Aug 18, 2014 Special and Regular Board Meetings

Tuition Levy:

• Senate Bill 191 allows school districts to levy property taxes to help pay for special education.
• School district has to figure out the individual cost for each student to determine what can be levied.
• High school covered by federal funds.
• School District has identified 75 students at elementary that could be funded.
• School District recommends to fund 19 students ~$492,000
• This would be a tuition fund for only special education.
• Stroebie: Legislature gave us the mechanism to do this last year.Will free up general funds.
• 601 9-12 806 K-6 337 7-8 students in special ed.
• Moen: we have been asking for money, the legislature gave us the mechanism to get money, we would lose credibility if this levy is not passed. 
• Layton: is this enough? Worried that local taxpayers are stuck with the bill instead of the state.
• This levy will replace a cut in federal funding. 

Budget:

• Motion made to approve elementary budget which includes 1,845,000 (the maximum) from Senate Bill 191. Motion passes unanimously. 
• Motion made to approve high school budget. Stroebie:  Concerns that capital improvements taking away from high school budget. Wanted Senate Bill 191 funds for high school. Has tuition issues. Motion passes 8-1 with Stoebie voting no to protest.

Update to Scoreboard Project:

• Wahl: replacing scoreboards and getting advertising. In the process of figuring out how much businesses will pay for advertising.

Broadwater and McKinley Update:

• Anderson: Open houses were a success. Radio Station broadcasted from the sites last week.
• Bio swells at Schools? Didn't have the money to put them in. Place to put stormwater. 

East Billings Middle School Update:

• Site prep is underway. Bids came in on target for this bid pack.
• Design is on schedule. 
• Baseball fields is package 2. The rest is package 3.
• 1.2 million dollars over budget because of site development. Second Middle School will be 1.2 cheaper. 
• Package 2: They wanted this done by winter. Numbers came in too high. Looks like they are pulling this package and rebidding in January. Fields will not be ready first half next season. 

Approval of General Contractor for Middle School:

• Dick Anderson Construction was recommended by team. Hafer: All five contractors were good. Decision was difficult. Contractors very local. 
• Motion made and passes unanimously. 

Board Committees:

• Toohill appointed to chair performance and monitoring committee. Hafer nominated for Stakeholders.
• Aragon wonders where the diversity committee? 
• Hafer not sure yet because she doesn't know what she is supposed to do.
• Hafer accepts appointment

Board Retreat:

• Fri, Sept 26 1-5, Sat, Sept 27 9-12
• Here or at Rocky.

SHAC Report - Aragon:

• Talked with Riverstone Health
• Establish a culture of health presentation to principals
• Implementing smart snacks regulations

AA Caucus/MTSBA report:

• No report

Tuition Rates:

• Motion made to table but no second.
• Motion made to approve. Motion passes 8-1.

Aug 11 2014 P&D Committee Meeting/Special Board Meeting

Public Hearing on Environmental Review for Senior High School

• No comments sent to Leo via email or mail.
• Department of Commerce requires the school district to get public comment.
• Not many environmental issues with Senior...Asbestos abatement is major one.
• Propose is for getting a grant for mechanical upgrade project.

Summary of Strategic Planning Meeting

• Minutes was passed out to all board members.
• Last planning process was around 15 years ago.
• Board will set the goals.
• Under values...students will have to commit to doing their part.
• This will involve about 90 focus groups.
• Calendar for focus groups will be on the website.
• What is expected of board members? Terry wants board members to attend 4-6 focus groups to get a feel of what the public thinks. Board is the end process...approving mission statement, goals, etc. Terry will create a document describing roles of board members.
• What does updates look like? Terry: will be looked at yearly. Another full-scale plan should be done in 5-6 years. The accountability process will be done yearly. 
• How will this plan survive board and administrative turnover? Terry is committed to report out progress on the plan at least yearly.

Redistricting Guiding Principles:

• Should social economic diversity be maximized rather than investigated? Cropper: All criteria is looked at equally. Have no problem with changing investigate to maximized. Diversity can be measured (free and reduced lunch). 
• Motion to change: maximize social economic diversity of schools with any redistricting change, whenever possible. 

Broadwater and McKinley Schools update:

• Tours Tuesday Aug 12 430 pm broadwater and 600 pm mckinley
• Broadwater - hole is dug. Major bid pack coming in Tuesday.
• McKinely - Last bid package will be bid next week. Focus on getting historic school ready by August 20. Basement demolished. New windows are being installed. Brickwork will finish this week. 
• 20 people coming in to move stuff back in from containers this weekend.

East Billings Middle School:

• Site grading work came in at 2 million and will put project over budget, but west end school will compensate by being under budget.
• Budget presented to replace ball fields. Looking at putting in a concession stand and storage space for equipment. 
• The will need to put a motion on the next board meeting to approve the addition of a concession stand.

Now onto the special board meeting....Quality Schools Grant:

• Motion to approve environment review...Passed.

Will James Softball Field Improvement:

• Parking lot...want to delay until next summer because of all the things involved.
• Motion: Award Will James Middle School Softball Fields Improvements 2013 Bond Project -Schedule 1 only- for the amount of $365,183.64 to CMG Construction, Inc. ...Passed

Redistricting Guiding Principles:

• Change from P&D meeting above. Motion made and it passed.

8/7/14 - Strategic Planning Orientation Meeting Notes

Purpose and Expectations of strategic planning effort:

• Put together a framework that will guide decisions for 3-5 years.
• What goals should the school district have?
• This will be a 9 month process.
• Progress on goals will be measured and tracked. Progress will be made public on the website. Examples: standardized testing, graduation rates, drop-out rates, numbers in dual credit classes, performance in AP courses, attendance rates.

Overview of Process (Ned Hammond):

• Asks questions...should we stop doing some activities?
• Develops goals and action plans.
• This will drive budgets.
• Plan should be responsive to community needs.
• Stages of process: Input, Vision (development of vision, mission, and goals), Action Plans, Evaluation Process.

Input Stage:

• Focus groups: leadership team, parental advisory team...intact groups in the community.
• Community Forums - organized around topics
• Community Survey
• Environmental Scan - Have board listen to internal and external partners and learn what is important to them.
• Timeline: October 2014-March 2015

Vision Stage:

• Mission Statement, Beliefs/Values, Goals
• Board job

Action Plans:

• Timeline: May 2015- August 2015
• Activities, Individuals Responsible, Completion dates, Measurement of success

Accomplishments:

• Timeline: Each year June-August

Questions:

• Who is targeted for surveys? Random community. One School District wanted as many people to take the survey as possible. Depends on the purpose of the survey.