BEA notes from 8-26-19 BCSD Board Meeting

August 26, 2019 BCSD Board of Directors Meeting

Absent Vickstrom and Brueck

I. 7:00 called to order.

II. Motion to adopt agenda, Roberts, Hatteberg seconded Motion carried

III Public comments: none

IV. Consent Agenda:  Courtney moved to approve, Hatteberg seconded.  Passed. Bross 

abstained

V. District Positive Accomplishments 

 Ruehs presented Freshman Boot Camp.  This year 67 students participated. Each day started with a speaker such as Coen, Shay, Duncan Delzell.  The National Guard did team building activities each day. The days were broken into two morning sessions and two  session after lunch. There were communication sessions, organization/executive function session, conflict avoidance, brain power.  They were used by various admin and other people. Some of the activities in the afternoon were a scavenger hunt, high school sundae, equip for success (schedules, lockers), cardboard boat race, schedule school webpage, etc, . Parents were invited  to the boat race and students presented about the process of it. Brenna Remele (student) presented to board on how she liked the boot camp. She said it wasn’t boring but active and it had cool speakers. It was very fun. Her favorite part was the scavenger hunt.  

Mosbach and Sarah Wood presented their experiences as teachers of the event.  Wood said the event has grown and it was good to hang out with students. It was a good time with the students.  Mosbach was new to boot camp this year. It was an amazing experience. The breakout sessions were amazing. Many of the breakout activities are used in freshman transition class.  She got to be a counselor and not a teacher. She invited the board to come and see it. Bross asked how to promote it. Mosbach said the kids are the best recruiters although she talked a lot about it in her classes today.  Coen said something about getting your 12 and the promotion ceremony to sell this to the 8th grade this year.

VI. Student representative report - no rep available.

VII.  Superintendent -The event at SCC was good.  The speaker had interesting ideas about tigers.  He attended the ES early days. He attended the Greater Burlington Partnership meeting.  He met with Bross and Kendell and discussed current and pending issues. He has a clear understanding that a BHS homeless child from Chicago can play sports due to an act.  The high school athletics association can’t rule on this. The Build Stronger Brains training from AEA was good training. It was well done and ACEs was presented. He visited Ready Math training at BH.  It was good but the cafeteria was not good place to have it. We need as much PD as possible at the beginning instead of at the end. But it is a balancing act. He visited open houses and they were well attended.  He sent thank you cards to SCC. SCC will work with BHS with marketing and expanding DECA. Maybe include concurrent enrollment classes. Meet the players was good at Bracewell but the band should be there. He will work on that.  Issues pick up this time of year but working through issues usually takes a phone call or two. The Grimes PTO playground is something to see. November 20, 21 trade show at the School Board Convention (?). He visited every school today and found them positive and excited.  Bross asked if there were any students still in JMEC? Coen said they were at Corse except for Head Start.

VIII.  Delegate Assembly - Reynolds presented this.  This happens at the school board convention. The board nominates one of the directors to be the delegate.  Bross nominated Courntey, Robbert seconded. All approved.

IX.  Second reading on Graduation Credits - Board policy.  Cory Johnson said it is the same but with a few alignment changes.  Robberts moved, Courtney seconded and approved.

SEcond reading on At Risk 602.4 - There was a minor change to reflect Iowa law. Hatteberg moved,  Courtney seconded. Approved

X. Superintendent Contract - It is for three years to 2022 with an increase in salary.  Kendell motioned, Hattenberg seconded. Courtney asked why this was done ahead of time?  Bross said that he wants this to happen before contract negotiations. Robbert said it shows faith in Mr. Coen and his positive employment evaluation.  She thanked him for taking slow salary increases. Kendell still thinks he does a good job and glad he is staying until 2022. He makes the district stable.  Hatteberg said he believes in kids and the community. All approved.

XI. Board communications

Robberts welcomed all  back to school and reminded people to watch for busses, children crossing the streets, etc.  She thanked BEF for gifts and grants including $10,000 to PIECES.  

Courtney welcomed back to school everyone and  reminded all parents to get kids their shots.  

Hatteberg attended a couple of the open houses and was overwhelmed. She suggested this be done at the beginning of each trimester.  She gave kudos to Kesterke and his crew.

Kendell  loved the boot camp.  He felt it is one of the best things going and wants to increase participation in it for next year.    He gave a huge thanks for preparation for day 1. He acknowledged the scout troop in the audience and asked them to introduce themselves.  

Bross welcomed back to school teachers, students, everybody.  He was thankful for the stop sign at Sunnyside because it calms the traffic down.   He reminded everyone about the football game Friday night here against Ottumna.

Courtney moved to adjourn, Robberts second, Passed 7:34.

BEA notes from 8-12-19 Board Meeting

I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m.- Kendell leading, Bross and Courtney absent

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Adoption of Agenda- moved by Hatteberg, 2nd by Robberts. 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. Consent Agenda

3. Minutes, Bills, Human Resources Report and Gifts- moved for approval by Hatteberg, 2nded by Robberts. ? by Dean- no HR report - Dean couldn’t pull up

Pull the P card purchases for a 2nd vote by Kendell- would require a 2nd. Robberts seconded.

Consent passed- now on to P card

What do we do with money we spend with P card purchases- Kendell wants to know what people are doing with these P cards.

Passed, with kendell voting against.

I went back through the agenda- I can’t figure out what he’s against. I am guessing it’s because a lot of the restaurants visited were bars- but he didn’t say

VI. District Positive Accomplishments- Buildings & Grounds- houndtown days. Thank maintenance staff- big thanks to audrey meade. Big thanks to all the coaches and shay. Way beyond what were expecting for that. Thanks to keane for music department. Ashley lee at blackhawk. Houndtown days was a big success. 

Coen- service organizations were there too.

Kesterke- tried to get all he could remember.

Room remodel at Aldo. storage closet with restroom and shower.

New carpenters did it- they did a great job. District saved several thousand having them do it over hiring out. 

Corse moved in a matter of days. Really went well. Softball field light replacement. Remodel at ed stone- classroom turned in to science room. Moved things in to corridors- inviting staff to come get them- asphalt replacement- 

Concrete replacement

Painting at admin building

Roof replacement at hs office area

Laser machine- cleaned out a storage room- put in new lights- need to put in new doors and frames- 

Ragbrai- took a lot more work than what kesterke thought. For the most part came out great. Wish boosters could have made more money. 

New sound equipment at bracewell.

Currently looking at playground equipment for aldo

Kendell- happy to see sign change at aldo- that’s fantastic

Will the sign change out front

Playground equiment at corse? Will be left for headstart

VII. Student Representative Report- none

VIII. Superintendent’s Report- library summer reading bash. Freshman boot camp. Spoke there about get your 12. Marco polo- one child broke their nose- worked through that with attorneys. Bracewell. Somali families. Toured some schools. Very impressed with school. Will see where it goes. Continue to polish plan for beginning of school year. Met with Bross and Kendell to get ready for this meeting. Met with Ms. williams- student exchange services. Good meeting with Vickstrom- 503c for science- being poor is one thing- it can be overcome- but if you’re poor and have bad manners and rude it’s harder to overcome. DHS meeting once a week - family study team- very exciting. Some schools will have reps at these meetings. Incident where someone put on FB that child would be picked up at 530 am by bus. Reached out to person. She hasn’t responded. Our buses don’t pull out until after 630. 

IX. Items for Discussion

4. Branding- Robberts moved to proceed, Vickstrom 2nd. Passed unanimously.

5. Schumacher Elevator Contract- Kesterke can speak. It’s about elevator inspections. Had a chance to renegotiate. Paying annually saves us more. 

Moved by Hatteberg, 2nd by Brueck. Passed unanimously.

6. Review of District Wide Assessments and Grading Practices Information Only- Cory Johnson. Quick update. Had a few changes- handout in packet. Similar to last year for elementaries- except we use 2 benchmarks- he’s talking really fast.

I Ready assessment- previously used FAST- ready math. Comes with a computer based adapted measure assessment. Coen- measures what you’re teaching.

HS level- scholastic reading inventory- 9-10 (? i think he said) filtered into right interventions

Keane is going to share about BHS. Cory- standards based report cards k-5. Not a lot of questions last year. Rollout went smoothly. Study going on at hs.

Keane- over last 2 years- hs staff looks at equitable learning environment across the board. Staff over last 2 years has read research- recommended grading practices listed in packet. One thing is that extra credit has not necessarily aligned with standards for the class. Its often discriminatory in practice. Not going to be any extra credit anymore- not best practice. 

Have been a lot of issues in metro area with students assessed differently based on who their student has- it has reached litigation- North Scott- has adopted similar policies. Muscatine, Des Moines, West Des Moines- equity in areas. 

Daily work will be scored- but moving toward not using in grades- used for feedback- most of grade will be summative assessment. Piloting grading scale changes- 4 pt instead of 100pt- diff between d and f is same between c and a d- 0 has much greater impact on 100 pt scale- invalidates the grade of the student. Students have to take all of the assessments- if they demonstrate remediation they can retake- seems to be more of a high school issue because credits and GPAs are equated to money- misconception that high GPA will get you a big scholarship- that’s really not true

Robberts- students who don’t test well?

Keane- students can retake

Kendell- when will they retake?

Keane- student achievement center

Coen- when you no longer grade daily work- 

Keane- daily work- students sharing and copying.

Robberts- are we informing special education students- they don’t do as well on tests- their daily work helps with their grade- providing notice to parents and IEP students know this change- something in IEP about how this will work- Robberts wants to make sure students have something in their IEP to help them

Keane- assessments won’t be the way they are now in the future.

Robberts- 

Keane- we don’t see things in the same way.

Robberts- special ed students don’t always test well- might have to stay after for tutoring to retake the test

Hatteberg- lots of reg ed students don’t test well

Keane- any assessment we are doing is guaranteed to be the student’s own work. Want teachers to know that the work is the students’ work.

Keane- we have had students pass classes with their grades skewed. Will be opportunities to re-take- causes test anxiety and causes them to not do well. Students will retake pieces that they didn’t show mastery of.

Finals aren’t a good measure of mastery. Not good assessment. Cohort model- how do we develop quality assessments- if a student hasn’t demonstrated in one way- could they demonstrate in a diff way- like an interview with the teacher- you’re not going to take the same test over again

Robberts- what is our policy for how often teachers update infinite campus- 

Keane- daily work will still go in- just won’t hurt or inflate the grade- teachers need that feedback

Keane- requested that update gradebooks at least once a week- might not be an assessment but will be something in there- if we have some kids that aren’t ready to test, they won’t test. We don’t want that frustration level to build. 

Kendell- what happens to the C student who doesn’t do the daily work- test doesn’t work out for them- 

Keane- they’ll have to go back to do it. Some know how to play the school game. Daily work isn’t for points- it’s to learn. Emphasis should be on the learning and demonstration of it. College doesn’t give points for daily work. 

Coen- Blooms taxonomy.

Kendell- will reflect badly on teachers if students don’t do the homework

Keane- i have a lot to lose if it doesn’t work.

Robberts- policy says only 1 re-test opportunity? How will that work. Keane- these are guidelines- we are in process of moving farther down the road

We want to know when students have mastered the content.

Robberts- things like that worry her

Keane

Brueck- couldn’t that be in IEP

Keane- this will be HS this year.

Cory- intermediate and middle schools are looking at grading practices. HS has been working on this for multiple years. 

Conversations at intermediate and middle- he talked fast again i can’t keep up

Middle school prioritizing standards.

Kendell- realignment - ed stone got A- transferred to Aldo and got a C- aligning better- 

Brueck- communication with teachers- elem teachers didn’t feel like they got enough communication about grading

Hatteberg- staff needs to really communicate this with students

Keane- this comes from the staff- been 2 years of work- a big barrier to hs reform is grades.

Keane thinks grades are de-motivational- 

Hatteberg- wants to hear back at the end of 2nd tri to see how it is working out.

7. First Reading of Board Policy 505.5- graduation requirements- Kendell- adjusting # credits?- Coen- staying at 48- if you watch classes teachers have developed- phenomenal

Keane- department chairs- a lot of good conversation comes around- some talk about increasing- not a big push- still feeling some things out- how this is impacting kids- how do our opportunities compare to other districts- we used to be above everyone else for requirements because we didn’t have as many chances to get credits- 

Coen- don’t need to go quick- until this many kids are graduating- 

Robberts- talked about Carnegie units discrepancy

Kendell- asked about attendance policies

Have to approve first reading- Brueck moved- Hatteberg 2nded. Passed

8. First Reading of Board Policy 602.4- at risk student programs- passed

X. Board Communications

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

Hatteberg- thank you to Kesterke- Ragbrai thing was huge- staff put in a huge # hours- thank you to all of admins who met on work sessions- communication was wonderful- feel like on same page

Robberts- have a great first day of school- look for buses- school zones

Brueck- welcome students and teachers back

Vickstrom- 3 issues- summer school at north hill- did a great job with kids- did interesting things. 

Boot camp- most of people were volunteers- they were doing a great job with it. Not on the time card. 

Mrs. Hippe (?) article in sunday’s paper - Gemini program- gender aspects in science and engineering- women are good at math and science. 

Kendell- we get together next time school will be under way- lots of happy faces- thanks to kesterke and crew- teachers are starting to go in to get ready- excited for school year- going to be good for students and staff- open house schedules posted- fall sports and practices- football and lots of fun things- 

XI. Adjournment- adjourned at 8 pm.