This meeting was proceeded by a work meeting on Tuesday night to talk about school committees. We discussed how we wanted to change them for about an hour and a half. It was a productive meeting and I think we were in pretty much agreement with what we need to do. Nobody but the board and superintendent attended this meeting.
The first item of business from the school board meeting was to table the discussion about selling of property to the Firth cemetery. The cemetery board is still working on various options, and until they know more, or they want to bring it back up we won't have anymore discussions about it.
We then had some more information brought to us about starting a girls soccer program. The group working on the development of the program came up with a plan and proposal to self fund the costs of the program. They have some coaches that offered to coach for free. They have a lot of donations lined up, and plan on doing several fundraisers to cover the costs. The girls will still have to pay a participation fee just like any other sport, but they assured us there would be no costs to the school. They asked if we could give them a two year trial period. We would then re-evaluate the program, how well the program is going, how many girls are participating, and any other considerations. We then would decide what to do. Disband the program, continue having them cover the costs, partially fund it, or fund it like we do other sports. As you know if you have read what I have written in the past, the only way I felt I could consider supporting a soccer program was if it could somehow be cost neutral. The soccer supporters did a very good job in all aspects of figuring out how they could start a program. Later after more discussion and some public comment we unanimously approved their proposal. I hope it works out okay, and doesn't hurt our other sport programs too much.
We then went over what we had decided at our work meeting on committees.
We have had four committees, budget, technology, curriculum, and strategic planning. We decided to eliminate all the committees as they have currently been operating, and form one committee that will do all these things. It will be called the Excellence in Education Committee. This committee will plan on meeting monthly, more often if necessary. This committee will do research for the board, serve as a think tank for ideas, and be a channel for input back to the board. Those who have been active on committees in the past would be considered to serve on this committee. Casey and I will serve as co-chairs, Casey will serve for one year and I will serve for two. Mr. Tubbs will serve as vice chair. Mr. Tubbs will ask a teacher from each building and at least one paraprofessional to serve on the committee. Each board member will ask two members from their zone to serve on the committee. They will be asked to commit for at least one year. We will have to figure out a way to transition people in and out of this committee without hurting the committee. This is pretty close to the changes I have been pushing for. I really want this committee to work. If we need more input than this committee might not have, we can bring in someone else to help. We might still choose to have short term committees like when we had the levy committee. Also, if we have more than two from a zone wishing to be on this committee, and have a hard time filling both spots from another zone, we would consider a third person from a zone. We don't want to discourage anyone that might want to help, but the committee can't get too big. If you really want to be on this committee let your board member know.
One of the first matters this committee will discuss is the four day school week. Should we continue with it? How is student learning and testing going? What do the teachers and parents think? Are we saving much money? And any other considerations. I also want this committee to understand the school budget as well as possible. We are currently on track to spend $232,000 of our contingency fund. This fund is going down fast. If the state doesn't increase funding this year, what are we going to do to balance this deficit? I also want to open it up to everyone on the committee as to what they think the committee should do? I hope this committee will make a real difference and accomplish many things to help the district.
We then went over some information about the transportation costs. This idea was brought up by a patron at our last board meeting. We need to order a bus, and it was suggested before we do, that we investigate if it would be cheaper to contract our busing out to a private company. Mr. Tubbs looked into this idea and presented a report back to the board. With the information he gathered, it was easy to see that we are doing a very good job now. One number that stands out is the cost per rider as a % of state average. We are at 72%, much better than most of the local schools. Our cost per rider is $562, the state average is $777. I was happy to see how good we are doing. Making a change would have meant some people losing their jobs, so I am glad we won't need to consider changing. The new bus will cost $80,009 and will be a Thomas bus, instead of a Bluebird, like the rest of the buses. It will look a lot more modern than our other 12 buses. We will get it before June 30th so it can be counted on this years depreciation.
We then went over several policy changes, mostly brought on by last years changes to education by the legislature. One policy we talked a little about is the pay for performance policy. This year we are following the states plan, but for next year we will make some changes to have more local input. We will review this plan late this spring.
During the public comment period Lance Mecham told us how successful the Christmas tree program was from Kings. They sold 8 trees to Firth patrons that had a certificate from the school, so the Firth PTO was given a check for $80. He has ideas about how to make it more successful next year.
We then went into executive session and went over the Superintendent evaluation.
I felt like it was a good meeting, and some good decisions were made. I just read a book called Schools Cannot Do It Alone. Maybe later I will write some thoughts about it. But one main point from the title. We need help from the community to have our schools succeed. I think we can get a lot of good ideas from the community, I hope this new committee can help achieve this.
Well that pretty much sums things up. As always if you have questions or comments let me know. Thank you, Brian
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