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