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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-02-05 Board Minutes Board Meeting Minutes – Feb, 5 2008 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Idaho Falls School District No. 91 Board Meeting Minutes February 5, 2008 District Office Board Room Idaho Falls, ID 7:00 PM Present from the Board of Trustees: Present from the Administration: Jerry Wixom, Chairman 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 Chairman Jerry Wixom called the board meeting to order. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Cindy Ozaki. SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY: Shelly Smede introduced Andrew Scholer, a student at Idaho Falls High School, as the winner of the Curriculum Guide for 2008-09 cover design. Andrew received a $100 gift card and a plaque from the board of trustees. Jim Shank, Principal at Clair E. Gale Junior High School introduced Tharon Brower as the Emissary of Excellence for February. Tharon is the custodian at the school and is well known and liked by all. Ernest Jensen presented Tharon with a plaque and thanked him for his hard work. I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: Ernest Jensen motioned to amend the agenda by adding under item d) Student 2007-2008B under V. ACTION ITEMS. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed. II. CONSENT AGENDA Cindy Ozaki motioned to adopt the consent agenda as written. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed. Items approved include: Board Meeting Minutes thnd : January 8 and 22, 2008 Payment of January 2008 Claims: $ 1,983,194.86 Matching Funds : Edgemont Elementary School $ 2,618.85 Taylorview Junior High School 1,200.00 Total Matching Funds Request: $ 3,818.85 Staff Actions: New Hire: Amy Beck, Special Education Eagle Rock Junior High III. REPORTS a) Student Reports: Chesney Taylor, Representative for Emerson Alternative High School reported: 1. The Emerson students have completed half of the CNA program and they are now at EITC on Mondays and Wednesdays. They spend the first half of their day in the classroom and the second half of the day they get hands on experience. 2. Seniors are ordering their caps and gowns. Board Meeting Minutes – Feb, 5 2008 3. Emerson has increased their enrollment cap from 100 to 150 students, and the waiting list to enroll at Emerson continues to grow. 4. The students at Emerson are enjoying the challenge of participating in Achieve 3000. 5. Emerson participated in the Trapped Sober conference that was held by the Bonneville Youth Development Council. The conference had a big impact on many of the students. Chris Duersch came in place of Nick Mason as Representative for Idaho Falls High School: 1. The Multicultural Assembly was postponed because there was a snow closure day on the th scheduled day of the speaker. That assembly has been rescheduled for February 12. 2. In sports, the Boys Basketball team is hoping to play in districts next week. The Girls team is done for the season. Wrestling is going well. 3. “Mascot Wars” is a new fundraising activity will start between all local high schools. They money raised from this event will go towards the Special Olympics. 4. The Student Body will hold “Gender Wars” a competition between the genders to begin next week. th 5. The Senior Ball will be held February 9 at the IFHS gymnasium. th 6. Talent Show tryouts will be held 2/19 through 2/20. The Talent Show will be on 2/28. 7. The Student Government is holding a “No Means No” campaign and they are hanging posters around the school. b) Patron Input: 1. Andrea Chambers spoke on behalf of the proposed calendar change for the 2008-2009 school year and the 2009-2010 school year. She thanks the administration for soliciting parent input and working with parents to find a solution that hopefully pleases everyone. She asked the board to please adopt the proposed calendar change for 2008-2009 and to adopt the “recommended” calendar for school year 2009-2010. 2. Brenda Kanka asked the board to look into board policy that does not allow a foreign exchange student to graduate from our system. 3. Four fourth grade students from A.H. Bush Elementary school, Miguel Trejo, Giovanni Becerril, Abby Holloway, and Philip Bills wrote a persuasive essay in class and came to read their essay to the board of trustees. 4. Patron Input received through the email from Susan Blossom; As I have said before at past meetings, I am grateful for the opportunity to express my opinion here, as well as for the responsiveness this committee has shown in trying to meet everyone’s needs. As a patron, my main concern in that the August school days be minimized. It’s the best time of year for family vacations, and the schools are too hot to promote learning. I prefer a compressed calendar with a longer summer, but I fell less strongly about this than I do about those August school days. Thanks again for your time and attention to my opinion. c) IFEA Report: Nancy Caldwell, President of the IFEA reported: 1. The Association was busy in January with the legislature.Eight IFEA members went to Boise to the legislature to listen to hearings on the ISTARS and We Teach salary and compensation proposals. Both of these proposals seem to be stalling. They are not supported by teachers. Nancy thanked our administration for using caution and not responding to proposal. 2. The IFEA is collecting for the children’s fund. They have collected $1500 to date. 3. The IFEA has set the time of the Retirement Banquet. It will be held on Thursday, May th 15. d) Education Foundation: Daryl Schneider, president of the Education Foundation, reported that: 1. The Foundation is in the midst of preparing for the mayor’s scholarship dinner. The th scholarship applications are available online and they are due by February 15. The th dinner is scheduled for April 10. They will showcase district programs from 6-7PM and Board Meeting Minutes – Feb, 5 2008 then dinner will be at 7:00 PM. They will announce recipients of the scholarships following dinner. 2. They are continuing to build the donor base for the Skyline Legacy Campaign. 3. Visa Plex has announced that they will present a check to the foundation in the amount of $13,583 for all the movie tickets sold over a period of time. 4. The foundation is working to support funding for the new Alternative Energy Class that will be offered at Skyline High School. e) Superintendent’s Report: 1) Superintendent George Boland introduced Mike McGuyer, Energy Manager who gave a presentation on the status of the Energy Program. 1. The savings from May 07 to December 07 are up by 11% from last year. 2. We have increased cooperation from the staff. 3. We are refining and improving our HVAC which helps us to be more efficient. 4. The use of timers to turn on engine block heaters has been another large saving. 5. If we maintain the same savings for the next 7 months, we will exceed $1M in July 2008. Ernest Jensen asked why the Westside of town seems to do better at conserving energy. The reason for this trend is because Westside and Eagle Rock are all electric schools and that shows greater cost avoidance. Most of these schools are also manually run (heating systems are not on timers) and the custodians at these schools have made that difference. David Lent asked about the cold classrooms. He has heard complaints about the temperature of the classrooms and he does not want our energy savings to be at the expense of the teachers and the kids. The response is that the procedure is for rooms to be set no higher than 72˚F and it is up to the teacher and principal to work around that. This is an issue that has plagued our schools for a long time because of the mechanical inefficiencies of our HVAC systems. Setting the temperatures lower has magnified this problem. The teachers can contact George to have their set- point increased if they are too cold. The administration is currently in the process of reviewing RFQ’s for a district wide contract to upgrade the HVAC systems in the schools that seem to have older and less efficient systems. 2)Rene Miller, Communication Specialist, presented the results from the Parent Satisfaction Survey to the board of trustees. We received a 22% response on the survey. It was widely advertised and it began with parent teacher conferences and computers were available at all schools for parents to take the survey at the schools if they do not have internet access at home. The trends of the responses show that Elementary parents are more satisfied with their child’s school experience than the parents of Junior High and High School students. It is believed that most of the unsatisfaction may be due to the lack of progress report communication that we experienced as a result of changing the grade book software. Now that all secondary school parents have been given access codes to Power School, satisfaction and communication should increase. We will run this survey again next fall. IV. PROPOSALS: a) School Calendar 2009-2010: This is the second review of the four proposals for the 2009-2010 School Calendar. The Calendar Committee has recommended “draft 2” to be adopted by the board of trustees. The proposed calendar is available for review and comment on the district web page and it is available in the district office. In tonight’s Patron Input, one patron expressed that she likes the recommended 2009-2010 School Calendar and hopes that the board adopts it. This calendar will be voted on as th an action item in the March 11 board meeting. Board Meeting Minutes – Feb, 5 2008 V. ACTION ITEM: a) Board Policy 403.4: This is the third and final reading of Board Policy 403.4. This policy has been available for review on the district web site and at the district office. There have been no comments received. This policy is general in nature and procedures will be written up by the Operations Department for safe handling of chemicals. The primary concern is for the storage and use of chemicals in classrooms throughout the district. Mary Ann Smith motioned to adopt Board Policy 403.4 Chemical Safety and Management as written, Cindy Ozaki seconded the motion. Motion Passed. All in favor. b) Proposed Change to School Calendar 2008-2009: This is the third and final reading of the calendar change. This calendar has been available for review. We have received comments at tonight’s meeting in support of this calendar change. Mary Ann Smith motioned to adopt the changes to School Calendar 2008-2009. David Lent seconded the motion. Motion Passed. All in favor. c) Early Graduation Request Student 2007-2008 A: David Lent motioned to approve the early graduation request for Student 2007-2008A. Cindy Ozaki seconded the motion, Motion Passed. All in favor. d) Early Graduation Request Student 2007-2008 B: Ernest Jensen motioned to approve the early graduation request for Student 2007-2008B. David Lent seconded the motion, Motion passed. All in favor. Ernest Jensen motioned to adjourn. Cindy Ozaki seconded the motion. Motion passed.