Minutes
Iredell-Statesville Board of Education
Committee of the Whole Meeting
ADR Education Center
October 4, 2010
The Iredell-Statesville Board of Education met as a Committee of the Whole at the ADR Education Center on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.
Members present: Dr. David Cash; Ms. Anna Bonham; Mr. Charles Kelly; Mr. John Rogers; Mr. Bryan Shoemaker; and Mr. Keith Williams. Absent: Mr. Bill Brater
Administrators present: Mr. Brady Johnson; Ms. Melissa Wike; Dr. Ron Hargrave; Dr. Alvera Lesane; Dr. Mary Ann Karriker; Ms. Kelly Cooper; Mr. Todd Holden; Dr. Kenny Miller, Ms. Pam Schiffman; Ms. Dawn Creason; Mr. Dale Fox; Mr. David Rothwell; Mr. David Blattner.
Also Present: Mrs. Susan Kennedy, and members of the press.
Dr. Cash called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone.
Discussion: JOBS Bill Discussion: Ms. Melissa Wike stated that we expect to receive $3.8 million in federal JOBS money and the Board needs to decide how to use these funds. The funds are to be used for personnel/salaries in school buildings. The money must be spent by 2012. Several scenarios were reviewed and there was much discussion about how to utilize these funds. The federal budget funding history was reviewed and it was noted that these federal funds will disappear after next year.
Action: None taken, it was the consensus of the board to hold on to these funds to help with next year’s anticipated funding cliff.
Discussion: Budget Amendments: Ms. Melissa Wike reviewed the budget amendments for the State Public School Fund, Local Current Expense Fund; Federal Grants Fund; Capital Outlay Fund, and Direct Grants and Donations Fund. The amendments were small, routine funding adjustments on the state allotments.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Facility Use Agreements/Renewals: Mr. David Rothwell presented five facility use renewals to run through April, 2011. All churches have a good relationship with the school system and have partnered with the schools in various other ways. The renewal requests are for:
· Peninsula Baptist at Brawley Middle
· Grace Covenant Church at Third Creek
· Watermark Church at Troutman Middle
· Cove Church at Statesville High School
· Trinity Baptist Church at Lake Norman Elementary
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Personnel Report: This is a standard personnel report.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Driver Education Update: Mr. Dale Fox presented an update on this program and noted that 1500 people die each year in a car crash, 200 of those are teens, with 3 per year in Iredell County. The three main causes of teen crashes is speeding, running off the road/recovery; and not wearing seat belts. He stated that drowsy driving is equivalent to having a .08 blood alcohol level. He directed the Board to the I-SS webpage for more information on Driver Education.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Technology Pilot At CCTL: Mr. David Blattner presented an update on the technology pilot which began three years ago. There is a 1:1 ratio laptop to student. The laptops utilized will be Mac Book laptop computers. The plan provides the infrastructure, technical support and assistance, staff development, and filtering no matter where the students hook up the laptop. Each student will go through training on the use and care of the computer, digital citizenship, etc. The pilot is being funded through a Plant-o-gram grant from Lowe’s.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Recommended Changes to I-SS Strategic Plan: Ms. Dawn Creason noted that there are three very small changes to the Strategic Plan. The changes are located in:
· Strategic Priority 2 changing the correlation between student learning and the teacher performance evaluation rating from 0.15 to 0.50.
· Strategic Priority 4.1 changing the correlation between student learning and the principal performance evaluation rating from 0.20 to 0.50.
· Strategic Priority 4.2 changing the performance on leadership and professional development portion of the Teacher Working Conditions Survey average from 3.85 to 4.50.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Race to the Top Grant Update: North Carolina is one of 12 recipients in the second round of federal Race to the Top money. The grant is for $400 million; however the Department of Public Instruction will use half and the other half will be distributed to participating schools. I-SS could receive $427,064 per year for four years if we are selected to participate. These funds must be spent specifically in support of four pillars of work:
· Great Teachers and Principals
· Quality Standards and Assessments
· Turnaround of Lowest-Achieving Schools
· Data System to Improve Instruction
There is a Race to the Top link on our home page with full details.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: School Improvement Plans: The School Improvement Plan process was reviewed. In general, the SIP’s focus on two or three goals to bridge achievement gaps. Reading is an issue and continues to be an issue, throughout the district and is the focus of all School Improvement Plans. All School Improvement Plans may be accessed on our district webpage.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Board of Education Improvement Plan: The Board improved in three out of four areas last year. They would like to focus on questions #6, 7, and 11 for the 2010-11 school year since these survey questions had a rating under 80%. It was requested that a “comment” section be added to each survey question in order to identify specific areas for improvement.
Some suggestions for improvement included attending area advisory meetings and school functions, as well as responding to email in a timely manner.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Nomination of NCSBA Voting Delegates: I-SS is entitled to four voting delegates at the State Conference. We need to provide the names of our voting delegates to NCSBA.
Action: The consensus of the Board is that Charles Kelly, John Rogers, Bryan Shoemaker, and Brady Johnson will be the designated delegates as they are planning to attend the conference.
Discussion: Title I AYP School Choice/Update: Mr. Johnson advised the board that we have five schools offering choice options. They are: Celeste Henkel, East Elementary, NB Mills, Third Creek and Troutman Elementary. Cloverleaf was opened as a magnet school and is also enrolling students under the AYP choice option. This has caused Cloverleaf to be overcrowded. Cloverleaf is now on the “watch” list for 2010-11.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Discussion: Bus GPS Tracking System: Bids were sent out with the lowest bid coming in at $83,000. We had one vendor complain about the bid process. The maximum bid time is ten days and the minimum bid time is seven days. We closed our bids after the 7th day. We have one vendor who has complained that he intended to place a bid within the 10 day time frame and was not allowed to do so since we pulled the bids after seven days. We did nothing illegal; however, we will reopen the bids again, with some slight changes, for ten days to allow any vendor who had planned to place a bid during the last three days of the ten-day bid period an opportunity to bid.
Action: None taken, for information only.
Mr. Keith Williams made a motion, seconded by Mr. Bryan Shoemaker, according to NCGS 143-318 for the board to enter into closed session to discuss property issues. The motion unanimously carries.
Mr. Charles Kelly made a motion, seconded by Mr. Keith Williams, to return to open session. The motion unanimously carries.
Mr. Charles Kelly made a motion, seconded by Mr. Keith Williams, to adjourn. The motion unanimously carries.
Signed:______
Dr. David W. Cash, Chairman
Board of Education
______
Mr. Brady Johnson, Superintendent
Secretary, Board of Education
3