Friday, August 5, 2011

USD 383 Board of Education

Aug. 3, 2011
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Regular meeting:
Carol Adams, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, provided the board with a preliminary report on how the district had performed on state assessments. The majority of the district's schools achieved "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) with only a few exceptions. The schools that did not achieve AYP included Amanda Arnold Elementary in math for students with disabilities, Marlatt Elementary in math for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch and for students with disabilities, and MHS in math for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. The district's minority students also showed significant gains in math scores, although they did not show the same gains in reading. Pete Paukstelis commented that he noticed the scores for minority students have improved since the district hired a Diversity Coordinator, and he wanted to know if the improved scores could be attributed to the coordinator. The board eliminated the Diversity Coordinator position due to budget constraints, and Paukstelis said all of the data will need to be looked at carefully to determine if the coordinator position should be reinstated.

The board was presented with information regarding the status of the construction project at Wilson Elementary. The project is behind schedule, and the district's program manager reported that the contractor has made a concerted effort to catch up. Even so, eight classrooms will likely not be ready for the start of school. Administration presented the board with a plan for housing Wilson's students. Students in grades K-2 will be housed at Wilson, grades 3-4 will go to Northview, and students in grades 5-6 will go to Eisenhower Middle School. The temporary locations were anticipated to be needed for only a couple of weeks. Walt Pesaresi said that the situation isn't fair to the teachers and students who will have to pack up and move classrooms more than once. Several Wilson parents addressed the board expressing their concerns, particularly for the students being sent to Eisenhower, about how their students would use the library, have recess (no playground at Eisenhower), share lunch with older students, and have their days lengthened due to the added busing time.

Board members discussed the 2011-12 budget. The options the board discussed varied in the mill levy amount for capital outlay: Option 1 set the capital outlay mill levy at 4.0 mills, Option 2 was 5.3 mills, and Option 3 was 6.0 mills. A fourth option would raise the Local Option Budget 1%. A majority of the board favored Option 3 with a capital outlay mill levy of 6.0 mills. Dave Colburn said Option 3 would allow the board to set aside funds to replace Amanda Arnold's HVAC system or to acquire property for the site of a future elementary school. Paukstelis agreed, saying the board had vowed during the bond campaign to take better care of its facilities in a planned, deliberate way. Pesaresi said he could support Option 1 or Option 2, but he could not support Option 3 because it represented too much of a tax increase. Doug Messer said he also supported Option 3, although he said he might support one of the other options. Once the board approves publishing the proposed budget, it has the option to adopt a lower mill levy, but it can't go higher once the public hearing date has been set. The board approved 5-1 to authorize the publication of the proposed budget and set the public hearing for Aug. 17. Pesaresi dissented.

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