The following is some email communications that started with State Senator Bair and ended up with the department of educations communications director. It all started with an editorial I wrote for the paper titled the same as above. In it I expressed my concerns about the online requirements we will be faced with starting next year, and a couple other things that have bothered me. A couple days after that I read an editorial that Senator Bair wrote and asked for input about the extra money they had and wanted input as to where to spend it. So I decided to reply and said a little about my concerns about these new requirements. I had sighned it as a Firth school board member. The next day I got an email response from Senator Bair, where he expressed concern that I didn't like these requirements. I had talked to him a couple weeks before at a dairy meeting in Boise and had met him before. Since he asked me more about my concerns I decided to email him a longer list of questions. A couple days later I got another email from him with a response from the comunications director. Her response was very long and didn't really answer my questions. At the end of her email she asked if I had any more questions to let her know. Since I didn't like her answers I tried again restating many of the same things in a little more direct way, which are at the bottom of my post. It took awhile but her answeres with her summary of my questions are just below. I didn't address all the same questions or show the first email I recieved from Senator Bair, but I think if you want to read it all it explains itself pretty well. If anyone would like all the other emails I would be happy to send them to you. As you will be able to tell comunication directors are good at political speech. Mostly talking around issues without really answering the questions directly. Which I might add I have delt with on the other boards I serve on and very much dislike. What I mostly get out of this is regardless of what concerns you might have, or problems this creates we know what's best for you so be live with it and be happy, aren't we just wonderful for caring so much about your students future. I think you will see what I mean after reading what she says. Thanks, as always if you have any comments or questions let me know. Brian
Dear Mr. Esplin,
Thank you for the additional questions. I apologize for the delay in responding. I was out of town for a few days and am catching up on e-mails. Here are responses to your concerns.
Do you really believe it was more important to force these online requirements on the districts, than maintain teacher funding, forcing schools to cut teacher and paraprofessional positions? Are you really saying online education is more important than having a teacher, teaching the same thing in person in the classroom? You don't explain how with less staffing we are supposed to provide help for the students taking these classes? You seem to think taking online classes is the same thing as learning how to use a computer. You can teach computer business classes in school to all those wishing to learn these skills without forcing online classes.
The state believes it is critical for digital learning to be a graduation requirement for all students to ensure every student gains these skills before they leave high school and go on to postsecondary education or the workforce. These skills are not just important for a few students, but for all students, not matter which career path they choose after high school. In the 21st Century, they will encounter some form of online learning in the future. Superintendent Luna and Governor Otter truly believe the teacher is the most important factor in a child’s academic success while they are in school. That is why the state has invested $4 million a year in professional development for classroom teachers and $38 million a year in pay-for-performance bonuses to recognize and reward teachers. Online learning does not remove the teacher from the learning experience. Every online course is still taught by an Idaho-certified teacher and must meet Idaho content standards. These courses are just delivered in a different learning environment, an environment that students will face once they go on to postsecondary education or the workplace after high school.
Under Students Come First, districts do not have to make a choice between funding teachers and offering online courses. Funding was not reduced to fund online courses. In fact, the Legislature has increased state funding for Idaho’s public schools this year by 4.6 percent next year. Districts will have local control to determine the best way to deliver digital learning to the students in their community to meet this graduation requirement. This could include taking courses via the Idaho Education Network from another school district. Or if you have the staff available in your district now to accommodate this learning, you can develop a blended model in which students utilize digital learning a portion of the time and work teachers in your districts in person the rest of the time.
You didn't address how this might affect the AYP scores, which in turn can affect the pay for performance money for teachers. Like I said we had good students taking eleven online classes last semester and only five passed. What will happen when what you might call the more average students take these classes? Who gets the blame for students getting poor grades or failing online classes the provider or the local school district?
I would reiterate the local school district has the local control to choose the best way to deliver digital learning to students to meet the graduation requirement. Your local school board should work to find an online course through IDLA, the IEN, a private provider, or a locally developed blended model that increases student achievement. The goal of the online course requirement is to help increase student achievement and make sure every student graduates from high school prepared to go on to postsecondary education or the workforce without the need for remediation. We know there are successful online courses available. More than 15,000 students across Idaho are taking online courses in Idaho right now, and at least one Idaho district requires its students to take online courses in order to graduate. Therefore, we know all students can be successful in these courses and have given every local district the flexibility to find the best delivery model.
I still believe there would be more opportunities to cheat in an online class. If the student has online coursework that needs completed, couldn't the student, or whoever log on to the program at home if they have a home computer and create the possibility of cheating at home? How does an online teacher that doesn't know the student personally, know who does the course work?
For the purposes of the graduation requirement, online courses will be completed at school during school hours. This is important because we know not all students will have equal access at home, but all students will have equal access at school.
My understanding, this year you only increased the net general funding for schools .4% that much won't even come close to covering our increased costs, most likely forcing us to lay off even more teachers. How can we feel good about this knowing much of our reduced funds goes to pay for the online program?
The state general fund increase for public schools is 4.6% in FY2013. The total increase including federal funding is 0.4% because the federal Education Jobs Fund, which was one-time funding, is going away in FY2013. The majority of the 4.6% increase is going to funding growth in student enrollment and toward additional funding for Idaho teachers and other school staff. The funding will not go toward online learning, unless your local school district determines it should. Here are the highlights of the FY2013 public schools budget:
· Average teacher pay in Idaho will go up by over $2,000 this year, because of the following changes:
o No reduction in funding for teacher or administrator salaries: The state will fully fund current movement on the salary grid for teachers who gain years of experience and more education. At least 21% of Idaho teachers will see salary increases for gaining additional years of experience as they move through the grid next year.
o Pay-for-performance: Idaho is funding an estimated $39 million to implement a statewide pay-for-performance plan that recognizes and rewards great classroom teachers. Awards will be based on student academic growth and will be awarded by school. At least 85% of teachers will earn some form of a performance bonus next year.
o Increase in minimum salary: The minimum salary for beginning teachers will increase to $30,500. This will affect 31% of Idaho teachers.
· $4 million in ongoing professional development to help teachers integrate technology in the classroom.
· $2.5 million in additional funding for IT professionals in schools and districts.
· $4 million to fund growth in student enrollment, including additional teaching positions in growing districts.
· $842,400 for the Dual Credit for Early Completers Program, which allows seniors to take up to 36 dual credit courses paid for by the state if they meet high school graduation requirements early.
· $9.4 million in continued funding for the Idaho Reading Initiative, Idaho Math Initiative, and ISAT Remediation.
· $9 million in advanced classroom technology for all grades.
· $2.5 million to begin implementing the one-to-one initiative in high schools by providing a laptop device to every high school teacher, principal, and other certified staff.
· $5 million for Idaho Digital Learning Academy as it transitions to a self-funded agency.
I asked about piloting this program and you stated you couldn't do that. I know in other areas pilot tests have been done. I think the law was just not set up for this to be an option. I think there could and should have been a way to do this. You could have identified problems that occur and addressed them at much less expense and in a much easier way with it being on a small scale.
I apologize if my previous responses were not clear. We do not believe this should have been a pilot for two reasons. First and foremost, we believe we must have a uniform and thorough system of public education in which all students have equal access to the best educational opportunities before they graduate from high school, including digital learning opportunities. The second reason is that Idaho has been a leader in online learning for more than a decade, creating pilots in local school districts across the state. We have drawn on these successes and the lessons these districts have learned in order to implement online learning statewide.
My reference to the task force recommendations wasn't about worrying if they would get implemented. I was pointing out how long the list was and the work and time it would take to implement all these recommendations within the school, and who was going to have the time to do it. Our Superintendent is also our Elementary Principal. Our high school principal is also the Athletic Director. How can you keep requiring more out of our schools, but in turn provide us with less?
The goal of Students Come First is to build an education system that can educate more students at a higher level with the state’s current resources. This does require us to do things differently at all levels of education. At the State Department of Education, we have completely reorganized our internal structure to better meet the needs of the customers of education. Change is never easy. We understand it will not be easy for local school districts or schools to transition to the new education reform laws, but we believe it is necessary to ensure our students succeed in the 21st Century.
Thanks,
Melissa
Melissa McGrath
Communications Director
Idaho State Department of Education
(208) 332-6818
mrmcgrath@sde.idaho.gov
Follow Superintendent Luna on Facebook at www.facebook.com/superintendentluna or on Twitter @tomluna.
More online concerns
Do you really believe it was more important to force these online requirements on the districts, than maintain teacher funding, forcing schools to cut teacher and paraprofessional positions?
Are you really saying online education is more important than having a teacher, teaching the same thing in person in the classroom?
You don't explain how with less staffing we are supposed to provide help for the students taking these classes?
You seem to think taking online classes is the same thing as learning how to use a computer . You can teach computer business classes in school to all those wishing to learn these skills without forcing online classes.
You didn't address how this might affect the AYP scores, which in turn can affect the pay for performance money for teachers. Like I said we had good students taking eleven online classes last semester and only five passed. What will happen when what you might call the more average students take these classes?
Who gets the blame for students getting poor grades or failing online classes the provider or the local school district?
I still believe there would be more opportunities to cheat in an online class. If the student has online coursework that needs completed, couldn't the student, or whoever log on to the program at home if they have a home computer and create the possibility of cheating at home? How does an online teacher that doesn't know the student personally, know who does the course work?
My understanding, this year you only increased the net general funding for schools .4% that much won't even come close to covering our increased costs, most likely forcing us to lay off even more teachers. How can we feel good about this knowing much of our reduced funds goes to pay for the online program?
I asked about piloting this program and you stated you couldn't do that. I know in other areas pilot tests have been done. I think the law was just not set up for this to be an option. I think there could and should have been a way to do this. You could have identified problems that occur and addressed them at much less expense and in a much easier way with it being on a small scale.
My reference to the task force recommendations wasn't about worrying if they would get implemented. I was pointing out how long the list was and the work and time it would take to implement all these recommendations within the school, and who was going to have the time to do it. Our Superintendent is also our Elementary Principal . Our high school principal is also the Athletic Director. How can you keep requiring more out of our schools, but in turn provide us with less?
Bottom line as I wrote in an editorial for the newspapers recently. There is way too much top down management of our schools!!
Thank you, Brian Esplin Firth school board member
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
March 8th School Board Meeting
I am late writing this I was out of town. I am having a hard time deciding if I should write a separate blog for the committee meetings or just combine them into one. I will probably do some of both.
The committee met before the board meeting and went over a power point presentation that Casey had worked on about the four day week. I was surprised how positive the four day schedule has worked out so far. Two of my main concerns going into the four day were student achievement and financial savings. We will not know ISAT test scores until around June so we had to go by what the teachers and administrators thought. On this point what we found out was in most areas the teachers we talked to thought if anything students were doing better. This has also improved because of the change from trimesters to semesters. The students have more time in class to learn. The teachers are getting through more material than they had before. We will know more when the test scores come back later this year.
On the financial savings so far it looks like we are saving more than we had anticipated. In spite of some health issues with some teachers, we have still had less absences than before. It looks like our student attendance is up a little too. Using the current savings projected through the rest of the year it looks like we will save around $50,000. Most of the savings comes from $20,000 less in transportation costs and $21,000 less in Paraprofessional salaries.
In our committee discussions we had very few negative comments. Based on the committee findings, it was recommended to the board to support the four day schedule for a least another year. Later in the board meeting the board voted to stay on this schedule for another year and reevaluate it again about this time next year when we have more complete information.
There was some talk about how to improve the calendar for the year. There has been some confusion when we have Monday holidays we go on Fridays. The calendar committee is going to work on different options and present the information to the Excellence in Education Committee on April 5th, our next meeting to review. We will look at options of not going on all Fridays even if there is a Monday holiday, but doing this we will have to add days somewhere.
There was a couple concerns that came out of our committee discussions that don't really relate to the four day plan. It was pointed out that because of lack of funding last year we didn't have summer school. Some teachers talked about how this used to help some kids get caught up in areas they may have struggled in. Some students came into the year behind and have struggled. This is one area I hope when we can come up with the funds we can restore. Also because of less funding we have less aids in the classes which makes it harder to help the students catch up and creates more work for the teachers.
Now I will get into the board meeting.
We approved putting out bids for new high school bleachers. The bleachers are very unsafe and we think there is money in what is called the student occupied fund to pay for them. Each year we are required to put some money into a fund that can be used to improve student safety. It can only be used for things like this. We are not allowed to use it to plug budget holes like I just talked about. After one month we will close the bids and review what to do. It takes something like 14 to 18 weeks to get them made and installed. They would use our school colors, and we could put FHS or cougar paws or something like that into the design and not cost us anymore. We should know more about this next month.
We approved the safety busing plan that we submit each year to receive funding to bus kids to school that normally would be required to walk. Because of all the canals and railroad tracks and the highway it is not safe for them to walk so we provide busing.
Coach Drake was recognized for being coach of the year in football and for the success they had in football and wrestling.
We then had a presentation about starting a Virtual Academy. We had the same thing presented to us last year around June. Some board members expressed interest in it but we would have had to decide almost immediately it we were going to do it or not. We had concerns about this idea, so now they are bringing it back to us earlier this year. After some board discussion it was decided to turn this over to the Excellence In Education Committee to review. We will need to have a recommendation back to the board by our May board meeting. That pretty much was what happened in the board meeting. We then went into executive session and talked about the teacher evaluations.
Now I will write about some thoughts I have about the Virtual Academy. First of all I admit I need to learn a lot more about this program. I know there is support from some patrons in the community and even on the committee. One major problem as I understand it now is the funding. If we decided to start this school which I should say is basically a home school program grades K-8 with help using online classes and some use of school facilities. Because of the delay in how schools get state funding we would have to fund the start up costs. Depending on how many students were enrolled the costs would very. It would probably cost at least $50,000 out of our budget. With the projected deficit spending of our current budget at $232,000 that is a lot more in the whole that I don't feel very good about. We still may have to lay off at least one more teacher before next year, it all depends what the state does this year. If we lay off a teacher and have to pay for one for this program, that might not be very well accepted either. I have other concerns but for now until I understand it better maybe I have said enough.
We are going to have our committee meeting on April 5th. We will go over the school calendar. I would also like to talk about ways to get the word out about positive things going on in the district. This was a board goal and was also brought up as something we needed to do by a committee member. We then will have some discussion about the Virtual Academy. I don't think we will have time to go to far into this subject that night. We sometime later would probably have the supporters of this idea come talk to our committee and answer our questions and concerns.
If anyone has questions or concerns about this or anything else let me know. Thank you, Brian
The committee met before the board meeting and went over a power point presentation that Casey had worked on about the four day week. I was surprised how positive the four day schedule has worked out so far. Two of my main concerns going into the four day were student achievement and financial savings. We will not know ISAT test scores until around June so we had to go by what the teachers and administrators thought. On this point what we found out was in most areas the teachers we talked to thought if anything students were doing better. This has also improved because of the change from trimesters to semesters. The students have more time in class to learn. The teachers are getting through more material than they had before. We will know more when the test scores come back later this year.
On the financial savings so far it looks like we are saving more than we had anticipated. In spite of some health issues with some teachers, we have still had less absences than before. It looks like our student attendance is up a little too. Using the current savings projected through the rest of the year it looks like we will save around $50,000. Most of the savings comes from $20,000 less in transportation costs and $21,000 less in Paraprofessional salaries.
In our committee discussions we had very few negative comments. Based on the committee findings, it was recommended to the board to support the four day schedule for a least another year. Later in the board meeting the board voted to stay on this schedule for another year and reevaluate it again about this time next year when we have more complete information.
There was some talk about how to improve the calendar for the year. There has been some confusion when we have Monday holidays we go on Fridays. The calendar committee is going to work on different options and present the information to the Excellence in Education Committee on April 5th, our next meeting to review. We will look at options of not going on all Fridays even if there is a Monday holiday, but doing this we will have to add days somewhere.
There was a couple concerns that came out of our committee discussions that don't really relate to the four day plan. It was pointed out that because of lack of funding last year we didn't have summer school. Some teachers talked about how this used to help some kids get caught up in areas they may have struggled in. Some students came into the year behind and have struggled. This is one area I hope when we can come up with the funds we can restore. Also because of less funding we have less aids in the classes which makes it harder to help the students catch up and creates more work for the teachers.
Now I will get into the board meeting.
We approved putting out bids for new high school bleachers. The bleachers are very unsafe and we think there is money in what is called the student occupied fund to pay for them. Each year we are required to put some money into a fund that can be used to improve student safety. It can only be used for things like this. We are not allowed to use it to plug budget holes like I just talked about. After one month we will close the bids and review what to do. It takes something like 14 to 18 weeks to get them made and installed. They would use our school colors, and we could put FHS or cougar paws or something like that into the design and not cost us anymore. We should know more about this next month.
We approved the safety busing plan that we submit each year to receive funding to bus kids to school that normally would be required to walk. Because of all the canals and railroad tracks and the highway it is not safe for them to walk so we provide busing.
Coach Drake was recognized for being coach of the year in football and for the success they had in football and wrestling.
We then had a presentation about starting a Virtual Academy. We had the same thing presented to us last year around June. Some board members expressed interest in it but we would have had to decide almost immediately it we were going to do it or not. We had concerns about this idea, so now they are bringing it back to us earlier this year. After some board discussion it was decided to turn this over to the Excellence In Education Committee to review. We will need to have a recommendation back to the board by our May board meeting. That pretty much was what happened in the board meeting. We then went into executive session and talked about the teacher evaluations.
Now I will write about some thoughts I have about the Virtual Academy. First of all I admit I need to learn a lot more about this program. I know there is support from some patrons in the community and even on the committee. One major problem as I understand it now is the funding. If we decided to start this school which I should say is basically a home school program grades K-8 with help using online classes and some use of school facilities. Because of the delay in how schools get state funding we would have to fund the start up costs. Depending on how many students were enrolled the costs would very. It would probably cost at least $50,000 out of our budget. With the projected deficit spending of our current budget at $232,000 that is a lot more in the whole that I don't feel very good about. We still may have to lay off at least one more teacher before next year, it all depends what the state does this year. If we lay off a teacher and have to pay for one for this program, that might not be very well accepted either. I have other concerns but for now until I understand it better maybe I have said enough.
We are going to have our committee meeting on April 5th. We will go over the school calendar. I would also like to talk about ways to get the word out about positive things going on in the district. This was a board goal and was also brought up as something we needed to do by a committee member. We then will have some discussion about the Virtual Academy. I don't think we will have time to go to far into this subject that night. We sometime later would probably have the supporters of this idea come talk to our committee and answer our questions and concerns.
If anyone has questions or concerns about this or anything else let me know. Thank you, Brian
Saturday, February 11, 2012
February 9th Board Meeting
The school board meeting went along pretty fast last night. There were no major issues to discuss in the meeting. The soccer program was brought up. It was clarified that the coaching position for the next two years would be a non paid position. Then after the two year trial period the program would be re-evaluated.
The board talked about the walk-though of the buildings we did a couple weeks ago. Some of the issues we saw that needed attention were. There is a problem with water coming in the walls around the burm in the middle school. The lockers in the middle school boys locker room are very abused. They are going to be removed and put into the high school locker room, and repaired for the football team to use. The middle school locker rooms have been very abused, besides the lockers there are holes in the walls, a mirror has been torn off the wall and other signs of abuse. It was disappointing to see how bad the students have torn things apart. The maintenance crew has tried to do repairs, but the students keep tearing things up.
The new lights in the elementary look very bright. They were paid for by some outside funds to save energy.
We had a discussion about the high school bleachers. By next month we should have some bids for new bleachers. There is a fund we have to put money into called, the student occupied fund. This money can only be used to improve inside facilities. This fund has been built up over the years to the point where we think we can afford to spend it to replace the forty five year old bleachers. I think that is how old they are. The bleachers are such a safety hazard, if we can afford to replace them we think we should. The old bleachers hold about 1100. The new ones because of the disabilities act will have to be put in a little different and will only hold about 950 people. If all goes well they should be able to be put in during this summer.
We then had a discussion about our first Excellence in Education Committee meeting. Because of conflicts of other things going on we didn't have very many at the meeting but we had a good discussion. We talked mostly about the four day school week schedule. We need to decide by our April board meeting if we want to continue with this schedule. We are going to have another meeting February 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the high school library. We hope to have more information as to how much we are saving on this schedule. The power will be hard to determine because of the mild winter, and with the much improved lighting in the elementary. There won't be any testing information until this summer so it will be hard to figure out if the students are learning as well. These are the major considerations we have, but will be the hardest to define. We are going to try and find more information from the teachers to see if they think the students are doing as well. It is also hard to evaluate because of the changes that were made going from a six period trimester to a seven period semester system. Jeff Gee thought the extra time in class would help the students better prepare for college. He commented how the teachers were able to go through more material, and better teach the students. Mr. Gee also talked about the challenges of sharing teachers between the middle school and high school. He also talked about how by having less staff makes it harder to offer as many electives as he would like to offer. Three high school teachers each teach two classes in the middle school and I think one middle school teacher teaches two classes in the high school. Mr. Gee has a plan to rotate some electives every other year, so the students have a chance to take them, like physics. Some of the classes are also harder to take because in the past they may have been offered two or three times during the year now they are only once. Being understaffed is a challenge, but I think Mr. Gee is doing the best he can to make things work. I know there are strong feelings for and against the four day schedule. If you have opinions you would like to express you are welcome to share them with a committee member, me or Casey Park, or if you want to you can come to the next meeting and discuss it with the whole committee. I think because of limited information we will have to go a lot by patron opinion, so if you want to be heard let us know.
During the public comment period Neal Yancy with the new soccer program spoke about a fundraiser the soccer girls did. They sold over 120 dozen roses, and made $1800. If they can raise money like this they shouldn't have much trouble funding the program.
We then went into executive session and talked about the administrator's evaluations.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you, Brian
The board talked about the walk-though of the buildings we did a couple weeks ago. Some of the issues we saw that needed attention were. There is a problem with water coming in the walls around the burm in the middle school. The lockers in the middle school boys locker room are very abused. They are going to be removed and put into the high school locker room, and repaired for the football team to use. The middle school locker rooms have been very abused, besides the lockers there are holes in the walls, a mirror has been torn off the wall and other signs of abuse. It was disappointing to see how bad the students have torn things apart. The maintenance crew has tried to do repairs, but the students keep tearing things up.
The new lights in the elementary look very bright. They were paid for by some outside funds to save energy.
We had a discussion about the high school bleachers. By next month we should have some bids for new bleachers. There is a fund we have to put money into called, the student occupied fund. This money can only be used to improve inside facilities. This fund has been built up over the years to the point where we think we can afford to spend it to replace the forty five year old bleachers. I think that is how old they are. The bleachers are such a safety hazard, if we can afford to replace them we think we should. The old bleachers hold about 1100. The new ones because of the disabilities act will have to be put in a little different and will only hold about 950 people. If all goes well they should be able to be put in during this summer.
We then had a discussion about our first Excellence in Education Committee meeting. Because of conflicts of other things going on we didn't have very many at the meeting but we had a good discussion. We talked mostly about the four day school week schedule. We need to decide by our April board meeting if we want to continue with this schedule. We are going to have another meeting February 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the high school library. We hope to have more information as to how much we are saving on this schedule. The power will be hard to determine because of the mild winter, and with the much improved lighting in the elementary. There won't be any testing information until this summer so it will be hard to figure out if the students are learning as well. These are the major considerations we have, but will be the hardest to define. We are going to try and find more information from the teachers to see if they think the students are doing as well. It is also hard to evaluate because of the changes that were made going from a six period trimester to a seven period semester system. Jeff Gee thought the extra time in class would help the students better prepare for college. He commented how the teachers were able to go through more material, and better teach the students. Mr. Gee also talked about the challenges of sharing teachers between the middle school and high school. He also talked about how by having less staff makes it harder to offer as many electives as he would like to offer. Three high school teachers each teach two classes in the middle school and I think one middle school teacher teaches two classes in the high school. Mr. Gee has a plan to rotate some electives every other year, so the students have a chance to take them, like physics. Some of the classes are also harder to take because in the past they may have been offered two or three times during the year now they are only once. Being understaffed is a challenge, but I think Mr. Gee is doing the best he can to make things work. I know there are strong feelings for and against the four day schedule. If you have opinions you would like to express you are welcome to share them with a committee member, me or Casey Park, or if you want to you can come to the next meeting and discuss it with the whole committee. I think because of limited information we will have to go a lot by patron opinion, so if you want to be heard let us know.
During the public comment period Neal Yancy with the new soccer program spoke about a fundraiser the soccer girls did. They sold over 120 dozen roses, and made $1800. If they can raise money like this they shouldn't have much trouble funding the program.
We then went into executive session and talked about the administrator's evaluations.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you, Brian
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Another update about the soccer program
Since my last post things have changed again. I expressed my concern to Bart and the administration over paying a coaches salary. Bart talked to the other board members and Mr. Tubbs about this. At our next board meeting the motion will be made for the head soccer coach position to be a non paid position. The job will be offered to the staff, but if not filled will be offered outside of the staff. I feel much better about this now. I think this was the true intent of the board decision. Thanks, Brian
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
January Board Follow-up
I decided I needed to update some information that has come to light since our board meeting. The soccer proposal that was presented to us was presented as having no cost to the school, and I asked during the meeting for sure if this was correct, and was assured it was. With this in mind and with a good showing of support I decided to support the soccer program on a two year trial basis.
I have since found out that the district plans on paying the salary for a head coach.
The committee of soccer supporters that figured out how to fund the soccer program found someone that was willing to volunteer their time and coach for two years for free. What I didn't know was that the district has to offer the coaching job to someone within the school first. As I understand it now, since this is a head coaching job, the district will need to pay the coach.
I remember during some earlier talks, something about the district paying the volunteer coach and the coach would donate the money back to the district, making the program cost neutral. I didn't understand how this all had to be done. I just thought with the latest plan,the person that was volunteering for the job would most likely get the the job and there would be no cost to the district.
I wish this would have been explained at the meeting and I had understood about paying for a head coach. If I had known the cost for the coach I don't think I would have supported starting a soccer program at this time. I hope now since soccer was approved that it will work out okay. If there are problems we will have the ability to end the program after two years.
I felt like I needed to explain what happened since I have said that I thought this was approved on a cost neutral basis. Thank you. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Brian
I have since found out that the district plans on paying the salary for a head coach.
The committee of soccer supporters that figured out how to fund the soccer program found someone that was willing to volunteer their time and coach for two years for free. What I didn't know was that the district has to offer the coaching job to someone within the school first. As I understand it now, since this is a head coaching job, the district will need to pay the coach.
I remember during some earlier talks, something about the district paying the volunteer coach and the coach would donate the money back to the district, making the program cost neutral. I didn't understand how this all had to be done. I just thought with the latest plan,the person that was volunteering for the job would most likely get the the job and there would be no cost to the district.
I wish this would have been explained at the meeting and I had understood about paying for a head coach. If I had known the cost for the coach I don't think I would have supported starting a soccer program at this time. I hope now since soccer was approved that it will work out okay. If there are problems we will have the ability to end the program after two years.
I felt like I needed to explain what happened since I have said that I thought this was approved on a cost neutral basis. Thank you. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Brian
Friday, January 13, 2012
January 12th School Board Meeting
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
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
Friday, December 9, 2011
December 8th School Board Meeting
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
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
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