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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008_11_11 Board Minutes IDAHO FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT 91 BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD MEETING DISTRICT OFFICE BOARD ROOM November 11, 2008 7:00 PM Present from the Board of Trustees: Present from the Administration: Mary Ann Smith, Board Chair George Boland, Superintendent David Lent, Vice Chair Gail Rochelle, Director of Secondary Ernest Jensen Karla, LaOrange, Director of Elementary Jerry Wixom Caroline Meagher, Recording Secretary Deidre Warden Board Chair Mary Ann Smith called the meeting to order. Pledge of Allegiance was led by David Lent. SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY: Emissary of Excellency: Randy Hurley, Principal of Idaho Falls High School introduced head custodian Lee Wilkins as the Emissary of Excellence. Lee works long hours to keep the high school clean and to keep the staff of custodians working well together. Volunteer Recognition: Karla LaOrange, Director of Elementary Education introduced Alex Wixom a volunteer that should be recognized. This summer, when Karla was working on a social studies curriculum project, Alex volunteered to help the team. They needed someone to pull snippets off the web to make video’s to enhance thth lessons and they did not have the people or the skills. Alex created all the DVD’s for the team for 4 and 6 grade teachers. His efforts are greatly appreciated. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Jerry Wixom motioned to adopt the agenda as written. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Motion passed. Page 1 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008 REPORTS a.Student Reports: i.Chesney Taylor, representative from Emerson Alternative High School reported:  Two students from Emerson will attend the BYDC Trapped Sober conference on nd November 19 and 22.  Emerson is participating in the Z103 Coins for Christmas. The students will deposit extra coins into a container and the amount collected will be given to those less fortunate this Christmas.  Jaylea Barron won honorable mention for the Editor’s Choice Award for the Post Register Essay contest.  Thirty-one students have signed up to attend the Career Fair at EITC on 12/10.  Emerson will start their third session of classes on November 18. They already have a waiting list of students who would like to attend Emerson. ii.Jace Herrmann, representative from Skyline High School reported:  The first trimester is coming to an end. Jace will have the Student Government class in his second trimester schedule and should be more involved and able to report on more events.  Madeline Magnuson won first place in the Mayor’s Diversity Essay.  Skyline will compete with IFHS in a “Souper Bowl” canned food drive. b.Patron Input: i.Madeline Love – English teacher at Skyline High School. Madeline came to speak to the board of trustees about the proposed adoption of the semester versus trimester system. Ms. Love has taught at Skyline for 12 years. She has been dismayed that kids may not have had an English Class before they come to her class. She spends a lot of time bringing kids up to speed. She feels that continuity is very important in the core classes. Out of concern for test grades and retention, we need continuity. She works with her kids on presentation skills and writing skills to help prepare them for the senior project. ii.Jim DeAngelis – head science teacher at Idaho Falls High School. Jim teaches science and is working with the curriculum adoption committee to adopt new curriculum for science and math. In the past few years, Jim has noticed a decrease in the ability of kids to handle the high school curriculum. The kids come to class not prepared to take this level of class. He has a high bar for his students and he expects them to work hard. He feels that we do not have a good alternate pathway to ensure that these kids succeed. He is concerned that the increase in demands to six credits of science and six credits of math will be difficult for some of the kids. He is concerned that they are not prepared to grasp the concepts and they will fail and end up in remedial classes. iii.Lisa Armstrong – History teacher at Taylorview Junior High School. Lisa addressed the board with a concern that the Western Civilization requirements have been cut from the proposed requirements. She wants the Board of Trustees to keep in mind that as we Page 2 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008 prepare students, they need to learn about the world around them so they do not become ethno centric Idahoans. They should have a global perspective of history. iv.Perry Mills – History teacher at Taylorview Junior High School. Perry addressed the Board of Trustees with his concerns as a history teacher for fifteen years. He feels that our kids need to have a world perspectives history class. This is a very important piece in an education that we should not dismiss. c.IFEA Report: Nancy Caldwell, president of the IFEA, because today is Veterans Day she thanked all Veterans. The IFEA has decided to pursue a survey for all employees in order to determine the cause of low morale. The survey will be given to the administration for review before it is distributed. The intent of the survey is to determine what people are thinking and feeling. d.Education Foundation Report: Daryl Snyder, President of the Education Foundation reported that:  Ten teacher mini grants were awarded.  One of the Foundation Board members is also a member of the INL Retirees Association. They are collaborating to get volunteers and mentors in our schools from this group.  th The Foundation received a grant for $10,000 in support of 9 Grade Junior High Science textbooks.  Cami Smith – Program Director of Education Foundation reported that the October In-service went very well. The Foundation provided support to Elisa Saffle by arranging food vendors and by helping to bring in sponsors. There were over 80 presenters and over 110 classes offered. Our district produced 700 pre-registered guests and many who registered at the conference. The Foundation brought in $6,000 from Sponsors for the event.  Rebecca Casper – Board Member of the Education Foundation reported on two events that the Foundation coordinated in October. The College Pathways is funded through the Mayor’s Scholarship Event. They had a scholarship luncheon which was well attended. Congressman Simpson spoke at this event. The coalition determined that the will tie eligibility of future scholarships to free and reduced lunch recipients.  Rebecca also reported that the College Prep Forum at Skyline High School was well attended with over 500 students and parents. There was a lot of support from district personnel ranging from the technology department to the custodians to counselors. This is another example of how the Foundation brings private resources to support education. e.Superintendent’s Report:  George Boland reported that he attended a national – virtual school symposium as a member of the IDLA Board of Directors. The topic was online learning trends. Many states offer supplemental options online in some form. In a recent study, it was projected that in six years, 10% of all High School enrollments will be online; in ten years that number will be 50%. If this is accurate, we need to consider how to bring online learning into our schools.  George tied the online trends to a book he is reading called Disrupting Class. We need disruption in order for innovation to occur. He is linking the trend of online learning to this disruption; and would like to see our district take some actions toward this trend. Page 3 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008  Society wants to see a new metric for improvement in our schools. Standardized teaching is in conflict with customized learning. We cannot go in and overhaul the entire system; that has been likened to “rebuilding an airplane in mid-flight.”  We are attempting a major change in our schools now, through the High School Re-vision process in which we are adopting new graduation requirements. Many of the pieces to this adoption and the delivery system are interdependent. We have to consider all of these interdependencies. This is not a simple issue. f.First Reading – Board Policy 603.0  Dr. Gail Rochelle, Director of Secondary Education led the presentation to the Board of Trustees. The presentation (posted on the district web page) stated that this is a culmination of ten months of work with many stakeholders involved. The Steering Committee has identified a profile for the graduate of 2013 that requires them to possess the academic and vocational knowledge and skills needed to transition into post-secondary education or the workplace. The work of the committee has been to narrow the learning gap and produce students prepared to st meet the demands of 21 century thinking. To narrow this gap, we need to increase the “rigor.”  The Steering Committee has three recommendations for the board: 1) to align the district’s graduation requirements to the Idaho State Department of Education’s requirements 2) adopt a common calendar for elementary, junior high and senior high schools, and 3) to develop and revise mathematics and technology courses.  This year’s eighth graders will have to meet these new requirements as the graduating class of 2013. The work at the district has been guided by the Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP), which is reviewed by the Board of Trustees. We want to be true to that intent. We align curriculum to the standards and now we have to make sure that the standards are high enough. Students perform better with challenge. Students in high level classes tend to go on and achieve a Bachelor’s degree.  The Steering Committee, in cooperation with the administration of District 91, recommend Option D to the Board of Trustees as the option that best supports the District Mission, the District Continuous Improvement Plan and that best meets the Goals of the District to provide an engaging education.  Option D will adopt a requirement of 48 credits to graduate. The State has set the required credits to graduate at 46. This option requires four years of English. It also requires math and science three full years. The administration feels strongly that kids need continuity in their core classes. The administration also believes that continuity in these core courses will increase the ISAT scores. This is the model that provides the best instructional model.  Whatever decisions the Board of Trustees makes—it is clear that the district will need to bring professional development to the teachers to help them implement. Merely changing the structure does not change practice.  Moving to a semester model gives teachers more time to assess the student. They have the time to diagnose and meet with the students and develop a plan. They have more class time with students in this model.  The number one reason for failure and dropping out of high school is that kids are not engaged; they are bored. If we raise the standards and reduce the ability of kids to retake classes over and over—perhaps they will put forth the effort to pass. Page 4 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008  If counselors are not so busy with schedule changes, they will have more time for social issues that confront the students.  Some kids do not have help at home; or work and do not have time for homework. Study Hall is an elective class in which kids can earn a credit. They can usually complete most or all of their homework in this elective credit choice. Discussion by the Board: 1)Will the options be posted for the public to view? Yes, we will post them online. We will also post the PowerPoint presentation. 2)George Boland presented some data that he requested from the graduating class of 2008. 44.5% of our students failed one or more classes. One student graduated with 85 credits – 18% graduated with 49 credits (required 49.) The gap between requirements and opportunities is so large, that it creates an easy way out for many kids. We are creating a system for remediation. Failure wreaks havoc on schedules later in the year. We have 26 students a year who graduate early. Of 2,136 students, 721 were enrolled in off campus release. We had 40 students take 2 or fewer classes and 80 who took 3 classes or fewer. This impacts our average daily attendance (ADA) money received from the state. Our district receives ADA money based on a minimum amount of time in school. We had 391 students enrolled as a teacher aide during the 2007-2008 school year. 3)Can we require a student to attend 3 classes minimum per day? No we cannot. That violates dual enrollment rights. Students can be homeschooled and attend some classes in the public education system. 4)Can we look at other schools on the semester or the trimester model? Is there any data for achievement in those schools? No. There is no real evidence that one model is better than the other. What we first need to determine is what our intent is as a school district? Is it to provide opportunities, or is it to provide an instructional delivery model that supports strong development of core courses? We do have research to support that (school) year long core courses are better for student achievement. Students regress when they do not have a course, this is a particularly true in math. A low achiever who takes math the second semester and not again until the second semester of the following year - has missed an entire year of math and they will regress. Perhaps this is reflected in the amount of kids who do not pass the ISAT in the tenth grade and seek an alternative graduation route. 5)Students also have the option to take zero hour classes, or they can take classes online with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA.) They will earn a credit for completing their senior project and they th will receive a credit for attending advisory in their 9 grade year. There are still lots of opportunities available to kids. We can take this one step further and maybe require an IDLA online course funded through the district. 6)Keep in mind that the State Department has set up a Middle School Task Force. They are preparing to make recommendations for middle school requirements. They may develop a credit system and a requirement for kids to achieve before they can enter high school. 7)There are a lot of tenth grade students who have not received all the ninth grade credits. 8)How will these models work with college applications? Will kids be able to complete courses before they take their ACT or SAT? The College entrance exam will be required by the end of the junior year for all students. 9)Can we consider bringing in Western Civilization, and more technology? Page 5 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008 Maybe we want to write a Global Perspectives history class. We can incorporate technology into most of our other classes. 10)What is the goal that we are trying to accomplish? What are the requirements to fit that goal? What is the system? We need to make these decisions and then move forward. Then we can start gathering data and be able to access if we have made a difference. thth 11)The second reading for this is December 9. You will have to make a decision by January 13. 12)How will we include the public? Can we set up informational meetings? Can we post Gail’s PowerPoint? Yes- we can set up public meetings, how about at all three junior high schools. Change will happen. That is a given. Some will be happy, some will be neutral and some will be upset. We need a patron input meeting. We need to provide an opportunity for our patrons to express their voice. 13)There are ways we can modify any of these options. Keep in mind that the trimester model is based on the premise that each course is stand alone. Do you want a delivery system or do you want a broad array of offerings? This is a key decision. 14)The Board asked the administration to come up with two proposals instead of five. To set up public hearings and to post this information on the web. g.First Reading – New Course Adoptions As per policy, new courses need to be approved by the Board of Trustees. These courses will be posted. There are several new math classes such as: Applied Geometry, Math Analysis, Welding Mathematics, Business Mathematics, Mathematics for Health Professionals, and College Algebra. These courses have been developed to help us meet the increased math requirements. We also have two new business classes; Input Technologies and Publishing I. These class proposals will be posted on the district webpage and they will be available in the district office for patron review and input. h.ISBA Resolutions. The Board of Trustees had already reviewed the ISBA resolutions and they agree to follow the recommendations by the ISBA. CONSENT AGENDA: David Lent motioned to adopt the consent agenda as written. Jerry Wixom seconded the motion. Motion Passed. Items approved include: Meeting Minutes October 14, 2008 and October 28, 2008 Payment of November 2008 Claims $ 2,700,994.89 New Hires: Justin Jeppesen Ellen Savage-Peterson Fox Hollow Elementary School Clair E. Gale Junior High Special Education Special Education Sarasue Walton Theresa Bunker & Edgemont Elementary Schools Elementary PE - .33FTE Page 6 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008 Resignations: Glenda Bergener Clair E Gale Junior High School Special Education Matching Funds Taylorview Junior High School – digital camcorder $ 250.00 Emerson Alternative High School – Interwrite Pads $ 548.70 Linden Park Elementary – Smart Boards $ 8,400.00 Total Matching Funds $9,198.70 ACTION ITEMS Award bid for Custodial Supply George Boland explained that the award of the bid to purchase of custodial items needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees because the amount is over $25,000. Administration recommends awarding the bid to Waxie in the amount of $25, 817.28 for paper towel and toilet tissue. Jerry Wixom motioned to award the bid to Waxie in the amount of $25, 817.28. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed. Five aye votes. George Boland wanted to tell the Board of Trustees some of the upcoming items to be aware of.  Nov 25 work session – Junior High Athletic Proposal & potential Athletic Eligibility  Dec 9 Board meeting – second reading of High School Graduation requirement Second reading of junior high athletic proposal  January 13 Board Meeting – Action items : High School Graduation Requirements Junior High Athletics & Athletic Eligibility  January 16 – meeting with Trane to determine Guaranteed Minimum Price  th January 20 – special meeting to review GMP and discuss bond  th January 27 work session– set date and amount of bond  February – Safety Crisis management Deidre Warden motioned to enter Executive Session. David Lent seconded the motion. Motioned passed. Ernest Jensen motioned to enter Open Session. Jerry Wixom seconded the motion. Motion passed. Deidre Warden motioned to adjourn. Jerry Wixom seconded the motion. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned. Page 7 of 7 SUP 08-09 BRD MIN 11-11-2008