March 9, 2016 School Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT HELD AT THE DISTRICT OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 9, 2016 AT 4:00 PM.

Those Present:

Cory Anderson – President
Curtis Whipple – Vice President
Joni Taylor – Member
April Torgerson – Member
Jeffery Chappell – Member
Burke Torgerson – Superintendent
Heather Okerlund – Business Administrator

Conducting:  Cory Anderson

ADMINISTRATION

Cory Anderson called the meeting to order.  He announced we would begin with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a reverence from Jeffery Chappell.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

Jeffery Chappell moved to accept the minutes for the three board meetings on the February 8th.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor. 

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Heather Okerlund answered questions about accounts payable.

Curtis Whipple motioned to approve the accounts payable.  Jeffery Chappell seconded.  All in favor.

Heather Okerlund answered questions about the financial reports.  We did receive the $11,000 this month that we were planning on since the legislature funded the board levy guarantee that wasn’t allocated out last year.

CITIZEN COMMENTS

None

INFORMATION ITEMS

All day kindergarten:  Cherie Blackburn reported on a survey that Loa Elementary sent to parents of students in kindergarten this school year and parents of students with children coming into kindergarten this year.  28 kindergarten surveys were turned in, 25 parents said they enjoyed all day kindergarten, 2 did not, 1 said yes and no.  All 28 said that all day kindergarten helped their children academically.  The majority of parents felt it was important to spend district resources on early childhood education.  The preschool surveys were sent home to parents with kids entering kindergarten this year.  31 surveys were returned, 25 wanted all day kindergarten and 6 wanted half day, the majority thought it was important to spend district resources on early childhood education.  Cherie Blackburn said that her recommendation is to keep kindergarten as it is this year - as two full day classes with half-day attendance being optional (from 8:05-11:05). Discussed what options/flexibility parents have regarding half-day kindergarten.  Also discussed doing preschool four half days per week as was brought up during the last board meeting, but that’s probably not an option right now due to the additional cost.  Discussed the possibilities of having a mid-day bus but that is very unlikely.

Superintendents report:  Safety and active shooter scenario follow-up discussion.  Superintendent Torgerson said that risk management said there was quite a process to do a drill (after school hours, volunteers, informed consent, etc).  The board discussed different options for the schools and the community professionals.  Jeffery Chappell mentioned that they were going to do something through the clinic sometime in the fall.  Superintendent Torgerson said that would be a good time frame and something that is needed at the schools.  Regional board meeting.  Superintendent Torgerson said he needs a count for USBA for the meeting March 29th.  Snow day policy follow-up.  Superintendent Torgerson said that our policy is that we do have to build exigency days into the calendar and we do that through professional development days.  Cameras on buses follow-up.  Superintendent Torgerson said we can allow people to request copies of the camera footage.  But, due to FERPA laws all faces other than the face of the child of the parents requesting the film have to be blotted out.  There are some possible legal ramifications to consider and involve the edited film becoming an educational record of the student.  Scholarship application example.  Superintendent Torgerson provided a scholarship application example to the board.  NRCS grant for flooding mitigation.  Casey Savage from NRCS told Superintendent Torgerson that we are on the waiting list and it’s looking very favorable that we will be funded to help with our flooding problem on the track. Superintendent Torgerson said the only downside is it might take some more time to get the work done since we have to wait for funding, but it’s too early to know.  We also don’t know how much they are willing to fund the project at this point.  Mary Bray said that Jeff Albrecht is coming over to do the surveying tomorrow.

Concurrent enrollment report, Candence Peterson & Paige Cook:  Candence Peterson described the concurrent enrollment program.  We currently have 51 students taking concurrent enrollment classes and we offer 21 different classes including 3 on campus classes taught by our teachers.  Candence Peterson and Paige Cook provided information about the program and responded to questions.  April Torgerson wanted to express kudos that all of our senior students were accepted into college this year.  Candence Peterson said they were working very hard on getting financial aid for everyone that qualifies also.

Region 20 update, Mary Bray:  Mary Bray provided updates from the last Region 20 meeting she attended.  The region basketball games brought in about $7,000 for Region 20 and the plan is to hold them in Richfield next year.  We are getting a lot of pressure to start a golf team since we are the only district in our region that doesn’t have one.  Any changes to district realignment are on hold until they finalize the procedures, but it’s looking like there is pushback from a number of the districts due to travel.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Superintendent search decisions:  Superintendent Torgerson provided several superintendent duties & responsibilities examples to see if we wanted to make any changes to our current policy.  Discussed possibly putting those duties and responsibilities into the contract instead of policy so they were easier to update.  April Torgerson made a motion to approve the citizen search committee letter, the confidentiality agreement, and the superintendent evaluation criteria - modified.  Joni Taylor seconded.  All in favor.

Approve 2016-2017 school calendar:  Superintendent Torgerson described the changes to the new calendar.  There are more professional development days, an extra day for Easter vacation, and an extra day for Christmas break.  Superintendent Torgerson clarified that the professional development days aren’t really new, just full days instead of extra hours here and there that teachers have been putting in.  April Torgerson made a motion to approve the calendar.  Jeffery Chappell seconded.  Superintendent Torgerson pointed out that this time the end of quarter days are not all equal but are timed for the high school to coincide with their EdNet courses.  All in favor.

Stipends and pay policy for teachers and non-certified pay toward getting or changing their degree to become highly qualified (policy DFD):  Superintendent Torgerson read our current DFD policy.  Right now our policy only allows us to compensate licensed educators and it has been discussed to possibly open that up to paraprofessionals that are interested in becoming licensed.  The board and administrators discussed possible options and what would work best for our district.  Cory Anderson said he would be in favor of this being discussed with the superintendent and the administrators and being brought back to the board at the next meeting.  Joni Taylor made a motion to table changes to policy DFD for further clarification.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.

Third reading:  DMC – Cell phone reimbursement policy, EAA – Instructional Goals, ECA – Curriculum Required Instruction, & ECBB – Curriculum Elective Instruction Drivers Ed:  Curtis Whipple made a motion to approve the third reading of DMC – Cell phone reimbursement policy, EAA – Instructional Goals, ECA – Curriculum Required Instruction, & ECBB – Curriculum Elective Instruction Drivers Ed.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.

Second reading:  DHE – Employee Leave and Pay Policies:  Curtis Whipple made a motion to approve the second reading of policy DHE – Employee Leave and Pay Policies.  Joni Taylor seconded.  All in favor.

First reading policies:  DG – Educator Evaluation, DEB – Employment Objectives, ECC – Reading achievement, ECG – Curriculum, American Heritage, ECH – Curriculum, Human Sexuality:  Discussed the various changes and updates to the policies.  Most of the changes are due to state code changes.  The change to policy DEB – Employment Objectives are because the original policy that was created in 2008 was somehow inadvertently revised in 2013 to drop the early retirement incentive without board action.  Cory Anderson made a motion to waive the first and second reading of policy DEB – Employment Objectives and move to the third reading and approve.  Curtis Whipple seconded.  All in favor.  Curtis Whipple made a motion to approve policy ECG – Curriculum, American Heritage and skip the first and second reading.  Seconded by Joni Taylor.  All in favor.   Jeffery Chappell made a motion to approve the first reading of policy ECH – Curriculum, Human Sexuality.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.  Curtis Whipple made a motion to approve the first reading of policy DG – Educator Evaluation and ECC – Reading achievement.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.

Middle school retention policy revision:  Joni Taylor made a motion to approve the first reading of the Wayne Middle School retention policy.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.

New employees:  April Torgerson made a motion to approve Jordan Crane, Trent Larsen, Cathy Brian (pending background check), Kerry Anderson, Scott Ellett, and Derek Woolsey as assistant track coaches, Jared Jackson (pending completion of bus driver training) for the Hanksville bus run, Rachel Misiewicz as a full time sub/trust lands aide at WHS, and Carolyn Griffiths (pending background check) as a school lunch substitute.  Curtis Whipple seconded.  All in favor.

Approve letters of resignation and retirement:  April Torgerson read a letter from Matt Syme resigning as a teacher.  Curtis Whipple read a letter from Taylor Malmrose resigning as a teacher.  Joni Taylor read a letter of retirement from Flora Hallows as a teacher.  Curtis Whipple made a motion to accept the resignation of Taylor Malmrose and the retirement of Flora Hallows.  April Togerson seconded.  All in favor.  April Torgerson made a motion to approve the letter of resignation from Matt Syme pending his board approval from North Sanpete School District.  Curtis Whipple seconded.  All in favor.

Approve teacher for career status:  Cherie Blackburn is recommending Ashlee Jackson for career educator status.  Joni Taylor motioned to approve Ashlee Jackson for career educator status.  Curtis Whipple seconded.  All in favor.

BOARD MEMBER ITEMS

Jeffery Chappell said that he is now on the board for The Entrada Institute and has been discussing ideas with them and they are very interested in working more with the youth in music and giving students the opportunity to perform.  They may also be able to provide ‘scholarships’ to students for private lessons that they may not be able to afford on their own.  He said it’s looking like it could provide a lot of opportunities, especially considering our current struggles with music.

April Torgerson reported that she went to the WMS community council and it was a good meeting.

Joni Taylor reported that said she went to the WHS community council and they had great parents who were very willing to express ideas and thoughts.

Curtis Whipple made a motion to go into closed session to discuss the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual at 6:10 pm.  April Torgerson seconded.  All in favor.

Jeffery Chappell – Aye
April Torgerson – Aye
Cory Anderson – Aye
Curtis Whipple – Aye
Joni Taylor – Aye

Cory Anderson declared us back into open meeting at 9:20 pm.

April Torgerson made a motion to adjourn.  Joni Taylor seconded.  All in favor.  Meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.