I am reminding everyone that these are MY notes, not the notes of the board, board members or the official notes from the school that are voted on by the board. I am also going to change the format of my notes to make them a little more informal. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion some people may have when reading them
Mark Hyzer, Bob Buttke, Charlie O'Neil, Victoria Purvine and Annette Calcagno attended the meeting, Jeff Aho and Todd Mickelson were unable to make this meeting. To pass a motion it still requires four votes, so four out of five needed to agree to make a motion pass.
Minutes were not available for approval from the July meeting as Robin has been on vacation. These were tabled for approval until the next meeting.
Mary Macpherson from the SNW discussed the Qualified School Construction Bond for the loan to work on the Springdale school. Corbett currently has 1 million dollars allocated to them (since February of 2011). This money is available without voter approval, and no new taxes are required to pay the loan. The money to pay the loan will come from the General fund resources. The Board will need to approve an authorizing resolution before the loan may go forward. The yearly amount required out of the General fund will be the amount of the loan, divided by the number of years the loan is taken out. The interest cost will be covered by the Fed's as long as the rate does not go over prime. If the Feds discontinue the program you will be responsible for the borrowed amount and the interest, but you may try to refinance and pay off early without a pre-payment penalty. This is Very unlikely, but is something to be considered. All monies must be spent within three years of starting to borrow, timeline starts at closing of bond sales. If you use the money to pay for the architectural study and decide not to do the work, the money may not be taken out of the loan. If you want to try something like this you need to pass a resolution to reimburse yourself out of the loan for the cost of the architect. The loan must be used for capital improvements. Scenarios were run for borrowing One million or Two million. I have a packet available if anyone wants copies.
Mark Hyzer as Chair spoke on having Betsy Miller-Jones from OSBA come to do a Board work session on August 24th, at 6:30 pm. This is for board members to get training and will run for three hours. He also said as a board we will be reviewing some outdated policies and Bob Buttke and Todd Mickelson will be working on six changes over the course of the year.
There will be a facilities planning board workshop on September 14th at 7pm. This is open to the public to hear what is being considered, not only on the Springdale school, but all other buildings.
Resolution 24.8-11 - Resolved that the Board approve the proposed Evaluation Criteria for the Superintendent, as presented at last month's board meeting- this motion was placed by Charlie and seconded by Bob. Discussion regarding the criteria was offered by Victoria, asking for an amendment to have the Superintendent direct the use of the reader board for all meetings and major events held at the school. Suggestions were made to help with the correct wording of the amendment to the motion. Motion was seconded by Annette, voted Yes by Annette and Victoria, voted No by Mark, Bob and Charlie. Motion to amendment failed. Second request by Victoria was to have an amendment added saying the Superintendent will be evaluated regarding compliance with Federal and State laws regarding the No Child Left Behind, the new Core Standards and the SMARTER program being implemented by the State. Discussion regarding not being willing to change the direction of the district and the fact that we keep the evaluation vague so you can evaluate Randy on any subject you want followed. Victoria asked if Randy shouldn't be made aware of evaluation areas? (Randy nodded yes after this question.) Charlie said you can evaluate him however you want. Annette and Victoria voted Yes for this amendment, Mark, Bob and Charlie voted No. Amendment to Motion failed.
Original resolution went before Board. Mark, Bob and Charlie voted Yes, Victoria and Annette voted No. Motion failed.
Mark Wilson- Maintenance/Custodial Supervisor presented report on MS/HS Septic report. Dan Bush suggests we connect the East tanks to the West drainfield and has written a letter to go to the two companies that expressed interest in doing the job. He feels we need to act on this immediately. Board members expressed agreement and the letter will be sent by Mark, asking for a "not to exceed" amount on the initial flow evaluation.
Review of correspondence to the Board.
Letter from Mary Anne Bidondo, Charter parent, challenging the CS Board to seriously evaluate their methods of educating at the K-3rd level and saying that regular evaluation is necessary to ensure student progress at grade level. Mary Anne also requested a transfer into the district with a teacher who will work with her student and move him forward. She feels there is great potential in the Corbett schools and wants to continue to partner with the District.
Letter from Eric and Tracy Kneeland- parents/patrons- Disheartened to hear the hostility of new board members regarding the current mechanisms by which the school conducts its business. Please lead with caution and boldly allow Corbett to continue in its own unique direction.
Letter from Derek Jaques- past secondary teacher, Asst. HS principal and tech coordinator- He is leaving to take on new challenges in West-Linn and he has been blessed to be part of the community for over a decade. Thank you for long time board members Charlie, Bob and Mark and all people who serve on the board deserve the highest regard. Thank you to Randy for his friendship and mentoring, vision and leadership. Primary reason for leaving is he is a life long learner and is wanting new challenges.
Principal Hanes report: Grade school is going great, with classes of 26 in the primary and 28 in the intermediate. Pre-school has enough enrollment to pay for itself, hope to get enough students in to bring in money in the future. Would like to fill afternoon slots. There is an open house on 8/25 at 3pm to meet the pre-school teacher and learn the building layout. Kindergartner's are getting a different letter than everyone else, explaining fee schedules and release options.
Special Education report: There are more IEP's than ever. This year we have registered an additional 24, some coming in from the Charter side since the district is now responsible for the students in their district, not the district where the student is released. Most are communication IEP's.
Assistant Principal MS Lori Luna: There will be five teachers in the middle school this year, and an open house/ BBQ on the 7th for everyone to come and meet their student's teachers. The Middle school changes curriculum every three years so this year will be the first year on a new subject. They will be focusing on Ancient Civilizations and this will be reflected in their language arts and with story telling. In September the students will go overnight to Madras to the Warm Springs Museum.
Assistant Principal HS Phil Pearson: About one month ago Derek left to go to West-Linn, Phil and Lori have been trying to fill the spot, but there will be a 40% reduction in time given. They are having to re-build schedules and all of the students will get a new schedule on the first day of school.
The scores have been updated and Corbett did make AYP last year! We have another year at needing to reach 70% before the bump to 80% passing the tests. This year the State has also added Essential skills for graduation. That means students graduating in 2013 need to meet the Reading essentials, which means they will need to have two reading samples with total scores of 12 or higher, and no one trait lower than 3. Traits are Demonstrated General understanding, Develop an interpretation and analyze text.
Those graduating in 2014 must also add writing essentials, with three work samples scoring four or higher in Ideas/content, Organization, sentence fluency and conventions. By 2015 graduates must add Math, which is two problem solving tasks with scores of four or higher, plus accuracy. Traits are conceptual understanding, process and strategies, verification and communication. Some AP classes with tests of 3 will show proficiency.
We are in Good shape for this years graduating class, help is being given to those who need it.
Comments from Guest and Representatives:
Spencer Morgenthau- McKinstry Performance contract update: Information will be ready in 30-45 days regarding the energy audit. Report should be done by then.
Kathy Fruend: Regarding AP classes. The study in DeMoine questions if the AP classes are equal to having the students take the course in college. Has Corbett looked into this?
Janet Ruddell: She too feels the same way the Mary Anne feels, grieved by what has happened to her student. She moved her younger son to the Knova Charter, and it was a difficult decision, but he too was falling behind under the Charter program. Dr. Trani offered to move him over to the District side, but the Charter teacher said he needed a half day school, and that was not possible for her in the Corbett district. Evaluation methods for the Charter and Corbett side need to be looked into. Her other student is 2-3 years behind going into HS and she would like to see Corbett educate those who are struggling. She submitted an e-mail to Dr. Trani and Mr. Dunton earlier this year and would like to see it included in next month's board meeting correspondence.
(Dr. Trani noted that his e-mails dump after 30 days so please resubmit the message to him.)
Bruce Schmidt: release time for primary. Time says 3:20 and does that mean his student sits on the bus for 16 minutes before the older students get out? Also the last part of the day is now recess, so what is the plan for the younger students if you don't want to pick up your child early?
Mrs. Hanes responded that she was sending out a letter regarding organizing of pick up times. You can have the option of putting your child on a bus or picking them up depending on if they have piano lessons or doctors appointments, for example. Primary is 8 to 3:30 and having recess last is to provide the flexibility. (Turns out the confusion comes from the Newletter saying the primary gets out at 3:20, not 3:30. This would put the kids on the bus for extra time. Mrs. Hanes and Dr. Trani said they would send out a Corbett alert notifying parents of correct time.)
Brian James: Communication plan. He encourages everyone to get on their computers and smart phones and read what is out there. People's time is valuable, and he hates to think about the fact that we just had a 45 minutes discussion on evaluating the Superintendent. We have a great school here and Dr. Trani doesn't need to be evaluated. If we want to discuss evaluation we should be doing that by discussing it with a few other board members and Dr. Trani. SELP loan application: 25.8-11- Resolved that the board approve the SELP loan application and energy performance savings contract for CSD as written in the board packet. Motion by Charlie O'Neil, seconded by Bob. Resolution states that an application by the CSD for a loan through the Energy Loan Program with Oregon Dept. of Energy is authorized to finance the construction of aforesaid energy improvements in the CSD facilities. That CSD is authorized to obtain financing for the cost of these improvements estimated at $2,000,000. That the Budget Officer is directed to take necessary action to amend the budget to include the cost to repay the loan, Superintendent is authorized to sign the application and any other documentation to apply for and to close the loan.
Discussion regarding the resolution was presented by Victoria. We don't have the report, shouldn't we put this off until we do? Charlie said item five is the only one you need to worry about. Victoria felt that items one through four should be removed then. Spencer Morgenthau said we are on a deadline to apply for the loan, we need to do it now and waiting for the report would mean we miss the deadline. Victoria asked if it comes down to the deadline, and if she feels okay with the $2,000,000 amount. Spencer said yes. No further discussion was offered. Mark, Bob and Charlie voted to approve the motion, Annette and Victoria voted to not approve the motion. Motion to approve the loan application and energy savings performance contract failed. Financial report: With the new website the financial reports will be up so you can print out the report if you are interested. The reports will be done through the ending of the previous month to eliminate swings. If the current budget is followed we will be growing our ending fund balance by the end of this year. Monthly financial reports will be cut back unless something comes up.
There is an opening on the Budget committee. Cut off for applications will be before next months meeting on 9/21, please get your application from Robin at the District office if you are interested. Interviews and selection will be done at the October meeting.
Springdale school was vandalized, probably the previous Friday. Windows were broken, lights shot out, beer bottles left in the building.
Springdale school feasibility study: The cost to improve the school to current codes will run between $800,000 to $2,500,000. The study on the buildings show the play shed and utility shed are a matter of when they fall down, not if. Regardless of what is decided about taking out a loan to improve the school, something will need to be done with those two buildings. The deadline to take out the loan is coming up and we will need to decide by the Sept. 21st meeting what we are going to do. That is why Randy and Mark are holding a Workshop meeting on the 14th. (Come if you are interested.)
Boosters: Kristi Stafford: This year the Boosters will be funding everything except J.P. They signed up 75 athletes for the Fall season and are estimating another 35-40. (HS figures) Booster memberships are up by 25 after registration and thanks to Debbie, Randy and JP for helping make it all happen. The Boosters would like to make things easier for families and are taking registration for each sport, instead of doing it all at the start of the year. There is a required meeting night on 8/25, at 6pm if you aren't already signed up, 7pm if you are, and each student must have at least one parent volunteer to assist in different areas. Deputy Graziano will be speaking with the athletes about what it means to be an athlete, and the responsibilities of being part of the program. Boosters meet the second Wednesday of every month at 6pm in the MPB.
Randy: The new website should be up and running by the 29th. You will be able to click on schedules that are important to you and the district will be able to use the site to send out information instead of using the Corbett alert system. We added another eleven students in the Freshman class this year (from 38 to 49) so we will be doing a buy-back of a planning period to help cover Spanish and will have to hire an aide. Randy had planned on assisting, but this is more students than planned and we can't have one period of Spanish.
Spring break IS the last week of March, to answer some questions about that schedule. This is based on the ODE website and calendar.
Sixty-eight percent of the voters in Corbett are 45 or older.
Don't forget the All School Open House on the 7th
