December 8, 2011

The December regular meeting of the Elementary and High School District No. 1 Board of Trustees was held on December 8, 2011 in the Choteau Elementary Music Room. The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chairman Mark Henderson.

Members Present: Mark Henderson, Mark Salmond, Brodie Gollehon, Ron Daley, Kirk Moore, Jerry Stott, and Jonathan Stoltz.

Members Absent: None.

Supt. St. John, Elementary Principal Gameon, High School Principal Achenbach, and Clerk Davis were present throughout the meeting.

A motion was made by Mark Salmond, seconded by Kirk Moore and unanimously carried to approve the elementary minutes for the November 17, 2011 regular and December 6, 2011 work session meetings as written.

A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Ron Daley and unanimously carried to approve the high school minutes for the November 17, 2011 regular and December 6, 2011 work session meetings as written.

Visitors: Choteau Acantha Editor Melody Martinsen; Teacher Sally Lee; and District Patrons Cliff Heuscher, Sally Heuscher, and Jenny Lee.

A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Brodie Gollehon and unanimously carried to approve the elementary claims clearing warrants #17949-#18016 and payroll clearing warrants #23034-#23164 for payment. A vendor list for claims is attached to the minutes of this meeting.

A motion was made by Brodie Gollehon, seconded by Kirk Moore and unanimously carried to approve the high school claims clearing warrants #17949-#18016 and payroll clearing warrants #23034-#23164 for payment. A vendor list for claims is attached to the minutes of this meeting.

The Board did ask about additional repair charges for the new Bluebird activity bus and Supt. St. John informed the Board that the Bluebird should be in pretty good working order now; and a portion of the radiator repair bill from Bouma Truck Sales was to purchase additional exhaust parts that will be needed in the future, since Bluebird is no longer making this bus and Bouma Truck Sales found these parts when they found the new radiator. Supt. St. John noted that Neil Bouma thinks that the purchase of this Bluebird activity bus was still a good deal even with the repairs that have been required and is not at all concerned with the fact that Bluebird no longer makes this particular bus. Supt. St. John also informed the Board that it has been determined that the District has no recourse regarding the paint job of the Bluebird bus, but he did proceed to send out a mass e-mail to schools throughout the state letting them know this company did not stand behind the bus they sold us.

Correspondence: None.

PRINCIPALS’ REPORTS High School Principal Nate Achenbach reported to the Board on the following matters:

A) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that there was an average attendance at the 7-12 Parent-Teacher Conferences held last night, with most of the teachers staying relatively busy but the halls were not packed. High School Principal Achenbach noted that attendance at conferences has continued to decline since parents can and do check the progress and grades of their students on line.

B) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that he attended a meeting in Great Falls with Milford Wearley and Kami Bouma Scott to give input regarding the vocational agriculture curriculum. High School Principal Achenbach noted that by doing this Mr. Wearley’s vocational agriculture program will receive a $1,000 grant.

C) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that the 7-12 Christmas Concert will be held Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

D) High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that the Junior Class recently had a meeting and a vast majority voted to look into changing the 2013 graduation date to the weekend before the traditional Memorial Day weekend. High School Principal Achenbach noted that a committee of teachers and administrators develop several calendar alternatives for the staff to vote on and the calendar with the majority of staff votes is then brought before the Board for approval; so he has let the Junior Class and their advisors know that this may not happen just because the Junior Class wants it to, unless the Board were to decide they wanted this matter placed on the agenda for discussion and action. Supt. St. John provided the Board with a very preliminary calendar for the 2012-2013 school year with this graduation date in mind, noting that school would have to start a week earlier and all the holiday breaks would need to be shortened to get the required hours in before graduation. High School Principal Achenbach noted that he does not believe the majority of the staff would favor such a calendar. The Board, administration, and public discussed this proposed change further. Chairman Henderson questioned if this would just be a change for that class or a permanent change. Jenny Lee questioned why the class wanted to make this change in the first place and Trustee Stoltz noted that he had heard that there were parents who just wanted to get graduation away from the three day Memorial Day weekend. There was further discussion about such a change. Clerk Davis informed the Board that past superintendent Kent Kultgen had looked into changing the graduation date and had determined that there were just too many hurdles to jump over to make it a workable plan such as parents and community members not wanting the change so that Choteau’s graduation does not interfere with the graduations in the surrounding communities and friends and relatives have the opportunity to attend as many graduations as possible, the three day weekend allows family and friends additional travel time to attend graduation, and ensuring that the Seniors indeed have met their hourly requirement for the school year. High School Principal Achenbach informed the Board that he was just giving them a heads up so that they could think about this matter.

Elementary Principal Chuck Gameon reported to the Board on the following matters:

A) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that K-6 Parent-Teacher Conferences were held last week from 4-7 on Wednesday evening. Elementary Principal Gameon reminded the Board that conferences were only scheduled by teacher or parent request and there was a 95% turnout for those conferences requested.

B) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that the K-6 Christmas Concert will be held on Tuesday, December 20th at 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

C) Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that this is the last week for the America Reads program and there will be a Thank You Tea on Monday for the volunteers who worked with the 35 K-3 reading buddies this semester.

D) Elementary Principal Gameon asked the Board to look at the new feature of the Spirit Wall in the hallway outside of the cafeteria. The Spirit Wall is a picture of Bob the Bulldog with colorful handprints of all the students in the Elementary School surrounding it. Elemenatry Principal Gameon informed the Board that this was the idea of Student Council President Rakiah Grende so that the Elementary had something like the Rachel’s Challenge banners displayed in the high school.

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 reviewed his written report at this time.

B) Supt. St. John informed the Board that he has determined that the District should consider increasing the Driver’s Education fees to increase the fund balance available in the Driver’s Education Fund to purchase a new vehicle to replace the old Driver’s Education van. Supt. St. John noted that this will be placed on the agenda in January.

C) Supt. St. John informed the Board that he just received letters of resignation from Randy Gramm as the 2011-12 2nd Assistant Track Coach and as a 2012-13 Assistant Football Coach so he will have the Board accept these at the January Board Meeting, but he is advertising these openings at this time.

D) Supt. St. John informed the Board that looking at the preliminary budgets for the 2012-2013 school year indicates that even with slight increases in the funding formula, there will be a drop of over $29,500 in the Elementary and $5,500 in the High School due to the District’s declining enrollment. Supt. St. John did note that the enrollment did not drop as much as projected last year but is still declining rather than increasing. Clerk Davis noted that in the past the District used the excess reserves collected to increase the maximum budget that could be adopted without a vote and this was a good practice when there were slight enrollment fluctuations both up and down as it helped avoid peaks and valleys with the district taxes levied. Clerk Davis informed the Board that because of legislative changes to address statewide declining enrollments; it may now be better to place a voted levy on the ballot to increase the District’s budget authority and inform the voters that the proposed voted levy will be offset with the excess reserves available, in light of the large drop in enrollment that will generate the funding for the 2013-14 school year when the large class of over 50 graduates and the small class of 15 will be in the high school. Clerk Davis informed the Board that she ran very preliminary figures that indicate if there are no increases in the school funding formula, the 2013-14 budgets will decrease by over $58,500 and she could not foresee the legislature approving increases in the formula that would offset this large of a decrease. Supt. St. John informed the Board that the administration is starting to look at different scenarios to best meet the needs of the District while the District’s budget authority continues to decline.

POLICY

First Reading of New Policy #7515 The Board held the first reading of new policy #7515 on financial management and fund balances that is required by new GASB 54 regulations. Clerk Davis noted that this policy just puts into writing what actually takes place regarding the District’s fund balances.

APPROVE BOOST INSTRUCTOR Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that Title I funds will continue to fund the preschool Boost program which is scheduled to get underway in January and continue through the first part of May. Elementary Principal Gameon informed the Board that he would recommend that Cindy Cross continue to be employed as the instructor for this program.

A motion was made by Kirk Moore, seconded by Mark Salmond and unanimously carried to accept the administrations’ recommendation and employ Cindy Cross as the part time Preschool Boost Tutor for the 2011-2012 school year at the wage rate of $10.00 per hour.

RESOLUTION TO STOP PAYMENT ON OLD WARRANTS A motion was made by Brodie Gollehon, seconded by Mark Salmond and unanimously carried to pass a resolution to stop payment on the following old warrants as they have not been redeemed and to re-deposit the funds as designated.

1) Payroll clearing warrant #20258 issued 2/19/2010 to Jessica Sena in the amount of $27.70, to be re-deposited in the Elementary General Fund.

2) Claims clearing warrant #16520 issued 10/14/2010 to Amsterdam in the amount of $195.34, to be re-deposited in the Elementary General Fund.

ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF AND APPROVE DEPOSIT OF CHECKS A motion was made by Jonathan Stoltz, seconded by Jerry Stott and unanimously carried to acknowledge receipt of and approve depositing the following checks in the appropriate funds.

1) Clerk of District Court check #3682 in the amount of $12.00 for reimbursement of Chuck Gameon’s jury duty pay, to be used to restore the Elementary General Fund.

2) Schwan’s Food Service check #286467 in the amount of $271.86 for rebates, to be deposited in the Elementary Lunch Fund.

3) Jennie Garramon check #4784 in the amount of $79.50 for surplus property (6 chairs), to be deposited in the High School Building Fund.

4) John Ostle check #2573 in the amount of $15.00 for surplus property (9 concrete blocks, wood storage box), to be deposited in the High School Building Fund.

5) Big Sky Special Needs Cooperative check #8345 in the total amount of $1,260.00 for reimbursement of special education collaboration substitute costs, with $540.00 used to restore the Elementary General Fund and $720.00 used to restore the High School General Fund.

6) KRTV One Class At A Time check #1082 in the amount of $250.00 for reimbursement of classroom math supplies purchased through this grant awarded to Teacher Christina McCollom, to be used to restore the Elementary General Fund.

SUPERINTENDENT’S EVALUATION The Board took this opportunity to review the Superintendent’s Evaluation that they compiled at the December 6, 2011 work session with Supt. St. John. Chairman Mark Henderson informed Supt. St. John that he continues to improve in his job performance and gave him an overall rating of 3.81 on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high). Chairman Henderson gave Supt. St. John a copy of the compiled evaluation as well as all of the individual trustee evaluations to read and review. Supt. St. John thanked the Board for putting the effort into the evaluation process and taking the time to provide him with a consensus evaluation.

ADJUSTED BUS ROUTE STUDENT TRANSPORTATION MILEAGE RATE The Board was informed that as per the new addendum to the transportation contact with Teton Bus Services, Inc. the mileage rate was adjusted on December 1st. The cost for fuel was $4.29 per gallon compared to $4.04 per gallon at the time of the last adjustment, which is an increase of $ .25. This $ .25 increase translates into a $ .04 mileage rate increase as per the contract ($ .25 X .0017 = $ .04), so the per mile rate will be adjusted to $2.81, up $ .04 from the current $2.77 per mile rate, effective December 1st to March 1st when the next mileage rate adjustment will take place.

CLERK/BUSINESS MANAGER’S REPORT Clerk Davis informed the Board that the Teton County Treasurer did not make any investments in November on behalf of the Teton County Investment Committee due to a lack of cash flow. Clerk Davis noted that several large investments were recently redeemed and tax collections came in by the end of November, so the Teton County Treasurer will be able to make investments in December.

SCHEDULE NEXT REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING The next regular Board Meeting will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Choteau High School Library.

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

ATTEST: _______________________ CLERK __________________________ CHAIRMAN