I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m.- Brueck and Hatteberg absent.
II. Pledge of Allegiance
III. Adoption of Agenda- moved robberts, 2nd courtney. passed.
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. Instructional Support Program- If anyone wants to address continued participation, they can do so.
None.
VI. Consent Agenda
3. Minutes, Bills, Human Resources Report and Gifts- Moved for approval by Courtney, 2nded by Robberts. Kendell pulling Hr report for one question.
HR assistant- was cut- adding back in. does the budget support this? Reynolds- reduced 4 in central office- they are falling behind in the work- want to expand HR- need additional support.
Bross- certified staff- English teacher BA/O3- how did that work
Keane in the audience- Kehoe was being paid for a position - he moved in to co-teach with math- the English teacher applied. Luke Johnson- he applied. Aron still wants to teach an adult ed at BILA- he wants to help get the special ed math program back where it needs to be. Want to move back to the co-teaching model. 5 staff in chicago now for training. Spec ed teacher with gen ed teacher. Too hard to differentiate without additional help.
Person hired going through RAPIL program (?)- go through a series of courses over the course of a year- 1st year teaching is like an internship. Keane is comfortable with it. M. Bishop has gone through that.
Vickstrom- has sat in on Kehoe-
Robberts- why are we hiring him at a BA/03?- Coen- he taught 5 years at a JUCO.
Keane- English is a highly sought after position
Kendell- the report says this is due to Hayes moving over.
Keane- we have a Science opening- that’s why he moved her over- he said that may have been an error on Johnson’s part. We are reducing FTE’s at hs- didn’t replace a math teacher. Bross- is it harder to find teachers?
Keane- lack of teachers statewide in areas. Had a hard time hiring english last year. Young kids are looking at urban areas- or go back to home towns. Teacher shortage is a big deal.
Coen- right sizing- IWU about tanking. Small colleges on verge of going under. Causing less teachers.
Keane- lucky that we found a spanish teacher again- called a person and interviewed him. Everyone super interested. Keane still needs a science teacher- something about another position at BILA.
Shifting some staff around. Reducing costs at BHS- hiring less expensive teachers to replace exiting staff.
Kendell opposed, seemed to be over the ELA teacher hiring. passed.
VII. District Positive Accomplishments- Club M and Pieces Afterschool Program Highlights- Cassie Gerst- district got an award. After school alliance awarded the honor. Implementation and innovative practice- conscious discipline. Emotions and stress. How can they better understand what is going on. Reduced after school office referrals. By 89.5%. Hired about 85-100 staff for after school. Bross or Kendell asked her to describe conscious discipline.
There will be a board discussion time later this month so board can learn more about it.
Highlights of report- served over 1000 students. Broken down by grades and buildings. Pleased to say next year will over 5 days a week. Activities will also take place on weekends.
Club M mentoring. Place to have a positive relationship with students. Seeing continuation of student mentors. Mentoring seems to be having positive outcomes due to survey results. Had 5 GR Christian students come over and mentor. Had 92 HS students mentor, but dropped down to around 72 students.
Coen- it will grow once kids who have been mentored can mentor. Kendell thinks it’s fantastic. So many good things. Gets the 5th graders to the hs so they don’t see it as scary. Small things we do are gigantic in scope- he says. Pieces, too. Really pumped by these 2 things.
Gerst- we love what we do.
Pieces had 45 partners this school year. Supported 266 students through a special act- for homeless students. I don’t know if this means we had 266 homeless students- it was unclear. Bross asked- these students fit the definition of homeless youth. So if they live with a grandparent- “doubled up”. Courtney- do we have any really truly homeless? Gerst- we had 8. Courtney- what do they do in the winter? Gerst- working with transitions DMC. finding places for these kids. Don’t have a lot of place just for the youth.
Bross- fully funded with grants- Gerst- yes. Bross- if you had more homeless? Gerst- always wants to cover what is going to happen in the next year. Some cuts occurred- some sponsors step up. Try to make things last. Staffing is the most expensive portion.
Courtney- why doesn’t DHS get involved with homeless students?
Gerst- will talk to you about it outside of the meeting. Lots of reasons. Too much to go into.
Coen- homeless- some people trade food for drugs. Choose to be homeless even if offered a place to live. Robberts is going to mentor. Other board members could do so, too, she points out.
Gerst- need more mentors.
Bross- great news. So important to our mission.
VIII. Student Representative Report- absent.
IX. Superintendent’s Report- spent time getting ready for school year. Went to NH for summer school. Sat in on classes. Lot of reading writing connectivity. Sat through a ready classroom mathematics training. This does a lot of prep for you. Cory Johnson went to a meeting- HS File 2456 (?). Cory thinks will become a good thing, but a lot to sort through. Attended Kiwanis meeting. IASB teacher shortage Keane talked about. Coen foresaw that issue. Attended to a couple staff issues. Exciting- GMA brought in grandaughter- got her enrolled in summer school- will most likely come in with 3 credits already done. Summer school is directly correlated with increased hs graduation.
Annual campaign notice- YMCA- if any board member wishes to contribute. Coen gives to United Way. consider that.
X. Items for Discussion
4. Branding Information Only- David Ruehs- gave a preview in March. We don’t have a clear brand. A banner club M made. We have a bridge, a grayhound, and it’s not very cohesive. Want everything to be cohesive- want to attract more families. Marketing and branding. Process has already started. Moved all elem schools to grayhound. We are all purple and gray. Kind of a sales pitch- plethora of classes that the hs offers that other schools don’t. TAP program recognized nationally. We have all of those things, but we don’t have a unified symbol that brings them all together. Type Font and image- color scheme.
Right sizing process. Wants to tighten it up. Many districts hire PR directors. Our district has tried that- Ruehs is recommending someone do this process with us. Collective ownership. Gives community a voice.
3 schools he has presented on before- Charles City, Okoboji, West Des Moines Valley. He called them and asked them why they did it and what they thought of it. Okoboji got a letter for Oregon- they were using the same type font and logo as Oregon. It wasn’t a fun process for them, at first. Now they are happier. Valley- Clemson tiger paw and Virginia Tech VT. wanted to fix their logos before in legal trouble. Super pleased with Lettermen creative. Showed an example of a style guide from Charles City. went into a sales pitch for why we need this.
Gave an example of Solon- Mrs. Tabor. All of our schools have different letterhead. Gave another example from Dubuque.
Won’t vote until next time. This is for information only. Ruehs is recommending Lettermen creative. Some of the companies had worked with schools, but was short term. All 3 schools that he talked to that had worked with that company were pleased with the results. Ruehs has found them easy to work with. 7500- not the most expensive, not the cheapest. This would come out of the general fund. Dr. Mohammad- talked about culture- symbols are powerful.
Outlined the proposal that the company will work through. Not advocating to replace everything- just as we replace, we update.
Questions- Courtney- 7500 for the company? How much would it be to do it all through? No big hurry to change over.
Kendell- likes it. Very important that we do it. It is a brand. Don’t have to change over all at once. Wants one logo district wide. Appreciates Ruehs’ work with it. Firmly believes in it.
Keane- we have a vinyl cutter at the hs- several of our images aren’t good quality. They aren’t professional symbols. Any of our logos aren’t easy to manipulate digitally.
Put up for vote on next meeting.
5. Ft. Madison Swimming 28E- Reynolds- same as we have with WB and other districts. Same for other districts. Notre dame pays taxes, so their cost is diff. Robberts motions for approval, Courtney 2nd. Passes.
6. Shoquoquon Choir 28E Agreement with Notre Dame- same thing- continuation. Moved by Robberts, 2nded by Courtney. Cost hasn’t changed in the next 10 years. Maybe we should look at an increase for next year. Passed.
7. IASB Legislative Priorities- working from a list- go around room and lay out top 4. Bross- drop out and mental health. Sharing and reorganization. Franchise fees- opposes.
Kendell- mental health, special education, school funding, franchise fees.
Robberts- mental health, special ed, funding formula, supp state aid.
Vickstrom- 3, 7, 18, 19. He didn’t say what they were.
Hatteberg’s- 7,8, 19, 20.
Courtney- agreed with Bross. They’re all good, but won’t get acted on.
School funding policy, 24 was in 3. 8 and 9 relatively the same.
Board ranks them.
Robberts moved, Courtney 2nded. Courtney offered to stand up and talk. Robberts- push for mental health. Need to give more than lip service.
8. Resolution to Participate in the Instructional Support Program- Courtney moved to waive the reading. Courtney moved passing, Robberts 2nded. Greg called a roll call vote. Passed.
9. Superintendent Evaluation – Closed Session- went to closed session at 8:19.
XI. Board Communications
The members will have the opportunity to share items and events.
Vickstrom- commend coach Webb- orientation for track. Neat situation. Article- What’s going on in our school classrooms. Recommended read.
Robberts- congrats to Gerst. Registration happening. She’s already emailing teachers.
Courtney- none.
Kendell- echoes Robberts congrats to Gerst. Ragbrai is coming. Week from Friday- lots of ways to sign up to help. Drop off tomorrow with supplies that they need.
Bross- doubling the population in one evening. Glad to hear more details on branding- great thing. Part of making sure we are establishing good culture and identity. Janet wrote a card- thanking board for their retirement gift and card.
XII. Adjournment
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