BEA notes from 4-8-19 BCSD Board meeting

BEA notes 4-8-19 BCSD Board meeting




I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m.

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Adoption of Agenda- moved by Robberts, 2nded 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. Public Hearing

2. Aid & Levy-Budget- Greg Reynolds- document filed with county auditor- amount taxes levied each fund- revenues and expenditures- has to be certified by april 15- max amount funds can be spent for next year. Directing auditor to levy taxes on behalf of the district. Property tax valuation went up from last year. State gives relief- it’s 88c- it’s been coming down from previous years- our property values are increasing a little so the relief is going down a little.

Our property taxes are going to be a little less for next year.

Property tax valuations went up mostly except for industrial.

Diff funds certifying- we have 10- most important is general fund. Management levy- insurance, early retirements, and workman’s comp. PPEL, SAVE(1c property tax), Student construction fund, capital project/sales tax bond, activity fund, nutrition fund, special revenue/fiduciary funds.

Student enrollment- 4137.4- 6880 per pupil- 2.06% allowable growth

Enrollment trends- dropped 125 students- losing students along with community- state projects loss of 70 kids per year. Open enrollment trends- 676 went up to 705- went from 74 open enroll in to 91. As we lose students, new money is a -2.56%.

Allowable growth isn’t keeping pace with declines in enrollment.

Not levying any cash reserves for next year.Management levy went from 1.3-2 mill. Moving some things from general fund into management fund.

We get budget adjustment- will get 539,000 in budget guarantee. Supplemental weighting- we have 762 spec ed students- also get extra money for At risk and ELL- 43 students- that’s an extra 5.5 mil dollars

He started talking about the Iowa Funding Formula- General fund property tax projections- we are down 886,000 from last year in general fund.

#s published all funds for next year- think these #s are in the board packet posted on the website.

Expenditure side- they certify maximum- costs go up around 2% each year-

Certifying max amount can spend for next year. We are taxing less next year than we did this year.




?s in regard to presentation- Vickstrom- is legislature equalizing transportation- they did, but we don’t qualify.

Robberts- enterprise funds p 24-25- student construction funds.

Courtney- limit local governments 2% proposed bill- Bross says not going anywhere. Courtney doesn’t want Des Moines controlling the board here.

Bross- public can comment at this time. None.




VI. Consent Agenda

3. Minutes, Bills, Human Resources Report, Out of District Travel and Gifts- moved approval by Robberts, 2nded by Hatteberg.

Kendell-?- asked Reynolds about 150k for aldo 1-1 expenditure- purchasing 650 chromebooks for next year- getting carts for each of classroom with 28 cbs for each room. All corse cbs will come to aldo. Just going to use cbs when they’re there. Cory- cbs for next year- makes most sense to have carts in school. Not taking them home until 7th grade.

Passed unanimously.




VII. District Positive Accomplishments- Professional Learning Communities (Mrs. Butler)- Grimm and Steahr. Butler went to a conference about PLCs. piloting at Ed Stone this year. Meeting weekly. Eduplanet modules. Guided work. Built knowledge base. PLCs are ongoing around student data. Action research- better ways to educate students. 4 ?S PLCs ask- what do we want kids to learn, how will we know, how will we respond when they don’t learn it, how will we respond when they already know it.

Want same expectations for curriculum no matter the teacher. Power standards.

Grimm- PLCs in the classroom- energized and excited to get back into classroom. Student data notebooks. Weekly to biweekly conferencing. Increased collaboration. Conferencing has made a difference in student teacher relationships- support system within the class- students supporting each other.

Steahr- fall conference- Oct- hard to implement during school year- student grading practices and feedback- want to give helpful feedback to students. Wrote great job- need to offer more specific guidance. Want grades to relate directly to stated learning goals.

Butler- continuing to build capacity by taking teachers to training. Building common assessments- doing a lot of heavy lifting right now- going to be a way to build for next year. Exciting work.

Bross- student achievement- have perenially struggling students been pulled up- Butler- interventions haven’t really started yet because targets weren’t the same- next year will come together better.

Kendell- is this across the building? Butler- both middle schools.affects all the staff.

Butler- cradic will take some teachers this summer.

Brueck- so does every english teacher give same test?

Butler- could be summative, could be formative- want teachers looking at same kind of information- want teachers to create.

Cory Johnson- middle schools taking lead on this. We have collab built in- wanted to strengthen at elem this year. HS conversations around grading. All admins and TLs will be attending one of the institutes.

Bross- kudos to ed stone student spotlight- amazed by breadth and depth of topics- students did a great job. Digital learning and pt conference.





VIII. Student Representative Report- today boys varsity and jv game in davenport. Girls have soccer tomorrow. Girls tennis has a meet tomorrow at danquardt. Dream catchers working on 2 projects. Older person wants son to graduate- going to do a graduation party combo anniverary party. Other project is catering lobster to a gentleman who used to eat at fancy restaurants. Testing this week- really cool to how it used to be- nice to be on CBs. Saturday is prom and post prom.

?s- none.




IX. Superintendent’s Report- April- child abuse awareness month- nothing more gut wrenching than an abused child. Gave each board member a pinwheel. Child abuse doesn’t just happen in poverty- far reaching negative repercussions. Mitigate as much as can. Kendell- can take many forms. Courtney- abused become abusers. Coen- testing last week. Met with bross and Kendell. Met with Shay and Butler- MS baseball. Club like clayhounds. GP superintendent meeting. Psychology focus. Thought it would be better for interventionists. Greg works his magic with insurance. ACA taken care of- round tables. Mayor’s volunteer dinner. Vickstrom recognized. He goes to saturday school and is at BILA quite a bit. Greatly appreciate him. PTO people are carrying the system- they do so much for us. Kent Lewis- working at ed stone drama club. Josef and Elijah Kirby volunteered with club m. National volunteer month. Lunch meeting with IWU president Titus- discussed regional partnership Alliant energy lunch. Turned into a Q and A. Hawkeye did a nice job on the nurse situation. Coen- highlight Butler’s student spotlight night. Students were enthusiastic. Mrs. Giehl’s classroom- kids showed him a faster way. Butler thank you. Example of ingenuity. Being brave. Bross and Reynolds- WB firefighter- proposed water safety course for autistic children. They are more likely to drown. Excited to support initiative. How to teach kids to stay away from the water. Robberts- autistic children- don’t give off signals that they are having trouble. Coen quite shocked. Thanks to firefighter. Thanks to voted ppl passing. Good to see unity behind effort. Don't forget have cabinet notes posted. Derrick Murphy- Keokuk jazz festival- derrick did a great job. Great to see people from here performing. Courtney- you guys should push furniture and dance. Welk is still on.

Coen- we don’t have to move furniture. Coen- Sunnyside- lady stopped him- my son graduated from BHS- just finished PhD in math- has a fellowship- he owes everything to our math department (she said). He’s going to be a Rhodes scholar, apparently.

?s- none.




X. Items for Discussion

4. Volunteer Proclamation- Bross reading. Recognition of volunteers. Goes back to fall of 1833. Our district started 1849. April volunteer recognition month. Recognizing Fred Chandler, Mr. Fred- started volunteering in 1972. Was a bus driver for 30 years. Worked in many schools in the district. Awarded Mr. Chandler a challenge coin. Kids gave him more than he gave them, he feels. One more to give out- gave Courtney one. His grandkids will cherish someday. Thank you for service.take that out of his pay. (Lol)




5. Aid & Levy Budget Proposal- Had public hearing. Reynolds ready to answer ?s. Bross- people paying less per thousand, but if valuation went up, taxes will go up.

Robberts moved approval, Courtney 2nded. Passed unanimously.




6. Amendment to Juvenile Court Services Agreement- last spring approved 5 year agreement, year 2 renewal. 26,968 budget. Hatteberg moved approval, Robberts 2nded. Passed with Brueck abstaining.




XI. Board Communications

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

Vickstrom- travesty that so few voted for PPEL. would hope more people would vote. It’s economic development.

Standardized tests- worthless- get them thrown down our throats. Parents paying people to take tests for their children. Need to test on something that people can use. It’s a control issue. Bugs him. Courtney- how do you really feel about it? LOL. Vickstrom- it’s worthless.

Brueck- thank voters who did turn out. Hope kids have fun at prom.

Hatteberg- Ed Stone spotlight. Wonderful event. Got more parents than normal. Got a kick out of 8th grade classroom- pictoramas- book reports- interesting to see old techniques still being used. Thank all the school personnel dealing with challenges. Appreciated all that staff do.

Courtney- more should vote. Hubert Humphrey in interview- hardest job was local school board- people should take more seriously on election day. 18 states have declared emergencies over measles. People need to go and get shots. It’s going to be a huge issue- do right by your kids. Get a vaccination before you kill somebody.

Robberts- congrats to Dean and Mr. Chandler- his wonderful service to our district. Stay safe this weekend with prom- Choir concert Thursday night, play April 26-27.

Kendell- echo on PPEL- Mr. Chandler- 47 years of volunteerism. Many volunteers- PTOs- we are so appreciative of their work.

Thanks to greg for work. Appreciated two positive social media posts this week. Exceptional posts. Headed into home stretch- 6-7 weeks left of school.

Bross- appreciates work Reynolds and Kesterke put into PPEL video. Thank board for service. Encourage you to get in to schools. Saw a lot of teachers at Student spotlight night. Some of the problems are hard to solve- we have the best people on the job right in the classroom. Adjorn at 812.



XII. Adjournment- went to exempt session.