The Shelton School District Board of Directors met in regular session at 6:00 p.m. on April 11, 2006 in the library of Oakland Bay Junior High School. The meeting was moved to Oakland Bay for this meeting only because of the window replacement project at CHOICE.

Board members present: Chairman Ross Gallagher, Julianna Miljour, Bill Freund, Holly Sharpe, Sue McCausland and student board representative Amy Thornton.

Staff members present: Superintendent Joan Zook, Alison Nutt, Jackie McGuire, Linda Arnold, Jenny Morgan, Dan Olson, Brian Faire, Gary Nelson, Ron Goodale, Gordy Hansen and Eric Barkman.

Others present: Jeff Green, John Urbina, Geoff Ubrina and Mark Sartori.

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Gallagher called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Julianna Miljour read the district’s Mission Statement.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

There was one addition to the consent agenda which was a new Item 8.06 – supplemental personnel report. Julianna Miljour made a motion to adopt the agenda as amended with the addition of Item 8.06. Holly Sharpe seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

COMMUNITY COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Brian Faire, President of the Shelton Education Association, told board members he was here tonight on behalf of the SEA executive board, negotiations team and membership to speak to the draft 2006-07 school calendar. Brian said the SEA is not in favor of the draft calendar which is being presented to the board tonight and will not endorse it at this time. He encouraged the board to study other options and said the SEA was willing to sit down and work together to discuss membership concerns and calendar alternatives. Board members thanked Brian for his comments.

REPORTS AND RECOGNITIONS

6.01 - Recognition of Olympic Middle School, Shelton High School and CHOICE School:

The district recently received notification from Dr. Terry Bergeson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, that Olympic Middle School, Shelton High School and CHOICE Alternative School made significant progress during the 2004-05 school year in reaching academic achievement in 7^th grade reading and writing and 10^th grade reading and writing. Gordy Hansen and Eric Barkman were present at the board meeting to receive recognition from the school board and superintendent. Wanda Berndtson was out of town and unable to attend the meeting.

6.02 – Bond refunding:

John Urbina and Geoff Urbina from A.G. Edwards gave a presentation on possible refunding of the district’s bonds. After hearing the presentation by Seattle Northwest Securities at their March 14^th meeting, board members invited A.G. Edwards to give a presentation as well. John and Geoff gave an introduction to the A.G. Edwards Company; gave a market review; reviewed an advanced refunding summary; and a chart of the district’s outstanding debt. Bill Freund asked who their bond legal counsel was and John Urbina said that the district hires the bond counsel, but they work with a number of local firms, including Foster, Pepper & Shefelmann who the district has used in the past. Bill Freund commented that the district has opportunities to refinance in the future, not just now, and asked what the disadvantage was in waiting. Geoff talked about the district’s right to call bonds and having a threshold target. Bill also commented that the State Treasurer recommends a 4% to 5% threshold. Board members thanked Geoff and John for their presentation.

6.03 – Report on the district’s alternative learning programs:

Gordy Hansen gave an update on the various alternative learning programs available to students in the Shelton School District. He reviewed the regular CHOICE High School Program; the Flexible Day Schedule Program; the Contract Based Education Program; the K-12 Home Partnership Program; and the Orientation/After School Program which is new this year. CHOICE is also engaging in the High Schools That Work Program which focuses on teaching and learning. Gordy is already seeing changes in the culture and atmosphere on the CHOICE campus.

Sue McCausland said she noticed in their recent school newsletter information about an upcoming career fair. Gordy said they are planning a career fair on the afternoon of April 27 and they also just finished a health fair for students which he said went very well.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

7.01 – Proposed revisions to Policy Nos. 3210 and 5010:

Revised Board Policy Nos. 3210 and 5010 regarding nondiscrimination were presented for a second reading and approval. The policies reflect recent changes in state law. Sue McCausland commented that she has a problem with the way these changes were pushed through the legislature and said there were several other areas of nondiscrimination that were presented but were shot down by the legislature. She said she is saddened that we have to revise our nondiscrimination policies when there are still so many people that should be covered under the policies but are not. Chairman Gallagher asked if Sue was requesting that we expand our policies and Superintendent Zook added that the board should approve the revised policies tonight because the law is already in effect, but the board could certainly revise them further at a later date. Julianna Miljour made a motion to approve revised Policy Nos. 3210 and 5010 as presented and to take under advisement revising again at a later time. Sue McCausland seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Sue will try to get copies of the written legislative hearing notes and follow up with the superintendent.

CONSENT AGENDA

Holly Sharpe had a correction to the minutes of the March 28, 2006 regular school board meeting. Under her board member comments regarding Joe Wilson, Ambassador to Iraq, the minutes should reflect that Joe Wilson is the former Ambassador to Iraq.

Julianna Miljour made a motion to approve the consent agenda with the addition of Item 8.06 and the correction to the March 28^th minutes. Holly Sharpe seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. The board:

1. Approved the minutes of the March 28, 2006 regular meeting as corrected.

2. Approved overnight travel to Seattle, WA on April 13-15, 2006 for five Shelton High School students to attend the Future Business Leaders of America State Conference.

3. Authorized the cancellation of General Fund Warrant Nos. 97693, 101005, 102436 and 102760 and ASB Fund Warrant No. 15779 either lost by vendor or issued in error.

4. Approved General Fund Warrant No. 103703 in the amount of $5,184.94.

5. Approved the regular and supplemental personnel reports as follows:

- Hired Deena Alley as Assistant Principal at Shelton High School beginning with the 2006-07 school year.

- Approved a leave of absence for the 2006-07 school year for Scott Ranney, science teacher at Olympic Middle School.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

9.01 – Update on the Capital Projects Fund:

Jackie McGuire reviewed the Capital Projects Fund balance as of March 15, 2006. She said the district is in good financial shape for the Mt. View Elementary remodeling project. Chairman Gallagher asked if the Capital Projects Fund balance would be at zero after the Mt. View project was complete. Jackie responded that she estimates the remaining balance will be approximately $435,520. Sue McCausland asked about the proposed retrofitting project at Shelton High School and Jackie reminded everyone that is the district’s share of the energy retrofit which includes conversion of the high school pool, HVAC work in the mini-dome, etc.

9.02 – Multiple ways to earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement:

Joan Zook reviewed the multiple ways to earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement, as passed by the 2006 legislature as Senate Bill 6475. These are alternatives to achieve a Certificate of Academic Achievement for students unable to pass the WASL. Joan said that because this just passed the legislature it has not been defined – we just know at this point that there are these other options. The state is paying for up to 5 retakes of the WASL, districts are getting extra money for summer school intervention this year, there is money provided for the PAS Program, for special remedial classes and for intervention.

BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

· Sue McCausland mentioned the WSSDA District 5 meeting on May 4^th and wondered if other board members were interested in attending. She will get the information out to them.

· Julianna Miljour attended Evergreen’s DARE graduation ceremony last week, along with Ross Gallagher. Julianna also said she is unable to interview high school seniors for the Drake Scholarship awards on May 3^rd as previously planned. It was agreed by the board that they would change the meeting date to May 4^th at 6:00 p.m. instead.

· Ross Gallagher enjoyed Evergreen’s DARE graduation and said it was well attended. He is going Spokane later this week on union business for work. He also said that WSSDA is requesting legislative proposals from school districts no later than June 2^nd. Please let Joan know if you have suggestions because the board would have to act on proposals prior to June 2^nd.

· Holly Sharpe will be giving her presentation on whales to Mt. View 3^rd graders next week.

· Bill Freund is still following the Washington Learns process and said there is a new 100 page paper coming out. He reviewed some of the recommendations in the proposal in the areas of alternative education, national standards for counselors, remediation and teaching and learning.

· Amy Thornton is looking forward to having a late start for juniors and seniors at Shelton High School next week due to WASL testing. The inter-high conference hosted by the high school last week went really well. Over 100 students from surrounding high schools were on campus for the conference. The band will heading to Pasco on Friday for a band competition. Amy also attended the farewell assembly at Bordeaux last week for Margo Otto and said it was a very nice assembly.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

· President Bush will announce the National Teacher of the Year on April 25^th.

· The board will conduct their self-evaluation on April 20^th at 6:00 p.m. in the board room.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

At 7:36 p.m. Chairman Gallagher announced that the board would take a 5-minute recess and would then enter into a 15-minute executive session to discuss school calendar negotiations.

At 7:55 p.m. the board briefly returned to regular session and announced that they would need an additional 15 minutes in executive.

At 8:10 p.m. the board returned to regular session.

ACTION TAKEN AS A RESULT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION

Bill Freund made a motion to adopt the revised 2006-07 school calendar that was presented to the board tonight. The motion died for a lack of a second.

Julianna Miljour moved to adopt the 2006-07 school calendar that was tentatively approved during negotiations with the Shelton Education Association last year. Holly Sharpe seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0 with Bill Freund abstaining.

ADJOURN

Chairman Gallagher declared the meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.