Kennewick School Board Meeting December 14, 2011
Board members present: Dawn Adams, Heather Kintzley
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM by President Dawn Adams who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The first order of business was administering the Oath of Office to the three newly elected directors, Ben Messinger, Ron Mabry, and Brian Brooks. The oaths were administered individually by Superintendent Dave Bond.
The Agenda was changed to accommodate the large number of students and coaches who attended for the Fall Sports Recognition. All three high schools had teams that participated in State level competitions. For Southridge, Dive, girls’ Cross Country, Football and girls’ Soccer reached that level. Kennewick placed in girls’ Swim, Football, and girls’ Volleyball. Kamiakin’s boy and girl Cross Country teams had the most honors. The Dive, girls’ Soccer and Football teams also placed at state. After the recognitions, they returned to the printed agenda.
Election of Officers Brian Brooks nominated Dawn Adams for President. No other nominations were made. The election was held by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote. All directors voted ‘yes’ with a lot of giggling and amusement. Brian Brooks nominated Heather Kinzley for Vice-President. No other nominations were made. The same voting method was used with less laughing. No one made a nomination for Legislative Representative. Brian Brooks stepped up and nominated himself. Again, a unanimous ‘yes’ vote.
Communication from Parents, Staff, and District Residents Kathy White presented the three new board members with a congratulatory gift from Uby Creek who was unable to attend. Kathy, also, congratulated the new members and presented the board with a copy of all the business conducted at the Delegates’ Assembly at the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA). As the Legislative Representative, Kathy was the delegate representing Kennewick School District (KSD) at the Assembly. Kathy noted that she was given no direction on how to vote, what was most important for KSD and there was a lack of interest on the former board to advocate in state and federal legislatures. Standard Five of the Professional Standards for school board directors was about community involvement. The ‘community’ should include local, state and federal communities as all of these can influence KSD activities.
Consent Items Passed unanimously. Included minutes of November 9th meeting, Personnel Actions, Payroll and Vouchers, Budget Status for year ending8/31/11, months ending9/30/11 and10/31/11, Elementary School Improvement Plans, Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program Grants and several resolutions that have to do with current and future construction expenses (from Capitol Budget).
Superintendent/Board Member Report Dave Bond reminded the board of the workshop presented by ESD 123 at theirPasco office on1/12/12 at six in the evening. Dinner is included and Linda Tucker needs to make reservations.
Of most concern is the special session of the Washington State Legislature. Dave Bond gave the results as they are known at this time. The legislature has chosen to deal with only one quarter of the shortfall now and the rest at the regular session in January. As of now, there is a change in how buses are depreciated, enrollment reporting is changed and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is cut by $600,000. OSPI has already been cut by $1,000,000. This means that there are fewer OSPI resources available to KSD and other school districts.
Brian Brooks and Ben Messinger reported that they attended the “New School Board Member Boot Camp” at the WSSDA Annual Session inBellevue,Washington.
Reports and Discussions (see Power Point Presentations at end)
- Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) Testing Grades 1 and 2. This is an addition to data previously presented to the board.
- Dual Language Update. The highlight of this presentation was two students speaking in a non-native language. Owen Carter spoke in Spanish and Lizette Rodriquez spoke in English. The collaboration betweenHighlandMiddle Schooland the elementary programs is making the new program a success. There was a discussion about the future of the program. Would it extend into high school?
- Big Nine League Configuration. No vote was taken but the consensus was to go withPascoandRichlandand form a North/South configuration.
- Graduation Statistics Update. This was an instructional presentation for the new board members. Definitions of terms and the formula for dropouts were explained. It was shown how statistics can be used to maneuver data. Success in KSD is attributed to the Success Coordinators in each high school, tutoring, credit retrieval at learning centers, ‘Senior Slams’ (cram sessions one week before graduation) and improving coding accuracy.
- SunGard Update. This is the new multi-purpose business system that is being installed in steps. The installation is nearly complete. The programs are being refined to fit KSD’s needs. Training sessions are planned for next summer.
- Capitol Projects Fund Update 2011-2012. This is an overview of the ten year plan and where we stand now, including matching funds earned for future projects.
Unfinished Business
Updated Levy Amount Options and Resolution No. 3, 2011-2012: Set Levy Amount for 2012-2014. Two actions occurred. First, the board agreed with the recommendation to raise the levy amounts by $0.10 each of the two years. In 2013 the amount would by $3.38 and $3.48 in 2014. This was the first vote. The second was to approve the levy proposal to be sent to the auditor and placed on the ballot in February, 2012. Both votes were unanimous.
New Business
Policy No. 4130 COMMUNITY RELATIONS: Title I Parental Involvement, FirstReading. Jack Anderson presented an update about the parental involvement at Title I schools. Ron Mabry asked about tracking and Jack explained that tracking was included in the policy. This policy passed for First and Second Reading with a unanimous vote.
For the board report from Jacques Von Lunen of the Tri-City Herald click on this link:
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/12/15/1754140/kennewick-schools-set-levy-requests.html
Browse the December Board presentations below or download all documents in a ZIP file. (right click or ctrl+click and choose “save link as”)
