The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Board of Education
At the Wednesday, August 19, 2009 regular meeting of the West Central CUSD #235 Board of Education the following items took place.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. in the elementary cafeteria by Board President Brent. All board members were present at roll call.
President Brent then led the members of the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Under good news items the following was offered:
The Board conducted a recognition ceremony for twenty Board of Education Academic Excellence Award recipients from the 2008-09 school year. This is an annual program where the board recognizes those students who have achieved a 4.0 grade point average for the entire previous school year. Those students recognized were Hannah Allaman, Rachael Allaman, Erin Bavery, Hannah Brueck, Brandon Carter, Alissa Crandall, Nicholas Daniels, Justine Dillard, Brock Heap, Gretchen Higgins, Allison Lafary, Mary Lewis, Sarah Nelson, Kristen Rankin, Samuel Sanning, Amanda Schneider, Brandi Stewart, Bailey Stokes, Kara Stumphy, and Miranda Wallace;
The board approved the agenda with the following additions:
No one in the audience wished to address the Board on any agenda items.
The board approved the consent agenda as presented. Items approved under the consent agenda included:
The board approved payment of all bills as presented, the activity accounts as presented and the July 2009 treasurer's report as presented.
The board heard a presentation on the tentative FY10 district budget from Superintendent Grimm. It was pointed out that this budget is tentative and will undoubtedly change due to several factors between now and the time the board will be asked to approve the final FY10 district budget on September 17, 2009. The tentative budget calls for revenue of $10.846 million dollars and expenditures of $10.645 million dollars. This is a surplus budget by approximately $200,000. Following a brief question and answer session, the board approved the tentative budget as presented and in a second motion the board directed that the tentative budget be placed on display and that a public hearing concerning the budget be held on Thursday, September 17, 2009 beginning at 6:30 in the elementary cafeteria.
The board tabled action on the approval of quote for roof work. This item will be brought back to the board for action at the September board meeting.
The board heard reports from Mr. Buss, Mr. Nichols and Mr. Geiser about the activities that have taken place in their respective buildings since the July board meeting. The board also heard from District Curriculum Director Jeanne Serven, District Technology Coordinator Melinda Frakes, and District Special Education Coordinator Jamie Farniok. As part of Mrs. Farniok's report the board was advised of their mandated reporter status and received training for that as well.
The board heard a report from the athletic and extra-curricular sub-committee. As part of that report the board reviewed a recommended athletic director job description and coaches handbook. It was pointed out that the athletic director job description was a combination of many other similar job descriptions and was completed with input from District Athletic Director Jay Blender. The board also reviewed a proposed philosophy on athletics and after discussion directed that certain changes in these documents be made and that these documents should be brought back to the board for approval at the September board meeting.
The board heard a report from the transportation sub-committee. The board accepted a recommendation from the committee to begin the process of purchasing a new driver education car, a ton pickup with a snow blade and a van for special education transportation.
The board was given an update on the district's summer and life safety work. As part of this report, the board was informed that nine health life safety projects had been completed and at the conclusion of the board meeting, Board President Brent would be signing completion certificates that would then be forwarded to the Regional Office of Education and then on to the State Board of Education. Also as part of this discussion, Mr. Grimm shared with the board how pleased he was with how the buildings look and how well the summer crew had performed. In addition, during this section of the agenda, the board discussed the possibility of hiring a part time carpenter to assist with the completion of certain projects. It was the consensus of board that this is something that should be looked at for the summer of 2010 as long as certain conditions apply.
The board heard a brief report from Mrs. Serven concerning the activities that have taken place over the course of the last couple of weeks with regard to the opening of school.
The board reviewed the 2008-09 ISAT, PSAE and ACT scores for District 235. A discussion was held about the scores and the plans that the administration and school improvement teams have to continue working to bring about improvement in the scores across the district.
The topic of the athletic and extra curricular participation statement was brought back to the board as a discussion item at the request of the board's athletic and extra curricular sub-committee. Board President Brent polled the board to see if there was sufficient interest to have another dialogue about this issue as this topic has been discussed several times over the course of the last four years by the Board of Education. President Brent declared that at least four board members did not wish to pursue discussing this with the thought of making any changes; therefore, the discussion ended on this topic.
The board was made aware that the lease for the school's farm expires in March of 2010. The board directed the building and grounds sub-committee to meet with Mr. Grimm to discuss the parameters for a new lease with the current tenant. The board asked that this task be completed by the September board meeting if possible.
The board discussed the process of identifying the Superintendent's performance goals that are a requirement of his extended contract.
The board gave approval for the Board President and Vice President meet with Superintendent Grimm to develop a set of draft goals and to bring those back to the board for discussion as soon as possible.
The board discussed building security and a concern that a significant number of people have keys to the buildings and that those keys are unaccounted for.
The board was reminded that this topic was reviewed early in District 235's tenure and the board chose not to pursue any type of re-keying project due to the cost; however, the board did direct the Superintendent to review the cost of re-keying all outside doors and report back to them.
There were no future agenda items identified.
The board determined that there was no need to enter closed session as had been originally thought.
The board took the following personnel action:
The board was reminded that their next meeting is Thursday, September 17 beginning with a budget hearing at 6:30 p.m. followed by a reception for all teachers new to the district.
The regular meeting will then begin at 7 p.m. in the elementary gymnasium.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:15 p.m.