OFFICIAL
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE
MOUNTAIN HOME BOARD OF EDUCATION
The
following members of the Board were present for the meeting:
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Nelson-Wilks-Herron
Principal Leah Cotter recognized students who lead in the pledge of allegiance
to our flag. The Nelson-Wilks-Herron
students are Alexis Kincade, Will Sitkowski, Asa Smith, Amy Webb, Chris
Wehmeyer and David Wehmeyer.
Mr.
Pendergrass made a motion, seconded by Mr. Wehmeyer, to approve the agenda as
printed and approve the minutes of the regular meeting of August 21, 2008.
The motion was unanimously approved.
POSITIVE NOTES AND RECOGNITIONS
Mr.
Byrd reported
Mrs.
Pitts expressed congratulations to
Mr.
Wehmeyer commented the first mentoring sessions for the 2008-2009 school year took place on September 10. For the first time since the program began,
all 56 Advisory Groups have connected with Community Mentors. Mentors will meet each month with their
advisory groups on the first Wednesday to help students discover more
academy-specific career pathways. Thanks
to Bernadette Godwin, Mollie Morgan and Jodi Strother for helping to connect
those community leaders with our high school student advisory classes.
Mr.
Webb said Ms. Nora Regan’s School to Work Program is being recognized for the
excellent preparation of our students to the workplace. A representative from AETN, the educational
television station, visited Ms. Regan’s classroom and was very impressed with
the organization, support and performances of the program. The representative is currently filming
programs that will be presented on AETN concerning student’s transition to the
work environment. Thanks to Ms. Regan,
Susan Bergman, Judy McNabb and Susan Giovanini for the excellent job they do
with these students.
Mr.
Pendergrass commented counselors from the MHSD and several surrounding school
districts met for an all day in-service training on Building Your School Counseling Program: Tools for Your Toolkit. Counselors were instructed on cross-walking
activities to align the school counseling program with the national and state
model. Each participant conducted an
audit of their own school program and developed an action plan to implement for
their present counseling program.
Mr.
Nelson remarked the Bomber Smash was a smashing success raising $925.00 for the
Mountain Home Athletic Club. A special
thanks to Toni Fisher and Deanna Garretson who were instrumental in running the
tournament. Also, the Mountain Home
Class of 1958 held their class reunion the last weekend of August. After enjoying a tour of
INTRODUCTION OF NEW PERSONNEL
Mr.
Calaway introduced new certified employees,
REPORTS
Financial
Reports
Ms.
Mr. Webb asked about the balance in the West Road
Elementary fund. Ms. Thomas explained
these expenditures were to pay the architect fees that were due before payments
had been received.
Ms. Thomas went over the page on statement of
revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance for the month ended August
31, 2008. Current revenues and incoming
transfers are the teacher salary fund $748,164.33, operating fund $1,772,039.56,
building fund $822,649.04, Federal Grants Funds $28,641.63, and Food Service
Fund $64,901.32 for total current revenues and incoming transfers of $3,436,395.88. Expenditures and outgoing transfers in the
current column are teacher salary fund $748,164.33, operating fund $1,802,564.76,
Building Fund $59,700.00, Capital Outlay Fund $142,982.67, Federal Grants Funds
$86,958.93 and Food Service Fund $12,571.90 for total current expenditures and
outgoing transfers of $2,852,942.59. She
noted the next page shows the statement of changes in the activity funds as of
August 31, 2008 and said business has picked up after the summer months. She noted all MH scholarship funds activity
now goes through the MH Education Foundation.
Mr. Webb asked about the decreases at High
School. Ms. Thomas said this was the
month we shifted the activity balance from drill and cheer over to the athletic
balance.
Mr. Byrd pointed out the school and department
reports and enrollment page printed in the board book. Mr. Webb asked about the kindergarten report
and the deadline to have physicals and required immunizations and not allowing
students to attend who have not met the requirements for school
attendance. Dr. Gigliotti said currently
we have 31 students who have not met all the documentation requirements. She stated it is state law that parents must
have these documents in. Nurse
Mr. Webb asked about the curriculum EETT grant
project. Mr. Calaway said no report has
been received just yet and there were three spread sheets of schools who had
applied. We are hopeful but will have to
wait and see.
Mr. Webb asked about the impact of providing lunches
to the alternative school. Dr. Scriber
said we do recoup this money through a food service contract with them.
Mr. Webb asked if it was known when test scores
would be released for the students to take home. Mr. Calaway said we like to send all test
score results out at the same time. We
have been waiting on the new biology test cut scores and we have now received
those.
Building Projects Updates
Dr.
Scriber gave the Board members a building project update stating the design and
development phase for the new elementary school, Kindergarten and Junior High
projects are in the final stages and are ready to be given to the construction
manager. He said everything is still
going as planned. We are moving towards
the ground breaking in early December.
Mr.
Webb asked about the clay issue and any other options we might have. Dr. Scriber said he hadn’t heard any more
other than part of the expansive clay will be dug out at certain points under
the building and pillars put in place to help support the building. These will serve as piers on which the new
building will sit. Instead of doing
concert, the gravel will be much less expense for us. We have been told this will solve our problem.
BOARD ACTION ITEMS
Children’s
Internet Protection Act Compliance (CIPA) -
Ms.
Martin stated the MHSD must have Internet filtering in place to address
concerns about access to offensive content over the internet on school
computers. CIPA imposes certain types of
requirements on any school that receives funding from the E-Rate program. These requirements include having Internet
filtering in place and having an Internet Safety Policy in place. A public meeting must be held each year
concerning CIPA compliance. MHSD
receives discounts, commonly referred to as “e-rate” on telecommunication
services and our Internet service provider, the State of Arkansas Department of
Information Systems, receives discounts on Internet access services on our
behalf through the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service
Administrative Company.
USAC
(Universal Service Administrative Company) is a private not for profit corporation
that is responsible for providing every state and territory in the
CIPA
was signed into law on December 21, 2000.
Under CIPA no school or library may receive USF discounts unless it
certifies that it is enforcing a policy of Internet safety that includes the
use of filtering or blocking technology.
This Internet Safety Policy must protect against access, through
computers with Internet access, to visual depictions that are obscene, child
pornography, or (in the case of use by minors) harmful to minors.
Ms.
Martin reported MHSD does have a technology protection measure in place. It is provided to us free of charge by the
State of Arkansas Department of Information Systems. This measure is content filtering provided by
8e6 Technologies, Inc. Classroom
teachers are also taught to include the monitoring of students’ online
activities as part of their classroom management practices.
Ms.
Martin said our Internet Safety Policy must address the following issues: (a)
access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web;
(b) safety and security of minors when using electric mail, chat rooms, and
other forms of direct electronic communications; (c) unauthorized access,
including so-called “hacking” and other unlawful activities by minors on line;
(d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information
regarding minors; and (e) measures designed to restrict minors’ access to
materials harmful to minors. Ms. Martin
said items (a-e) are included in the student handbook as part of the District’s
Computer and Network Acceptable Use Policy and are given to employees as a separate
policy document. Item (d) is also
included in the employee handbook. These
items were board approved at the April 2008 meeting as part of the district
technology plan.
Public
notice must be given and a hearing held.
Ms. Martin said to satisfy these requirements an ad ran four times in
the Baxter Bulletin and this meeting is the public meeting. She asked the audience for any
comments/questions. There was none.
Ms.
Martin recommended the Board approve the report on CIPA Compliance by the
Motion on Children’s Internet Protection Act
Compliance
Mr.
Webb made a motion, seconded by Mr. Pendergrass, to accept the CIPA compliance
report as presented by Ms. Martin
Mr.
Pendergrass asked if teachers were monitoring student activity on the
computers. Ms. Martin said yes each
teacher should be monitoring their students’ activity on the computers. Mr.
Pendergrass inquired if any sort of training was given to the teachers to help
them retrieve sites students had visited.
Ms. Martin answered no we do not but the technology department has a
fire wall which allows us to see where everyone has gone. She said we have the means to track use on each
individual computer. Mr. Webb asked if
the checking was done on any particular frequency basis. Ms. Martin said this is looked at
occasionally but really researched when an administrator asks for this
information.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
ACSIP (
Mrs.
Cook said each year each school must present an ACSIP plan to the State
Department of Education. Before we can
submit these plans, the local school board must approve the ACSIP plans. She explained the ACSIP plans are used to
apply for our federal funds and also used for carrying out activities we use to
increase student achievement, provide professional development, and provide for
parental involvement activities. Mrs.
Cook stated while it is not used as an application, we account for the state
special use funds - NSLA, professional development, ALE and ELL. After Board approval, these plans will be submitted
to the state for their review. We receive
guidelines on what must be in the plans and how it must be in there. We go through these guidelines to make sure
we are doing exactly what they ask us to do.
She explained the first page in each plan is an outline of expenditures
within the individual building. The
plans must be approved by the Board of Education before they can be submitted
to the Arkansas Department of Education.
Mrs. Cook recommended the Board approve the 2008-2009 ACSIP for the
Mr.
Webb commented about the numerous references for travel to conferences,
workshops, training, are we going to be able to meet the cost for these
expenditures. Mrs. Cook explained these
are covered by Title I, Title IIA or building professional development funds.
Mr.
Nelson complemented Mrs. Cook saying this is the third ACSIP he has read and
this is the best one yet. Mrs. Cook said
she was very proud of the ACSIP teams and the excellent job that they have done
this year; they are truly beginning to feel ownership of these plans and are
very dedicated to doing what they need to do.
Mr.
Webb pointed out all the buildings had made reference to goals for wellness
which had to do with making healthy foods available; what are we doing from a
vending standpoint. Mrs. Cook said yes there
are plans but she did not know specifics for all the buildings.
Dr.
Scriber commented there are only certain times students can access the vending
machines. Mr. Nelson said the ACSIP
plans report a goal to decrease ˝ % in our Body Mass Index; he asked what our
current rate is. Mrs. Cook said last
year the district had 37.2% for males and 34.7% for females who are considered over
weight and at risk of being over weight according to their BMI. The ˝
% decrease is a recommendation from the state that each school write into their
ASCIP plan as a goal Mr. Wehmeyer
commented he did not feel the school really could have much control over the
BMI of our students. Mrs. Pitts said it
is more about increasing student awareness.
Mr. Nelson asked if a change had been made on how BMI is computed. Mrs. Cook said not that she was aware
of. The ASCIP plans could be sent in
without this statement but they would send them back to us and no funding would
be received. Mr. Nelson said if we do
not meet our ˝ %, do we know what might happen.
Mrs. Cook said this part had never been addressed; they have just said
we would like for you to try so we have placed in the plans that we will try to
do this.
Motion on ACSIP Plans
Mr.
Pendergrass made a motion, seconded by Mr. Nelson, to approve the ACSIP plans
as presented.
Mr.
Webb asked about the fitness room being available to students and staff after
school. Mrs. Wood said this was the auxiliary
room inside the weight room.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
Disclosures of Related Party Transactions –
Ms.
Thomas explained Arkansas ACT 1599 required school districts to make known to the
public any potential transactions with related parties. Last year we filed for two years on most of
our employees, so the list tonight is either new vendors or we have new
employees that would require the disclosure to the public.
Ms.
Thomas recommended the Board approve resolutions to do business with the
following businesses: Computer
Automation, Ken Martin School Supply, Crawford Electric, Walgreens, Sysco
Foods, Ramada Inn, Strider Consulting, Inc., Arvest Bank, and
Mr.
Webb asked what services we would need from Ken Martin School Supply. Ms. Thomas said we purchase a large amount of
school supplies from them. Mr. Wehmeyer
asked about the Ramada Inn. Ms. Thomas
said they have meeting rooms and a pool we might rent for certain
activities.
Motion on Disclosures of Related Party Transactions
Mrs.
Pitts made a motion, seconded by Mr. Webb, to approve the resolutions to do
business with the companies listed by Ms. Thomas.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
403 (b) Administrator – Ann Thomas
Ms
Thomas reported the District allows employees to payroll deduct certain items
on a pre-tax basis, which comes under Internal Revenue code 403 (b). The IRS has published new regulations that
place some responsibility on school districts with respect to certain contracts
that individual employees may have which they get to funnel through pre-tax
dollars. As a school we have just
handled payroll deductions and the contract is owned by the employee and they
do their own business with the insurance company. In the past the district did not have to be
involved but since these new regulations are in place, come January 1, 2009,
the District will now have to monitor all of this activity. Because of the additional responsibilities
required under these new rules, the District would be liable for actively
handling individually owned contracts.
The engagement of a reputable firm with experience in that area will
help shift that risk to appropriately trained professionals. Most of the larger school districts in the
state and many of the smaller ones are electing to engage plan administrators
for this purpose. Several such
administrators have been contacted and their services and pricing strategies
have been reviewed for capabilities, program compatibility with our payroll
program, and freedom of options for the employees. Ms. Thomas reported based on her research the
Pro Benefits Group best suits our district.
In addition to the aforementioned, Pro Benefits Group will meet annually
with our staff at the building levels, as school schedules permit. Ms. Thomas had a list of forty different
schools in
Ms.
Thomas asked the Board to resolve to establish a Section 457(b) Deferred
Compensation/403(b) Plan for the benefit of our employees through Pro Benefits
Group, Inc. She added Regions Bank IRC
Section 457 Custodial Trust will be trustee for the plan as provided by Pro
Benefits Group, Inc. for our District.
Pro Benefits Group and Great American Plan Administrators will provide
administration services for both 457 and 403(b) plans at no current cost to the
District.
Ms.
Thomas informed the Board if they had specific questions, representative Melody
Morgan was available to speak to these.
Motion on 403 (b) Administrator
Mrs.
Pitts made a motion, seconded by Mr. Nelson, the Board resolve to establish a
Section 457(b) Deferred Compensation/403(b) Plan for the benefit of our
employees through Pro Benefits Group, Inc.
The
motion was unanimously approved
Approval of 2008 – 2009 Budget – Ann Thomas
Ms
Thomas commented budgets for all operating funds except federal and activity
funds were presented at a special meeting of the Board on September 11,
2008. Federal funds have a fiscal year
which ends September 30, so those budgets will be presented later in the
year. District activity funds do not
come under the budgetary requirements of the Board. Ms. Thomas said budgets for the operating funds
should be addressed in a timely manner to enable filing with the State by its
deadline of September 30, 2008.
Ms.
Thomas recommended the Board approve the 2008 – 2009 teacher salary, operating
funds, building funds, capital outlay fund and debt service fund budgets as
presented at the special meeting on September 11, 2008.
Mr.
Pendergrass asked about NSLA fund transfers.
Ms. Thomas said about half of the money would go into Alternative
Education and the remaining amount was transferred into the NSLA teacher salary
fund.
Mr.
Nelson questioned the ending balance asking is this where we need to be with
our ending balance.
Ms. Thomas said this would be a bit higher than what we started with
last year. She said of course she would
like to see a larger ending balance. We
are trying to keep it as level from year to year as we can.
Mr.
Webb said he had spoken with Ms. Thomas earlier in the week and felt there were
still some opportunities to save money in the budget by not spending everything
that has been asked for.
Dr.
Scriber commented we still have the desire to continue to place money in the
building fund for future building projects.
The budget is really tight this year because of the anticipated revenue
problem. Our approach this year is it is
better to be conservative on the front end; if we do get a wind-fall, then the
budget can be amended at a later date.
Mr.
Van Dolah asked about the money in the building fund and what it could be used
for. Dr. Scriber explained it depends on
where the money comes from and the fund that it is in. For example the Bond Issue money is
designated for certain projects. Ms.
Thomas said we have dedicated just a little over half a million dollars in our
general building fund which can be used for whatever building project we might
need it for. This is designated for
building but not for any particular project.
Mr.
Pendergrass asked about the high school operating fund travel for FIRST and the
travel budget of $10,000 this year when zero was spent there last year. Ms. Thomas explained it was on a different
line last year.
Mr.
Pendergrass asked if we still had the drafting class. Mrs. Brown explained about the construction
program that was approved last year and drafting would be incorporated into
these classes. Ms. Thomas said she could
make the change to move the funds from drafting to the construction class
budget.
Motion on 2008 – 2009 Budget
Mr.
Pendergrass made a motion, seconded by Mr. Webb, to approve the 2008 – 2009
Budget as presented and recommended by Ms. Thomas.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
Mr.
Byrd said thank you to Ms. Thomas and the staff for all of their hard
work. We greatly appreciate the job that
all of you do. Mr. Webb added Ms. Thomas
is very knowledgeable of the expenditures in the district as well as the
revenues and we do appreciate her and the work that she does.
Board Member Appointed to Meet on Building Projects –
Bob Byrd
Mr.
Byrd addressed the topic of appointment of a Board representative for the
purpose of meeting with the Architect and Construction Manager with regard to
our building programs. As we move into
projects beyond the new elementary school program, it is necessary to appoint a
board Member to be a representative at meetings with the Architect,
Construction Manager and Financial Advisor.
Mr. Byrd said many times there are requests from the Architect to meet
with school personnel, administrators, teachers, etc. There is a need for a board member to be
involved in these meetings. Board
Member,
Motion on Board Member Appointed to Meet on Building
Projects
Mr.
Pendergrass made a motion, seconded by Mr. Wehmeyer, Mr. Nelson continue to be
the Board representative for the other building projects.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
Dr.
Scriber commented we have some added expertise with new board member Doug Van
Dolah and we of course will use his expertise from time to time.
Superintendent’s Update and Board Discussion
Dr.
Scriber said he had received a comparison on health insurance premiums of
Dr.
Scriber said many people have tried to justify why the discrepancies but really
have not heard nothing that has any validity to it. The percentages in all of the categories are
all very lopsided.
This
issue was brought up last year and for the most part was ignored. The legislative session is coming up in
January and Dr. Scriber said the superintendents association and the teacher
association and professional organizations will be encouraged to try to look at
things the state can do to correct this.
When a school employee retires, the retiree has to pay the entire
premium which for employee and spouse is $977.61. Dr. Scriber said he believed there are some
things in this area the state could do for school employees that they are not
doing. He said we are going to try our
best to get some action done on this matter.
To this point this has been relatively ignored by our state politicians.
Mr.
Webb asked about Higher Education employees.
They are on the state employees side and
therefore receive more help with their premiums.
Mrs.
Pitts said she was very proud to have been a part of the MHSD, first as a
student, then as an alumnus and now as a school board member. Through the whole experience we have had such
incredible teachers and administrators and this community is very, very lucky
to have the school district that it has.
Mrs. Pitts said we could never forget that we are doing our jobs when
the first question asked is will this be good for our students, and the second
question being is this financially sound.
Right now our District is very financially sound. She commented the District will soon be
receiving approximately 34 million dollars and it is critical that this money
goes right back into our community. We
are trustees of this money and it is imperative the Board makes sure the bids
are such that money can stay locally as much as possible so that all of the
money does not go out of our community.
A break was taken at 7:00 p.m.
Executive
Session Results – 7:35 p.m.
Recommendation on Certified Staff
Dr.
Scriber recommended the Board approve the certified staff sheet as
printed.
Motion on Certified Staff
Mr. Webb
made a motion, seconded by Mrs. Pitts, to accept the Superintendent’s
recommendation to approve the certified staff as listed on the staff sheet.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
Recommendation on Classified Staff
Dr.
Scriber recommended the Board approve the classified staff as listed on the
staff sheet.
Motion on Classified Staff
Mr. Wehmeyer
made a motion, seconded by Mr. Pendergrass, to accept the Superintendent’s
recommendation to approve the classified staff as listed on the staff sheet.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Webb made a motion, seconded by Mr. Wehmeyer, to
adjourn the meeting.
The
motion was unanimously approved.
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