Monday, August 22, 2011

USD 383 Board of Education

Aug. 17, 2011
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Work session:
The board held a work session to discuss issues with the constructions projects at Wilson and Roosevelt Elementary Schools. The project at Wilson had fallen behind schedule and will not be completely finished when school starts Aug. 24. Classrooms for grades K-2 will be ready, not all of the classrooms for 6th grade will be ready, and the readiness of the classrooms for grades 3-5 was uncertain. The program manager was hopeful that Wilson would receive a temporary certificate of occupancy such that grades K-5 would be able to meet at Wilson, and only 6th grade would need to be temporarily housed at Northview. At Roosevelt, the 1983 addition will be ready for school, and the other classrooms will be housed in mobile units on site. For both schools, administration recommended delaying the start of classes until Aug. 26 for student safety, and also to allow more time for furniture to be moved in and for teachers to set up their classrooms.

Public hearing for 2011-12 budget:
Amanda Arnold's principal and PTO president spoke about the need for a proposed curb cut to improve safety for a student drop off/pick up area. No other members of the public addressed the board regarding the proposed budget.

Regular meeting:
The board continued its discussion of Roosevelt's construction project that had begun in the work session. Roosevelt will be needing structural repairs after cracks were discovered in its concrete floors. The program manager reported that the contractor was still in the process of determining the cost of the structural work, but the program manager believed that the cost will be able to be covered by the existing bond funds. The board approved 6-0 to delay the starting date for Wilson and Roosevelt until Aug. 26, primarily for student safety.

Board members discussed the 2011-12 budget and the option of setting the overall mill levy at 51.625 mills, which included a capital outlay mill levy of 6.0 mills. Board members Dave Colburn, Pete Paukstelis, Curt Herrman (who joined the meeting via telephone), Doug Messer, and Darell Edie expressed similar thoughts that the capital outlay levy needed to be set at 6.0 mills in order to address projects needing attention rather than delay them. Walt Pesaresi disagreed because he felt 6.0 mills represented too much of a tax increase and that the $1 million the district has in capital outlay reserves could be used if an emergency repair were needed. Paukstelis pointed out that the $1 million in reserve is used to cash flow projects and isn't sitting idle. Paukstelis also thought capital outlay had not been adequately funded for the past four years, and the board needed to start taking steps to take care of its buildings. The board approved 6-1 to adopt a total budget authority of $86 million with a total levy of 51.625 mills. Pesaresi dissented.

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