Bettendorf school board revisits Middle pod renovations

The Board of Directors of the Bettendorf Community School District, in the County of Scott, State of Iowa, met in open session according to Iowa law for their regular Board meeting at the Administrative Center, 729 21st Street, Bettendorf, Iowa, on February 5, 2007.

President Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. and the Board recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Colleen Skolrood, Board Secretary, verified that the meeting notice had been posted and mailed to the media as required by law. Members present: Directors Anderson, Crockett, Ehrmann, Justis, Mayer, Tinsman, Weigle. Members absent: None. Other officials present: Marty Lucas, Superintendent; Dr. Carol Webb, Assistant Superintendent; Maxine McEnany, Director of Business and Financial Services; Cindy Ferguson, BEA Representative; Cara Voelliger, Student Representative; Colleen Skolrood, Board Secretary.

Motion by Director Crockett, seconded by Director Mayer, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried 7-0.

Comments and Suggestions from Audience.

Candy Egger, elementary art teacher, invited everyone to the Figge Art Museum for the Young Artists exhibit beginning February 17 through March 4. There will be a reception on Sunday, February 18 at 1:00 p.m. to celebrate the artistic achievements of the Bettendorf students who have work on display in the Community Gallery.

Director Justis presented the Junior Achievement Platinum award for 2006 to Superintendent Lucas.

Motion by Director Weigle, seconded by Director Mayer, to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion carried: 7-0.

Approval of January 8, 2007 Special Board Meeting Minutes.

Approval of January 8, 2007 Regular Board Meeting Minutes.

Approval of February 5, 2007 Bills Recommended for Payment.

Approval of Administrative Recommendations--Personnel.

Certified Early Retirement

Marion Aronson/GW/4th grade/Effective 6-30-07

Bill Collett/Outdoor Education/Effective 6-30-07

Sally Delgado/HH/5th grade/Effective 6-30-07

Michael Green/BHS/Instrumental Music/Effective 6-30-07

Marianne Marcek/BMS/TAG/Effective 6-30-07

Jim Mullins/BMS/Mathematics/Effective 6-30-07

Deborah Ragan/BHS/Vocal Music/Effective 6-30-07

Barb Sodac/HH/2nd grade/Effective 6-30-07

Sandra Vignes/MT/4th grade/Effective 6-30-07

Certified Approval to Hire

Cheyenne Burroughs/HH/Preschool/SpecEd/BA, 2/$27,295 prorated to start date/New position/Effective 1-29-07

Schedule D Resignation

Laura Miller/BHS/Dance Drill Team Supervisor/Effective 3-1-07

Bill Thomas/BHS/Head Sophomore Baseball/Effective 2-5-07

Jessica Reece/BHS/Lunchroom Supervision (.50)/Effective 1-3-07

Schedule D Approval to Hire

Beth Douglas-Hafner/TJ/Conflict Manager (.50)/$433/Replacing Laura Jansen/Effective 8-14-06

Nathan Hernandez/BMS/Work Pool (.25)/$204/Replacing Donna Schoening (.50)/ Effective 2-5-07

David Pipe/BHS/Lunchroom Supervision (.50)/$1,160/Replacing Jessica Reece/Effective 1-3-07

Carrie Sassman/BMS/Work Pool (.25)/$204/Replacing Donna Schoening (.50)/Effective 2-5-07

Grant Funded – Resignation

Amber Parker/GW/MT/NA/Outreach Worker/Effective 2/14/07

Classified – Early Retirement

JoAnn Bredar/TJ/Secretary B/Effective 6/30/07

Karen Cragg/NA/Para Educator/Effective 6/30/07

Lavonne Hill/MT/TJ/Para Educator /Effective 6/30/07

Sue Kivlin/BHS/Secretary A/Effective 6/30/07

Nancy Mitchell/BMS/Secretary A/Effective 6/30/07

Classified – Resignation

Kim Catalano/BHS/Para Educator/Effective 1/19/07

Classified - Recommendation for Employment

Sharon Heidgerken/BHS/Para Educator/$11.98 per hour/5.5 hours per day/Replacing Michael Rosenthal/Effective 1/16/07

Melanie Nemeth/MT/Para Educator/$11.98 per hour/3.5 hours per day/New position-Resource student weight/Effective 1/3/07

Construction Change Orders.

Approval of Requests for Open Enrollment.

Into Bettendorf, 2006/07

Kayla Bennett, grade 8, from Pleasant Valley, good cause due to change of residence

Kelsey Nilsson, grade 10, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Samuel Nilsson, grade 8, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Into Bettendorf, 2007/08

Ryan Cole, kindergarten, from Pleasant Valley

Nicholas Miller, grade 7, from Pleasant Valley

Samantha Roemer, kindergarten, from Pleasant Valley

Grant Spranger, grade 6, from Pleasant Valley

FOR INFORMATION ONLY. The following students have open enrolled out of the Bettendorf Community School District:

Out of Bettendorf, 2006/07

Parwan Kaur, grade 10, to Pleasant Valley, continuation

Simran Singh, grade 4, to Pleasant Valley, continuation

Out of Bettendorf, 2007/08

Niklas Keeney, kindergarten, to North Scott

Mark Kessler, grade 1, to Pleasant Valley

Melanie Kessler, grade 4, to Pleasant Valley

Shared Communications.

Cara Voelliger, student representative, attended a conference in St. Louis with the student council. She thanked the Board for letting them go and said it was very informative.

Directors Weigle and Ehrmann attended Invention Convention on January 24. Director Weigle said it is an interesting project and worthwhile.

Director Justis attended 8th grade parent night. She was impressed with Jimmy Casas’, HS principal, enthusiasm and said he is a great cheerleader for high school education. She also attended the 6th grade girls’ slumber party at middle school. She commended the middle school teachers for spending the night with all of those girls.

President Anderson also attended the 8th grade parent night. He said it was a great turnout and Jimmy did a tremendous job. President Anderson also mentioned the Finance Committee met and there would be a committee report later in the meeting.

School Improvement Team Report – Elementary.

Jerry Fagle GW principal presented the elementary principals building goals and primary methods/strategies for achieving these goals.

The main focus this year is on vocabulary. This helps improve fluency, reading comprehension, construct contextual meaning and enrich writing. New vocabulary curriculum is linked to the whole curriculum through “word wisdom”. Vocabulary instruction strategies are developed kindergarten through 2nd grade. There is also ongoing teacher support and strategies, as well as reading support strategies.

All the elementary buildings are using some type of positive behavior program to focus on school climate and creating a community of learners.

Finance Committee Report.

Directors Tinsman, Crockett, Anderson, Superintendent Lucas, and Maxine McEnany recently held a Finance Committee meeting.

Maxine reported the committee spent a great deal of time discussing food service operations. The committee discussed efficiencies to bring the food service expenditures in line with income. Superintendent Lucas said a lot of the income from food service depends on ala carte sales and ala carte sales are down due to limiting the number of unhealthy snacks students can buy and trying to offer more healthy snacks.

Maxine also stated the 2005/2006 audit report was reviewed by the committee. She said there were some minor reportable issues the district needed to address and she and Marty had met with those responsible to put the auditors recommendations in place.

Board Directors expressed their concerns regarding issuing small refund checks for leftover balances in the students lunch accounts at the end of the year. At the present time we are following the state’s directions in giving back the money to the parents but we will look into other more cost effective ways to make those reimbursements.

President Anderson noted the auditors did not find any major problems and the comments from the auditors are just recommendations to strengthen our controls.

Maxine said she is currently preparing the 2007/08 budget and would like some direction from the Board on where they want to be. The preliminary property tax rate estimate for 2007/2008 is $15.00 per $1000 assessed valuation, which is the same as the current year levy.

Maxine explained that in addition to the proposed $15.00 levy that an additional $0.83 per $1000 taxable valuation could be levied for cash reserve. The budget estimate needs to be published by the beginning of April. Maxine said she would like to keep it the same rate until we get through the Neil Armstrong building project. She noted the funds are in good shape and there are some reserve funds built into the recommended $15.00 levy.

Director Weigle said she did not want to go any higher than the proposed levy amount. Director Mayer agreed. President Anderson said he is leaning toward publishing a little higher, because it can always be approved lower.

Maxine said she will let the Board know if anything changes, otherwise she will bring it to the Board for approval in March.

BMS Pod Renovation Project

Superintendent Lucas stated there are two options being considered for the middle school pod renovation project, Scheme A and B. These proposals do meet the classroom size needs of approximately 900 square feet and provide a nice traffic flow. The approximate cost of remodeling and new construction is $4.5 million.

This does not include space for a potential new Industrial Tech Lab similar to the one at Walcott Intermediate. Including an Industrial Tech Lab would increase the project cost to approximately $5 million.

There still needs to be a lot more research and discussion concerning the Industrial Tech option. Superintendent Lucas asked the Directors to decide, before going much further, the amount they would like to designate for this project. However, we will likely not know about the state-wide penny until late in the legislative session.

President Anderson asked if the project is all or nothing or could it be done in stages.

Superintendent Lucas said the architect feels it would be very difficult to do in stages because it involves internal remodeling.

President Anderson asked if everyone is comfortable with $4 to $5 million for this project.

Superintendent said these are preliminary figures at this point. There is not a contract with anyone to move forward at this point.

Director Crockett requested a financial spreadsheet from Maxine on our sales tax cash flow.

Director Mayer expressed his amazement that a brand new building costs $7 million and a remodeling project can cost $5 million.

President Anderson asked what substantial changes have been made since the project was put on hold. Superintendent Lucas stated the biggest change is all classrooms are now 900 square feet instead of 700 square feet.

Linda Goff, MS principal, said classroom size was the biggest issue for teachers. The new plan allows for every classroom to have its own entrance from the hallway, but still provides a pod feel. She said her staff favors Plan B.

Director Weigle asked Linda Goff if she feels there is enough support for Plan B. Linda said she definitely feels so.

President Anderson asked if there has been any common negativity regarding the plan. Linda Goff responded saying the staff is big on natural light and there is one pod in the middle. She also said another issue brought up was spaces for lockers.

Director Mayer asked approximately how many students attend middle school. Linda noted currently there are 1,010.

President Anderson said the Board will wait to hear more on the project once the issue regarding the state-wide penny is known.

Linda Goff extended thanks to the Board for all their support on past middle school projects. She invited the Directors to a grand opening of the two new additions on February 27th and March 1st from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Neil Armstrong 2007/08 Calendar.

Kevin Hatfield, NA principal, reported one of the concepts of the 2007/08 Neil Armstrong calendar was to shorten the summer break. Also, there was a concern regarding the length of time of intercessions. After a lot of analysis, the staff agreed five days for intercessions seemed to work better.

Mr. Hatfield said the biggest change to this calendar was adding an intercession in December. He feels there are a lot of reasons why this is a good idea. He said parents seemed very supportive of the proposed calendar.

Director Mayer questioned the disparity between the number of days in the 2nd quarter versus the 4th quarter. Mr. Hatfield said the number of days per quarter does not impact the elementary level as much as it does at the middle and high school levels. Patty Topping, NA teacher, said the biggest challenge is trying to blend the calendar as much as we can with the district calendar, so we have compatible spring breaks and other holidays. Shelly Klaas, NA counselor, said there have been longer 4th quarters in the past.

Director Weigle asked what happens if there is not state funding for the staff inservice day in August and January. Ms. Topping said school would begin one day earlier.

Director Weigle asked when the building will be done. Mr. Hatfield said the site superintendent feels positive it will be completed on July 1st. However, there is a back up plan in case the building is delayed. School would begin at the current Armstrong building and they would move to the new building in October during break.

Motion by Director Crockett, seconded by Director Ehrmann, to approve a high school proposal as presented for a Personal Wellness class beginning with the 2007/08 school year. Motion carried 7-0.

Motion by Director Weigle, seconded by Director Ehrmann to approve the proposed district 2007/08 calendar.

Superintendent Lucas noted a couple of changes recommended by Director Weigle. One of her suggestions was to move early dismissal on February 13 to another week, because it falls within the same week the high school does not have a school day (February 15).

Superintendent Lucas explained that it will not work, because they try to schedule two early dismissals per semester.

It made sense to put it on February 13, because spring break is in March and April already has one scheduled. He noted early dismissals might not be an issue if the state begins to pay for more full days in the future. Director Weigle also suggested adding a snow day, which has been added to the calendar on March 13.

Director Weigle said she received a few comments from some staff regarding the 2007/08 calendar. She said all comments were carefully considered.

Motion carried 7-0.

Motion by Director Ehrmann, seconded by Director Mayer to approve the 2005/06 Audit Report. Motion carried 7-0.

Budget Process for 2008/09 School Year.

Maxine presented some additional information and reviewed the budget process for the 2008/09 school year.

Superintendent Evaluation Timeline & Process.

Enclosed in the Board book is the timeline and process followed for the Superintendent’s evaluation. Copies of the evaluation forms will be distributed on Monday. Barry will collect the forms for summation and review no later than April 1.

Next Agenda Planning.

Superintendent Lucas invited the Directors the AEA Chili Luncheon on Thursday, February 8 at 11:30 a.m.

Motion by Director Mayer to adjourn the meeting at 8:51 p.m.