October 13, 2011
The October regular meeting of the Elementary and High School District No. 1 Board of Trustees was held on October 13, 2011 in the Choteau High School Library. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Vice-Chairman Mark Salmond.
Members Present: Mark Salmond, Brodie Gollehon, Kirk Moore, Ron Daley, Jerry Stott, and Mark Henderson (arrived late at 7:50 p.m.).
Members Absent: Jonathan Stoltz.
Supt. St. John, Elementary Principal Gameon, High School Principal Achenbach, and Clerk Davis were present throughout the meeting.
A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Brodie Gollehon and unanimously carried (1 absent) to approve the elementary minutes for the September 8, 2011 regular meeting as written.
A motion was made by Brodie Gollehon, seconded by Ron Daley and unanimously carried (2 absent) to approve the high school minutes for the September 8, 2011 regular meeting as written.
Visitors: Choteau Acantha Editor Melody Martinsen; Teacher Rachel Christensen; and District Patrons Cliff Heuscher, Sally Heuscher, Jenny Lee, and Shelby Giles.
A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Brodie Gollehon and unanimously carried (1 absent) to approve the elementary claims clearing warrants #17711-#17836 and payroll clearing warrants #22793-#22906 for payment. A vendor list for claims is attached to the minutes of this meeting.
A motion was made by Brodie Gollehon, seconded by Ron Daley and unanimously carried (2 absent) to approve the high school claims clearing warrants #17711-#17836 and payroll clearing warrants #22793-#22906 for payment. A vendor list for claims is attached to the minutes of this meeting.
Correspondence:
A) Supt. St. John read a communication to the Board from Diane Baker, Vice-President and CFO for All About Pianos, thanking the District for its recent purchase of the Kiawa Grand Piano from them; noting that this purchase will be a long time investment in the music program for the school and community.
B) Supt. St. John distributed to the Board a communication from Steve Meloy, the MTSBA Grassroots Advocacy Specialist, regarding the start of a Class B Caucus and those interested will meet at the upcoming Conference of Education Leadership in Great Falls.
C) Supt. St. John shared a communication with the Board from Carole Jones of Conrad, who is a candidate as a MTSBA Director for our Region 11, and asking the District for their support and vote at the upcoming Conference of Education Leadership in Great Falls.
PRINCIPALS’ REPORTS High School Principal Nate Achenbach reported to the Board on the following matters:
A) High School Principal Achenbach provided the Board with data regarding the CRT test scores to review, noting that the Choteau Junior High and High Schools once again made AYP. High School Principal Achenbach reminded the Board that the benchmarks were suppose to increase from 68 to 85, but were adjusted downward so the District continues to show improvement with increased test scores and made AYP.
B) High School Principal Achenbach provided the Board with data gathered by Life Tracks through the exit surveys of students that have graduated. This data indicated that students found Math to be the hardest course in college and they didn’t feel adequately prepared for college math courses, but High School Principal Achenbach noted that this particular point is universal and not just noted by Choteau graduates.
C) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that participation at the October 4th Parent-Teacher Conferences was very light; noting that many of the area schools have discontinued such conferences, but he would like to continue to do so and is working with the staff to generate ideas to increase attendance at these conferences as they can be a very valuable resource for parents and teachers.
D) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that October 3rd was the fall count date and the high school enrollment stood at 160 on that date, compared to 155 last year.
Chairman Mark Henderson arrived late at 7:50 p.m.
E) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that Homecoming was a success once again this year, noting that the District ran a 2:00 release class schedule on the Monday following Homecoming so that the students could use the remainder of the school day to give back to the community and clean the decorated windows, as well as collect litter and clean up throughout the town. High School Principal Achenbach noted that this was well received and will be done again but with a 2:30 release schedule as that will provide more than enough time to get all of the clean up done. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that he had several Freshmen question why Homecoming isn’t the entire week like when their parents were in school. High School Principal Achenbach reminded the Board that this new format was implemented several years ago so that an entire week of school is not sacrificed to Homecoming but only Friday, noting that several area schools also have gone to this format and the Student Council does like it and they determine the theme and what activities the students will participate in on Friday.
F) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that he had been questioned regarding the scheduling of sport events over the Teacher’s Convention break. High School Principal Achenbach noted that MHSA sets the game schedule and it can only be changed if both schools agree to play a scheduled game on a different date. High School Principal Achenbach noted that this has been the case for the past several years to accommodate an athlete that also was selected as an All State Band participant, but this year there were no such requests for changing game dates.
G) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that Choteau will host the 1B District Volleyball Tournament the weekend of October 28th and 29th, noting that it will only be a two day tournament since there are only six teams in the District now. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board the administration has determined to release students at noon on Friday, October 28th since it is so difficult to conduct classes while hosting a tournament and teachers will use the time from noon to 2:30 as an early out in-service day.
H) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that the Divisional Volleyball Tournament schedule for November 3rd-5th had to be moved from Wolf Point to Glasgow since there would be a lack of lodging for tournament attendees due to the oil drilling boom taking place at this time around Wolf Point.
I) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that Choteau plans to host its first Speech & Debate meet in the past eight years on Saturday, December 3rd. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that there are currently 16 students expressing an interest and planning on participating in the Speech, Debate, and Drama program which is a big increase in participants over the past several years. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that Ms. Annie Fort is volunteering her time to help Advisor Alison Kreiss at this time, but the Board will be asked to approve Ms. Fort as the Assistant Speech and Debate advisor at the regular November Board Meeting. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that a stipend for an assistant is in the budget and in the past an assistant was employed if there were 15 or more participants.
J) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that Cali Salmond could not be present at the meeting to be welcomed by the Board as planned, since her husband was involved in an accident today on a 4 wheeler while herding cattle.
Elementary Principal Chuck Gameon reported to the Board on the following matters:
A) Elementary Principal Gameon provided the Board with data regarding the CRT test scores to review, noting that the Choteau Elementary School once again made AYP. Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that there really is no accountability
on the part of the students to do their best when taking the CRT tests and not purposely “bomb” the test, so the administration has implemented incentives such as pizza or ice cream parties to motivate students to do their best while testing.
B) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that America Reads gets underway this coming Monday with 26 adult volunteer and reading buddies in line to participate.
C) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that the AIMSWEB benchmarking was done in September and for the first time there was no need to do any problem solving for the 1st and 2nd grades. Elementary Principal Gameon noted that problem solving and intervention is less at every grade level from previous years, which is a clear indication that the RTI model is working. Elementary Principal informed the Board that to be more inclusive the RTI model will now be called MTSOS for Multi Tiered System of Support.
D) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that as expected, the fall enrollment was down this year from 176 to 168.
E) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that he and five members of the RTI Leadership team will be presenting a sectional on RTI at the upcoming Montana Conference of Educational Leadership in Great Falls.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT A copy of the Superintendent’s Report provided to the Board by Supt. St. John is attached to the minutes of this meeting.
A) Supt. St. John informed the Board that he will be attending the Montana Conference of Educational Leadership to take in the Choteau Schools RTI presentation and also a presentation by CTA, the engineers for the cafeteria remodel project. Supt. St. John encouraged the Board to attend this conference, but all of the Trustees indicated that they would be unable to do so.
B) Supt. St. John reviewed his written report with the Board at this time, noting that the review of Section 55 on the accreditation standards is required by law and after this committee looks at the standards, how to assess performance will be addressed.
C) Supt. St. John informed the Board that the non-certified salary schedule will have to be revised again at the November Board Meeting as the Montana minimum wage will increase from $7.35 per hour to $7.65 per our effective January 1, 2012.
D) Supt. St. John informed the Board that Bill Durocher recently resigned as the “C” Boys Basketball Coach for the 2011-2012 school year and the administration has advertised this vacancy in house as well as locally through the Choteau Acantha. Supt. St. John noted that he would like the matter of assistant coaches/advisors for such sports as tennis looked into during the next negotiation session since there were 20 girls out for junior high tennis this fall.
OBSOLETE PROPERTY RESOLUTION Supt. St. John provided the Board with a list of surplus property as outlined below that is considered obsolete, abandoned, undesirable and unsuitable for school purposes that need to be disposed of.
(needs to be removed between June 4th and June 8th)
Supt. St. John would like the Board to pass a resolution that will allow the administration to accept sealed bids made on the listed surplus property as of November 14th, noting that combination bids will only be considered after individual bids are processed, and that any surplus property not removed through this bidding process will be disposed of in the most appropriate manner. Supt. St. John noted that the list of surplus property, along with the closing date for bids will be published in the Choteau Acantha for the correct amount of time in accordance with 20-6-604, MCA.
A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Brodie Gollehon and unanimously carried (1 absent) to pass a resolution to sell or dispose of personal property of the District as outlined above by calling for bids and authorizing the Superintendent to accept the high bid and to appropriately dispose of any remaining surplus property that is not bid on.
APPROVE ATTENDANCE AGREEMENTS A motion was made by Mark Salmond, seconded by Kirk Moore and unanimously carried (1 absent) to approve the following attendance agreements as designated.
Attendance Agreements: ELEMENTARY – Lauralee Seaman (sending district – tuition waived), Jessie Lesofski (sending district – tuition waived), and Kylene Richem (sending district – tuition waived).
ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF AND APPROVE DEPOSIT OF CHECKS A motion was made by Brodie Gollehon and unanimously carried (1 absent) to acknowledge receipt of and approve depositing the following checks in the appropriate funds.
1) 5th-6th Grade Football check #126 in the amount of $300.00 for a football helmets donation, to be used to restore the Elementary General Fund.
2) Big Sky Special Needs Cooperative check #8287 in a total amount of $17,138.39 with the $10,200.00 IDEA-B payment to be deposited in the Elementary Miscellaneous Federal Fund, the $4,222.65 Elementary RSBG match payment deposited in the Elementary Miscellaneous Federal Fund, and the $2,715.74 High School RSBG match payment deposited in the High School Miscellaneous Federal Fund.
STRATEGIC MAINTENANCE/FACILITY REPORT Supt. St. John informed the Board that Head of Maintenance Larry Sattler, Head Custodian Lyle Arps, and himself performed the biannual maintenance and safety walk-a-bout on September 12, 2011, noting that the purpose of this walk-a-bout is to tour the school facilities and grounds to review and identify maintenance and safety issues. Supt. St. John provided and reviewed with the Board the report generated from this walk-a-bout, a copy of which is attached to the minutes of this meeting.
Supt. St. John informed the Board that since he knows the one time only SB329 transfer into the flexibility funds is available, he wants to plan on replacing the remaining cedar shakes on the high school building as was done with the auditorium several years ago as long as the project comes in under $50,000, to replace the last old boiler in the elementary school west wing with individual classroom heaters as was done through the remainder of the elementary classrooms, and to renovate the cabinetry in two more elementary classrooms this coming summer. Supt. St. John noted that any other projects noted on this facility report will only be considered if there is end of the year unexpended facility funds available.
CONSOLIDATED APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL TITLE PROGRAMS Supt. St. John informed the Board that the Consolidated Application for all Federal Title Programs has been submitted and approved through the E-Grants program. Supt. St. John outlined the allocations and how they will be spent for the Board’s information.
The FY2012 Elementary Title I allocation is $75,565 and the FY2012 High School Title allocation is $23,723 for a total of $99,288, which is a decrease of $7,661 from last year. These funds will be used to pay the salaries and benefits of five Title I tutors. Supt. St. John noted that hours for these tutor positions have again been scaled back slightly and even with the carry over funds from FY2011, there will be a shortfall in Title I funds that will need to be covered by SRS funds or even possibly a General Fund subsidy.
The FY2012 Title II, Part A allocation of $23,373 for the elementary and high school, which is a decrease of $6,152 from last year, will continue to be used to reduce class size as initiated several years ago, rather than teacher and principal training and recruitment/retention purposes. The August 4, 2011 Final Budget Meeting minutes state that in the absence of ESEA Title II, Part A funds, Choteau Elementary Grade 2 would have 25 students which exceeds the accreditation standard of 20 for that grade level, so the 2011-12 ESEA Title II, A funds will be used to pay for .57 FTE teacher salary and benefits. (The remaining .43 FTE representing the cost that would have been needed to place an aide in that classroom to meet accreditation standards.)
Funding for Title II, Part D Educational Technology as well as Title IV, Part A Drug Free Schools and Title VI, Part A Innovative Education is no longer available to the District, with the General Funds absorbing the past costs of these programs.
The District has received notification that it will once again receive a FY2012 SRS or Small Rural Schools allocation of $18,344 for the elementary and $12,702 for the high school or a total of $31,046, which is a decrease of $1,395 from last year. The SRA allocation can be expended according to any of the above listed Title programs, but has a longer period than the 15 months the regular Title funds must be expended by. Supt. St. John reminded the Board that in the past these funds have been used to cover additional teacher professional development during the summer and any shortfalls in the other Title programs, but the administration held on to these funds last year to cover the professional development and other costs that have been covered by the Title I and IDEA-B ARRA funds for the past two years as these ARRA funds are no longer available. Supt. St. John noted that by doing this the District will always be prepared a year ahead for any cuts in these funds and can plan accordingly.
The FY2012 Carl Perkins Basic Grant allocation of $9,833, which is a decrease of $257 from last year will be used for an automatic garage door and outdoor storage for the vocational agriculture program and for professional training for both the vocational agriculture and family and consumer science programs. The District also receives state vocational funds each year which provide supplemental supplies for the vocational agriculture ($3,363), the family consumer science ($1,370), and the industrial arts ($1,479) programs.
The FY 2012 State Gifted and Talented Grant allocation of $1,727, which is an increase of $388 from last year, will be used to fund supplies and training for the accelerated and differentiated learning programs. The district must match these funds dollar for dollar.
The District belongs to the Big Sky Special Needs Cooperative so all of the District’s Federal IDEA-B funds for special education services are funneled directly to the Coop.
FOOD SERVICE FACILITY RENOVATION UPDATE Supt. St. John provided the Board with copies of CTA’s project meeting minutes and summaries regarding the cafeteria expansion and remodel project to review. Supt. St. John informed the Board that to revamp the project and add a loading zone for deliveries like discussed at the last meeting would add too much to the cost of the project which would take away from the interior remodel plans, so plans have been made to make a sidewalk ramp and all deliveries will be made on the sidewalk. This plan will ensure that no large delivery trucks are backing up onto the playground area so only the garbage truck will continue to have to back up into this area, but there is always two people on the truck and one gets out and watches and the garbage truck also has a camera to deter backing up mishaps.
CLERK/BUSINESS MANAGER’S REPORT Clerk Davis reported to the Board on the following matters:
A) Clerk Davis informed the Board that there were no investments made by the Teton County Treasurer on behalf of the Teton County Investment Committee due to a lack of cash flow.
B) Clerk Davis informed the Board that there were 30 girls out for volleyball and a full three game schedule was played so the “C” Volleyball stipend of $600, since a 3rd coach was not hired, was split between the head and assistant volleyball coaches at their direction.
SCHEDULE NEXT REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING Supt. St. John informed the Board that the next regular meeting should be scheduled for Thursday, November 10th which is the first day of the State Volleyball Tournament. Supt. St. John noted that Clerk Davis will be leaving Wednesday, November 2nd for the Divisional Volleyball Tournament in Glasgow and Wednesday, November 9th for the State Volleyball Tournament in Bozeman so the November Board Meeting date should be moved to Tuesday, November 8th or preferably Thursday, November 17th. The Board and administration discussed these dates and which would be best.
Chairman Mark Henderson announced that it was the consensus of the Board that the regular November Board Meeting be held on Thursday, November 17th at 7:30 p.m. in the High School Library.
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
ATTEST: ________________________ CLERK _________________________ CHAIRMAN