Kennewick School Board Meeting
January 11, 2012
Section 1: What transpired
Section 2: What was not included
Section 1
Present were school board members Dawn Adams, Heather Kintzley, Brian Brooks, Ron Mabry and Ben Messinger. KSD staff: Dave Bond (Superintendent), Ron Williamson, Greg Francher, Vic Roberts, Chuck Lybeck, Jack Anderson, Linda Tucker
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM by President Dawn Adams who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Recognition: January has been proclaimed “School Board Recognition Month.” Dave read Governor Gregoire’s proclamation and presented each school board member with a certificate and thanked them for their service.
Communication from Parents, Staff and District Residents: Kathy White (me) requested that the board reconsider their decision not to use the Washington State School Directors’ policy audit service. I met with Kathleen MacDonald, the person who does the audit and updating, during my leadership training. KSD’s policies have not been completely updated since 1993. The numbering does not conform to the model policy which makes it difficult to do changes as new laws are enacted. The board stated it was too expensive but not updating adds to the expense of time required by KSD staff to deal with outdated policy manual. What’s the old adage? “Penny smart but dollar foolish!”
Consent Items: Minutes of12/14/11, Personnel Actions, Approval of Educational Specifications for Cascade and Lincoln Elementary Schools, Secondary School Improvement Plans, Travel Requests. Passed unanimously.
Superintendent/Board Member Report; Ron Mabry, Brian Brooks and Dave Bond are attending the ESD 123 workshop tomorrow evening. Brian will be going to the Legislative Conference in February.
Dave informed the board that the athletic leagues were still not settled. It was decided that the vote of the athletic directors super cedes the votes of the principals. This would make the configuration not the one approved by KSD and other Tri-City districts. As a result, four districts, Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and Walla Walla are forming a new league. This would facilitate KSD’s goal of less travel time, time out of class and less expense. Watch the newspaper for more information.
Reports and Discussions: None
Unfinished Business: Resolution No 10 1112 Intent to Apply for OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) Energy Operational Savings Grant OSPI is asking for board approval before a district applies for this grant. March 16, 2012 is the deadline. Vic Roberts stated that potentially this would give KSD $1,500,000 to replace faulty HVAC systems. It was clarified that this motion was only for the intent to apply. Brian moved for the intent to apply, Heather seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
New Business:
Policy No. 8100 NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS: Transportation, First Reading Dave Bond expressed a safety concern about bus transportation to Cottonwood Elementary. School buses are required to stop at all railroad crossings. There is a railroad crossing near theLeslie Road roundabout which has two lanes. If the bus stops in the right lane, it cannot make the lane change required to get out of the ‘right turn only’ lane and the law states that manual transmission school buses cannot shift gears when crossing railroad tracks (the possibility is that the engine will stall). If it stops in the left lane, it is a traffic hazard with the door open (to look and listen) to passing traffic. Previously, there was a sign which exempted buses from ‘the right turn only’ lane requirement. That sign is no longer present. KSD consulted with the City of Kennewick and was told to straddle the two lanes which it is now doing. This has caused numerous complaints from motorists about tying up traffic.
Ethan Schwebke, transportation manager, was available to answer any questions. He has been working on this situation for two years and has researched the legal issues. There is aWAC(Washington Administrative Code) to provide exemptions to the railroad crossing mandate. In cases where it is dangerous to stop at the crossing and there are red lights and semaphores, the buses do not have to stop. This is being done in Oroville which has exemptions to three crossings their buses use. Both Dave and Ethan are recommending KSD also apply for an exemption for the Leslie road crossing.
There were several questions from the board. Heather asked, “Shouldn’t someone else decide?” Ben added, “Someone more qualified.” Ethan stated that it was a problem because the City of Kennewickremoved the sign to exempt buses. Ben asked if the bus could use its red lights to control traffic. Ron agreed with using the red lights. After a discussion of the practice of the bus using its red lights, it was agreed that this would be inappropriate. Ron asked to hear from a traffic expert from the city. Never mind that that was already done to no avail. Dawn offered that she had railroad training because of an uncontrolled crossing near her place of employment. “The lights may not work. Some intersections are more dangerous than others.” She offered no information about the railroad crossing under consideration.
There was no formal motion on the matter. By consensus, the proposal was tabled and staff is to gather more information.
Board Member Compensation per Policy 1532 There was a short discussion about the amount of money involved – maximum of $4800 total for the year or $50 per meeting. Heather moved to waive the compensation and Ron seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Other Business as Authorized by Law Dawn Adams announced that there was an executive session to deal with a real estate matter. Later, as Adams was leaving the room, she laughingly added that the meeting would be ten minutes long. Linda Tucker reminded Adams of the legal requirements for an executive session. No one waited to see if Adams announced any action or closed the meeting in ten minutes.
Section 2
Leadership: there was no leadership in making a decision. The discussion about the railroad crossing was thorough and instructive in a safety matter not routinely an issue. The three new board members offered good questions. The two veteran members showed an ignorance of the efforts Ethan Schwebke and Dave Bond had put into studying the issue. Instead of recognizing the totality of their efforts, the board asked them to redo their efforts. What they said in essence is “Go back to the City of Kennewick, even though you did that before and there was no cooperation. It doesn’t matter that you researched on a state level and came up with the best solution. We do not trust your work.” It is appropriate that the new board members look to the veterans for guidance. The two veteran board members showed their lack of leadership and increased the work load for KSD staff.
Executive Sessions The law is very straight forward about when a meeting of a publicly elected board meets without public oversight. Personnel and real estate are two of the topics that can be discussed in private. Personnel issues respect the privacy of the individuals and real estate discussions that may affect the price of a sale can also be made in private. The chair of the board needs to announce the reason of the meeting and how long it will last. No other topics can be brought into the meeting. I’m sorry I did not wait ten minutes to see if the chair adjourned the meeting in ten minutes. KSD is fortunate to have an executive secretary, Linda Tucker, who knows the law and helps the chair uphold state law.
