May 2015 School Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT HELD IN THE DISTRICT OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY MAY 13, 2015 AT 7:00 PM.

Those Present:
Joni Taylor - President
April Torgerson - Vice President
Cory Anderson - Member
Jeff Chappell - Member
Curtis Whipple - Member
Burke Torgerson - Superintendent
Heather Okerlund - Business Administrator

Conducting: Joni Taylor

Joni Taylor called the meeting to order. She announced we would begin with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a reverence from April Torgerson.

Joni Taylor welcomed everyone out to the meeting.
Joni Taylor presented Brenda Wood with the Employee of the Year award.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
Burke Torgerson wanted to clarify on the minutes for 4/9/15 that under business items the 'final' reading of the policies was actually the 'second' reading.
Curtis Whipple motioned to approve the minutes as amended, Seconded by April Torgerson. All in favor.

FINANCIAL:
Accounts Payable-
Reviewed the accounts payable.
Cory Anderson asked about the amounts we paid to the USBA. Most are for insurance. Burke Torgerson mentioned that we also pay dues and for some services. This particular payment was for our insurance.
Cory Anderson motioned to approve the accounts payable. Seconded by Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.
Monthly Financial Report-
Discussed the April Revenues and Expenditures.

CITIZEN COMMENTS:
Mr. Malmrose presented a handout to the board and is proposing taking students on an out of state performance educational trip.
Joni Taylor recognized Mr. Malmrose for his hard work on the musical.
Mr. Malmrose answered questions from the board regarding particulars of the trip. He stated he was looking for approval of the board to pursue the activity and the up front payment of the deposit, which would be due the middle of June.
Joni thanked Mr. Malmrose and told him we will add the item to the agenda for next month because we can't make a decision on a citizen comment.

Joni Taylor recognized Lois Brian coming for recognition of her retirement. Joni Taylor presented Lois with her bell in recognition of her 22 years of service. Joni Taylor thanked her for her work with the kids over the years and her work for the school district.

INFORMATION ITEMS:
Burke Torgerson discussed the stakeholder input surveys. Responses were limited in some areas. April Torgerson requested the more detailed information by teacher/school. Determined that we would review that tonight during executive session due to the information being related to personnel. Joni Taylor wants the general results of the survey posted on the website.

Burke Torgerson clarified the technology implementation plan, primarily around the Ipad replacement. Burke Torgerson said he has asked the technology team to implement a plan, but would like some direction from the board. April Torgerson said she had a concern about the requirement for the third grade and under being responsible to submit assignments via Ipad. She thought that 4th and 5th grade would be an appropriate time to require it. Burke Torgerson stated that his intention is to drive the teachers more towards the technology, but welcomes the boards input on those items as he works to develop a plan.

Burke Torgerson said graduation is earlier this year, 2pm. Curtis Whipple asked what his responsibilities for graduation are. It was discussed the board's responsibility is primarily presentation of the diplomas and congratulating the graduates.

Burke Torgerson presented some information that Coral provided regarding school lunch. Our data shows we need to raise lunch prices. Coral's recommendation was that we don't raise prices for the third year in a row. Curtis Whipple recognized that we are losing money in our school lunch program and he feels like we need to pass on whatever the cost is going to be. Joni Taylor agreed, that the district has a short fall and we need to stop subsidizing it even more. Burke Torgerson did clarify that we are paying too much compared to other districts for salaries and benefits and we are paying a little less for food than most districts. Because of our size most of the time we are not going to hit the standard. Joni Taylor clarified that the cost of the increase would probably be negligible to the district as a whole. We discussed that maybe we need some more information and that it is only an information item.

Regarding the track/football progress on the flood prevention plan. Burke Torgerson turned the time over to Cory Anderson. A meeting was held with the NRCS, a flood control group that works with flood control issues throughout the state. Initially they felt that the NRCS may be able to help with the cost of improving the area, but after discussing it the feeling was that we may not get any financial assistance because the problem was not catastrophic. Cory Anderson said that it was probably the district that would have to pay for any improvements. They discussed the improvements needed to the area. Burke clarified that to get the help of the NRCS we have to have a municipal sponsor, likely Bicknell City. He said it would probably have to show an imminent threat to life or property to be able to get any help. It was decided that sandbags were probably a good option at this point just to make sure we don't mess the track up since we just spent a lot of money improving it. It's not a long term solution, but we need to protect it while we develop a permanent solution.

Cory Anderson had a few more points of information regarding football. Upon further review they determined that the transformer discussed in last meeting was not big enough to run the lights so they have to purchase an additional transformer to be able to run the lights. Jordan requested that they coordinate with him before digging because there are fiber lines in the area.

Joni Taylor read a letter from Jessica Grundy regarding a request for funding for a national FFA convention. This is an information item at this point.

Burke Torgerson handed out the agreement signed between the school district and the football team for reference.

Burke Torgerson read a letter from the Utah State Office of Education for additional recognition because we achieved above the state average for testing for higher poverty schools. Joni Taylor and April Torgerson both agreed we need to make that available to the parents.

Heather Okerlund did a presentation on the health insurance options for next school year.

BUSINESS ITEMS:
Joni Taylor read a letter of resignation from Greg Southwick. Curtis Whipple made a motion to accept the resignation, April Torgerson seconded. All in favor.

April Torgerson read a letter of resignation from Jason Grundy. Jeff Chappell made a motion to accept the resignation, Cory Anderson seconded. All in favor.

Cory Anderson motioned to authorize Heather Okerlund as a signor on the bank account. April Torgerson seconded. All in favor.

We discussed the need to have a second board member be authorized as a signor on the bank account in case of emergency. Curtis Whipple motion to authorize Cory Anderson as a signor on the bank account. April Torgerson seconded. All in favor.

Burke Torgerson explained that we need to finalize and calendar the truth in taxation dates. Discussed the need to increase the local tax rates based on the budget issues and how much of an increase we need. Curtis Whipple made a motion to amend the motion (made previously) on the tax increase to 50% for the Board Voted Leeway and Capital Outlay Levy. Totaling an increase rate of .001496. Cory Anderson seconded. All in favor.

Joni Taylor recommends that we look at our rates every year. Cory Anderson commented that we will be going through it every year anyway because of our current needs for construction and bonding.

April Torgerson requested that we review the dates closely so that we make sure and meet our truth in taxation deadlines.

Discussed the negotiation teams. Typically there has been a board member representative on each team. Joni Taylor and Curtis Whipple agreed to do certified. April Torgerson, Jeff Chappell and Cory Anderson agreed to do the classified.

We discussed the approval for use of a new attorney, Lear and Lear. Burke Torgerson clarified that the services from Lear and Lear are more inexpensive but are in additional to the services we are getting from Ballard Spar. April Torgerson made a motion to approve Lear and Lear legal services, Jeff Chappell seconded. All in favor.

April Torgerson made a motion to accept Trent Larsen as the new CTE shop teacher, Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.

Curtis Whipple made a motion to accept Paige Cook as the EdNet coordinator. Cory Anderson seconded. All in favor.

We read bids for Carpet for summer projects.
Loa Builders $6,771.63
Masons Interiors $11,198.
PenScott $6,772.34
Resource $7,525.96 had sales tax included, but it's still more than the other bids without it.

April Torgerson made a motion that we accept the bid from Loa Builders for $6,771.63. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.

We read bids for the windows for the elementary.
Arrowhead $39,800
After discussion it was decided to table the window project for the time being based on the recommendation from the facility needs assessment presented earlier in the work meeting.
Curtis Whipple made a motion that we reject all bids for windows for this project. Cory Anderson seconded. All in favor.

Curtis Whipple made a motion we accept the second reading and changes to DFA, DHA, DHB, DMA, and DBB. April Torgerson seconded. All in favor.

Discussed board books options. April Torgerson motioned to purchase board books. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.

Discussed the Trustlands videos and decided to access them via web later and watch them individually. Reviewed the trust lands budgets by location.
Curtis Whipple made a motion to approve Hanksville's trust lands plan. Jeff Chappell seconded. All in favor.
April Torgerson made a motion to approve the trust lands plan for Wayne High School. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.
Cory Anderson made a motion to approve the trust land plan for Loa Elementary. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.
April Torgerson made a motion to approve the trust lands plan for the Wayne Middle School. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.

Discussed July board meeting and potentially having it at the Gathering Place in Lyman. Cory Anderson commented that he thought we should have a team building activity as a part of it. The high school did something similar and the teachers enjoyed it. Joni Taylor said she wants to invite all of our community council members to a meeting and recognize them for their efforts. April Torgerson said she would like to assign each board member to a council and Joni Taylor said she would rather rotate through them so that the board is only an observer, not a participant, as they have been directed by the state. Discussed the board goals, one of which is the master boards recognition. They also have to have an evaluation as part of the master boards recognition.

BOARD MEMBER ITEMS:
Jeff Chappell wanted to express thanks to Mr. Malmrose for the job he has done this year. He wanted to recommend that the board support his proposal. He also felt that the elementary did a good job with their field trips. There were concerns expressed about the summer girls basketball program. It was discussed that someone was soliciting funds for contributions to girls basketball, but it's an outside girls basketball club and has nothing to do with the school or school district so is outside of the District's control.

Curtis Whipple expressed concern that there was nothing on the budget list for kindergarten in Hanksville. Burke Torgerson requested that they provide a proposal but hasn't received it yet. It was decided that since the issue was related to personnel we would table it until executive session.

April Torgerson expressed her concern that kids under fourth grade were being required to do assignments on the Ipad. She likes the technology and thinks it's appropriate at some level, but not the younger levels. Burke Torgerson welcomed the input.

Cory Anderson added his thoughts on the comments from teachers on the survey and his concerns about some of them. Cory Anderson brought up the charter school issue that seems to keep raising itself in different circles. Particularly that the charter schools advertise extensively and are cutting into our funding. He wants to bring positive attention to the district to try and reduce the potential impact of charter schools. We talked about doing some motivation for opening institute for teachers and the district as a whole. He also agreed with the statement April Torgerson made earlier about making the head teacher/assistant principal position at the middle school open to a larger group.

April Torgerson motioned to adjourn into executive session to discuss personnel. Cory Anderson seconded. A roll call vote was taken as follows:
April Torgerson - Aye
Cory Anderson - Aye
Jeff Chappell - Aye
Curtis Whipple - Aye
Joni Taylor ? Aye

Joni Taylor called the meeting back into open session at 12:05 am.

Discussed budgets again briefly.

Cory Anderson made a motion to adjourn. Curtis Whipple seconded. All in favor.

Meeting adjourned at 12:20 a.m.