WOODLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 404 DIRECTOR'S MEETING MINUTES
April 26, 2010 7:00PM Regular Meeting-WMS/WHS Commons
MEMBERS PRESENT
Jim Bays, Janice Watts, Bill Woodard, Tina Cayton, Steve Madsen, Chelsey Rohm-Student Representative, Michael Green-Secretary, and Tegan Steen-Recording Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT
See attached list.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Board President, Jim Bays, recessed the meeting into executive session at 6:30pm to discuss student discipline and personnel issues with no action to be taken upon return. Board President, Jim Bays, reconvened the meeting into regular session at 7:00.
MINUTES
Janice Watts moved to approve the minutes of the April 12, 2010 regular meeting. Tina Cayton yes Bill Woodard yes Steve Madsen yes Janice Watts yes carried
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT
Prom Court was selected at the spring assembly Friday. The princes are: Evan Koering, Mike Falk, Morgen Glessing, Jordan LiDrazzah and Patrick Warner. The princesses are: Alex Brocius, Samantha Curtis, Caitlyn Cordrey, Marcy McDougall and Tiffany Jones-Hulsebus. The High School has been holding ASB and Class Elections. We have a good number of students trying out this year. There was an ASB meeting last week. They discussed elections, prom and they approved fundraisers.
OPERATION
REPORTS
The Board did not have any questions about the Technology, Financial/Enrollment or maintenance reports. Bill Woodard said that he would like to send a message to USNR thanking them for the computers they gave the District. Jim wants to get the PUD information about how much it cost to do the lighting project in the buildings. He said he thinks that they would be surprised at how good a deal it was.
SUPERINTENDENT REPORT
Mr. Green said that a great deal of time has gone into responding to some recent parent concerns regarding bullying, harassment and intimidation. Though these issues pervade many schools, this conduct is unacceptable in Woodland Schools. According to survey data, the number of 6th grade students who say they've experienced bullying has decreased in the last five years at WIS and it is lower than average for other Cowlitz County 6th graders. Mr. Green says this is too high. We are committed to reducing the incidence and severity of such acts. He has asked Jan Kennell, a recognized expert in the area of safe and drug-free schools, to do an assessment and identify areas of improvement. She will develop planning and training to help us focus our efforts to resolve these problems. She will provide a report by the end of May, so that the Board may be aware of the ongoing progress of this work.
CORRESPONDENCE
None.
BOARD REPORTS AND REQUEST
CITIZENS REQUESTS
Tom Hammond, Sue Ziolkowski, Steve Brown and Christina Ramey, expressed concerns about bullying and harassment at Woodland Intermediate School to the Board. Cheri Nigro said she was the schoolyard aide when the incident happened and she said that news reports were inaccurate about what happened. Kelly Goss said her son had been falsely accused of bullying and wondered what else was untrue about the reports. Shannon Rice, PTSA president, said that the Board and administrators were doing a fantastic job and asked that they deal with the true things that were problems. Todd Dinehart asked the District to create a solution for kids to go to school feeling safe.
Jim Bays told the audience that the Board did not want bullying and harassment to be happening in the schools and that they would birddog the issue and look into what the District needs to do to fix the problem. He invited parents to return to meetings to hear about what was being done. Steve Madsen asked how Board members should be involved, other than policy making. Jim Bays said that it was work for administrators to do. Michael said that administrators discussed this at their meeting last week. They are isolating this type of offense at schools with a different range of consequences. He said that a bill just passed by the legislators asks WSSDA to revise the bullying policy so that schools can revise their policies. He thinks this will come out in the fall. Mr. Green said working on bullying and harassment will be an ongoing management process and the Board will be kept informed.
Karina Dinehart said that the handbooks are clear about consequences of misbehaving. She said that part of the problem is the parents' responsibility and that there should be a community effort for this problem. She said it's not the Board's responsibility to raise parent's children for them. It is the Board's job to protect the students.
*Jim Bays recessed the meeting at 7:50pm so that people who did not wish to attend the rest of the meeting could leave. He reconvened the meeting at 8:00pm.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Technology Department Overview
Michael Green said that the purpose of this discussion item was to answer the Board's request for understanding how the Technology Department spends their time. Steve Rippl gave the Board an overview of how each Tech Department employee spends their time and how and what types of computers are bought.
Washington State Race to the Top Application Process AARA is funding a competitive grant program for states called Race To the Top (RTTT). The State of Washington is preparing an application for this program that will bring about $250 million to the state. The state is asking school districts to consider signing an agreement to participate in this program. The purpose of the briefing will to educate the board on RTTT and discuss the level of interest in committing to participate in the program. Mr. Green said he is not sure that it will be worth it to the District to participate. The time that it would take to have employees participate may be more than the amount received. There is no penalty for not complying after agreeing. After discussion the Board agreed to have Mr. Green sign the agreement to participate.
CONSENT AGENDA
Consent Agenda
Bill Woodard moved to approve the consent agenda as presented. Bill Woodard yesTina Cayton yes Steve Madsen yesJanice Watts yes carried
ACTION ITEMS
Declaration of Bus Surplus Tina Cayton moved to approve the Bus Surplus list. Janice Watts yesSteve Madsen yes Bill Woodard yes Tina Cayton yes carried
2010-2011 Budget Planning: Approval of BAT Recommendation
The Board discussed the BAT recommendation. Steve Madsen moved to accept the BAT Recommendation.
Janice Watts yes Steve Madsen yesBill Woodard yesTina Cayton yes carried
ADJOURNMENT
Board President, Jim Bays, adjourned the meeting of the Board of Directors at 9:01 pm.
ATTEST:
_______________________________ Secretary to the Board
WOODLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT #404 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
____________________________________ President
____________________________________ Director