March 15, 2010 regular meeting

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF EDUCATION
C & M COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT – MARCH 15, 2010

CALL TO ORDER:  President Gary Dinkla read the mission statement of the C & M Community School District, welcomed the visitors, and called the regular meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the superintendent’s office in Massena.

ROLL CALL: Directors Present:    Gary Dinkla, Todd McKee, Jennifer Holste, Rob Ticknor,Sean South
Superintendent: Steve Pelzer
Secretary: Linda Edwards
Visitors: Jennifer Berns, Peg Hensley, Freda Scanlan, Mike Cormack, Kyle Williams

AGENDA: Motion by Holste, seconded by South, to approve the agenda.  Voice vote, motion carried unanimously 5-0.  

MINUTES, BILLS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:  Ticknor moved, seconded by Holste, to approve the minutes of the February 15, 2010 board meeting and the March 9, 2010 joint board meeting, bills, and financial statements.  Voice vote, motion carried unanimously 5-0.  

COMMUNICATIONS:  None.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:   Mrs. Berns, Mr. Cormack, Mrs. Wahlert, Mr. Giegerich, Mr. Brazell, and Mr. Pelzer will meet on Wednesday to work on an implementation plan for the Iowa Core.  The variety show/spaghetti supper fundraiser will be held on Friday. The proceeds will be used to fund field trips for the elementary and middle school.  

Mrs. Scanlan and Mr. Pelzer have been working with the Anita district to implement a media automation system.  They have met with the reps from two different companies and it was decided to go with Alexandria.  They will provide set up, training, and will convert books into the system.  It is a web-based system that students will be able to access from their computers.  Students will be able to access all three CAM libraries.  Mr. Pelzer reported that it looked easy to use, even on the elementary level.  Total cost of the project is approximately $20,000 with C & M paying one third.

Mr. Pelzer discussed the current IASB situation that has been in the news.  Governor Culver’s recommendation to the legislature is to put more money into Iowa schools.  Legislative issues include the funding of the teacher salary supplement money and whether it is subject to the cuts, the four-year old preschool grant funding, and possible expanded use of PPEL funds.

C & M applied for and was approved to receive modified allowable growth for the loss of Phase I funding.  We were one of only 14 out of 51 districts that were approved.  The stipulation is that it all needed to be paid out to teachers for salaries.

DISCUSSION ITEMS:  Reorganization was again a topic of discussion.  There was a good turnout at last week’s joint board meeting.  Dinkla reported that one of the comments heard was that Larry Sigel talks too fast.  Mr. Pelzer reported on a phone conversation the next day from someone who had attended the meeting and had questions.  He encouraged others to call with questions.  C & M has collected 235 signatures on the petitions and will be mailing them to the attorney this week.  Ticknor suggested that, at the next meeting in Anita, it might be a good idea to hit certain topics again, including taxes and elementary buildings.  It was suggested to use the global calling system to announce the next joint meeting.

PRESCHOOL GRANT/BUILDING:  Parent meetings were held in both districts recently to lay out the proposal.  Preschool will be held in each district two full days a week.  Students will be able to ride the bus and eat breakfast and lunch at the school.  The preschool grant would allow for up to 20 students to be in a class.  Based on square footage, the preschool building currently can accommodate only 19.  Mr. Pelzer would like to look into pricing a 20x15 foot addition to the building.  Right now, it is cramped with only 14 or 15 students in a class.  An architect’s services will be needed.  Jerry Purdy has been contacted.  All the utilities, etc. are already there so it would just be materials needed for the addition.  Mr. Pelzer would also like to have the paneling removed and replaced with drywall to better meet fire marshal standards.

Mr. Pelzer handed out preliminary copies of the proposed 2010-2011 budget for review by the board.  He discussed the cash reserve limits and other levy options. Discussion was held on the addition of an at-risk classroom for next year.  We have had this program in the past. Funding is available and the SWIMS (Southwest Iowa Middle School) program is being dropped.  He and the staff feel there is a group of students we are not reaching now.  This program could help them and others that would be identified.

A preliminary 2010-2011 school year calendar was presented.  It is similar to last year’s but a few changes were made.  Mr. Pelzer had received two proposals for refurbishing the gym floor.  This includes sanding, painting lines and a Cougar logo in the center of the floor, and refinishing the stage area.

BUDGET GUARANTEE RESOLUTION:  Director Holste presented the Resolution 8-10:  RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of the C & M Community School District, will levy property tax for the fiscal year 2010-2011 for the regular program budget adjustment as allowed under section 257.14, Code of Iowa.  The motion was seconded by Ticknor.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

SET DATE/TIME FOR BUDGET HEARING AND HEARING FOR EARLY START DATE:  April 12, 2010 at 4:00 was set as the date and time for the hearings to adopt the 2010-2011 budget and to approve an early start date for the 2010-2011 school calendar.  The regular April meeting will follow.  A motion to set the date and time was made by South, seconded by Holste.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

APPROVE 2010-2011 BUDGET FOR PUBLICATION:  Ticknor moved, seconded by McKee, to publish the 2010-2011 budget as presented with the full cash reserve levy.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

REVIEW/REVISION OF BOARD POLICIES 409.1-414.9:  Board policies 409.1-414.9 were reviewed with revisions including the addition of wording regarding family military leave.  Approval of the review and revisions was made on a motion by McKee, seconded by South.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

OPERATIONAL SHARING:  Anita and C & M are currently sharing the services of the business manager and will receive operational sharing incentives for doing so.  Other positions that could be shared are maintenance director, transportation director, and superintendent. The two board presidents have met to discuss the possibility of sharing these positions.  McKee stated that one advantage to sharing a superintendent now would be that this person would have one year of experience in this position if the reorganization vote passes.  He felt it could ease the consolidation effort later on.  The time frame for hiring a superintendent is different than that for transportation or maintenance.  It was decided, if the Anita board also passes this item, to advertise for all three positions in local papers.  Director McKee made a motion to pursue the sharing of the positions of superintendent, transportation director and maintenance director, seconded by Ticknor.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

CONTRACT:  A motion to approve a contract for Brian Fogleman as junior high track coach for $940 was made by Holste, seconded by South.  Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

CLOSED SESSION:  Jennifer Holste moved, seconded by Todd McKee, to go into closed session to discuss negotiations.  Roll call vote was taken and all voted aye.  The board went into closed session at 5:57 p.m.  After negotiations discussion, on a motion by Ticknor, seconded by McKee, and with a unanimous roll call vote, the board returned to open session at 6:12 p.m.  No action was taken in closed session.

BOARD REPORTS:  Director McKee indicated that his work schedule might change.

ADJOURNMENT:  A motion to adjourn was made by McKee, seconded by South.   Voice vote, motion carried unanimously 5-0.  President Dinkla adjourned the meeting at 6:14 p.m.

signed Gary Dinkla, Board President     

signed Linda Edwards, Board Secretary