck to all students and teachers on start of school year

Kendell- nice meeting- lots of good stuff- hope people chat online. Staff is getting ready to go. Fall Musical- Hello Dolly in October

Bross- Pleased to hear about freshman initiative- power standards- excellent addition with therapy dogs- high school student council- thinking about underclassmen

Robberts- have a lot going on- fall fest at gym- 5pm- back to school aug 20th

Johnson- iowa future ready summit- sept 25th 9 to 3

Kurth got a reward for being speech and debate judge- national- superbowl of speech.

Podium- Dave Zoeller made it.

Impressed with freshmen boot camp. Smiling kid every day. Shout out to carl brueck for holding door open and smiling- thank you to him and all the teachers.




Went to closed session at 816