Oakville School District
School Board Minutes
November 24, 2008
Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Establish Quorum/Accept agenda: Members present were Steve Mittge, Judith Palmer, Don Secena and Laura Bale. Quorum established. Judith Palmer asked if there were any additions or changes to the agenda. LeeRae Ball added the payroll amount to the consent agenda. She also added under reports, “Maintenance” to follow “Business.” Judith added, under old business, as item “b”, “Consideration of New Board Member.”
Special Recognition: Kathy Lorton explained that the MS volleyball team was unable to attend for their recognition, because as the dedicated players they are, are attending a basketball game. However, they were very thrilled and honored to have been chosen for board recognition. They will be asked to make an appearance at a future board meeting.
Correspondence: Judith acknowledged the letters of interest for the open board position from John Sharp and Mary Johnson. They will be interviewing the candidates during old business on the agenda and then will call an executive session to deliberate and announce the board’s decision when back in regular session.
Community Comments:
a. Business: LeeRae Ball reported that Sandy Tuengel was unable to attend the meeting for personal reasons and will be covering her report as well. Sandy reported on the payroll workshop we attended last month and will be distributing the annual retirement statements to staff with the December payroll. She then covered the items in her report. She has claimed all monthly grant revenues and completed the S275 staff report. She has requested a federal single audit with the state auditors office and is scheduled for the beginning of February. They will also be auditing our special education program for failure of reaching maintenance of effort this year. Kathy Lorton and I had our monthly meeting with John Molohon and will not be meeting with them again until after the holidays. We started our monthly financial meetings this month with key staff covering their financial reports.
b. Maintenance: Bob Johnson reported that we have recently had our elementary building assessed by an engineer through our insurance company. He inspected our roofing and building structure. It was a lot more favorable than anticipated. There are a few matters that will need to be addressed such as the roof on the cafeteria and the elementary buildings, but for the most part, the buildings were deemed sound. There should be a full written report from Canfield as soon as the engineer has completed it. Sunset Air has completed all the issues we had with our air and heating. Judith asked if we could have some more information for the board on some of the capitol projects the district is facing, and what our possible financial resources might be, for the December 15 board meeting.
c. Board Committees: Don Secena thanked Bob for all his work with updating the board and community on our facility concerns. Laura Bale reported on the WASDA annual conference she attended held in Spokane. She let the board and community know some of the courses she attended and feels much less overwhelmed as a new board member for having had attended. There were so many different subject areas you could have gone to, but she focused on ones geared specifically for new board members. She is planning to go again next year and encourages all other members, old or new, to attend the conference whenever possible.
d. Principals: Tom Phimister was absent. Kathy Lorton reported that recently, the President acknowledged that November 20th declared as Native American History day. We have scheduled a small celebration this year and will be expanding that next year. She will be meeting with Don Secena after the board meeting, to work with him on the possibility of asking the tribe for help with our mathematics support. Conference week went very well. Ms. Corbus reported that for third grade, she had 92 or 93 percent participation from parents. We have a math leadership team who are working conjunction with ESD114. Our WASL scores came out this year at 11%. We are focusing on the new standards and curriculum. She has appointed two math coaches from our staff, which are Ruth Bravetti for 7-12 and Gwen Kruger for K-6. As for reading, we have Willa Corbus as the elementary level reading coach, and hope to have a secondary level coach soon. We will be using professional development dollars to hire substitutes for release time for these teachers to be able to meet. I personally tested each individual student on their basic math skills in grades 6 through 12. I did this to make sure that not only the same person administered the tests, but also that each student had enough time to do their absolute independent best. I have compiled the results, which will be available to you soon. We shared these results with the math teachers, and the coaches have worked to make several adjustments. We have purchased new testing materials for the K-6 grades to begin the same type of assessment and evaluation procedures for them. We are also working hard evaluating our curriculum and working with development there. We have a couple of tutors through Gear-Up who are being attached to students with professional development on how to motivate these students to succeed. We will be getting more help in the form of a student teacher who will begin in the sixth grade in January, and a couple more who may be coming on board soon. Kathy also let the board know she recently attended a superintendents meeting where the 10% indirect charge that is paid by districts to the special education co-op is on the table. Many superintendents, including myself, are concerned that the 10% indirect fee the ESD charges could be put to a more important use for students. There will be more information at the next meeting to see what districts options may be. Penny Reinitz spoke a little about the progress of our after school program. We are just starting to get geared up at the elementary level, but our secondary program is very solid and running smoothly. We received the Ducern grant for $12,000.00 that will help support our programs.
e. Superintendent: Included in principal’s report.
Consent Agenda: It was moved by Steve Mittge to accept the consent agenda as presented. Seconded by Don Secena. Passed unanimously.
Old Business:
a. Draft Handbook 2008-2009: Kathy Lorton reported that she and Tom have completed a draft of the 08-09 student handbook. We are still currently adhering to the 07-08 student handbook until the completion of the 08-09 version. There are a few more changes that need to be done, and staff members to review the handbook before it will be presented to the board. We are very close to completion.
b. Consideration of New Board Member: The board asked both candidates questions concerning
their personal experiences and reasons for wanting to serve on the Oakville School Board.
New Business:
a. Policy 2022, First Reading: Policy discussed. The board chose to accept policy 2022 as first and second reading due to past deadline issue. Steve Mittge moved to accept policy 2022 for first and adoption due to time issue. Seconded by Don Secena. Passed unanimously.
b. 3000 Policy Series, First Reading: It was moved by Steve Mittge to accept the 3000 policy series as presented for first reading. Seconded by Laura Bale. Passed unanimously.
c. Goals for 08-09: Kathy Lorton presented the board goals with the members for review. Discussion was held. Judith Palmer added one additional goal to the list. All members were in agreement.
Future Agenda Items:
a. Capitol Projects Levy & Facilities: Options will be discussed at the December 15th board
meeting.
Community Comments: None
Executive Session: Executive session was called at 7:20 p.m. for approximately 30 minutes, to discuss board member candidate interviews and a personnel issue.
Re-entered regular board meeting at 7:45 p.m. The board’s decision was to invite Mary Johnson to join them in the available vacant position.
Steve Mittge moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:47 p.m. Seconded by Laura Bale. Passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned.
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_________________________________ December 15, 2008