HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-08 Board Minutes
Board Meeting Minutes – Dec. 12, 2007
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Idaho Falls School District No. 91
Board Meeting Minutes
January 8, 2008
District Office Board Room
Idaho Falls, ID
7:00 PM
Present from the Board of Trustees: Present from the Administration:
George Boland, Superintendent
Mary Ann Smith Guy Wangsgard, Director of Business Operations
Ernest Jensen Gail Rochelle, Director of Secondary Education
David Lent Karla LaOrange, Director of Elementary Education
Cindy Ozaki Caroline Meagher, Recording Secretary
Madam Chair Mary Ann Smith called the board meeting to order.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Gail Rochelle.
SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY:
Crystal Nieslanik, Instructional Technology Coordinator introduced Sally Baldwin, Computer
Technician for Skyline High School. Mary Ann Smith presented Sally with a plaque. The Board of
trustees and the administrative team thanked Sally for all her hard work and dedication.
I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA:
Ernest Jensen motioned to adopt the agenda as written. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion
passed.
II. CONSENT AGENDA
David Lent motioned to adopt the consent agenda with the amendment of replacing the Matching
Funds letter in the packet with the letter that was distributed. Cindy Ozaki seconded the motion.
Motion passed. Items approved include:
Board Meeting Minutes
: December 11, 2007.
Payment of January 2008 Claims: $ 2,155,125.05
Matching Funds
: Edgemont Elementary School $ 2,149.14
Student Travel:
Skyline High School Cheerleaders to New York, NY 3/14/2008-3/18/2008
Idaho Falls High School Journalism to Anaheim, CA 3/28/2008-3/31/2008.
Staff Actions:
Retirement from Leave of Absence: Vanessa Wesbrock, Elementary Counselor
Alternative Graduation Route:
Emerson High School request for seniors who did not pass the ISAT graduation requirements.
III. REPORTS
a) Student Reports:
Chesney Taylor,
Representative for Emerson Alternative High School reported:
1. The third session will be completed on Friday.
2. The CNA program is going well and they are moving into more hands-on work.
3. Seniors are ordering their caps and gowns
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Board Meeting Minutes—Dec. 12, 2007
4. Emerson celebrated their new name with a Christmas Dinner. The faculty did a skit for
the students
5. Emerson has added an Art class in the fourth session and it is already full.
Nick Mason,
Representative for Idaho Falls High School reported:
1. Winter Sports are moving along, the Girls Basketball team is on the rise, Boys Basketball
has lost one game and the Wrestling Team is resilient.
2. The Student Council was involved in many charities over the month of December;
including present wrapping and adopting families. Every club at IFHS adopted a family
this year for Christmas for a total of 30 families.
3. IFHS lost the Canned Superbowl Drive to Skyline High School. IFHS collected almost
8,000 cans of food and Skyline collected 21,000 to donate to the food bank.
4. “Friends of Rachel” is a group formed by IFHS students that meet every Thursday; their
focus is to try to keep the challenge alive.
5. IF is preparing for Multi-cultural week.
6. Parent/Teacher conferences were Monday night; Powerschool is now available to IFHS
students and parents and everyone is very excited about that.
b) Patron Input: There was no patron input.
c) IFEA Report: There was no IFEA report.
d) Education Foundation:
Daryl Schneider, president of the Education Foundation, reported that:
1. The Education Foundation has finally launched their new web-site.
2. Applications for the Mayor’s Scholarship have been distributed to district 91, district 93,
private and charter schools in the area. Applications are also available on the Education
Foundation website.
3. The foundation is in the process of forming their selection committees for the scholarship
applications.
4. The Skyline Legacy Campaign has a spot on the website with a slide show. The
campaign is doing well.
5. The foundation is in the process of contacting Alumni from the 1960’s and 1970’s to add
their donor database.
6. The Utility Flyer has brought in $2,160 to date.
e) Professional Technical High School Report:
Craig Miller, Coordinator of the Professional Technical High School (PTHS) for district’s 91, 93,
Shelley, Firth and Ririe presented to the Board of trustees:
1. PTHS classes are offered on different campuses all over the area because they do not
have one location large enough to house all of their classes.
2. This program has been experiencing growth over the past few years and they reach
capacity in many of their class offerings.
3. The PTHS courses provide students with a skill set that is designed to help them be
employable after graduation.
4. It is the hope that most of these kids will gain the confidence and see the value to pursue
higher education even it has not ever been something they thought they could do.
5. Craig Miller is also presenting this information to the district 93 board of trustees in
hopes of gaining support from both boards to move forward with research of funding
options for building their own facility.
f) Calendar Committee Report:
Dennis Griffeth, Principal of Ethel Boyes and head of the calendar committee presented four
calendar options for the 2009-2010 School Year to board of trustees. The committee
recommended “draft 2” for the board to adopt. This calendar option is available in the district
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office and on the district website for review. This calendar will be reviewed again on February 5
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as a proposal and it will become an action item for adoption on March 11.
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Board Meeting Minutes—Dec. 12, 2007
e) Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent George Boland directed the discussion to Guy Wangsgard, Director of Business
Functions:
1. Guy Wangsgard referred to the handout in the board packet that compared enrollment
and attendance data. Guy wanted to bring the decrease in expected revenue to the
board’s attention because of the decrease in the Average Daily Attendance (ADA.)
2. The enrollments for the school district have been increasing; yet our daily attendance
reports indicate a decline. It is believed that one reason for this decline is the new
attendance software. The new software is actually more accurate and measures daily
attendance by the minute.
3. The administration will continue to study this issue and review it further with the board
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of trustees in the January 22 work session.
IV. PROPOSALS:
a) Proposed Board Policy 403.4:
This was the second review of newly proposed Policy for Chemical Safety and Management. This
policy has been available for review and comment in the district office and on the district
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webpage. This policy will be an action item up for adoption into Board Policy in the February 5
board meeting.
b) Proposed change to School Calendar 2008-2009:
This was the second review of the proposed change to school calendar 2008-09. This calendar has
been available for review and comment in the district office and on the district webpage. This
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calendar will be an action item up for adoption in the February 5 board meeting.
V. ACTION ITEM:
a) New Course Approval:
Dr. Gail Rochelle, Director of Secondary Education, presented three new course proposals to the
board of trustees. Gail was proud to bring these new proposals to the board because it shows how
innovative some of our teachers are. The teachers who propose a new course do the research and
write the proposals on their own time. All students in the district can take these classes. The new
courses up for action are:
1. Aerospace Studies for Math Credit – Idaho Falls High School
2. Energy and Power Systems for Tomorrow—Skyline High School
3. Spanish II and III/IV with concurrent ISU credits—Skyline High School
Cindy Ozaki motioned to approve the new course proposals; Ernest Jensen seconded the motion.
Motion Passed.
VI. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Cindy Ozaki motioned to enter Executive Session. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Ernest Jensen motioned to enter Open Session. Cindy Ozaki seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Ernest Jensen motioned to adjourn. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed.