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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008_12_09 Board Minutes 1 IDAHO FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT 91 BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD MEETING CLAIR E GALE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - AUDITORIUM December 9, 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 Caroline Meagher, Recording Secretary Jerry Wixom Board Chair Mary Ann Smith called the meeting to order. Pledge of Allegiance was led by students Chanis and Jake. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA David Lent motioned to adopt the agenda with the addition of action item e) change of Board Meeting Schedule 2008-2009. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Motion passed. REPORTS a.Student Reports: i.Rene Marget, presented in place of Eric Hillam for Idaho Falls High School:  Tiger pride day was November 19th.  Turkey Trot dance was 11/25.  Souper Bowl competition (canned food drive) against Skyline High School th began December 8 and will conclude on the 18th.  Girls and Boys basketball and wrestling are the two sports right now. IFHS is going well in both sports.  th Christmas week is December 15 – 19 put on by the junior class. ii.Jace Herrmann, representative from Skyline High School reported:  Red Ribbon week was in November. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 2  They are currently involved in the Souper Bowl competition against IFHS. Skyline won last year and hope they can do this again.  Basketball, boys and girls, wrestling and debate are now in full swing. b.IFEA Report: Nancy Caldwell will to keep her comments brief tonight. The IFEA has completed their survey and will bring a copy to the Superintendent and he will pass that along to the Board of Trustees. c.Education Foundation Report: Cami Smith, Director of the Education Foundation reported that:  The foundation is in the process of sending out Mayor’s Scholarship packets for 2009 event.  The foundation just received $4,332.64 the Write Start program.  They received $3,000 for the New ERA program Eagle Rock from US Bank.  Cami will be off of work December 17 – January 19 to comply with part-time status. d.Superintendent’s Report:  George Boland reported that at the last meeting there was a proposal to shift the ninth grade athletics to the high schools. This is action item “c” this evening. Should the Board of Trustees approve this change—there will be a need for a parallel change in current Board Policy 1003.4.3C - Conditions for Attendance. As a first reading, in the event that the ninth grade program is adopted, the superintendent is proposing to delete section 1003.4.3.C and to insert the Athletic th Eligibility under Board Policy 1012. This will be a proposal in the January 13 meeting and it will th become an action item in the February 10 Board meeting. This proposal is available for patron review and input on the district web page and in the district office.  Because of the approaching winter and with such a good attendance at tonight’s meeting, Mr. Boland took the opportunity to remind patrons about our school website for school closures and to sign up for textwire. CONSENT AGENDA: Jerry Wixom motioned to adopt the consent agenda as written. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Motion Passed. Items approved include: Meeting Minutes November 11, 2008 and November 25, 2008 Payment of November 2008 Claims $ 2,245,516.17 Staff Actions: Emergency Hire: A hiring emergency exists, as declared by the Board of Trustees, for the position of a Gifted and Talented facilitator at Eagle Rock Junior High School due to a late resignation. Kristina Batalden Gifted and Talented facilitator Eagle Rock Junior High School Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 3 Matching Funds Hawthorne Elementary –Playground Equipment $10, 200.00 Eagle Rock Junior High School – 17 projectors $ 6,100.00 TOTAL MATCHING FUNDS $16,300.00 Student Travel Skyline High School Debate Team  Carroll College, Helena Montana December 5 &6, 2008  BYU-Provo, Utah January 16 & 17, 2009  Las Vegas, Nevada; Nat’l Forensics June 14 – 22, 2009 PROPOSALS a.Second reading Board Policy 603.0 – Graduation Requirements George Boland reported that at the last board meeting, November 25, the Board of Trustees requested that the administration set-up meetings for public review and input of the requirements. Three meetings were scheduled. The turnout was tremendous. Tonight, state statutes where reviewed because there were a number of questions in relation to those statues. Mr. Boland reviewed definitions of extra curricular activities and release time, which state that these activities are outside of our graduation requirements. Idaho Code 33-519 : RELEASE FOR RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. Upon application of his parent or guardian, or, if the student has attained the age of eighteen (18) years, upon application of the student, a student attending a public school in grades nine (9) through twelve (12) may be excused from school for a period not exceeding five (5) periods in any week and not exceeding one hundred sixty-five (165) hours per student during any one (1) school year for religious or other purposes. Release time pursuant to this section shall be scheduled by the board of trustees upon application as provided herein and the board shall have reasonable discretion over the scheduling and timing of the release time. Release time pursuant to this section shall not reduce the minimum graduation requirements for accredited Idaho high schools. The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to authorize the use of any public school facility for religious instruction. The board of trustees of a school district may not authorize the use of, and public school facilities, personnel or equipment may not be utilized, to maintain attendance records for the benefit of release time classes for religious instruction. No credit shall be awarded by the school or school district for completion of courses during release time for religious purposes. At the discretion of the board credit maybe granted for other purposes. IDAPA 08.02.02.220 – RELEASE TIME PROGRAM FOR ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS. In the view of the State Board of Education, public elementary and secondary school programs that permit the practice of releasing students from school for the purpose of attending classes in religious education or for other purposes should observe certain practices that are in keeping with the present state of the law. These practices are designed to ensure that the public school operation is not adversely affected and that public funds and property are not used for sectarian religious instruction in a way which violates the United States Constitution, the Idaho State Constitution, or state law. These practices should include the following: (Section 33-519, Idaho Code) (4-1-97) 01. Scheduling. The local school board will have reasonable discretion over the scheduling and timing of the release program. Release time programs may not interfere with the scheduling of classes, activities and programs of the public schools. (4-1-97) Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 4 02. Voluntary Decision. The decision of a school district to permit release time programs for kindergarten through grade eight (K-8), as well as the decision of individual students to participate, must be purely voluntary. (4-1-97) 03. Time Limit. Release time will be scheduled upon the application of a parent or guardian of a student in grades nine through twelve (9-12), not to exceed five (5) periods per week or one hundred sixty-five (165) hours during any one (1) academic school year. (4-1-97) 04. Location. Release time programs will be conducted away from public school buildings and public school property. (4-1-97) 05. Request by Parent. No student will be permitted to leave the school grounds during the school day to attend release time programs except upon written request from a parent or guardian filed with the school principal. Such written request by the parent will become a part of the student’s permanent record. (4-1-97) 06. Record Maintenance. The public school will not be responsible for maintaining attendance records for a student who, upon written request of a parent or guardian, is given permission to leave the school grounds to attend a release time program. The school district will maintain a record of each student’s daily schedule that indicates when a student is released for classes in religious education or for other purposes. (4-1-97) 07. Liability. The school district is responsible for ensuring that no public school property, public funds or other public resources are used in any way to operate these programs. The school district is not liable for any injury, act or event occurring while the student participates in such programs. (4-1-97) 08. Course Credit. No credit will be awarded by the school or district for satisfactory completion by a student of a course or courses in release time for religious instruction. Credit IDAHO ADMINISTRATIVE CODE IDAPA 08.02.02 State Board of may be granted for other purposes, at the Education Rules Governing Uniformity Page 40 IAC 2008 discretion of the local school board. (4-1- 97) 09. Separation From Public Schools. Public schools will not include schedules of classes for release time programs in school catalogs, registration forms or any other regularly printed public school material. Registration for release time programs must occur off school premises, and must be done on forms and supplies furnished by the group or institution offering the program. Teachers of release time programs are not to be considered members of any public school faculty and should not be asked to participate as faculty members in any school functions or to assume responsibilities for operation of any part of the public school program. (4-1-97) 10. Transportation Liability. Public schools and school districts will not be liable or responsible for the health, safety and welfare of students while they are being transported to and from or participating in release time programs. (4-1-97) We have received over 150 patron input forms and many emails. We can establish the minimum requirements to graduate from high school and we can create opportunity for post secondary and workplace skill development. It is very difficult to establish any assurance that students will have the skills that they need through the establishment of graduation requirements. As a system we cannot do this alone. We need the assistance of the parents. We can provide the opportunities. We need the partnership with parents to ensure that the students have the academic intensity that they need. In order to incorporate the flexibility that many parents have indicated that they want from the system it is necessary to sacrifice rigor to some degree. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 5 Mr. Boland reviewed the proposal of Option F – which is recommended as a reasonable compromise of breadth and depth. Option F and a sample schedule are posted on the district webpage for patron review and input. Questions from the Board of Trustees: Q: Will the ninth grade advisory always be taken at the same time? A: We will schedule it before lunch so kids who are advanced and who want to travel to the high school for advanced classes can use that time to travel to the high school. Q: With this schedule do I see seventeen electives that are required that a parent and student can choose and 36 core of instruction courses? A: within that 36 core of instruction there is some opportunity for variability for selection of classes in content areas. The seventeen electives are totally student choice. They can be anything offered within the district or online. Total credits required are 53. There are 60 opportunities which leave 7 optional elective opportunities. One of the points we heard in public input is that some of the advanced students will want to take a robust schedule; this option provides the flexibility to accomplish that. They can also earn three additional credits outside of the school day. Within the school day, a student can graduate with 63 credits without taking zero hour or IDLA. They can exceed the requirements by ten requirements with the use of senior project credit, the ninth grade advisory credit and the potential for another credit in the Wellness class. Q. Will three trimesters of math, science and English meet the rigor that Dr. Rochelle speaks about? A: Yes, but the kids can select what classes they take to meet these core requirements. We are trying to focus on continuity for these classes to avoid the jigsaw affect that happens frequently with the trimester schedule. Q. This is for the class of 2013? When will the changes happen? A. This change will happen next fall. The kids who are today’s eighth graders will be affected with these changes. They will make their four year plans this year and begin the new requirements next fall. This also provides us with a window of opportunity to collect good longitudinal data. We can take our current ninth graders and gather relevant data in regards to their performance because they are subject to the old requirements and then use the current eighth graders as products of the new requirements and do a study and a comparison. We have our built in control group and a built in study group. This may shed some light on the establishment of graduation requirements. Q .Many emails express that their child is a very good student; they feel like their kids do not need three trimesters of the core classes. A. The difference will be an increase in depth of study; this will allow kids to develop critical thinking skills. Q. Many emails are concerned about number of electives and opportunities for students. Many also identify the effectiveness of classroom instruction. Do you have any plans to make that better? A. Yes. This year we began the process of Instructional Reviews with administrative teams. We have visited every classroom in the district. Although we have very robust staff development, it is evident that we are not seeing full implementation of best practices in the classroom. We have a gap. We are considering Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 6 reallocating Title II funds for teacher improvement and using those funds to build an instructional coaching cadre who will work with teachers and help them to close that gap. Q. You eliminated the technology credit. What is the plan for that? A. Those skills are best learned when they are taught in context. We believe that we can incorporate those into curricular areas. Those courses are still available as electives. PATRON INPUT: 1.Linda Brock – There are thousands of district families that lack the organization to speak to you with the united voice that you have been hearing. Committees of professional educators have spent a year evaluating data to determine how to best prepare all district students for success after graduation. These objectives are captured in Option D. There has long been a “gentlemen’s agreement” in this region regarding religious release time. Our public education system can no longer effectively meet its primary responsibility and continue to support full religious instruction during the school day. Your responsibility to the public is to be the informed body that advances the education of our students, and protects them from the unintended consequences of popular demands. Please focus on academic criteria in evaluating requirements and delivery. 2.Dr. Debu Majumdar – The United States are poor competitors in Global competition. Our kids perform much lower than many other countries. We cannot afford to dilly-dally and waste time. You are worried about producing a well-rounded individual. I have two points to make. (1) We need to focus and train our children for proficiency so they are equipped to compete in society. The parents have a part in this. We need to relegate some of the non-core instruction back to the parents. Saturdays and Sundays can be used by the parents for this. You must judiciously use the school day and period time to educate our children. We must use every period that we can to teach proficiency. (2) Our standards for math and science must be higher. Our kids cannot compete in these areas with other countries. 3.Danette Gneiting – In favor of the semester system Option D. Fully supports the rationale for increased rigor. Would like to add the following points: Based on the American Counselors Association National model and the Idaho Comprehensive School Counseling model, a high school counseling program best suits the needs of students by dividing time and resources in the areas of academic development, career development and social development. D91 parents were polled and decided that they want a counselor’s time spent in this order: 1) individual student counseling 2) career exploration 3) conflict resolution 4) crisis intervention and 5) scholarship information. Within the model it is recommended that 80% of a counselor’s time be spent in direct services to the students, staff and families and 20% to scheduling and registering students. In this district it is opposite. Scheduling is a nightmare. Many of our students struggle with social, emotional, academic, and substance abuse issues; if we had the time that the semester system offers; counselors will be able to provide more individual support for our students. 4.Jerry Fairchild – Thank you for allowing us a chance to speak our views. During our last meeting here at Gale you gave us an opportunity to work through schedules. Thank you for that exercise. Believes that the trimester is the most versatile system. It has allowed his struggling student to achieve and his exceptional students to excel. Which schedule is best? Our teens are in a critical time in life. They are preparing to take their place in society as adults. Perceptions change during this time. They need to experiment and change their minds as needed. The schedule that you choose should address this need. Seminary is a powerful tool that teaches our children to become better members of the church and better members of society. In my opinion the semester system will work only if a full day of seven hours plus the option of zero hour are integrated with it. Without that extra time the time doesn’t exist for required Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 7 classes and elective courses. I like option F and the opportunities that it gives. With this schedule, you don’t need to take a zero hour, unless you want it. 5.Suketu Gandhi – Idaho Falls is a heterogeneous community. For many people, public education is the only means for future economic success beyond graduation. Public education is a right. Primary goals of the school system must be to educate students. It is an established fact that the education in district 91 needs substantial improvement. By only changing the structure of education you are not improving the quality of the education. If you change the content of course instruction, there should be improvement. When a teacher presents new material—students must first absorb it, then they must digest it. When instruction exceeds a certain amount of time, the absorption process ceases and the student is no longer engaged in class. A class length of 45 minutes is adequate. Suggests that we lengthen the school year. 6.Andrea Chambers – After studying both sides of this issue, I would like to support the semester system. The gaps between classes introduced in the trimester system are a huge barrier to effective learning and the potential to have as much as nine months between core classes is a huge disadvantage. The semester system will provide continuity of instruction, and provides the most instruction for class. Though a wide variety of opportunities for kids is nice, it should not be the primary objective of any educational system. They need to achieve competence in core academic areas. Please don’t compromise our core subject areas. 7.Mark Richardson – You are public servants who have been elected by the people to represent us. I am in favor of the trimester. I agree with what the state has mandated. Thanks the superintendent for finding a way to fit in the core courses with opportunities in option F. We are not going to produce only scientists and mathematicians. These requirements are deficient by selecting to replace Western Civilizations with Global Perspectives. The principles that have built this county are studied in Western Civilizations. We cannot make the same mistakes that we have made in the past. We need to study this. I encourage you to vote in favor of option F and to put the Western Civilization requirement back. 8.Jared Turner – Thank you for coming up with option F. It is a good compromise to help meet the needs of the families in our district. As you continue to review the system please don’t compromise the flexibility of the system for a higher budget. More money does not equal a better education. In reference to science and technology; not everyone will pursue careers in the sciences. I also don’t agree with removing the Western Civilizations requirement and replacing it with global studies. It is necessary to our society that we teach our children about our history. 9.Bruce Whitbeck – I have one students who is an overachiever who is college bound. My other child struggled through school. These extra requirements will be tougher on the kids who struggle. What percentages of kids actually go into college? There are many who go into the service sector. There is too much focus on the college-bound direction. Our kids need to be prepared with real life skills. I am supportive of the trimester and option F. In the semester system, kids who fail cannot make up classes. 10.Jace Herrmann – student at Skyline school. Referred to a poster that said “Tell me, I forget; show me, I remember; involve me, I learn.” There has been a lot of discussion about trimester and semester, etc… I want to steer away from that and focus on something that is important to the student. That is to increase rigor. More important than the actual time in class, is the actual instruction time—the time that the teacher has the student engaged. Teachers have different styles. This is all about teaching in the classroom. The physical proximity of the teacher is important—not all students are self driven to learn and succeed. Most drop out because of boredom; I agree. Teachers need to push us to our potential but they also need to make themselves available to help us understand the curriculum while acknowledging our limits. We want to understand. I am a loyal customer—I have attended every grade. Thank you for your hard work. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 8 11.Sonja Davis – Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate the checks and balances of the system. I appreciate the parents who care about their kids and the school board who listens to us and makes a decision based on what they hear. I supported option C and now I see option F as a good possibility. I support trimesters. 12.Pat Cannon – What are your goals? Is it to create a system to meet state requirements-we cannot maintain what we have. There are a variety of ways to fulfill these requirements in both the trimester and semester model. We need to do some cost analysis before we make a decision. What is our role? What is most important? We talk about student proficiency. The steering committee recommended the semester. The eight optional credits that the community requests are used for students to take seminary. 30% of our students take seminary – those 30% should not drive this decision. There is a compromise in the middle. When you have the eight optional credits you have kids who use that to not be at school. We lose ADA. With this schedule there will be no math in the junior year--that is not good. Math is important for all kids—even the non-college bound kids. There is a depth of math required in trades. I ask you to consider what are your 1) goals? 2) Consider the cost to implement and 3) what does it take to accomplish what we need? 13.Shawna Hodges – I have a lot of heartfelt gratitude. I attended the original meeting. I have a sense of pride in the district. Thank you for giving us that time that we want for our children. Thank you for replying to our needs. Thank you for maintaining the academic rigor while keeping our options open as well. Thank you for option F. 14.Ben Merrill – I also would like to express gratitude. I am a senior at IFHS. I especially thank you for listening to the community. I thank the board for keeping seminary as an important part in this decision. I appreciate the elective opportunities. 15.Joan Burgert - thank everyone for all the work you have done. I believe that we need to increase the rigor in our education. I attended the meeting at Taylorview and I am saddened by the statistics that I heard. We are saying that 40% are proficient in math and science; what about the other 60%? The public education system is for all. You should make your decision based on how you can make the other 60% proficient. No matter what option that you choose—I bet everyone who is here tonight, their kids will succeed. The key point needs to be improving proficiency. There are very few places in society where 60% failure would be sufficient. 16.Lyle Crandall – I moved here from Wisconsin where they spend twice what they do here in Idaho on education. I think public education needs to be supported more. We want to raise the standards we want more rigor. The key principle to keep in mind is that the quality of our education is not the schedule—it is the teachers. They are the ones who ultimately determine the rigor that they will teach. There is a gift to teaching, and the ability to connect with young people. We have some great teachers. Quality teachers are the key. 17.Luella Hendrickson - I favor the semester system, option D. I do believe that electives are important. However, education is supposed to be about producing academic proficiency at a minimum and academic excellence at an optimum. We are only achieving that in 40% of the students. That indicates that our current system is not working. Continuity is lacking under the trimester system. Teachers spend a lot of time re-teaching to kids who miss trimesters or more of a topic. Most of the kids in the district are not represented here tonight. It is because they assume that the school board and administration will put together a schedule that best meets the needs of their student. Why no math in the junior year? That is when they take the ACT. In other places they don’t have seminary during the school day—and they can still go to BYU. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 9 18.Del Roberts – thank you for your consideration. In America you can choose to do what you want to do. We can be uniquely American. We need a good foundation. We need flexibly, that is the core requirement. Please make sure that the options are there for our kids. 19.Lisa Burtenshaw – I cringe when I hear that we need to sacrifice academic intensity for flexibility. They are the administration, they are the professionals, and they have made a recommendation. They know what we need. I am a tutor. With trimesters, there is a gap in the sequence which, when combined with a change in the teacher is a bad scenario. We need a semester system. If you go with a trimester—you need to track kids and make sure that they get the next sequence class the next trimester and with the same teacher. 20.Gary Mills- my experience is with the with the GED at EITC. The percentage of students taking the GED because they left high school to help earn money for the family has risen from 9.5% to 15%. My organization wants the State Board of Education to adopt the ACT. State-wide there is a really wide gap in readiness, especially between boys and girls. The result from the Compass test that we administer shows that the amount of kids who are not prepared in English is large, those who are not prepared in Math is huge. 21.Christy Frizee – I support the semester system and option D. All decisions relative to our children’s education should be based clearly on the education. It should not be based on extra curricular activities or religious education. Our education should be preparing our students to move on to secondary education. They need to be prepared for college. I am concerned that when you roll classes into other classes to minimize the requirements that you are cheating our kids of those opportunities. 22.Bob Meek – regarding elementary school –the high school education starts back in the elementary school. We need to take a business approach to education. We need to establish a matrix for our teachers. There are a lot of great teachers in our district; but we also have a few who are not committed to their jobs. We need to rate these teachers. We need to teach history and the values of Americans. I support the trimester system, option F is a good compromise. The option of choice is important. 23.Emily Neibert – Skyline high school student who is very active in extracurricular activities. The board’s new option will allow her to continue to take the classes and the activities that are important to her. Thank you for listening to us and for finding a schedule that will provide us with the options that we need. 24.Lynette Wilson – I came away from the meeting at Eagle Rock with the feeling that there are no options that will meet the needs of my kids. The semester system does not allow for the options if you take music, band, choir and release time. These classes are just as important as math and science. Thank you for coming up with option F. 25.Basil Barna - I attended the 3 public meetings last week and have also served on the Re-Visioning steering committee this year. It's a big subject and every time I listen to another person at one of these sessions I learn something new. That is a good thing, and it serves to remind me of what is at the center on this effort. In January of 2008, Education Week published its annual "Grading the States “report. Idaho's K-12 education program was given a D+ and ranked 50th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia which was the only school system ranked lower than Idaho. This overall grade covers all aspects of a state's K-12 system but it is especially noteworthy that Idaho received a grade of "F" in the college readiness category. That is what this discussion on High School Re-Visioning is about. It is not about ensuring a wide selection of electives, complicated schedules, or release time. It is about meeting our public responsibility to educate our sons and daughters to succeed in their generation. It is about not letting the quality of education slip away when there are external pressures. As options for re-visioning are discussed over the next month it is worthwhile to keep this primary purpose in mind and weigh its benefits against the alternative scenarios being proposed. It is ironic that perhaps the most capable students are the ones who may argue for the status quo or something near it because they want maximum flexibility and will Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 10 thrive no matter what system they're thrown into. At the other end of the spectrum are at-risk students who like things as they are because they can have large blocks of time without required classes. We do neither group a favor by keeping a complex system designed to ensure that students can pursue off campus activities. All of this suggests that our responsibility is to simplify the delivery system to refocus on core subjects and reduce distractions. A multitude of electives supported by a complex scheduling system may seem attractive but it is killing our District's ability to maximize each student's core education. Certainly we should strive to accommodate as much diversity as practical, but not at the expense of the future. For these reasons we urge the Board to support a semester delivery model similar to Option D. 26.Mary Robertson – I am an educator and a mother of kids who are in the system. We take advantage of seminary release time. Under a semester system it is difficult to get the electives that you need. Electives keep the kids at risk in school. Thank you for listening to us and responding to our requests. I support option F and everyone should support the upcoming bond. 27.Jim De Angeles – Head of science department at IFHS. He took a survey of the teachers at IFHS; from options D & E the majority (7 to 1) are in favor of the trimester system. There are merits to both. The semester system does provide more time for depth, but the trimester system enables us to work with those kids who fail classes. I worry about the increase in requirements for the kids who are low achievers. I see a lot of kids who are not ready for high school science. Thank you very much everyone. ACTION ITEM a.Authorize 40 Assets survey The forty assets survey is compiled by the Search Institute and is something that the district has participated in a number of years. Copies of the surveys are available at the schools for parents to review. Students do have the option to opt out of taking this survey. Do we get a report-or feedback? Yes. Individual schools do receive reports. We do receive a district wide report. Jerry Wixom motion to approve the administration of the 40 Assets survey. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Four aye votes. Motion passed. b.Adopt 403B Plan Documents Carrie Smith, coordinator of Human Resources explained that we are required by law to provide a plan that complies with new IRS requirements regarding 403B’s which are tax deferred and non-tax deferred savings plan for retirement. Ernest Jensen motioned that we adopt the 403B plan, Jerry Wixom seconded the motion. Four aye votes. Motion passed. c.Adopt Ninth Grade Athletics Program changes George Boland presented that this plan will move the ninth grade sports into the high schools. The gymnastics program will be retained in grades 7-9 in the junior high schools. At the junior high schools we thth will create 7 and 8 grade teams. Ninth graders will be eligible to participate in high school tennis, as thth well as any other high school sport. The primary changes are to expand 7 and 8 grade so each grade will have their own team. There will be revisions to the Negotiated Master Contract for coaching stipends. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008 11 Will some of these games be played simultaneously? Will the kids need to be out later to accommodate the three Varsity, Junior Varsity and freshman games? Some of the games will be held simultaneously. There is no need to combine the three levels on one bus. There will be separate transportation so there will not be more time required. David Lent motioned to adopt the changes to the ninth grade athletic program. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Four aye votes. Motion passed. d.New Course Adoption Dr. Gail Rochelle presented that the intent of the new courses is to provide options for students so we do have a greater variety of mathematics as the state graduation requirements for math increases. There are also mathematics classes to provide senior year courses that go with the vocational courses. Jerry Wixom motioned to adopt the new course adoption. Ernest Jensen Seconded the motion. Four aye votes. Motion passed. e.Schedule change to Board Meeting Schedule 2008-09. George Boland stated that when the board first established the board meeting schedule in July of 2008 was anticipated that the ISBA Day on the Hill would be mid February as it has been in the past. The ISBA has posted their date for Day on the Hill for January 26 and 27. We had shifted the meetings to accommodate; we are now recommending that we move back to the standard meeting dates as the second Tuesday and the fourth Tuesday. David Lent motioned to adopt the changes to the Board Meeting Schedule of moving the agenda setting thrdrd meeting from January 27 to February 3 at noon, the board meeting from February 3 at 7:00 PM to th February 10 at 7:00 PM. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Four aye votes. Motion passed. Jerry Wixom motioned to adjourn. Ernest Jensen seconded the motion. Motion passed Meeting adjourned. Board Meeting Minutes 12-9-2008