B O A R D S U M M A R Y
September 1, 2009 Regular Board of Education Meeting
Board of Education 2009
President - Edward J. Gawlik Jr.; Vice President - Joel D. Bergeron;
Secretary -Paul E. Sander; Treasurer - Sue Murray;
Trustees - Patricia Graziani, Timothy S. Kachinski, Kimber L. Labadie
PRESENTATIONS
Police Chief Tom Coombs and Fire Chief Doug Gildnerwere introduced and Mr. Peden said the district has a great relationship with the City. Student safety is integral to this board and these departments help in this area.
Doug Gildner, Fire Chief, and Tom Coombs, Police Chief, each spoke briefly and said they are looking forward to working with the district and will be visiting our schools.
RECOGNITIONS - Mr. Peden said one of the changes the Board made at their retreat was to highlight positive things. At the first meeting of each month we will recognize students, parents and community members.
President Gawlik presented certificates to four employees. Mary Lou Provost was recognized for her work with stimulus funds that requires a great deal of time. Our challenge is to account for every dollar we receive. Mary Lou thanked the elementary school wide teams for their work over the summer on their building plan that had to be submitted before school began.
Karen Anderson was recognized for her summer enrollments. We appreciate the work Karen does. A lot of new families moved into the district and Karen is their first contact with us and that is very positive.
David Pinkowski was recognized for his work in developing our new Downriver Athletic Conference. He received a lot of recognition last spring. All principals, athletic directors, and superintendents will meet Thursday to look at expanding this group in other areas.
Mary Hildebrandt was recognized for her work in staffing. A lot of positions had to be filled this year and shekept us on track. Mary also represents us at county meetings.
DISCUSSION
SUMMER SCHOOL REPORT - Nancy Nagle said summer school programs were held for K - 12 classes. Sarah Johnson, elementary summer school principal, organized staff working with Mary Lou Provost and Title I funds. Sinder Gundick arranged a program at Gerisch Middle School using the Plato program to address the needs of our students for grades 6, 7 and 8. Larry Miele, high school summer school principal, set up the program at Anderson for grades 9 - 12.
Sarah Johnson reported on the elementary summer school program. Their theme was “You Can Do It”. They enrolled 200 students in the literacy classes and 160 in the math classes. Students that were most successful were the children with the least absences. She named the summer school staff and said they also had five interns from U of M Dearborn. Sarah gave details on the pre and post assessments given to students.
Sinder Gundick said this was the first year classes were held at Gerisch. This program was held at Asher last summer and it was very successful. The enrollment doubled this year and they held classes for four weeks. Scholarships were awarded to students who needed assistance. They will be offering an after school class two hours a day twice a week this fall.
Larry Miele said they had a very successful program. The $100 credit recovery rebate was extremely successful. This was the largest enrollment ever and he attributes this to the new graduation requirements. To offset costs, they offered classes to 52 out of district students. They had 15 teachers which was also the largest staff ever. They also had three U of M Dearborn interns. The $7,500 grant available helped with students’ tuition. They will review the needs and adjust the program as needed for next summer.
Mr. Peden thanked all three administrators for presenting this evening. There were approximately 500 students attending summer school and we will plan to have the middle school program at Anderson next summer.
MAINTENANCE UPDATE - Mr. Peden said Mr. Menghini was unable to attend the meeting this evening and he highlighted the accomplishments completed this summer in this department. The portable classroom was moved from North Pointe to Shelters; however, we are still waiting for the State’s final inspection. Once again our busses received 100% on inspections. Concrete repairs were made, as well as painting and summer cleaning. Capital improvement issues will be discussed in the work session. Due to the layoff of six custodians, their work schedule has changed. Cleaning will be completed every other day in the elementary and middle schools.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT - Students will return Tuesday after the longest summer vacation ever. MASB contacted Asher as their Golf Program received the “Best of the Best Award” and will receive a monetary gift at a conference in October.
We are dealing with class size issues and will have this completed before school starts Tuesday. We will have the smallest class size in all elementary schools as we can.
Mr. Peden said attendance is important it is directly related to how well students do. We now have a person on staff that will be reviewing chronic attendance problems and making home visits. We are asking the City to pass an ordinance like Wyandotte has in place to address this problem.
We will be sharing swine flu (H1N1) information will staff. If staff or students feel ill, they should stay home. Administration will monitor attendance very closely. Wayne RESA has hired someone to work with districts and the health department.
We are still dealing with unknowns in funding and the outlook is not good. Other districts are having problems also, but we do not have a fund balance in Southgate. We will ask for approval later in the meeting to reduce staff. Our goal for our student count was to break even and we will have our enrollment numbers soon. We budgeted 50 less students; however if the foundation grant is reduced by $100/pupil that means $500,000 less revenue. Discussion for funding for 2010-2011 is $400 - $500 less per pupil. We do not like to reduce staff, but do not know of other ways.
The five new special education busses have been delivered. The secondary bus routes are crowded and we will only bus Southgate Schools’ residents. In the past we have told School of Choice families that if there was space available on a bus stop near them, their children could ride from that point. The bus route for St. Pius students will be combined with a Gerisch run this year. If parents have any questions or concerns, call the buildings.
ACTION ITEMS APPROVED:
District / Board Goals for 2009-2010
ACTION ITEMS NOT FAILED:
Budget Reduction (Layoffs)
Paul E. Sander, Secretary
Board of Education