Oct 20 2014 SD2 Board Meeting - Notes

Communication from Public:

Scott McColluh - Congrats to board for their award...school board of the year in Montana.

Superintendent Report:

• Board was named Montana School Board of the year - School Administrators of Montana. Facilities Master Planning, Energy savings program, Bond passing, increasing reserves to 6 percent. Project Lead the Way. Career Center. Graduation Matters/Highset. and dual credit. Leadership team also deserves credit. 
• United Way Campaign - Superintendent challenging entire district to donate.
• Technology Department update - Recognized Kyle, the leader of the department. Department will reorganize based on report. Committing to training, accountability, service, etc.

Education Foundation Report:

• Foundation started in 1988 by members of the public. Non-profit organization and independent of school district.
• Gave $91,000 in classroom grants. 
• $145,000 grants given from estate gift.
• $13,600 in scholarships given.
• $12,000 for internships for students.
• Foundation runs a summer reading program.
• 10,000 people for saturday live. $101,000 raised by school groups and PTAs.
• Special Projects - technology - 7 classrooms with 1 to 1 technology and interactive technology. Project Lead the Way support. Technology Training Center. Partners in Education Program with businesses adopt a school. 
• $695,000 given to the district in all the various ways.

Advanced Placement English:

• Equivalent to college credit and content approved by a college board. Students will not be able to request alternatives.

Bond Update:

• Asked parties to write a monthly report for the board.

Service Animals Policy - third reading and final reading: Approved

Strategic Planning: Going well. It has been 15 years since the district worked on one. Still working on public input schedule.

Elementary and Middle School redistricting: Team looked at 3 draft maps and provided feedback of items to review/change for the next drafts.

Performance and Monitoring Committee: Matrix/Calendar of reports to the board has been created. Question related to how we monitor educational performance. School district trying to get into Advanced Education. Greta wants data for parents to see how their school is doing. School district is trying to create a dashboard. NWEA data will continue to bridge the gap from the transition from MontCAS to Smarter Balance. Motion made on the calendar and it passes.

Stakeholder Relations Committee: Smart Snacks are to be implemented by July 1. Parent Advisory Committee is not meeting. School Calendar reported to committee. Name/mascot/colors committee needed for new heights middle school. Committee and application process passed.

AA Caucus Report: AAs need to be stronger on the Montana School Board Association. SD2 will have to meet with our legislators on our own. MSBA voted to support Governors preschool initiative. Superintendent will meet with 6 AA schools quarterly. 

Trustee Vacancy:

Sheryl - Funding priorities is whatever brings the student to the classroom. Very agreeable to change, because the world is changing. Wants two way communications between the union and the school district. Thinks the school district strives to deliver a high quality education. 

Joseph - Funding priorities...students, teachers, classrooms. Only change when it needs to be done. Thinks current board works well with the unions. In terms of school performance, thinks SD2 is doing very well.

Joseph appointed by 5-3 vote. Hafer and zone 1 trustee voted against. I didn't pick up on the third.

Oct 14 Stakeholders relations committee meeting - Notes.

SHAC update: 20 members on the committee but attendance has been sparse. July 2015 - Smart Snack implementation. This is standards for vendors for anything sold for the school day. Compliance with some law.

Parent Advisory Committee:  No activity. Might need a new leader.

School Naming committee: Dusty needs name, colors, and mascot of school. Looking for a committee of 7-10 people from the Heights. Targeting 4th graders. Each class in art would create a votable presentation. Board would get 2 options to approve from. Dusty needs this as soon as possible. They will recommend to the board to approve a committee process and application.

Calendar Committee: Looking at 16-17 to 18-19 calendars. A community survey has been done recently. Shorter breaks or full week spring break.

MTSBA Report:  Need votes Friday Morning. We needed to develop a AA caucus. AA's educates 50% of the students. AA are under represented in MTSBA. SD2 pays $14,000 to MTSBA. Looking at other options than MTSBA.

Oct 14 SD2 planning meeting - Notes

McKinley update: Striping for parking completed. Basement slab is 50 percent completed. Corner bulbs are in. There have been noise complaints during school day. Budget is getting tighter...concrete removal.

Broadwater update: Concrete footing and walls have been poured. Cutting in new utilities with school out Thu and Fri. At 7% contingency, but still have basement work in main building.

Heights Middle School: Working with Dick Anderson construction to get cost estimates nailed down. Trying to get as much outside work done in the fall. Trying to get building site ready for concrete footings next spring. Crude oil line caused delays. Code compliance meetings with city...home ec room may need commercial hoods and fire suppression equipment. Will add to cost if city doesn't relent. Bench project likely pay for additional parking and bus parking along Bench.

Policy 8425 2nd reading: Approved.

Capacity Factoring for Special Education: Cropper needs some information in order to determine where to put the general student body. Heights special ed students are on a bus for an hour for the trip too and from the career center. Parents, principals, and staff need to get together to provide input. These programs are moving buildings too much.

Redistricting options: Noted that if the school district explains the why,then parents will be more accepting of the final plan. Nov 4 the next meeting.

Strategic Planning: School district is in the process of setting up community meetings.

MCEL update: No support in funding 6th graders as middle schoolers. Governor's preschool program major item for discussion.

Oct 7 School Reboundarying Committee Meeting Notes

1) Matt Cropper is presenting current capacity usage of elementary and middle schools. Many schools are above 100%

2) They are adding capacity to Broadwater and McKinley elementaries to 400 students each. Moving 6th grade to middle schools. Two new middle schools are being built. This is to address the capacity shortage problem.

3) Cropper wants team to address criteria as a whole when looking at options. Team will not be able to make everyone happy.

4) Link http://www.croppermap.com/billingsredistricting

5) Cropper wants team to study the geography and tables provided.

6) Cropper provided three new redistricted maps for elementary and middle schools. These maps were created to generate discussion so the team can provide ideas for additional options to put on the table.

Oct 7 Board Operations Committee Meeting Notes

Agenda Setting: One item will be on opting out of books. They decided to conduct trustee interviews and make a selection at this meeting.

Communication between Board and school district staff: How does the board get information out of the school district staff? How does the board members deal with parent complaints. Committee is working on how to simplify, clear up, and shorten current policies. Will be covered in future board meetings.

Oct 7 SD2 Performance and Monitoring Committee Meeting Notes

Purpose of these meetings: Provide recommendations to the full board. What information does the school district have to report the board.

First topic of the agenda: setting up a calendar for reports.

• Student Achievement: Dual Credit numbers, ACT test. Enrollment in AP classes. Graduation rates. NWEA scores. Smarter Balance scores. 
• Project Lead the Way...metrics to determine impact? School district right now is more focused on doing it right instead of seeing if it improved science education. MontCAS 4th grade science scores. 
• Title I reporting? 

Finance: Actual vs Budget. Looking at semi-annual reports. Looking at Feb. Budget amendments potentially in May. Reports on reserves and on 5 year budget plan (currently planned for November). Deferred maintenance report (November).

Accreditation:  Official Count (November). Count was Oct 6th. 

Curriculum: Adoption cycle report. Training and staff development involved. School district hasn't followed the adoption cycle. Looking at a financial commitment. 

Demographics and enrollment: Cropper will update projections in November. Will lump in with Accreditation.

How about free and reduced lunch and attendance? Will be added to the list.

Kevin will write first draft and run by the two other trustees. Then sent to LST for review. Final approval by the board (oct?)