WOODLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 404 DIRECTOR'S MEETING MINUTES
June 27, 2016, 5:30 p.m. Regular Meeting-District Meeting Room
MEMBERS PRESENT
Janice Watts, Sarah Stuart, Lesa Beuscher, Matt Donald, Steve Madsen, Asha Riley-Substitute Board Secretary and Vicky Barnes-Recording Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT
Shannon Barnett, Jim Bays, Scott Landrigan, Stacy Brown
CALL TO ORDER
President Janice Watts called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
CITIZEN’S COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
There were no citizen’s requests to comment on non-agenda items.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Director Stuart moved to approve the minutes for the special meeting and the regular meeting on June 13, 2016.
Director Watts – yes Director Stuart – yes Director Beuscher – yes Director Donald – yes Director Madsen - yes
REPORTS TO THE BOARD
Facilities and Safety Report – Director Donald asked about the increase in reported injuries from Woodland Primary School. Director of Facilities and Safety Scott Landrigan explained that he heard certain injuries weren’t being reported so he met with the staff to discuss the importance of reporting all injuries to improve safety changes. Director Stuart asked if he had had those same conversations with the Woodland Intermediate School. Landrigan stated that he would be visiting the other school staffs to have similar discussions to improve safety. Director Donald asked about the status of the new playground equipment at Woodland Intermediate School especially how it had faired with the recent rains. Landrigan said it is holding up in excellent condition and the draining worked as planned.
Financial and Enrollment Report - Director Sarah Stuart asked if Business Manager Stacy Brown could provide graphical representations for the board to see the actual versus budgeted variances to which Brown answered that she would provide that information in an upcoming financial presentation. Director Watts asked Brown if directors could meet with her individually if they desired; Stacy said yes, directors were always welcome to meet with her to get a better understanding and also said she would send the directors a link to OSPI’s finance primer because it does a good job of explaining the process.
CORRESPONDENCE
There was no correspondence.
BOARD REPORTS, REQUESTS, AND COMMENTS
Director Steve Madsen commented that he had been receiving questions from community members regarding the length of bus rides to the Cougar area. Madsen suggested performing a survey to see the difference between community members’ perceptions of bus ride times and the actual bus ride times.
Director Donald commented that 43 additional houses will be built in a local community within the next year with the possibility of an additional 35 coming soon which could bring additional new students to the district.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
KWRL Director Shannon Barnett provided an end-of-year update about the transportation cooperative. Barnett discussed the Washington laws (WACs) providing oversight to cooperatives and funding. Barnett provided an overview of the number of hours driven and number of miles driven for the member districts. Barnett also presented the coop's financial statement. KWRL is identifying all student transportation properly to ensure accurate funding from OSPI. Barnett discussed the Transportation Vehicle Fund, giving credit to the founding coop superintendents for buying a nice fleet right from the beginning. Barnett provided a 13-year focus on bus depreciation and purchasing new vehicles. KWRL maintains a fund balance for unfunded changes such as using laminate glass to improve safety and adding security cameras with KWRL buses currently having six (6) on-board cameras along with a dashboard camera. The cameras record their data to SD memory cards, making it easy to review and store footage.
Director Stuart asked if the buses were safe. Shannon said KWRL was recently in the Woodland Planter’s Day parade and had a banner that read 14 million miles because since 2000, there hasn't been an at-fault injury accident. Director Stuart asked about bullying on the buses. Barnett said for on-bus bullying, he reviews security footage to ensure that if bullying does take place, proper action is taken. He said many claims are discovered to be unfounded when the video is watched. Director Madsen asked about assigned seating. Director Barnett said that is sometimes a solution but also at times a parent will object to their child being moved because if feels punitive even though it is for safety.
Barnett spoke about the general education bus route model comparison with Woodland specifically and explained the current model is a hybrid of several, taking what is best from each. The high school and middle school form one group with the primary and intermediate school in another group; 50% of students go right home, 50% go to one other school, but no students go to more than one other school. Director Donald said he was impressed with how close the estimate was for the hybrid versus the actual. Barnett said routing software the district had bought helped with the process.
Director Madsen said he would like data for Cougar to better understand complaints he gets from parents. Barnett said he would get him the requested information. In order to improve trips to Cougar, another bus would need to be added. Assistant Superintendent Asha Riley indicated there aren't many K-2 students at Yale Elementary traveling to Woodland, however, next year the district may see many more 5th grade Yale students transitioning to the Woodland Middle School which could affect transportation needs for the area. Director Donald asked if the board could have data concerning the cost of adding another bus. Barnett said he would and the recent changes in how a coop is funded could make a difference from previous years.
KWRL is looking at changing the GPS tracking system to make it more robust with improved overall tracking and mechanical reporting. KWRL is looking at improving its website presence by linking Facebook into KWRL's messaging. Barnett is also looking at allowing parents tracking their students' buses using Skyward Family Access.
Director Stuart asked if activity buses for students had ever been considered. Barnett said there has been discussion previously on this but not recently.
Director Madsen asked about an emergency response plan for evacuation. Barnett said they are revisiting with first responders to ensure clear communication. He also said a great thing about being in a coop you can draw from other districts in emergency situations.
Summer Board Meeting Schedule-The board had clarifying conversations about the summer schedule for board meetings. They agreed in July to move to having one meeting on July 18, 2016 and keeping the two board meetings in August on the normal schedule of the second and fourth Monday of the month.
CONSENT AGENDA
Director Donald moved to approve the consent agenda.
ACTION ITEMS
Approval of roofing contract for KWRL Building - Director Donald asked if the bid was the best. Assistant Superintendent said it was the state low bid and was a competitive and strong bid. Director Watts asked if the roof was as bad as the middle school roof that was under repair. Stacy Brown said it was worse, core samples taken had indicated it was compromised.
Director Donald moved to approve the roofing contract for the KWRL building.
Director Watts – yes Director Stuart – yes Director Beuscher – yes Director Donald – yes Director Madsen – yes
Approval of Serendipity Center Agreement- This is an agreement with Serendipity Center for the K-12 Therapeutic School contract for the 2016-2017 school year. Serendipity provides very specialized services to children with severe handicaps. During the 2015-2016 school year one child whose severe seizure disorder that profoundly impacts learning and retention was served at Serendipity. It is anticipated that the same student will again be served during the 16-17 school year. The expenditures in this program are eligible for "safety-net" funding. Safety Net is a program that allows us to recover from the state the expenditures that are incurred from serving children whose program is every expensive.
Director Beauscher moved to approve the Serendipity Center Agreement.
Authorization to Purchase of Property at 2280 Lewis River Road-Upon the board's preliminary approval the purchase of 2280 Lewis River Road has been negotiated.The agreed upon price is $175,000. Pursuant to RCW 28A.335.090 an appraisal of the property has been ordered. Shoud the appraisal show the value to be significatly lower that the agreed upon price the purchase will be brought back to the board for further consideration.
The property is located immediately to the northeast of Woodland Intermediate School, between the strom retention pond and the north wing of the building. The purchase will be made in order to accommodate future expansion of the Woodland Intermediate School. Please authorize the Superintendent of Schools to complete the purchase transaction, sign all related documents, and pay all appropriate fees and related charges on behalf of the board. Director Madsen moved to authorize the Superintendent of Schools to complete the purchase transaction for 2280 Lewis River Road, to sign all related documents, and approve payment of all appropriate fees and related charges on behalf of the board. Director Watts – yes Director Stuart – yes Director Beuscher – yes Director Donald – yes Director Madsen – yes
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m.
ATTEST:
_______________________________ Secretary to the Board
WOODLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT #404 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
____________________________________ President
____________________________________ Director