BOARD OF EDUCATION
REGULAR MEETING
DURANGO SCHOOL
DISTRICT 9-R
May 10, 2005
President Brevik called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. President Brevik, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Horvath, Mr. Short, and Mr. Seiter were all present, along with Dr. Barter and Reese Miller, board counsel. Dr. Jones and Ms. Paulson were not present.
Mr. Short made a motion to approve the agenda as presented, which was seconded by Mr. Patterson and unanimously approved.
Ms. Paulson arrived at 6:06 p.m.
Steve Ditka, music teacher at Excel, directed the Excel Steel Pan Band in playing three numbers for the board. They invited board members to attend the Excel Blues Night on May 25.
Vicki Romero – Coe is in favor of increasing achievement in students, but not in
favor of increasing graduation requirements as she felt students would get frustrated
and give up.
Mrs. Brevik mentioned the two public meetings coming up to gather input on graduation requirements, and encouraged everyone to attend.
Josh Lovelace asked the district to reconsider its decision to non-renew Mr. Lynch as he not only teaches welding, but also safety, self-respect, and discipline.
Chelsea Rey Cooper asked the board to keep Mr. Lynch as the welding teacher at DHS as he taught self-esteem and how to be a success in the world.
Scott Packer manages a trucking business and has worked as a welder, and felt that Mr. Lynch was a great teacher, who teaches kids the fundamentals. Consider keeping him for this term.
Doug Zalesky spoke on behalf of Mr. Lynch, who was a nominee for teacher of the year and teaches respect, accountability, and math equations, along with welding. He bends the rules and goes beyond the curriculum in order to teach.
Brad Blake said that vocational programs are important and are in place so that kids can learn about other areas such as auto mechanics, nurses, electricians, plumbers, etc. A lot of kids won’t go to college, and these programs are important.
Eric Chisamore operates Four Corners Welding and Gas Supply, and felt it would be a travesty to get rid of a great teacher who could be a benefit to this community.
Kurt Schneider talked about how much Mr. Lynch helped his stepson. His son built a rail that Durango Mountain Resort bought, and Copper Mountain is also interested in having him build one. Reconsider the non-renewal of Mr. Lynch.
Mrs. Brevik stated that this is a legal and personnel issue, which the board can’t discuss in public. She thanked the students and parents for coming in.
Bliss Bruen talked about the graduation requirements meeting on Wednesday and the inappropriate lock-down that occurred recently. She told the board they were in violation of the community values.
Mrs. Brevik stated that Dr. Barter would be addressing this in her report.
Correspondence was received from Jeff Schell stating that the PAC would like to continue with another linkage with the board in the fall.
Mr. Seiter said that all the comments are appreciated and the board values the community perspective. He agreed that the timing and coordination of the lockdown on Friday could be improved upon and the board will be discussing them.
Dr. Barter explained why the practice lockdowns are necessary. She explained that with unannounced lockdowns, we learn things that wouldn’t normally occur during a pre-planned one. She talked about the need for dog searches at our middle and high schools, and explained that each time we learn how to make this process more effective. Dr. Barter stated that our desire is to find those kids who are involved with drugs or alcohol and help them learn to make better choices.
Board members asked questions about the procedures being used, clarified some of their concerns, and wanted to ensure that the rights of our students are being well protected.
ITEM #5B – STUDENT COUNCIL
Kelly Graves introduced Molly May and Bailey Kunkel, the new co-commissioners for the 2005-06 school year. They spoke about the end of year events at the high school; the junior/senior prom, the Apple Oscars, the leadership program at the middle schools, reading at the elementary level, the Spring Fling, Dress-up Day, thank you notes to teachers, and graduation. Student Council members hold their summer retreat on August 12 – 14 and the board is invited to attend.
Christi Zeller, Finance Advisory Committee member, left a report for the board. Mrs. Doney will be holding a mini-budget session on May 19 and then on May 24, the Finance Advisory Committee will join her to hold a budget work session before the board meeting.
ITEM #5D – SCHOOL VISITS:
RIVERVIEW, NEEDHAM
Ms. Paulson visited Needham where she heard reports on the civil war, and toured the assembly area, and outdoor learning center. She also attended the Ellis Island reenactment, put on by teachers, Gretchen Wilson and Jill Somrak. Ms. Paulson reported on the Diné Club at Needham, which was started by Lucinda Webb. The board is invited to their final dinner on May 16.
Ms. Paulson and Mrs. Brevik visited Riverview, where they talked with Mrs. Thweatt about the pre-school program. We’re considering including that in our infrastructure linkage, so we can allay fears of the day care providers in the community.
ITEM #6 – DISCUSSION
ITEM #6A – PROPOSED REVISION
OF EL-8 FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
Mrs. Doney indicated that the Finance Advisory Committee had reviewed the recommended changes to EL-8 and the changes are in bold. Discussion centered around some of the changes in #8, #9, and #19. Mrs. Doney said that this would come back to the board next month for action.
ITEM #6B – PROPOSED REVISION
OF GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Judy Michalski, Kipp Schreiner, and Greg Spradling were present to answer questions. Student attending college are in need of remediation, students are not prepared for the workforce, and the new requirements being mandated from CCHE have all caused us to re-examine our graduation requirements. Our graduation requirements are significantly lower than other schools in the state of Colorado. Mr. Spradling went through the changes with the board, noting that the total number of credits required to graduate will increase from 245 to 270. There are a lot of options and flexibility for students. The vocational program won’t be affected by this change.
Support systems will be in place for all students who are not achieving; counseling office, social workers, parent partners, Study Connection, community service, reading buddies, child study teams, Renaissance, Entrada, the Phoenix Program, The Center, the CASA program, the Saturday program, NovaNet and others. These changes lend itself to a college path or a vocational path. We know we’re deficient in this area, and our students need the help.
ITEM #6C – REVIEW OF DHS NCLB IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Pat May, Kevinanne Curmano, Judy Michalski, Greg Spradling, and Bonnie Rich were available to discuss the improvement plan, which is required since the high school did not meet AYP with the special education students. Two special education teachers, math teachers, and an aide have all committed to a math training this summer, the high school staff implemented school wide silent reading during advisory period, and the collaboration piece is huge as teachers work together to help those students who need it.
ITEM #6D – PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MONITORING ASSESSMENTS
Carol Harris, Judy Michalski, and Joanne Hibbard explained about the proposed changes to the technology monitoring assessments. Teachers have piloted these in each area, and feel they are workable. Dr. Barter reminded the board that these assessments were the ones that the board had requested.
ITEM #6E– REVIEW OF MONITORING SCHEDULE
The board reviewed the monitoring schedule, noting that some of the Ends don’t come up but once every three years, but data is still collected and looked at yearly. Dr. Barter agreed that it would be possible to bring it to the attention of the board if there were a deteriorating trend in an area. The annual accountability report comes out in December and we do get it in a form that we can assess. The restructuring of the tiers, specifically Foundation Skills, CTE, and Money and Finance, was brought up. Dr. Barter indicated that one couldn’t be done without looking at the entire thing. This monitoring schedule will be on the next agenda for action.
ITEM #6F – PROPOSED
LINKAGE/BOARD DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AND FOLLOW-UP ON DHS PARENT ADVISORY
COMMITTEE LINKAGE
The board will meet in June to prioritize these linkage activities. The tier structure may need to be discussed to bring some closure, because integration is changing the way we do tiers. Streamlining agendas is in need of discussion; how in depth do we need to do the monitoring reports, what we could do without, and looking at external monitoring. Sounding boards was a topic that some board members wanted to discuss. The legislative issues need to be discussed, review of the accountability reports with DAAC, having a board liaison participate as a non-voting member, having an agenda item to bring things full circle (a good communication tool), CASB looking for presenters on specific topics such as local control and community input for their annual conference, and finding a new word for linkage.
Ms. Paulson said that her proposal was based on the difficulty we have in getting people to run for the school board, the increase in stipend for the City Council members, and the recent recommendation from the high school PAC that board members should be paid. She said there is a statute that prohibits it, but Ms. Paulson
recommended that we submit a proposal to the CASB Delegate Assembly, asking them to give this subject local control. Mr. Horvath said that he would work with Ms. Paulson on a resolution.
ITEM #7A - ENDS MONITORING: COMMUNITY SERVICE
There was some discussion about clarifying which groups are community service and which are service learning. It is not the board’s intention to limit the type of service. Mr. Short made a motion that the April 26, 2005 Ends monitoring report for Community Service K-12 be approved as presented noting that reasonable progress has been made in attaining the Community Service Ends Policy, and the monitoring assessments are appropriate progress indicators. However, in the future data should be disaggregated by sub-group and a non duplicated count provided and a definition provided for categories of service. Mr. Seiter seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
ITEM #8 – CONSENT AGENDA
ITEM #8A – HUMAN RESOURCES
ITEM #8B – REGULAR BOARD
MEETING MINUTES, APRIL 12, 2005
ITEM #8C – REGULAR BOARD
MEETING MINUTES, APRIL 26, 2005
Mr. Seiter made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda items A – C as presented. Mr. Patterson seconded the motion. The motion passed with Mrs. Brevik, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Seiter, and Mr. Short voting aye, and Mr. Horvath and Ms. Paulson voting no.
ITEM #9 – EXECUTIVE SESSION
ITEM #9A – NEGOTIATIONS
ITEM #9B – LEGAL MATTER
Mr. Seiter made a motion to go into executive session at 10:25 p.m. for the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations and for instructing negotiators as authorized by CRS 24-6-402(4)(e), and to conference with the district’s attorney to receive legal advice regarding a legal matter as authorized by C.R.S. 24-6-402(4)(c). Those present in executive session shall be members of the board of education, the superintendent, the board clerk, the board’s legal counsel, and the director of business services. Mr. Short seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Mr. Horvath made a motion to come back from executive session at 10:45 p.m., which was seconded by Mr. Seiter and unanimously approved.
The board talked about the retirement celebrations, the budget mini-session, graduation, and the next board meeting.
ITEM
#11 - ADJOURN
A motion was made to adjourn at 10:58 p.m. by Mr. Patterson and seconded by Mr. Horvath. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristy Rodri
District Clerk to the Board of Education
Approval:
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