BOARD OF EDUCATION
REGULAR
MEETING
DURANGO SCHOOL
DISTRICT 9-R
December 9,
2003
ITEM #1 - CALL TO ORDER, ESTABLISH QUORUM
The
meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m.
President Brevik, Mr. Eggleston, Mr. Horvath, Dr. Jones, Mr. Patterson,
Ms. Paulson, and Mr. Seiter were all present, as well as Dr. Barter and Reese
Miller.
ITEM #2 - APPROVE AGENDA
President
Brevik stated that there were some changes to the agenda, which included a
complete new set of the Secondary Science monitoring report. There is an addendum to the Human Resources
agenda, which will be page 25A and there is a new page 46. Mr. Horvath asked if the Sunnyside and Ft.
Lewis Mesa school visits could be added to the report section of the agenda.
Mr. Seiter will give the report on the CASB conference, since President Brevik
was unable to attend. Dr. Jones made a
motion to approve the agenda with the noted changes, which was seconded by Mr.
Horvath and unanimously approved.
ITEM #3 - STUDENT PRESENTATION: EXCEL CHARTER SCHOOL
Martha
Dyer, science teacher at Excel, explained about the Mission to Mars theme for
their science enrichment day along with students Taylor, Morgan, Andie, and
Dylan. Other students demonstrated land
rovers made from legos, and alka seltzer rockets. They spoke about learning
science terms in Spanish, a health workout and diet for space travel, and an
internship at Alpine Animal Hospital.
ITEM #4 ENDS MONITORING: SCIENCE K-12
Carol
Harris and Judy Michalski, along with teachers and administrators made a presentation
on how well the students have mastered the Science K-12 Ends. Staff members present were Cindy Smart,
Susie Kern, Tobey Ellis, Susie Horvath, and Judy Wilkie reporting on the
elementary progress. Dr. Michalski,
along with Gene Giddings, Martha Dyer, Cindy Bryniarski, Dave McKeever, Vonnie
Wilkinson, Brian Hester, and Julie Kaminski talked about the goals and progress
made at the secondary level. Dr. Barter
reminded the board that when you compare grade level to grade level, the only
thing you can assess is whether or not your curriculum has strength, because
you will always have different children in those grades. There was a lengthy discussion on the scores
and their meaning, and President Brevik stated that this would be on the agenda
for action at the next board meeting.
Julie McCrea, on behalf of DEA, spoke about tenure and Senate Bill 186 and passed out the information to the board.
Bliss Bruen submitted a letter in support of videotaping board meetings, which Mrs. Rodri read for the board at her request.
Jim Schneider spoke about the benefits of taping school board meetings.
Sean Andreatta, school board member for Excel, reminded board members of the invitation to visit their school at 7:30 a.m. the following morning.
Merrilee Williams, president of the Excel school board, explained that the purpose of the invitation was to build a bridge between the two school boards, with no intention of discussing any business.
Bill Bolby talked about returning accountability to the community and the need to get rid of the emphasis placed on the CSAP scores. Mr. Bolby said he is ready and willing to take on this responsibility. He will meet with Dr. Barter to discuss his concerns about over testing and what he can do to help.
Dr. Barter reported that 9-R received an award of $300,000 from the energy impact grant, which will help with the unexpected fire suppression work that needs to be done.
The board took a break at 7:55 p.m., and were all back in session at 8:05 p.m.
Dr. Barter introduced Padrieg Lynch who talked about his metal fabrication class at Durango High School, and showed pieces of work that his students had completed, including a set of four bar stools made by Arielle Guist.
Holly
Alexander said that Student Council is working on the after-prom party, a
student/staff challenge in broomball, holiday events such as door decorating,
the Tuesday evening visits to the senior citizen center, and a neighborhood
meeting with residents on Alamo Drive.
She invited the board members to visit student council anytime.
Joel
Jones , Ms. Paulson, Mr. Horvath and President Brevik reported on their recent
visits to the DeNier Center, Sunnyside
Elementary, and Ft. Lewis Mesa Elementary.
Ms. Paulson attended her first BOCS meeting and reported that Kay Coleman, new Executive Director, wants to expand services. She said that BOCS supports Ignacio, Durango, Silverton, Pagosa, and Bayfield schools. Discussion at the meeting centered on special education issues, but on-line learning was also discussed.
Mr. Horvath reported on his first visit to the legislative session at CASB. He said they voted in 8 new directors for the board, and 6 new members for the CHASSA Board. He said they had talked about the opposition to the elimination of 12th grade and the funding clause in the NCLB legislation.
Mr.
Seiter reported on the sessions he attended while at the CASB Convention. He handed out reference material for those
board members who were unable to attend.
Mr. Seiter talked about the CASB organization, the Phillip Boyle speech,
the John Allston speech Seize the Day for Kids, and the Steve Spangler speech
with science and visual stimulations.
He went into detail about the School Trust Lands and talked about the 18
districts involved with policy governance, and the interest that others have.
Deborah Uroda gave the board a handout with information, and asked them to call her if they had any questions.
Julia
Stone and Diane Doney were both present to answer questions regarding the
audit. The auditors met with the
Finance Advisory Committee three times during the audit process. Mrs. Stone went through the audit going
over each page with board members, pointing out various findings. Mrs. Stone told the board that they have
given the district an unqualified opinion, which is the best that you can
get. She pointed out the positive
changes, which among other things includes the conversion to GASB 34. Problem areas were also pointed out; the
continued deficit in the food services area, and the amount still owed from the
failed Community of Learners charter school.
Mr.
Seiter thanked Mrs. Doney, and said this was a good job to turn the district
around in four years. Dr. Jones made a
motion to accept the 2003 audit as presented, which was seconded by Mr.
Eggleston and unanimously approved.
Mr. Horvath and Ms. Paulson have expressed an interest in attending the agenda setting meetings, along with the president, vice-president and superintendent. Discussion occurred both in opposition to and in favor of opening the meetings to all board members.
Mr.
Patterson suggested that a different board member be invited each time, as that
is how his previous board did it. Dr.
Jones likes the current process and Mr. Seiter and Mr. Eggleston both felt
were spending too much time on process.
This item will be up for action at the next board meeting.
President
Brevik said that Roberts Rules of Order suggest that you finish old business
before you begin the new and she would like to move action before discussion on
the agenda. There was no other interest
in making a change, so this item was dropped.
Several board members are interested in having DCAT film the board meetings. Discussion centered around how much it would cost, cautions about grandstanding and lack of public participation, the boards budget, whether it would be professionally done, and whether or not it would benefit the kids. Another option would be to just film selected segments, such as the monitoring reports and the kids presentations. The board was reminded about the many groups that had said it was intimidating to talk to the board at the microphones, and it was a big concern to try to make this process more comfortable for the public. This will be on for action at the next meeting.
President Brevik said that all the information we receive is norm-referenced statistics. How do we actually change this data? Dr. Barter reminded the board that the ELs require us to find strategies to meet the needs of all students. Dr. Jones made a motion to approve the monitoring report for Math K-12 as presented, which was seconded by Mr. Seiter and unanimously approved.
ITEM #9 CONSENT AGENDA
ITEM #9A - HUMAN RESOURCES
ITEM #9 B - MONITORING REPORT FOR GP-6 BOARD
COMMITTEE PRINCIPLES
ITEM #9 C MONITORING REPORT FOR EL-13 EDUCATIONAL
STANDARDS
ITEM #9 D FINANCIALS
ITEM #9 E CERTIFICATION OF MILL LEVY
ITEM #9F
RATIFICATION OF CONTRACT AMENDMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Dr. Jones made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda, Items A through I, which was seconded by Mr. Eggleston, and unanimously approved.
Mr. Horvath made a motion to go into Executive Session at 11:10 p.m. for the purpose of discussions relative to certified personnel issues and decisions. [C.R.S. 24-6-402(4)(f)]. Those present in Executive Session shall be members of the board of education, the superintendent, the board clerk, the boards legal counsel, and the director of human resources. Dr. Jones seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Dr.
Jones made a motion to come back from Executive Session at 11:30 p.m., which
was seconded by Mr. Eggleston and unanimously approved. All members were present. No votes were taken and no decisions were
made.
President Brevik reminded the board about upcoming
school visits to Animas Valley, Florida Mesa, and EXCEL. She also stated that Student Council meets
during lunch from 10:55 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
Mr. Seiter and Ms. Paulson stated that they would be visiting EXCEL in
the morning.
ITEM #13
COMING EVENTS
Ms. Paulson made a motion to adjourn at 10:42 p.m.,
which was seconded by Dr. Jones and unanimously approved.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kristy Rodri
District Clerk to the Board of
Education
Approval:
__________________________________ _________________________________