The meeting went very late last night so I didn't stay up and write it. The meeting was attended by a few more than we have had lately.
Here is my summary of the meeting.
The field trip procedure was presented to us. The teachers will plan what they would like to do. They will estimate the cost, then they will get approval from the administration and figure out how to fund all the expenses for the field trip. Hopefully they can get the donations they need to be able to provide the activities for the children. There was no further guidance as to how the teachers can go about raising the money. I know the community has been very willing to help out the kids when asked, I know there are those who would be willing to help with field trips.
Virtual field trips were also talked about. The high school has the equipment in a media room to present a virtual field trip, just like if you were there seeing whatever is being presented. The teachers will be encouraged to use this more.
Mr. Kunz asked for permission to get a bid for a new 72 passenger bus. The district used to buy a bus every year, but I believe since 2007 we have bought one every other year. The buses are built better than they used to be, so they last longer. We have also done this to save money. Unless we can start buying buses more regularly at some time in the future we may have a problem with our buses getting too old before they are replaced. Later a suggestion was made that the district get bids from the private bus companies, to see if we can save money going with them. We will ask for bids before we purchase the new bus. We would like to continue owning our own buses, but it is worth checking out.
We then had a long discussion about the board committee changes I have proposed and explained in my last couple posts. I first read policy no. 4000 from our school district policy manual that talks about building good community relations. After I read through my ideas how to change the committees, there were a lot of questions asked, and I tried to answer them the best way I could. Some of the concerns were over having the board member in charge of the committees, and the idea of giving the committee limited voting authority.
I didn't provide my list of ideas to the board ahead of the meeting, and that was a mistake, I should have done so. They were put on the spot trying to understand my intent for making these changes. It is hard trying to figure out the best way to bring up ideas like this in such a public way. Everything has to be discussed in public, so it can lead to awkward situations. It was very obvious we weren't going to be able to come to a consensus as to how to change the committees, so it was decided to have a work session on January 10th at 7:00 to figure out the best way to proceed with the committees. Whatever we come up with, I think will be better than what we do now.
Mr. Tubbs then talked about the online classes that will have to be offered next year. One idea to help us not loose the funding for the school, is to work an arrangement to have West Jefferson offer a class to us and us offer one to them, that way the funding would offset so neither school would lose money. I think this is a good idea and I hope something like this can be worked out. It was also mentioned how this might effect our funding for teachers to provide the technology. When fully implemented in 2016 our funding could drop 15% from our previous funding level. This could mean a total of 7 teaching positions. I sure hope we don't have to lose that many teachers.
The spending of the remaining jobs funding money was talked about. The district employees received about 1.5% of their salary in a one time stipend. The total money to be distributed to the staff was $41,000 the rest, another $41,000 went to pay for the districts increased cost to provide the staff with insurance.
We then had a very good presentation given to us about starting a soccer program. Two girls that played soccer in Aberdeen presented most of the information in a PowerPoint presentation. They have estimated all the costs of a soccer program, including recruiting volunteer coaches. They have the cost estimated without paying anything for coaches and optimistic projections for gate admission and fundraisers, from a low of $1088 to a high of $2092.
I still have concerns about what a soccer program's impact would have on our very good cross country team. The girls would have to compete at the 3A level, because 2A soccer is not sanctioned. So competing at that level would be a big challenge. Even though they have the costs very low, I still don't like the idea of spending money on something new at this time with money so tight. We will have to vote on this next month.
After going over a few policy changes we went into the public comment period. Lance Mecham talked about a PTO fundraiser that Kings in Shelley is offering. If you buy a tree from Kings they will donate $10 to the PTO. There were several who made comments supporting the committee changes and some for and and some against having a soccer program.
After the public comment period we went into executive session.
It's not an easy job being a school board member. The decisions you have to make effect a lot of lives. We are all just trying to do the best we can. If I said anything in this meeting that may of offended anyone I am sorry. I still have a lot to learn about being a good school board member. As always let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Everyone have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Thank you, Brian
