June 12th, 2014 School Board Meeting

Well this marks the start of the fourth year I have written this blog. Never thought I would do something like this. I've written 57 blogs and have had over 7,400 page views.

Before I get into the board meeting I want to provide more correct information about the athletic programs I last posted about. Jeff Gee sent me more updated  information. The track revenue from student fees was $5,440 not the $1,200 I stated last time. The track expenses were about $3,652 for a net of about $1,788. The expenses of softball and baseball were about $900 more each,  because the referee costs were not figured before. The travel cost for softball was higher too, because the state travel cost wasn't figured in either. Overall, our net loss on athletics was about $18,400. None of the coaching stipends are counted. Also not counted anywhere, is all the fundraising each organization does to help buy equipment and pay for other non district funded expenses. We did get reimbursed over $8,000 from the state to help cover some of our travels. For competitions that generate a gate profit at state, we get a share of the profit. For example, we received $3,947 from football. This included two playoff games in Boise.

Since I brought this up first, I will report on our discussion about the possible fee increase. After  reviewing this idea extensively, the administration recommended, at least for one more year, that we not raise the fees. They still might require the students to pay for the hotel costs, or at least some of it. The administration has some ideas of how to save money with the travel. 

Well,  more about the meeting. Our spring sports teams were recognized for their accomplishments. The baseball team finished 3rd at district. I know they had some injuries that hurt the team. The boys track won district and I think finished 7th at state. The girls won the softball district championship, and won their first state playoff game. The girls won district in every sport this year except soccer.  According to Mr. Gee, he thought the girls track team had won district for the 18th year in a row. Amazing. They got second at state by .5 point. Thanks to all our great coaches and community support. Firth high was awarded Exemplary Status by IHSSA. Firth finished third behind Declo and Soda Springs. This is based on number of championships in both athletics and academics. 

Julie Cederberg presented the budget for next year. She said for the first time in several years, she was able to project a balanced budget. She thanked the community for supporting our Supplemental Levy. Without these funds, Julie wouldn't have been able to balance the budget. The state increased some of our funding but it was mostly dedicated for specific  purposes without district discretion. She projected a starting and ending balance of $782,762. This is about $100,000 more than was projected in last years budget. We agreed to pay the  insurance cost increase for the teachers, but no additional pay raise. We approved the budget as presented and thanked Julie for her hard work and management of our district budget.

Liz Killpack presented a report from the Education Foundation. She summarized their funding and what they spent the money on. They gave out $7,594 in teacher grants. They gave $4,160 for solicited donations, most of which went to the elementary library. They made $2,900 from fundraising at Barnes and Nobel, and the Halloween Carnival dinner. They also made $10,126 from their donation drive, and another $450 from the fair scone booth. They also managed the Lyons and Killpack scholarships, and provided attendance awards for the kids. They have plans to better align with our district's Strategic Plan, and continue to support our district where they can. They have been a great asset to our district.  

We approved the Leadership Premium Program. We supported a plan by the administration that provides an opportunity for all certified staff to receive $850 if they meet certain defined requirements.  The state wants districts to limit who is eligible to receive a share of these funds. We just didn't feel like that was a good idea. If a teacher doesn't do what is required, they won't receive any money, and their share will be divided among the rest of the teachers. 

We were informed that Stephanie Jones, who worked in the high school office, resigned to go work for the Shelley school district. She has done a great job and will be hard to replace. We also approved the new teacher contracts. Tamara Jolley as a first grade teacher, and Katy Killpack as a second grade teacher. Deborah Richards as a high school math teacher and Blake Chapman as a maintenance man. 

We discussed the plan for facilities and maintenance. I had inquired about doing more than what the district had originally planned to do. I asked about putting a cold weather entryway  at the main elementary school entrance. Some kids arrive at the school before the doors are unlocked. With an enclosed entry, the kids could get out of the cold better. This should also save some heating costs. I suggested  we go ahead and get this done, and the other board members agreed. Mr. Tubbs estimated from prior cost inquiries, that it would cost $8,000 to $10,000. I thought this could come out of our Non-Student  Occupied Fund, but was told it would need to come out of the Occupied Fund. We have a lot more in the non student fund but still have plenty to cover the cost under the occupied fund. I asked about putting in more playground equipment at the elementary. They plan on replacing the basketball hoops which are bent. They are going to do a little more to improve the playground, but not much more equipment. It is very expensive to put new equipment in with all the safety requirements. I need to look more into what we now have and ideas of want can be done in the future. I would like to see more done, but it will probably take time to get it done.

The bus lane at the high school was also talked about. The blocks provided the security necessary, but more needs done. We were too slow figuring this out last year to do more than the blocks. I hope we aren't in the same situation this year. Because of a possible conflict of interest Casey can't be involved in this decision. I am going to meet with Mr. Tubbs Monday morning to further our plans for this project. The rest of the trees need removed and probably a berm with a curb and new trees need put in. More and better lighting will also be installed. 

During public comment I requested an update on the Flex program for our next meeting. I have heard some concerns about this program, and think we should review it to determine what might need changed to improve the overall program. If you have any suggestions let me know.

We reviewed some policies and adjourned. We were done about 9:30, sooner than I thought we would. This is also the first meeting for me not having my daughter in school. I enjoyed graduation and being able to give my daughter her diploma, and one of her scholarships. It's going to be a change for my wife and I not to have any kids in school. We do have 11 grandkids with two more on the way, so we have a lot to look forward to watching our grandkids grow.

Well thanks to those who take the time to read my blog. I hope you find it informative. If you have any concerns or comments, let

Athletic Program Revenue and Expenses

Athletic Revenue and Expense Update

I mixed up some numbers on my last blog that I would like to correct. I also have more information to share. I said football netted $2,000 and basketball $6,000. I stated them basically backwards. I asked Mr. Gee for a correct accounting of the athletic programs. The final numbers on track and softball are estimates, since they don't have all the bills in yet.

               2013-2014 Revenues vs Expenses
           Revenue          Expense         Difference
FB       14,179.09        8,917.20         5,261.89
VB         5,188.46        9,984.44        (4,795.98)
XC         3,254.00        1,752,49         1,501.52
SOC      1,125.00         3,738.70       (2,613.70)
WRT      1,954.36         8,598.82       (6,644.46)
GBB    13,856.51        13,809.87             46.64
BBB    17,134.75        15,126.19         2,008.56
SFTB     1,000.00          1,680.00           (680.00)
BASE     1,700.00          2,430.00           (730.00)
TRK       1,200.00           2,502.02        (1,302.02)
CHEER  1,200.00           3,921.86        (2,721.86)

Total net loss on athletics $10,669.41

This explains why the district is asking for an increase in fees and for the athletes to pay for their own hotel rooms. I don't think this accounts for all the fundraising teams have to do for equipment and other costs. One football helmet costs $250. Wrestling has entrance fees to pay for tournaments and doesn't receive much revenue. Basketball's gross revenue is high from gate receipts, but expenses are high partly because they travel a lot more. Football expenses are lower in relation to revenue than basketball, mainly because they don't travel as much. I appreciate all those who volunteer a lot of their time to support our teams. I also appreciate all our coaches who put in so much work with little or no pay. I know we have had a supply of good hard working athletes, but it requires an equally hard working dedicated group of coaches to maximize the kids talents. Thanks to all our coaches. It was a truly amazing year for our school athletic programs.

May 8, 2014 School Board Meeting

This board meeting ended up being a long one with a lot of information. So I will get right to it. The first thing was to recognize the students that went to the state FCCLA competition. Eight students went to state. Three presentations received top gold, or first place. Six of the kids qualified for nationals. Only my daughter Celeste chose to go and compete in San Antonio this summer. They did real well and provided a lot of service to many with their projects. Mrs. Anthony also received the FCCLA advisor of the year award. 

Brent Malcolm is retiring at the end of the month. He has worked for the district for 33 years. He was presented a plaque by Mr. Tubbs thanking  him for all his years of service. We also accepted the resignation of Mrs. Stegelmeier. She accepted a position teaching at Ucon Elementary close to where she lives. Good luck to her. 

We then had a discussion about the budget. The administrators still don't have all the information yet from the state. The annual budget hearing will be next month. About 90% of our district budget goes to salaries and benefits. Most of the teachers will get a small  raise from the state of about $400, not much of a pay raise. The Supplemental Levy funds are dedicated to specific uses and will have a separate designation in the budget. Most of the new money has strings attached, we will have little or no say with how these funds are spent. It bothers me how it seems the state is taking more control over every aspect of our budget and operations.

We talked about how to spend some of the Student Occupied and Non Student Occupied Funds. As I've said before we are required to put money into these funds each year, and they can only be used for basically inside or outside improvement projects. The Student Occupied Fund is what we used to buy the high school bleachers, for example. By the end of the budget year we will have about $700,000 in our Non Student Occupied Fund. A healthy sum. I wish we could draw some  for other uses, but can't. It was recommended we spend about $36,000. Proposing $22,000 to further improve the bus lane and parking between the high school and seminary building. $10,000 for a new backstop for the high school  baseball field. $2,000 for some concrete work around the middle school play ground. $2,000 for more wood chips for the playground at the elementary. After going over these proposals, I questioned if there were other needs we could address with these funds. I also tried to find out about how much we put into these funds every year, and Mr. Tubbs wasn't sure. I think it's 2% of the replacement costs of the buildings, but I don't know what that amount is. He will let us know more about this later.  I asked for a wish list of improvements. With as large as this budget is, I think we should consider doing more things if the needs are justified. I suggested more and better lighting in the high school parking lot. It was also mentioned how there is no real lighting between the high school and seminary building. I didn't think about it at the time, but we have talked about putting in cold weather entries at the elementary. I think we could use these funds for this if the board supports it. I think the elementary could use a major facelift, with some new windows, and doing something about the old siding.

The Student Occupied Fund  has about $180,000 in it. They are proposing a budget expenditure of $25,750. The major portion of this money, $14,000 will be used to remove the carpet in the hallway of the high school, and to buff the concrete. It would look like the Ag shop, if you have seen it. This is a common way to finish floors in buildings now. Carpet just doesn't hold up in hallways. We talked a little about doing something similar in at least part of the middle school, but no decision was made. There may be some classrooms that will get new carpet too. Other items were painting and upgrading the phone systems in all buildings. They also want to buy some more desks and chairs for the elementary. I asked if all projects had to be planned out with the budget figured out for them before the budget is approved. I was told no. The budget for these funds are for these purposes, so we can decide anytime to spend out of them if we need to. 

Other budget items, that are mostly dedicated to specific things are; $1,000 for the 8 in 6 Program. $9,200 for content and curriculum. $35,000 for leadership premiums. $6,500 to add to the levy money for math and science. $30,000 for professional development. Some of this might be used to send  teachers to a training conference. $2,000 for strategic planning. $6,225 for safe schools, this  can be used for the dare program, security cameras, and better door security. 

There is also a proposal for $34,350 to spend on technology in addition to the levy money. And finally $25,000 out of the general fund for supplies and other miscellaneous uses. 

We then had a lengthy discussion about the calendar for next year. There was some talk of going to school after Memorial Day, which I have been against. There was also some talk of starting a couple days earlier to give the teachers more time with the students. It was said how good it is to have as many days as possible early in the year for students taking AP classes.  The AP tests are around the middle of May so extending the school year after Memorial Day wouldn't benefit these students.  In the end, we approved a similar schedule as this year. We will start August 18th and end before Memorial Day. We will have school the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas, which is on Thursday. In 2016 Memorial Day is later in the month, and the dates will be easier to manage.

We talked about the Leadership Premium plan for this year. The state has had some type of Pay for Performance Plan each year recently, but every year they change the name and rules for how we use these funds. The state really doesn't want us to set up a performance plan that all teachers can qualify for. But  how do we as a board determine who qualifies for these funds and who doesn't. It was pointed out some teachers wouldn't want to teach certain subjects or classes if they couldn't qualify for extra pay. Mr. Tubbs said the state has threatened to end these programs if districts don't use the funds the way they want us to. The management team developed two plans, the plan we accepted is each teacher can receive an equal share of the money which is $850. Every teacher will have to accept a committee leadership position and accomplish certain things to receive the money. If, for some reason a teacher doesn't qualify for the money, the balance will be divided among those who do. The state won't like it, but it does meet their mandated requirements. Unlike last year we can only give it to the certified teachers.

We discussed the Differentiated Pay Plan we had for this school year, same type program as I described above, just different name and rules. Basically, the students took pre and post tests. 80% of the students needed to achieve at least a 10% growth. There was more to it than this, but everyone will get a share of the funds as we set it up last year at this time. 

We were presented a report about the recent SBAk testing, I'm not sure if I got the abbreviation right. It is a test of the test for common core. There was a lot of concern about several aspects of the testing. The length of the testing was a problem. It took at least two and a half hours for most kids. Some kids knew it didn't count for anything this year, so they just skimmed through it. The teachers giving the test couldn't say anything or look at the questions during the testing. Questions could be asked afterwords. One concern has been how there might be a too liberal slant to the questions, or questions about moral issues our community wouldn't like. Mr. Jolley didn't think from what  he was told that this was a problem. I think one of the biggest problems with this is the lack of feedback we will get. They don't seem to want us to know how we can change or focus our teaching, so the kids will learn what is needed to score well on the tests. It also makes it hard to gage overall performance of our schools. I think  essentially we will go three years between real testing results. I asked how many students ended up not taking the test because of these concerns. Four in the elementary, five in the middle school, and two in the high school were held out of the testing by their parents. I know there are threats to the school funding if we don't get most of the kids to take the test in the future, another strong arm state tactic to get us to comply with what they want. I guess we will see what happens going forward or if anything changes.

We then had a discussion about raising the participation fees for the athletic programs. We have had outstanding success with our programs this year. Five out of six girls sports teams won the district tournaments, and three out of six boys teams won. I think that's right. So we sent a lot of kids to state, which costs a lot of money.  When we had to make cutbacks a few years ago, we decided then that the athletic programs should be as self sufficient as possible. Before this weekend's tournaments, the district has spent $12,000 just for hotel rooms. The state average transportation cost for busing is $3.63 per mile. Firth's cost is $3.15. There has been some questions if taking an extra bus,  that isn't used for regular bus routes,  would be cheaper to use. Mr. Tubbs said he didn't think it made any difference, but he would find out more from Mr. Kunz the bus foreman. As far as net revenue from gate admissions, the boys basketball program brought in $6,000, the football program made $2,000 and I think he said the girls basketball made $62. The proposal going forward is to raise the student fee per sport from $100 to $110, and to require the athletes to pay for their own hotel rooms at state. They anticipate this added revenue to make up the deficient that we have had over the last three years. The middle school fees would go up $10 per sport. There is concern about how this will effect the kids. We don't like the idea of kids not being able to participate because of the added cost. Some ideas were talked about how to help those that really need it. This increase in fees will be presented next month as part of our budget hearing. One other fee increase presented is to increase the drivers education class from $75 to $125. 

The senior sneak was approved for next Tuesday to Lagoon, and my daughter going to FCCLA nationals was also approved. There was some policy readings and approvals. We then went into executive session to discuss personnel and labor negotiations. 

Well I hope you made it to the end of this blog. As I said there was a lot of information. I hope some find it valuable. It took me a long time to write it too. I appreciated those in attendance who stayed to the end. I didn't get home until 12:30 that night. I look forward to giving my daughter her diploma next week. It will be different not having any kids in school anymore. As always if you have any questions or concerns let me know. If you have ideas of facility improvements you think we should consider, let me know that too. 

Thanks, Brian

School Board Meeting April 10, 2014

I'm sorry this is so late getting written, I've been very busy. One thing I want to say since I didn't  write a blog last month is thank you to those who supported our Supplemental Levy. It isn't easy to ask for you to pay more in taxes to support our schools. It's disappointing that the state funding support leaves us no choice but to ask for local support. At least taxes won't go up. These funds will help us stay in sound financial shape. Hopefully the state will come through with some meaningful funding increases in the next couple years. But I'm not going to hold my breath counting on it.

We started out honoring the Mock Trial participants. They did very well and had a good time doing it. 

Two resignations were announced. Brett Malcolm is retiring after many years as a district maintenance worker and electrician. He kept a lot of things going for a long time. Rebecca Thayne is also leaving to move with her husband to Alaska. 

We then went into a discussion about the upcoming budget. Mr. Tubbs just received some information two days before the meeting. Mr. Tubbs and Julie didn't know all the details yet. Since it is early and not all the details are known I won't go into it very much yet. The main point I got out of it was. The state has a way of making it look like the funding is better, but not much has really changed. Every point of potential funding increase Mr. Tubbs would say, this has many strings attached. In other words we are told pretty much exactly how all the money will be spent with very little discretion. 

Teacher minimum pay was increased from $31,000 to $31,750. Not much difference. I don't think any other level of pay was increased. They did come up with what they are calling this year Leadership Awards. Similar to Pay For Performance in the past. The total money we will get will be about $850 per teaching unit, or FTE. But like the supposed budget increase they clamped down on our discretion for how we can distribute these funds. We are not allowed to give any of this money to non certified teachers. We can't simply divide up these funds as long as teachers achieve a certain level of improvement in their classroom, kind of how we did it last year. We are supposed to reward only leadership. The administration team with input from the teachers will come up with a recommendation to the board in how they think we should set up the awards for these funds. But ultimately the board will have to decide what to do. I worry this process could be contentious. Someone who surely deserves a share of these funds will be left out.   

We then went over policy updates. Many of the updates were about Superintendent and Principal evaluations. Last year with some outside committee help we developed a new Superintendent evaluation, which I thought was done pretty good and worked well. Now the state wants us to make changes more how they want us to do them. The principal evaluation policy is very long and more detailed than before. After going over this Bart expressed his frustration saying something like thanking the legislature for making life miserable for the district to comply with their requirements, and added, you can print that in the paper, which they did. He questioned if we are required to adopt the recommendations from the state. Mr. Tubbs said it might cause a problem at some point if we don't comply. Since it was the first reading we will discuss it further next month. We then went over the second reading on some policies without anymore comment, and voted to adopt them.

We then went into executive session to discuss personnel issues.

As I have said in past years, I believe there is too much top down management of our schools. It is very frustrating how it seems the Department of Education and the legislature have little trust in how we educate the kids or spend money in the district, or even how we feed the kids. I forgot to mention we had to approve a new wellness policy around the school lunch program. For those who think as a board member we have a lot of control over these issues, we don't. 

I know many of our legislators are trying to do their best for the kids, but I think far to many just follow along with the party leadership or the Education Department's wishes. I feel like I can say this because I see this same attitude on the national dairy board I serve on. Some board members are intimidated by leadership and don't dare stand up and say anything against what they want. Believe me when I say I am not one who does this. I always speak up and state what I think, which at times has got me in hot water, but I haven't conformed to their wishes. But I have also learned I am heard because many of the 100 board members support me, even if they don't always express it, so they pay attention to what I say, and even though I am only one person I have made a difference. If or when the day comes that I feel like I no longer make a difference that will be when I quit serving on the school or dairy boards I'm on. I might also add that I struggle with fibromyalgia and numerous side effects from this condition. I have dealt with this for many years.  For those familiar with this, life can be a challenge some days. I guess I'd like to think that being involved in so many things helps me to force myself to keep going and make the most of the energy I can muster. I hope I have made a difference on the school board, and will do my best to continue trying to make a difference. 

I'm sorry this ended up so long and I got on my soap box so much. I also didn't mean to bore you with my personal experiences or problems the way I did. Thank you, and as always if there is anything you would like to talk to me about or comments you might have let me know. Brian

February 12th, 2014 School Board Meeting

I'm sorry this is so late getting written. I have been very busy. The agenda was pretty short with the anticipation of a lengthy discussion about the proposed levy. Which didn't happen. 

Casey reviewed our evaluation of the Superintendent we did last month. We all thought he is doing a good job considering the demands we place on him. Hopefully the time will come where he won't have to be the elementary  principal  in addition to his superintendent responsibilities. We voted to extend his contract another year. So he has a three year contract, which is common for superintendents.

Mr. Tubbs provided us with a budget update. In every category it appears as if we are on track with our budget projections. 

Casey and Mr. Tubbs then presented a power point about the levy. I think they will have it posted to the school website if you wish to look at it. I wrote about it a couple months ago, so I won't go into the details again. After the power point Casey opened it up for questions. I made a couple extra points. It has been brought up that we have over $700,000 in our contingency fund, so why are we asking for more money. The Auditor recommended we maintain a contingency to cover three months of our operating expenses. This amount is only two months. It was also pointed out Aberdeen only has about a $100,000 contingency. They are about the same size as we are. I said they depend on continually passing a $600,000 annual supplemental levy. This seems pretty risky to me. Since we haven't had a supplemental to fall back on like they do, we have really needed to maintain as much in our contingency as possible. So we haven't spent money on some things that we really need. Our projected budget will spend about $150,000 of our contingency. So even with the levy it will still be hard to maintain our contingency without more state funding. We have no way of knowing what the state will do, but in recent history they haven't restored much funding back to us. I believe it was said two thirds of the states school districts depend on supplemental levies. We don't have plans to continue a levy after this two year levy. But if the state doesn't fund us better going forward, we might need to ask for another one in the future. I think the levy will help a lot toward catching us up on much needed curriculum and technology. There was some questions about our curriculum plans. Our history books go back to President Clinton's first term. 

There was some discussion about the elementary. Like how much longer it would last and if we felt like it was worth spending so much to update the heating and cooling system. Other than some cosmetic issues it's very sound. I think it will last a long time. I said we would like to keep improving it. I for example would like to see us put in cold weather entries especially in the front to help keep the cold out and provide a place for kids to go into if the building isn't opened yet when they come. The building is 51 years old, but the only area we have had roof leaks is on the end that was built in 1991. I also pointed out another reason districts build new buildings is because of being overcrowded. We have several extra classrooms so that isn't an issue either. I honestly think it will last at least another twenty years, and probably longer. I have heard of some people wanting us to consider plans to replace it. I wouldn't support any plan to build a new building. 

We then approved our school closure for cold weather. Our seniors would have a hard time missing anymore class time. If we have anymore closures they might need to come in on a Friday. 

We then went into executive session to discuss the Principal evaluations.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know. I really think we need this supplemental levy. It won't raise taxes, and will help us comply with the common core requirements and testing needs. It will also greatly improve the elementary heating and cooling. Computers and kids would really like bing kept cooler when it's hot outside.  Thanks, Brian

January 8th 2014 School Board Meeting

Well this is a first for me. I am starting this as I'm flying back from a dairy board committee meeting in Chicago. I received a free iPad and training on different apps to use. We also received training from a media expert on how to use Facebook and a little about blogs. Even though I already use these things, I still learned a lot. I might try and write a dairy blog. They tell us, consumers really trust farmers and we need to tell our story and defend our industry against those who don't like us. I'm not sure if I will try and do this or if many would read it, or for that matter for sure what I would write about. The technology is amazing and changing all the time. I'm not sure who out there is reading my school blog obviously not just local district members. I often get over 200 page views after every blog I write. So maybe some would follow me on a dairy farm blog. I've had around 7,000 page views since I started writing it, and my page views are increasing. 

Well enough of that here goes the school blog. I was surprised that hardly anybody attended since the topic of a supplemental levy was on the agenda. I don't know if that means the patrons except our proposal I posted last month or were just not interested in coming to the meeting. I won't go into all the details of what we are proposing you can read it on my blog from last month if you would like. We discussed the funding ideas further but didn't change anything from last month. One thing we talked more about was the elementary boiler. It still works but is original to the building. If it failed in the middle of the winter and wasn't fixable we would really be in trouble. We would have to try and crowd up the kids in the other buildings somehow until we could replace the heating system, which would take a lot of time to do. We also talked a little about other funding needs that we will not be able to address with this two year levy, like cooling units in the middle school. As our technology grows so does our need for air conditioning. As you know computers put out a lot of heat and can have operational problems if they get to warm. Let alone the kids needing to sit in those rooms working on the computers. I always hear about how hot it gets in the elementary, but not much about the middle school. I guess they are tougher there. But I'm sure if the teachers and students are more comfortable it is easier to teach them. After the two years have past we will need to reevaluate our financial situation and decide if we might need to continue with another levy.

 I am disappointed that our state has been so slow restoring our funding. From what I've heard so far it doesn't sound like our funding will improve much this year either. Without trying to sound to political I find it interesting to hear Mr. Luna insist that the state restore the funding back to pre recession levels. I didn't hear him trying to encourage more funding near as much as this year. Maybe it's the coming issue of his re-election. Sadly I've even heard they might reduce teacher pay. If this trend doesn't change it will be hard to keep good teachers or for that matter get new teachers to replace those who move on or retire. We do have several teachers that are getting close to retirement. States like Wyoming pay a great deal more than Idaho pays. It's good that our teachers choose to live in Idaho for other reasons than what they are paid here. 

Well back to the meeting. We did vote unanimously to request a supplemental levy for the amount of $230,000 each year for the next two years. This is about $20,000 less than our expiring middle school bond, so taxes shouldn't increase. I hope we can get the support we need. The election will be held in March. I would be happy to answer any questions about this. 

We had a report from the Education Foundation. They were able to meet their goal of raising $20,000. They gave money to the school to help buy some little tablets that can be used to look up research information in a classroom. They have also granted teachers funding requests to better equip them with some needs they have had for their classes. I really appreciate all they have done for our schools. 

After this we reviewed a few policies and went into executive session for employee evaluations. 

That is pretty much all we did. Again if you have questions or comments let me know. Thanks, Brian

P.S. I sure don't like flying and will be glad to get back home late tonight. 

School Board Meeting December 10th, 2013

The board meeting started with the recognition of the football and volleyball teams. The football team ended up third at state. Coach Drake said that four players made all state, and several others were second team. The official honors weren't out yet. Coach Drake said he never had a harder working group of young men. 

The volleyball team finished the season as state champions. They had an amazing season. At state they only lost one set, the very first one. From there they dominated winning every set and match on their way to become state champions. Coach Reeves talked about how proud she is of the team, and what wonderful young ladies they are. She talked about how supportive the team has been to her, helping her deal with some serious health issues in her family. 

It was talked about how spoiled we are at Firth. Our teams constantly do very well, while many in our district struggle. It was mentioned that this was the first year in school history that North Fremont had made it to state in volleyball. Congratulations to the football and volleyball teams for a great year. 

We then approved our emergency school closer day, when the power was out. A day of school is considered six and half hours of class time. We are provided eleven hours of emergency  hours during a school year. It was also said our calendar has twenty two hours more built in. So we have twenty six and a half hours of emergency time left or something like four more days of school before we would have to go on an extra Friday to make up the time. 

We then had a discussion from the Strategic Planning Committee. They have spent a lot of time going over the needs of the district. With the new Idaho Core Standards we will have to update our math and science curriculum. We will also have to do a lot more testing on computers. We don't have near enough computers in either the high school or middle school for the students to do the research and testing that will be required. 

Our middle school bond pays off next June. The annual payments have been about $250,000. The committee is recommending to the board that we consider a two year supplemental levy for $230,000 each year. So taxes wouldn't go up. At the start of the school year we had about $800,000 in our contingency fund. Based on our current budget we will end up with around $600,000 or so. At our recent report from our district auditor, he recommended we maintain a three month budget reserve, just in case there is a problem getting the money from the state in a timely manner. I think our budget is around $4,500,000 a year, so $600,000 isn't even two full months worth. 

 

This is the breakdown from the Strategic Planning Committee. The top needs identified for the year 2014-2015. Math curriculum $69,626. Science curriculum $54,547. I think they said the math books are 9 years old. Under technology they recommend $18,000 for 30 desktop computers @ $600, and $26,000 for 200 tablets @ $130. The tablets would be kept in the classrooms to do research.  The students can't do testing on tablets. They recommend for the middle school, $18,000 for 30 desktops. More and more of the curriculum is moving to computers from textbooks. Mr. Gee said there are only 18 working computers in the high school computer lab. Most classes have around 25 students, so it will be hard to do the required testing. With 30 more computers for each building they can set up another lab, so the students can keep up with the new mandated testing requirements. With all the new technology we have in the district and the need to maintain the new tablets and computer labs, we will need to hire another IT person. The estimated annual cost of an IT person is $40,000. So for the school year 2014-2015 it adds up to $226,173.

For the school year 2015-2016 they recommend new english curriculum amounting to $69,626 and new social studies, history, and reading curriculum for $51,382. They were joking about how old our history books are. They also recommend $18,000 for 30 desktop computers for the elementary. Overall our curriculum is getting very old. With our budget cuts over the last few years we are behind on replacing the curriculum. The needed requirements for common core have also been slow coming out. The new requirements force us to update what we have been using. There isn't enough money in our contingency fund to cover these needed costs, and maintain our contingency fund anywhere close to the levels we need. 

The next most important recommendation for the 2015-2016 school year, is for us to upgrade and replace the heating system in the elementary. The building heat is mostly from a boiler that is original to the building. There has been a big concern about the reliability of such an old system and the cost to replace it. It also has been a concern for many parents as to how hot it can get in the building at the start of the school year. The recommendation is to replace the boiler with a HVAC system to provide efficient heating and air conditioning for the building. The new system should also save us a lot on our heating bills. The cost of the new system is estimated to be $70,000. This is also a cost that would be hard to cover without some additional funds. So the total for the 2015-2016 year is $230,000. 

At our next board meeting we will have a discussion about wether we should go forward with the committee's recommendations. It was also requested that they provide the board with other district needs that they have talked about. If the board decides to go forward with a levy, the district will submit the paper work to have an election in March. I personally think we should go forward with this. I hope with our needs specifically identified and the fact that taxes won't go up we can get the support we need for this. The state may miraculously increase our funding, but given recent history we can't count on much help from them. Even if they do decide to increase our funding we wouldn't know until the end of the legislative session, which would be too late to have a levy for next year. 

We talked about the certified employee evaluations that were just completed on schedule, and reviewed some policy updates. We also changed next months board meeting from Thursday the 9th to Wednesday the 8th, to allow Bart and Paul to attend a girls basketball game.

Some final thoughts. I know we tried to pass two levies a couple years ago, which were close but we failed to get the necessary support. We fortunately have been able to get by without added funds, but this situation can't continue. Our contingency fund keeps dropping and our needs keep growing. To maintain our district at the high standards we have been able to achieve we really need to upgrade the items I listed and others.

 I was recently told by a young man who is considering building a new house something I think is quite telling. He is trying to decide to build within Firth or Shelley school districts. He likes Firth but is concerned how well supported our district is. If we can't get support to meet the basic needs of the district, it will be hard to encourage young families to settle in our district.

We were asked to find out what the patrons in the district think of us requesting a levy. Do you agree with the needs as identified? If there are any questions about this proposal let me know. Almost all districts have been forced to supplement their budgets with supplemental levies, because of lack of funding. It's only because of good district management and holding back on updating things like curriculum that we have done okay. I would really like input. Thank you, Brian