The Shelton School District Board of Directors met in regular session at 5:30 p.m. on August 28, 2007 in the board room located at CHOICE Alternative School.

 

Board members present:  Chairman Julianna Miljour, Sue McCausland, Peter Boome and Marty Crow.

 

Staff members present:  Superintendent Joan Zook, Jackie McGuire, Linda Arnold and Alison Nutt.

 

Others present:  Dedrick Allen and Jeff Green.

 

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Miljour called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

There were two additions to the consent agenda:

1.      A new Item 9.09 - proposed 2007-08 salary schedule for the position of Auditorium Operations Engineer; and

2.      A new Item 9.10 - proposed supplemental personnel report.

Peter Boome made a motion to adopt the agenda with the addition of Items 9.09 and 9.10.  Marty Crow seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0.

 

Marty Crow read the district’s Mission Statement.

 

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE 2007-2008 DISTRICT BUDGET

Chairman Miljour called the public hearing to order on the 2007-2008 district budget.  Hearing no public comment, Chairman Miljour then closed the hearing.

 

DISCUSSION ITEMS

8.01 – Proposed Resolution No. 07-10:

Chairman Miljour read proposed Resolution No. 07-10 adopting the 2007-2008 school district budget.  Marty Crow made a motion to approve Resolution No. 07-10.  Sue McCausland seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0.

 

8.02 – Proposed Career & Technical Education textbook adoption:

Pat Cusack submitted a request for the purchase of instructional materials for the Career & Technical Education program in the total amount of $11,121.03, to be paid from CTE Program 31 funds.  The request includes textbooks for Animal Science, Equine Science, Electronics, Sports Medicine and Business English/Communications and has been thoroughly reviewed by the curriculum committee.  Marty Crow moved, seconded by Peter Boome, to approve the textbook adoption as submitted.  The motion passed 4-0.

 

8.03 – 2007-2010 bargained agreement with the Teamster Vehicle Maintenance Employees:

Joan Zook reported that the district has reached a 3-year agreement with the Teamsters Union representing our vehicle maintenance employees, in which both sides are happy.  The changes are mainly economic and a small change in the allowance for the cost of boots.  There were no significant changes in the language of the contract.  Marty Crow made a motion to approve the 2007-2010 bargained agreement with the Teamster vehicle maintenance employees.  Sue McCausland seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0.

 

8.04 – 2007-2010 bargained agreement with the Teamster Bus Drivers:

The district also reached a 3-year agreement with the Teamsters Union representing bus drivers.  As with the vehicle maintenance employees, the changes to the agreement with bus drivers are mainly economic, with some changes to the rules for trip rotation.  Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the 2007-2010 bargained agreement with the Teamster bus drivers.  Marty Crow seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0. 

 

8.05 – Proposed awarding of the 2007-2008 fuel bid:

Sandi Thompson recommended awarding the 2007-2008 fuel bid to Petit Oil Company, the low bidder.  Joan Zook explained that the profit margin above the cost of the fuel is what is actually bid on, not the actual price of the fuel itself.  Petit Oil Company is our current fuel provider and has given us great service.  Peter Boome made a motion to award the 2007-2008 fuel bid to Petit Oil Company.  Sue McCausland seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0.

 

8.06 – 2007 WSSDA Legislative Assembly:

The 2007 WSSDA Legislative Assembly will be held on September 21-22 at the Yakima Convention Center.  WSSDA’s legislative issues for consideration at the legislative assembly are included in the board packets.  Any board member can attend the legislative assembly, but only the school board’s legislative representative is allowed to vote and that person is Sue McCausland.  Sue said that because of her foot injury she will have to ask her doctor if he will allow her to travel by herself.  Chairman Miljour or Peter Boome could possibly attend with Sue.

 

8.07 – Impact Fees:

Joan Zook has been working for a very long time with the city and county, as well as the surrounding school districts, to seek impact fee ordinances from both the city and county commissions.  Commissioner Ross Gallagher has pursued this with his fellow county commissioners and was told they are not ready to move forward with impact fees.  The latest conversation with the city, after the forum on impact fees, was that the city commission was close to moving forward.  Joan does not know the city’s timeline, but suspects it won’t be until after the November election.  Joan did get an article and a flyer in the last Chamber of Commerce newsletter and the Chamber is officially supporting our request for impact fees.  Joan believes that for the most part the Shelton School District is covered by mitigation fees by SEPA.  It is our outlying districts that feel the greatest impact with homes flying under the radar because there are fewer than 5 homes in a development.  Nonetheless, Joan said she still feels passionately that growth should help pay for itself so will continue in her quest for impact fees, but she is not optimistic at this point that we have a favorable audience at the county level and is not sure of the timing at the city.

 

Chairman Miljour asked if Ross Gallagher gave any comment as to why the county was not ready to move forward and Joan said he did not share his reason, but Commission Lynda Ring-Erickson shared with Joan that she feels more public education is necessary.  Marty Crow said this was a sad state of affairs and Peter Boome thought we need as many strategies as we can get and possibly some press on the matter.  Sue McCausland thanked Joan for all her hard work on this topic and said she was frustrated with the fact that we have had at least 4 separate meetings on impact fees but Lynda Ring-Erickson doesn’t think it is enough.  She said the facts speak for themselves.  Chairman Miljour thanked Joan for representing the school district with such high standards of professionalism and knowledge and said the board could not ask for anything more.  Board members asked for a copy of the article on impact fees that was in the Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

 

8.08 – Mason County Education Summit:

Chairman Miljour said that her desire to hold an Education Summit for the purpose of discussing common issues that impact students across all of Mason County has become very challenging for several reasons.  Summer break began and there was very little attendance at the planning meetings by the other school boards in the county and also the cost of funding such a large event kept rising.  Julianna would still like to bring all the county school boards together in a joint study session on September 19th and would like to honor Representative Kathy Haigh at that time.  She plans to have a letter to the county school boards to Joan Zook tomorrow for her approval and a deadline of September 4th to hear from the other school boards on whether or not to cancel the Education Summit and but still meet in a joint study session.

 

Sue McCausland commented that board study sessions are open public meetings so the public is welcome to attend and the meeting would still be held at the Civic Center.  This meeting would also be just two days before the WSSDA Legislative Assembly in Yakima and it would give board members ideas as to what issues to take to the Legislative Assembly on behalf of the Mason County school districts.

 

CONSENT AGENDA

Sue McCausland had a concern regarding Item 9.03 – proposed overnight field trips during the 2007-08 school year for students in the Horticulture / Agriculture Program.  She was not comfortable approving the budget for trips in the spring when much depends on what happens this fall.  Some of the funding is coming from fundraisers that have yet to happen.  The board agreed to approve the trips in September and October only and have Ken Brown resubmit his travel request for the trips planned in April and May.  The board, however, was very appreciative of Mr. Brown’s organization in trying to plan ahead for the year and asked the superintendent to relay that message to him.

 

Sue McCausland made a motion to approve the consent agenda with the addition of Items 9.09 and 9.10 and with a revised Item 9.03.  Peter Boome seconded the motion and the motion passed 4-0.  The board:

 

·        Approved minutes from the August 7, 2007 regular school board meeting.

·        Approved minutes from the August 9, 2007 special school board meeting.

·        Approved overnight travel for students in the Horticulture / Agriculture Program to the Adams County Fair in Othello on September 13-14; the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup on September 19-23; Panhandle Lake Camp in Shelton on October 13-14; and the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN on October 21-27 (this travel will occur on if they place 1st on September 14 in Othello).

·        Approved the 2007-08 salary schedules for non-represented classified and certificate administrators and other non-represented classified staff.

·        Declared surplus old Shelton Middle School and Oakland Bay Junior High yearbooks.

·        Approved General Fund Voucher Nos. 108369 through 108591 in the amount of $385,687.43 for August 2007.

·        Approved Capital Projects Fund Voucher Nos. 1674 through 1686 in the amount of $421,850.67 for August 2007.

·        Approved Private Purpose Fund Voucher Nos. 131 through 133 in the amount of $2,500.00 for August 2007.

·        Approved Associated Student Body Fund Voucher Nos. 17215 through 17240 in the amount of $63,355.22 for August 2007.

·        Approved Payroll Voucher Nos. 41781 through 41896 in the amount of $2,513,695.63 for August 2007.

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

 

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

10.01 – Adequate Yearly Progress:

Joan Zook reported on Adequate Yearly Progress in the Shelton School District, which is part of the No Child Left Behind legislation.  AYP is based on our spring 2007 WASL results.  Joan walked board members through the formula around making AYP.  The Shelton School District met AYP in 56 categories but failed to meet the criteria in 14 other categories.  The categories the district did not make AYP in were:

 

Elementary Level (grades 3, 4, 5)

  • Reading:  Hispanic; Limited English and Special Education students
  • Math:  Limited English and Special Education students

 

Middle School Level (grades 6, 7, 8)

  • Reading:  Special Education students
  • Math:  Hispanic; Special Education and Low Income students

 

High School Level (grade 10)

  • Not meeting graduation rate standard
  • Participation rate in Reading testing:  Special Education students
  • Math:  All students category; Special Education and Low Income students

 

The following three schools have been identified as “needing improvement” for 2007-08:

 

  • Olympic Middle School:  School Improvement / Step 2 due to 3 years of not making AYP in all categories in Math and 2nd year of not improving the unexcused absence rate.

 

  • Shelton High School:  School Improvement / Step 1 because this is their second consecutive year of not making AYP in the Math category.

 

  • CHOICE High School was identified for Step 1 of School Improvement for 2006-07 due to not making AYP in Reading, Math and graduation rate in the spring of 2006.  Because all of these areas met AYP in the spring of 2007, CHOICE stays at School Improvement / Step 1 for 2007-08 and does not advance to Step 2.  Schools must have two consecutive years of improvement before being removed from the school improvement process.

 

Peter Boome commented that everything about No Child Left Behind simply does not work.  He feels the goal of NCLB is to get students out of public schools and into private schools. 

 

Chairman Miljour said her concern with the No Child Left Behind Act, the related testing and trying to accomplish 100% success is that we are overlooking the challenges children bring with them to school, which will actually push children out of school.  We are really ignoring the individuality of every child and focusing on weakness.

 

Marty Crow commented that math, reading and writing are fundamental life skills and required of every individual to be successful, but you have to challenge the level of proficiency necessary.  He also said he felt that the 10th grade math scores in the all students category at Shelton High School was a huge red light.

 

Sue McCausland agreed with Chairman Miljour’s comments and thinks too often the board is put in a position of not even being able to discuss issues for the fear of appearing non-supportive of our children learning.  She is frustrated that the testing issue has taken all the fun out of learning and that teachers have to be even more talented to keep kids excited about learning. 

 

Joan Zook said that almost every school district across the state had issues with meeting AYP in math.  She feels strongly that the state testing standards have helped over the past 10 years and they have caused us to better educate students in reading, writing and math, however she feels they need to stop the insanity of No Child Left Behind.  In the Shelton School District we have kept our music, art and p.e. programs and have kept our libraries, unlike some districts.  We have whole children to educate and would be doing at terrible disservice to children if we did not offer all these elements.

 

BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

·        Marty Crow just spent a week on a houseboat in British Columbia and had a fantastic time.

 

·        Peter Boome has had a busy summer and said things are great on a personal note.  He also said he agreed with Marty Crow about standards and expectations sometimes being too low, but it is the way we go about assessing and approaching the problem he feels is the issue.  He does not like NCLB or the WASL and believes this type of testing just doesn’t work and will never work.

 

·        Julianna Miljour also agreed with Marty’s comments because she too believes in high standards, but we should not have children in tears from the stress of a 3rd grade test.

 

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

·        September 4th is the all staff breakfast and back to school kick off at Shelton High School.  The all staff meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the auditorium for those board members who are able to attend.  We will be able to see all the improvements that have been made to the auditorium over the summer including new seating and upgraded sound system and lighting.

 

·        The WSSDA Annual Conference is November 14th – 17th in Seattle.  Please let Alison know as soon as possible if you can attend so that hotel reservations can be made.  Sue McCausland is the only board member registered at this point.  Marty Crow asked when the new person for his board position would assume office and Joan Zook said it would be after the election is certified so the first board meeting in December.  Peter Boome may be able to attend the WSSDA Conference on Friday and Saturday.  Chairman Miljour will be out of the country.

 

ADJOURN

Chairman Miljour declared the meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                    Chairman, Board of Directors

 

 

                                                                       

Secretary to the Board