HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011_10_11 Board MinutesOctober 11, 2011
7:00 PM
Present from the Board of Trustees: Present from the Administration:
Dave Lent, Chairman George Boland, Superintendent
Lisa Burtenshaw, Vice Chair Karla LaOrange, Director of Elementary Education
Jerry Wixom, Treasurer Carrie Smith, Director of HR & Finance
Deidre Warden, Clerk Margaret Wimborne, Communications & Community
Larry Haws, Trustee Engagement Coordinator, Acting Recording Clerk
Dave Lent, Board Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
Pledge of Allegiance
SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY:
a. Emissary of Excellence
Principal Mike Marshall introduced Dave Webster, Edgemont Elementary Counselor, as the Emissary of
Excellence recipient.
b. Volunteer of the Month
John Murdoch, Dora Erickson Principal, introduced Clara Grimes as the Volunteer of the Month.
Mr. Lent thanked Mr. Webster and Mrs. Grimes for their outstanding service to the students and staff of
Idaho Falls School District #91 and presented each of them with a certificate and token of appreciation.
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA':
Jerry Wixom moved to adopt the agenda as presented. Lisa Burtenshaw seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
REPORTS/INPUT/INFORMATION
a. Student Reports —
i. Lexie Polson, Idaho Falls High School Student Representative, reviewed Homecoming activities,
Emotion Bowl Week, Club service projects and AP class offerings at Idaho Falls High School.
10/11/2011 District 91 Board Minutes Page 1 of 3
ii. Hannah Petersen, Skyline High School Student Representative, reviewed Homecoming events,
Emotion Bowl Week and Red Ribbon Week activities being planned at Skyline.
b. IFEA Report— Mitzi Ellingson reported:
A written report is attached.
c. Patron Input —
Comments were provided by Melanie Ford, Amanda Dierenfeldt, Andrea Chambers, Mary Towler and
Suketu Gandhi.
d. Education Foundation —
Marge Foster reported that the Foundation has been given a new 2012 Toyota pickup, courtesy of Mario
Hernandez and Buddy of Teton Toyota, for another raffle again this year. Tickets will be available to all
junior high and high school clubs in the district to sell if they would like to earn money for their
organization. The truck was introduced at the Emotion Bowl last week and will be given away next fall at
the 2012 Emotion Bowl Game. The Education Foundation also received a $20,000 grant from the Fred
Meyer Foundation which will be used to purchase foreign language textbooks and classroom sets of T-1
calculators for both Skyline and Idaho Falls High School and one roaming set will be available for junior
high teachers to check out. The Foundation will have a booth at the What Today's Women Want
Conference this weekend at the Shilo Inn to help raise awareness for the Education Foundation.
e. Superintendent's Report —
Superintendent Boland reviewed the Odyssey Charter School petitioning process recently completed by
Trina Caudle, Director of Secondary Education, and the review committee. The committee will present
their recommendation to the Board as an action item on the agenda this evening. Superintendent Boland
also gave an update of the Students Come First Technology Task Force Committee meeting he attended
the past two days in Boise. He mentioned that all of the meetings are televised live and meeting minutes
are posted on the State Department's website for review. The Superintendent stated there was a lot of
discussion about fractional ADA (Average Daily Attendance) and how that will play into the online learning
piece. The State Department of Education has asked Superintendent Boland to give a report of his visit to
Manor Texas, regarding implementation of the one to one computing devices, when the committees
meet again in November.
CONSENT AGENDA:
Lisa Burtenshaw made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Deidre Warden seconded. Motion
passed unanimously.
Items approved include:
Meeting Minutes: August 17 & 23, 2011
Payment of September 2011 Claims: $1,938,260.77
Matching Funds: $15,000.00
Student Travel: Skyline High School Jazz & Symphonic Bands
Anaheim, CA
Disney Performing Arts Festival
April 12 — 15, 2012
Early Graduation: Student 2011-2012A
10/11/2011 District 91 Board Minutes Page 2 of 3
PROPOSALS
a. Second Reading of Board Policy Revisions
Board Policy 408 — Nutrition
Superintendent Boland reviewed information requested by the Board, at the first reading of this policy
change, regarding the number of lunches that are currently being served at each high school. A discussion
was held. The third reading of the revisions is scheduled for the November 8, 2011 board meeting.
Board Policy 609 —Transfer/Foreign Exchange Students
Superintendent Boland stated that no patron input has been received to date regarding this policy. The
third reading of the proposed policy is scheduled for November 8, 2011.
ACTION ITEMS
a. Ratify Telephone Poll Conducted for Classroom Technology Integration Funds to be Distributed through a
Competitive Grant Process
Superintendent Boland explained that a telephone poll was conducted on October 3rd in order to roll out the grant
process to staff during the scheduled October 6t" In-service.
Deidre Warden made a motion to accept the results of the telephone poll conducted regarding the classroom
technology grants being distributed through a competitive grant process. Larry Haws seconded. Motion passed
unanimously.
b. Odyssey Charter School Petition Resolution
Superintendent Boland read the written recommendations from the Audit Committee regarding the petition
submitted by Odyssey Charter School.
Jerry Wixom made a motion to accept the recommendation of the Administration as presented to refer the Odyssey
Charter School petition to the Public Charter School Commission. A discussion was held.
Larry Haws seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Jerry Wixom moved to adjourn. Deidre Warden seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:18 pm.
10/11/2011 District 91 Board Minutes Page 3 of 3
IFEA Report
Board meeting notes October 11, 2011
The 3rd annual IFEA Tailgate was held on the grounds of IFHS and was a huge success. We went
through 150 hotdogs and 75 tamales. We would like to thank Randy Hurley (Principal of IFHS)
for, again this year letting us set up our stand on his schools property.
I have given each of you a copy of the spreadsheet that I made with information from the
schedules that were provided to Mr. Boland at the beginning of the school year by building
principals. Notice the inequity of building meetings. Bush is required to attend 9 hours of
meetings a month while Emerson teachers need to only attend % hour of meetings . At the
beginning of the school year you insisted things would be equitable, you asked me to trust you.
This inequity issue is not ok. Two Jr. High schools are requiring their teachers read a book,
attend meetings and either pay for the credit or not, yet are still required to participate. At one
of the Jr. Highs, the meetings are twice a month and start at 7:42 am. As far as I know, one of
the the jr. highs are not requiring this type of class or reading. You have insisted that teachers
will be treated professionally; you have said how their time is valuable. You agreed with me
when I shared how unfamily friendly some of these new changes could be. It has just come to
my attention that an elementary building is holding 1-2 meetings a day with some lasting longer
than 5 pm. Keep in mind when a teacher is in a meeting this long, planning and grading are not
getting done, and therefore the teacher will end up working into the wee hours of the night.
In many cases meetings are being called with somewhere between a few hours to maybe 2
days of notice. We discussed this with the new board changes this summer — meetings were to
be requested at least a week in advance. This is considerate. Many teachers have shared that
they feel like their principals are micromanaging their buildings and time by requiring excessive
meetings, reading books, taking classes, turning in parent contact logs, etc.
I would rather see these required classes are offered to educators instead of put upon them.
Educators know they need to have a certain number of credits to recertify— as professionals we
will get that task accomplished without being pushed into it.
There has been some confusion about the differences between a faculty meeting and
collaboration meeting. Some collaboration meetings resemble faculty meetings. I have asked
George to define each and send that to Principals. Teachers are looking for respect from their
principals, and some just don't seem to be getting it. When I sent out a question about
meetings and excessive time requirements put on teachers I received a response from Erin
Becker at Edgemont about her principal, this is what she said." We have no complaints here at
Edgemont because Mike respects our time. He tries to email info out or have short hallway
meetings if needed instead of monopolizing our time." It would be nice if other principals
valued their teachers and time like Mike does. There seems to be a disconnect with the culture
in education and what expectations are. A school culture should be one in which teachers and
administrators work together to make an environment that is conducive for learning. NOT who
has more power and who can wield it louder. After visiting the New Tech school in "Texes", and
visiting with those teachers, I realized that their time was considered very valuable — and it all
had to do with planning lessons and preparing for students. There are some buildings in our
district who don't see it that way. Teachers know what to do to get the job done, we need to let
them do it without all the other distractions that get in the way. Speaking of distractions..
Teachers are now being asked to fill out forms every time they collaborate with each other. This
is just "another thing" that teachers are expected to do. What is the purpose of the form? Who
will read it? What changes will come from filling out this form?
Teachers are feeling a lot of stress this school year. Not only from the new Luna laws, but from
the possibility of changing gale to a New Tech school. Many are concerned about their jobs,
where they will be and just the "not knowing" is very stressful.
Couple the fact that teachers futures are up in the air, and the excessive meetings, having to
meet core standards, and all the little "one more things" that seem to be assigned monthly,
teachers have told me that their teaching is starting to feel the pressure. Job security for district
staff is one of my number one priorities
Vollmer was amazing to listen to, his message resonated with many educators. However, the
question now remains, what will we do with that information? We cannot just sit and listen to
great ideas, and hope something changes in our district we need to change it. I wonder if more
community awareness is the right answer.
Questions about Math K-12 have come up. I would like to put together a group of teachers k-12
to begin brainstorming ideas to present to the board about some of the issues we have been
faced with.
+ Suketu Gandhi's Comments on the Proposed Charter School October 11, 2011
District 91 has an obligation to provide strong education, but it fails to deliver quality
education in both mathematics and sciences. The proposed Odyssey Charter School also lacks
the essential structure and resources to provide superior education than offered by District 91.
The ultimate goals of schools must be for their students to become critical thinker,
prepare them for the post -secondary world of education, careers and responsibilities of a valued
citizen. A critical thinker should not be afraid to challenge or stand up to authorities. In other
words, critical thinkers must not hesitate in their commitment to speak their mind, have
confidence in their logic and conviction in their statements. Authorities may not like being
challenged by a critical thinker, but it is an integral part of both a democratic and an educational
process. Schools play vital role in teaching these things through classroom instructions and
discussions. Access to post -secondary education means providing credible evidence to those
universities offering rigorous education by doing very well in demanding courses, such as AP
math, science & foreign language classes. The education must not be designed as a gateway
for the students to be kept in servitude for their lifetime. Furthermore, practice of good
citizenship requires strong scientific education to make important contributions in their
community, such as jury duties where they may be confronted with scientific evidence (like
DNA), participation in formulation of potential government actions through public hearing, as we
have witnessed in Idaho Falls in Fall, 2008 on reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, and proposed
facility for uranium enrichment plant, or deliberation in elections or referendum where scientific
issues, such as global warming, are at the forefront, whether residing in or out of Idaho.
Some of the inherent structural problems within the school system include high school
schedule that encourage students to do their homework in classrooms, instead outside of
classrooms and lack of homework on weekends or holidays. Continued reliance on math and
science textbooks for non -AP courses is a source of the problem. These books lacks
mathematically sound exposition or rigors, but are full of pictures that have no relevance to the
�- materials being presented. The curricular materials do not provide exercises that integrate
previously learned materials, or show a way to solve difficult problems that provoke students to
think. These issues need to be mediated, but no information is provided on how they would be
addressed by the proposed school. The charter school advocates have claimed that teachers
lecture, students memorize the materials without thinking to pass exams. This may be true for
online courses, but it is contrary to the reality of traditional classroom teaching. Teachers are
committed for their students to become able learners, digest materials, and enable them to
examine all relevant facts carefully before reaching conclusions. However, teachers do need
proper resources such as quality textbooks and cooperation from parents on homework side,
and access to professional developments in various subjects, especially math and sciences. It is
not clear how the proposed school would address these pressing issues.
If the superior education in the district is to become a reality, the number of instruction
days need to increase from present -175 to 200-210 so that teachers can teach topics in depth
and students retain materials during the summer break. The classroom period needs to
decrease from 60 to 40-50 minutes in duration to allow students to digest materials before their
attention dissipates. Reliance on online education (such as IDLA) by the proposed school
deprives the students of important part of learning that occurs by listening to questions and
comments. Learning in a school having small population deprives students from the exposure to
different opinions and views that are common in traditional large school. If the goal is for
students to work on a project based learning, then door should be open for every interested
party to participate in the proposed design to perfection of the Gale School. If the goal is for
students from Rigby and Shelly to have access to project based learning, the law already allows
students to enroll in specific school through waivers. What is certain that the proposed Odyssey
Charter School will provide neither superior education, nor more tangible benefits than that
would be experienced by students of District 91 with proposed project based learning at Gale
School.