Middle School to get $5 million 'pod' renovation

Unofficial Minutes of the April 23, 2007 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (pending Board approval)

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 April 23, 2007.

President Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:03 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, Weigle. Members absent: Director Tinsman.

Other officials present: Marty Lucas, Superintendent; Dr. Carol Webb, Assistant Superintendent; Maxine McEnany, Director of Business and Financial Services; Joe Slavens, Treasurer; Cindy Ferguson, BEA Representative; Cara Voelliger, Student Representative; Colleen Skolrood, Board Secretary.

Motion by Director Crockett, seconded by Director Ehrmann, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried 6-0-1.

Comments and Suggestions from Audience.

Tom Luton, 2923 Walnut Street, Bettendorf – toured the new Neil Armstrong school. He said it will be a top notch facility and for once we did not under build. He thanked the administration and board for bringing it to fruition. He also mentioned he was a substitute librarian last week at Paul Norton and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He noted he is happy to save media secretary jobs by offering training and feels it is a good move.

Motion by Director Weigle, seconded by Director Crockett, to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Director Mayer asked for the breakdown of male and female physical education teachers at the high school. Jimmy Casas said there are four males and one female physical education teachers. Motion carried: 6-0-1.

Approval of April 9, 2007 Regular Board Meeting Minutes.

Financial Reports:

Financial Reports – March, 2007

Unspent Authorized Budget

Food Service Report

Approval of April 23, 2007 Bills Recommended for Payment.

Approval of Administrative Recommendations--Personnel.

Certified Resignation

Lindsay Rowland/MT/Core Reading/Effective 6-30-07

Certified Approval to Hire

Ann Braught/HH/5th grade/1.0 FTE/BA+15, 1/$27,795/Replacing Sally Delgado/Effective 7-1-07

Dan Knight/BHS/Physical Education Teacher/1.0 FTE/MA, 9/$41,565/ Replacing Kimberly Boelke/Effective 7-1-07

Jennifer Like/BHS/Business/1.0 FTE/BA,6/$32,895/Replacing Michael Brooks/Effective 7-1-07

Tricia Malewicki/MT/4th grade/1.0 FTE/BA,0/$25,500/Replacing Patricia Reier/Effective 7-1-07

Curtis Shepherd/BMS/Mathematics/1.0 FTE/BA,0/$25,500/Replacing Jim Mullins/Effective 7-1-07/pending Iowa certification

Certified Contract Modification

Kellie Beckwith/PN/Core Reading/Increase from .69 FTE to 1.0 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Laura Fergades/HH/Core Reading/Increase from .71 FTE to 1.0 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Angela Short/GW/Core Reading/Increase from .66 FTE to 1.0 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Kris Smith/MT/Core Reading/Increase from .50 FTE to 1.0 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Doris Wood/NA/Core Reading/Increase from .66 FTE to 1.0 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Susan Miller/BHS/Math/Voluntary reduction from 1.0 FTE to .50 FTE/ Effective 7-1-07

Schedule D Resignation

Ernest Lenz/BHS/ Technical Director, Dramatic Arts/Effective 6-30-07

Lindsay Rowland/MT/Lunchroom Supervision/Effective 6-30-07

Kris Wagner/BMS/WorkPool (.50)/Effective 6-30-07

Schedule D Contract Modification

Janelle Cook/BHS/From Assistant Varsity Softball Coach to Head Sophomore Softball Coach/Effective 4-23-07

Schedule D Approval to Hire

Mark Lewis/BHS/Assistant Varsity Softball Coach/$2,805/Replacing Janelle Cook/Effective 4-23-07

Classified – Resignation

Paul Hughes/BMS/Para Educator/Effective 4/11/07

Melissa Willers/BMS/Para Educator/Effective 4/13/07

Classified - Recommendation for Employment

Susan Henessee/HH/Para Educator/$11.98 per hour/5.75 hours per day/New position per student IEP/Effective 4/16/07

Classified – Letter of Assignment Modification

Theresa Schlichting/BMS/Secretary A/Same rate of pay/Same hours/Transfer from Associate Principal to Guidance office/Effective July 1, 2007

Cooperative Agreement with Kaplan University.

Approval of Requests for Open Enrollment.

Into Bettendorf, 2006/07

Matthew Cox, grade 4, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Paige Cox, grade 8, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Sydney Cox, grade 6, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Alec Darrow, grade 8, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Mitchell Darrow, grade 8, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Devon Smart, grade 3, from Pleasant Valley, continuation

Into Bettendorf, 2007/08

Alexi Alvarez, grade 2, from Davenport

Jack Begeske, kindergarten, from Davenport

Tayja Clayton, kindergarten, from Davenport

Litsy Corrales, grade 10, from Davenport

Jonathon Delveau, grade 7, from Davenport

Kevin Delveau, grade 12, from Davenport

Ryan Dobek, grade 6, from Davenport

Mariah Griffin, grade 3, from Davenport

Jeremy Lewis, grade 3, from Davenport

Catherine Loewen, grade 7, from Davenport

Grant Mason, kindergarten, from Davenport

Ashleigh Matheny, kindergarten, from Davenport

Savannah McQuate, kindergarten, from Davenport

Jenna Riordan, kindergarten, from Davenport

Elena Sierra, kindergarten, from Davenport

For information only. The following students have open enrolled out of the Bettendorf Community School District:

Out of Bettendorf, 2006/07

Gabriela Smith, grade 1, to Pleasant Valley, continuation

Out of Bettendorf, 2007/08

Kayci Gatlin, kindergarten, to Pleasant Valley

Shared Communications.

Director Crockett said Mr. Bonnstetter asked her to mention the language department will be making a second trip to Costa Rica on May 29.

Director Weigle attended the high school play over the weekend. She said they are doing a good job of representing a variety of students and everyone did a nice job.

Director Tinsman arrived at 7:20 p.m.

Career Education Lab.

Linda Goff, MS Principal, along with Tammy Chelf, School-to-Work, Shannon Budde, MS Career Education, and Dan Drexler, BHS Industrial Technology, shared a presentation with the Directors on why they feel it is important for a career education lab at the Middle School.

The current proposal is to build a 2,400 square foot lab to house 14 stations that provide integrated hands-on learning experiences linked to Career Pathways. The Career Lab would impact the 6th grade Junior Achievement’s Exchange City. Ms. Goff noted many of the districts utilize this curriculum at 5th grade. The 7th grade Career Lab course would replace speech, which would be integrated into the language arts curriculum.

Ms. Goff said the 2,400 square foot lab is not included in the current proposed pod renovation project.

President Anderson asked if other local districts have a similar setup. Ms. Goff said North Scott, Pleasant Valley, Davenport and Rock Island all have a career lab.

Joe Slavens asked what outcome would this program create and how would it be measured. Ms. Goff said it would introduce students to career pathways. She said as far as measuring it, she would monitor ITBS scores and would hope there would be an impact in math and science scores. Mr. Casas responded saying businesses are asking for students to have more technical skills.

Director Justis asked what the long term costs will be in terms of upgrade costs and consumables. Ms. Goff said the costs of the career lab would be equal to the current costs of the Junior Achievement Exchange City program so we would not see additional new costs for this program. Dan Drexler said he has not spent much in the last five years aside from software upgrades. Ms. Goff said there will not be costs for new computers, because they can use what they already have.

Director Tinsman feels it is important the district has a technical lab. Based on what he saw at the Walcott Intermediate Lab, he did not feel they stressed enough creative thinking or problem solving. He asked if there are different vendors to choose from that stress creative thinking. Ms. Goff said there are different vendors and they will have to research all of them and look for a variety. Mr. Drexler said that a lot of it at the middle school level is exposing students to a pattern and further down the road the students will learn the tools to apply.

Mr. Slavens asked what the current requirements are for speech students. Ms. Goff said speech is part of the Standards and Benchmarks. Students already give speeches in language arts, so speech can be easily integrated into the language arts curriculum. Mr. Slavens said he feels as an employer the biggest weaknesses are writing and presentation skills and would hate to see speech disappear.

Ms. Goff thanked the Directors for listening and for their consideration.

Middle School Pod Project

Superintendent Lucas introduced a plan that adds 600 square feet to the proposed Middle School pod project in order to bring the class sizes closer to 900 square feet. The addition of 600 square feet new construction will add an additional $60,000 to the project. The total preliminary estimate of the probable project costs is $4,920,707.

Superintendent Lucas commented that Maxine did some research and the district could afford a $5 million project and still have money for the projects that have been identified by John Campbell. He said the statewide penny will probably not pass this session and because the statewide penny or local sales tax after August, 2009 is not approved, it is has not been included in the budget for the pod project. Superintendent Lucas believes the district could move forward with the pod remodel project, however; adding 2,000 square feet for the technology lab would be a real stretch at this point.

Director Crockett asked if both drawings have the feasibility to add a technology lab down the road. Superintendent Lucas said they have talked about that and it is a possibility.

Director Mayer asked why plan B was not included as an option in the Directors packets. Superintendent Lucas said it was included previously so he did not include it again, but it is still an option.

President Anderson asked if there is a preference between plan A and C. Superintendent Lucas said plan C is preferred.

Director Weigle said it looks like the house classroom has increased in size, but not all the other classrooms.

Superintendent Lucas said the classrooms did increase some, but not significantly. Some classrooms were around 800 square feet and have been increased to 894 square feet.

Director Weigle said she is surprised the house classroom was increased when it is already an adequate size.

Ms. Goff said the house classroom increased because they are several computers in that classroom and it was requested by the staff. Superintendent Lucas mentioned the schematics are preliminary.

Director Crockett said earlier discussions on the remodeling project only included plans A, B , and C and now there is a different plan C. Superintendent Lucas said plan A is basically the old plan C and the plan C is a new plan.

The estimated budget did not include contingencies. Director Ehrmann said she knows $60,000 does not sound like a lot of money, but it is when we do not have a contingency built in. She said this plan was not one they originally saw and she was favoring the original plan C.

Director Crockett asked Ms. Goff to explain why we should go with the new plan C. Ms. Goff said they looked at students in 900 SF classrooms and it seemed like a good size for the 8th graders. She said Iowa standards say there should be 25-30 SF per student.

Director Weigle said the additional square footage is a big difference and she would hate to under build once again.

Director Justis said she agreed with Director Weigle. She noted every elementary student eventually ends up at the middle school for three years. She said we have the money so we might as well do it right.

Director Mayer said when he got on the board the district was PPEL poor. He would hate to think that we dump more PPEL into a project and neglect all other district projects. He noted he is not a big advocate of just because someone has something (i.e. the bigger classroom size) everyone else gets it.

Superintendent Lucas commented that both plans include hallways so the students do not have to go through one classroom to get to another classroom.

Director Weigle asked if there are other big projects that have not been identified in PPEL. Superintendent Lucas said he does not believe there is. He said there is additional money for unknown projects and is comfortable where we are at with PPEL.

Director Tinsman asked what the cost is per square foot. Mr. Slavens said it is about $200. Director Tinsman said he is all for the additional square footage, but it just seems high. Director Weigle responded saying we received high quotes on the Neil Armstrong project and the costs came in below. She said she would like to air on the high side.

President Anderson concurred with Directors Justis and Weigle and said all students funnel through Middle School and we need an anchor. He said he is in support of doing the project right.

Mr. Slavens agreed and said either do the project right or do not do it at all.

Field Trips/Outdoor Education

Jerry Fagle, GW Principal, shared a presentation with the board on changes to the field trip schedule and outdoor education program for 2007/08. Mr. Fagle noted the main purpose in making changes is to protect instructional time and improve student achievement. Mr. Fagle reported the majority of the teachers felt positive about their study experiences based on a recent survey. The teachers have recommended some changes for the 2007/08 school year and those changes will be looked at and made only if we have agreement that the new experience is more effective in meeting a grade level standard and meet’s district’s guidelines and policies.

There are numerous resources available for future study experiences. Some of those resources include; The Putnam Museum, Augustana College, Blackhawk State Park, Army Corp of Engineers, Nahant Marsh Environmental Education, and Department of Natural Resources. Julie Duffin, PN Principal, said as we make connections with these resources, we will begin to offer some of these activities as extra curricular opportunities.

Superintendent Lucas commented on a recent conference he attended and said that Harvard University conducted a study and found that two of the thirteen years a student is in the school district is wasted time. He said it is extremely important to look at protection of classroom time.

Director Justis asked what the cost is for these resources. Mr. Fagle said the majority of them have no cost aside from transportation costs. The Putnam typically charges $3 per student and the Family Museum sets their fees each year.

Greg Gackle said he is confused and thought tonight was suppose to be a discussion on what would happen with the future of outdoor education. He asked what the district saved by not replacing the outdoor education teacher. Superintendent Lucas said in order to keep costs neutral, they had to eliminate an FTE.

Mr. Gackle asked if every student at every grade level will get a field trip. Mr. Fagle said yes, that is the intent.

Mr. Gackle said he feels the classroom teachers will have to carry the burden of providing what Mr. Collett did for outdoor education. Mr. Fagle said that is not correct. He said he showed all the resources we have available and is trying to make it as convenient as possible. He mentioned the Ewalu staff will do everything Mr. Collett used to do.

Mr. Gackle asked if there was a financial need for the district in their decision to not replace Mr. Collett. Superintendent Lucas said that every position is reviewed when there is a vacancy and at that point and time a decision is made.

Mr. Gackle stated he respectfully disagrees and said Mr. Collett has been a great asset to the district. By not replacing Mr. Collett, he feels the quality will be lacking. Mr. Gackle hates to see the district cut back on this position, because the district can afford to replace the position and should.

Motion by Director Weigle, seconded by Director Justis, to approve the scope of the Middle School Pod renovation of 30,900 square feet of remodeling and an addition of 6,100 square feet at a preliminary cost of $5 million plus 6% contingency.

Director Mayer noted that he is not opposed nor in favor of the proposed pod project, but would like to tour the school first before voting. Therefore, Director Mayer has abstained from voting on this action item. Motion carried 6-0-1.

Motion by Director Weigle, seconded by Director Crockett, to approve the National School Volunteer Week proclamation within the Bettendorf Community School District. Motion carried 7-0.

Board Retreat Topics- April 28, 2007. Superintendent Lucas suggested dedicating at least a ½ hour to 45 minutes to tour the new Neil Armstrong building. He would also like to allot an hour for board members to discuss any topics they would like to and some time will be spent on reviewing goals. Please let Superintendent Lucas if you have anything else you would like to add to the agenda.

Next Agenda Planning. The legislative session is rapidly winding down. There is still some discussion around the statewide penny. Superintendent urged everyone to contact the local legislatures and ask them to support the statewide penny.

Motion by Director Mayer to adjourn the meeting at 9:04 p.m.