The Shelton School District Board of Directors met in regular session at 6:00 p.m. on April 29, 2008 in the board room located at CHOICE Alternative School.

Board members present: Chairman Holly Sharpe, Sue McCausland, Gene Crater, Peter Boome, Julianna Miljour and student representative Daniel Glenn.

Staff members present: Superintendent Joan Zook, Linda Arnold, Alison Nutt, Eric Barkman, Ray Field, Jennifer Deyette, Jackie McGuire, Debbie Wing, Sue Feldman, Eileen Perfrement, Gordy Hansen, Wanda Berndtson, Bob Trondsen, Rick Hanson, Bracken Budge, Lisa Olin, Pete Nielsen, and Marya Tyler.

Others present: Jeff Green, Dedrick Allen, Terri Hauser, Helen Thomson, and many Shelton High School seniors.

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Sharpe called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

There were four additions to the agenda:

1. A new Item 9.07 – Acceptance of the Mt. View Elementary site improvement project as complete;

2. A new Item 9.08 – Revised 2007-08 salary schedule for the ESL Family Case Management Coordinator position;

3. A new Item 10.07 – Supplemental personnel report; and

4. A new item 10.08 – Payroll Vouchers for April 2008.

Sue McCausland made a motion to adopt the agenda as amended. Gene Crater seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Gene Crater read the district’s Mission Statement.

COMMUNITY COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

§ Terri Hauser, a parent of a current 4^th grader in the 4^th/5^th grade self-contained highly capable classroom at Evergreen, voiced her concern over the proposed elimination of the self-contained classroom at the end of the school year and her daughter being sent back to her neighborhood school for her 5^th grade year.

§ Helen Thomson, also a parent of students who have been in the self-contained highly capable classroom, was frustrated with the changes in the hi-cap program over the last few years. She attended the March 17^th hi-cap meeting and felt the district was deceptive by inviting a chosen group of people to attend this meeting with the idea of discussing improvements to the program at the middle school level and then be told it was the district’s recommendation to discontinue the 4^th/5^th self-contained program at Evergreen altogether. She said this group wants answers and this has not happened.

BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

§ Peter Boome said it was nice to see so many people in the audience.

§ Julianna Miljour has several activities planned at Mt. View during the first week of May.

§ Gene Crater was at Oakland Bay Junior High during the WASL and commented on the outstanding job the staff did. The principal was serving breakfast to students and encouraging them on their WASL testing. He has also visited Bordeaux.

PUBLIC HEARING ON I-728 EXPENDITURE PLAN

Chairman Sharpe opened the public hearing on the district’s I-728 expenditure plan for the 2008-09 school year. The projected revenue, combined with the projected carryover from this year, is $2,039,271. Debbie Wing outlined the district’s administrative recommendation for the use of the funds as listed below:

§ Class Size - $1,290,366 (18.8 FTE teachers including the addition of 1 FTE teacher at the Early College High School For Native and At Rick Youth at Shelton High School.)

§ Extended Learning - $76,017 (Includes elementary summer school, after school programs at SHS and OBJH for credit recovery, and increased building allocation from $11 per FTE to $16 plus required salary and benefit increases.)

§ Professional Development - $476,114 (Includes district and building level instructional coaches, staff development dollars for reading, writing, math, science, Literacy Team, Math Team, Coaching Cadre training and continued development of classroom based assessments (CBA’s) training P-12 as well as curriculum development.)

§ Early Childhood - $95,596 (This continues to pay for one teacher and one E.A. for bilingual preschool.)

§ Indirects - $61,178 (Pays for heat, lights, and all other costs associated with the programs described above.)

§ Planned carryover at end of 2008-09 - $40,000

Hearing no comment from the audience, Chairman Sharpe closed the public hearing.

REPORTS AND RECOGNITIONS

8.01 – Update on Shelton High School graduation:

Wanda Berndtson and Bob Trondsen gave an update on Shelton High School graduation. Of a total of 362 seniors (336 original class of 2008 and 26 “super seniors”), there are 45 who may/may not graduate and 317 on target to graduate. Of those 45 students in danger, 27 are credit deficient and 18 are senior project or WASL deficient. The WASL is a gray area until test results come back.

Wanda had two requests of board members:

1. That any student who submits a COE (Collection of Evidence) and that is the only element missing for graduation and they have taken the WASL at least three times, be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony; and

2. If the WASL test scores do not arrive before the end of the school day on June 4, students who are only missing the WASL information be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony.

All board members were in agreement that these two requests should be allowed, but at the same time made it clear that they did not want to set a precedent and that it applies to this year only. Sue McCausland made a motion to accept the two requests as listed above as presented by Wanda Berndtson and Bob Trondsen. Peter Boome seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

8.02 – Report on the district’s Alternative Learning Programs:

Gordy Hansen gave a brief update on the district’s Alternative Learning Programs, which include CHOICE High School, Contract Based Education Program, Home Partnership Program, New Student Orientation, and Re-Entry Program. The total average monthly enrollment for these programs during 2007-08 is 239 students. Board members thanked Gordy for all he has done for CHOICE High School as well as the other alternative programs.

DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS

9.01 – Proposed I-728 spending plan for the 2008-09 school year:

Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the I-728 expenditure plan for the 2008-09 school year, as outlined by Debbie Wing during the public hearing. Julianna Miljour seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Board members thanked Debbie for her dedication and service to the Shelton School District during the past four years. Debbie will be “re-retiring” at the end of this school year.

9.02 – Math curriculum adoption:

Jennifer Deyette, Eric Barkman, Eileen Perfrement, and Sue Feldman presented on the proposed math curriculum adoption. This recommendation meets two important goals: 1) to move Algebra to the eight grade level; and 2) to develop a dependable course sequence that will allow students to reach higher level math courses. Eric, Jennifer and Eileen gave an overview of the materials selected for the middle school, junior high and high school levels. This configuration of texts will ensure that all students have had time to learn what is expected of them before the 10^th grade WASL. The adoption also came in well under the $160,000 budget at a cost $135,674.12.

Sue McCausland had concerns about starting kids with Algebra in the 8^th grade when at the 9^th grade level general math will be taught which is also Algebra 1; whether these math materials would be approved for us to use by the NCAA as far as graduation requirements; where the money for teacher training was coming from; and doing away with a CTE program.

9.03 – Proposed out-of-state travel for Deena Alley:

Deena Alley requested permission to travel to Boston, MA on April 25-29, 2008 to attend the Learning and the Brain Institute. Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the travel. The motion was seconded by Peter Boome and the motion passed unanimously.

9.04 – Proposed out-of-state travel for CHOICE staff:

Eight staff members from CHOICE requested approval to travel to Nashville, TN on July 8-13, 2008 to attend the High Schools That Work Annual National Conference. Attendance at this annual conference is part of the agreement the school district signed when CHOICE became a part of the High Schools That Work Program. Peter Boome moved, seconded by Gene Crater, to approve the travel. The motion passed unanimously.

9.05 – Proposed revisions to Board Policy 2161:

Board Policy 2161 – Special Education and Related Services for Eligible Students – has been updated by WSSDA to reflect changes in the law that the district must comply with. Sue McCausland moved, seconded by Julianna Miljour, to approve revised Policy 2161. The motion passed unanimously.

9.06 – Paperless board meetings:

Board members discussed the idea of eventually going to paperless board meetings. This would require board members to have computer and high speed internet access at home and would require laptop computers for their use at board meetings. Rick Hanson explained that this would be the beginning point, then there are a variety of ways we could put together services, such as specific board access to documents, etc. Rick said there are a lot of options and variety of tools out there, some which are very expensive and some which would just require web space to share documents. The district could not pay for high speed internet for board members but could loan laptops for board meetings.

Julianna Miljour commented that the board would need the right technology to make this work and she personally did not want a laptop with an open lid up during the meeting. She also likes to take notes during meetings.

Holly Sharpe was thinking of a bare bones laptop because board members would not require a lot of capability to do much more than look at word documents. Holly also suggested the ability to have a monitor in the board room so everyone in the audience could see what the board was looking at and a way for the public to also access these documents prior to the meeting. And, she wondered about having district e-mail accounts for board members so they did not have to use their home e-mail to conduct board business.

Rick suggested looking at off-lease laptops, which would cost approximately $600 for a machine that was several years old but would adequately serve our needs. He also suggested a jump drive that Alison could load for board members with all their board documents for a meeting.

Rick will do some research and come back to a board meeting in the near future to give board members a demonstration.

9.07 – Acceptance of the Mt. View project as complete:

The final inspection of the Mt. View site improvement project has been made and the project is ready for acceptance by the board as being complete. Sue McCausland moved, seconded by Gene Crater, to accept the Mt. View site improvement project as being complete. The motion passed unanimously.

9.08 – Revised salary schedule for the Family Case Management Coordinator position:

An error was made on the salary schedule for the position of Family Case Management Coordinator when the position was created in October 2007, so the revised salary schedule is before the board for approval. Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the revised salary schedule for the Family Case Management Coordinator position. Peter Boome seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

CONSENT AGENDA

Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the consent agenda with the additions of Items 10.07 and 10.08. Gene Crater seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. The board:

§ Approved minutes from the April 8, 2008 regular board meeting;

§ Approved overnight travel to Olympia, WA on April 24-28, 2008 for Shelton High School Skills USA Club students to attend the Skills USA State Leadership Conference;

§ Approved an overnight backpacking trip on May 4-8, 2008 to either Mt. Rainier or the Olympic National Park for students in the CHOICE Outdoor Club and Natural Resources class.

§ Approved overnight travel to Pullman, WA on May 14-19, 2008 for FFA students to attend the State FFA Convention;

§ Approved General Fund Voucher Nos. 110645 through 110652 in the amount of $154,622.86;

§ Approved Payroll Voucher Nos. 42782 through 42894 in the amount of $2,845,580.34 for April 2008; and

§ Approved the regular and supplemental personnel reports as submitted and as attached. (See Attachment #1.)

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

11.01 – Budget status report:

Jackie McGuire gave a budget status report for February and March, 2008. The ending fund balance is approximately $850,000, which is 2% and well below our target. Our average enrollment through April is 4,022.11 FTE which is just at budget with the inclusion of full-day kindergarten. The Drake Scholarship balance is $211,573, of which $11,573 is interest that can be used for scholarships. Jackie said the board could comfortably give $10,000 in scholarships this year.

11.02 – Rapid notification system:

Rick Hanson has been working on purchasing an upgraded rapid notification system in light of the rumors of a shooting that were circulating last week so that we can notify parents and students almost instantly by way of text message, e-mail or telephone in the event of an emergency or for weather delays, etc.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

§ Board members are invited to attend the “Building Bridges within Our Community” kick-off event being held on May 8^th from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. at the Alderbrook Resort.

§ Drake Scholarship interviews are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 12^th in the board room. Gene Crater, Sue McCausland, Holly Sharpe and Daniel Glenn are available for the interviews.

ADJOURN

Chairman Sharpe declared the meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Chairman, Board of Directors

Secretary to the Board