September 2009 Organizational Meeting

MINUTES OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF EDUCATION
C & M COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT – SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

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

ROLL CALL: Directors Present: Gary Dinkla, Rob Ticknor, Sean South, Jennifer Holste, Todd McKee, Superintendent: Steve Pelzer, Secretary: Linda Edwards, Visitors: none

AGENDA: Jennifer Holste moved, seconded by Sean South to approve the agenda. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

MINUTES: The minutes of August 17, 2009 were approved on a motion by Jennifer Holste, seconded by Sean South. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business before the retiring board.

REVIEW ABSTRACT OF VOTES: The abstract of votes of the September 8, 2009 school board election was reviewed. In District #4, 80 votes were cast for Rob Ticknor and he was declared duly elected to the office of District #4 Director of the C & M Community School District for a term of four years. For the At-Large Director, 78 votes were cast for Todd McKee and he was declared duly elected to the office of At-Large Director of the C & M Community School District for a term of four years. The public measure to authorize the PPEL levy for ten years passed 59-23.

The meeting of the retiring Board was adjourned at 4:05 p.m. on a motion by Sean South, seconded by Jennifer Holste. Motion carried unanimously. Secretary Linda Edwards called the meeting of the new Board to order and administered the oath of office to Rob Ticknor and Todd McKee.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Todd McKee nominated Gary Dinkla to the office of president, seconded by Jennifer Holste. Sean South moved nominations cease, seconded by Todd McKee. This motion passed unanimously. Gary Dinkla was elected president of the Board on a 5-0 roll call vote. President Dinkla chaired the remainder of the meeting. Todd McKee nominated Jennifer Holste to the office of vice-president, seconded by Rob Ticknor. Jennifer Holste was elected to the office of vice president of the Board on a 5-0 roll call vote.

TIME AND DATE OF MEETINGS: The third Monday of each month at 4 p.m. was the time and date set for meetings of the C & M Board of Education, on a motion by Todd McKee, seconded by Rob Ticknor. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0. The October 2009 meeting will be held on October 12 at 4 pm in conjunction with opening the sealed bids for the Cumberland properties.

BILLS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Rob Ticknor moved, seconded by Sean South, to approve the bills and financial statements, with an addition to the list of $27 to Walmart. Motion carried unanimously on a 5-0 voice vote.

COMMUNICATIONS: The Board read a letter from Mike Cormack regarding the Phase I reduction and reorganization. IASB has notified us that the School Board Member Handbook is available for free online. Mr. Pelzer presented the Directors lifetime passes to activity events at CAM.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS: Mr. Pelzer reported that professional development on Friday will concentrate on the new additions to the schedule, Skills Block at the Middle School and Visual Phonics and the 90-minute literacy block at the elementary. NWEA testing will begin September 28th for grades 3-8. Testing is done in the spring and fall for these grades. Although Visual Phonics is going well, it seems that the students who need it the most aren’t paying attention. This is Homecoming Week, with the parade on Friday. All students will participate.

Mr. Pelzer discussed Larry Sigel’s comments to the AEA superintendents forecasting negative news on the economics for schools. He anticipates a 5% across-the-board cut. Mr. Pelzer talked about possible changes to IPERS. Materials for a storage building in the parking lot have been priced and ordered. Mr. Downer’s class will construct the building. Bids were received from two companies for the concrete work and the lower bid was approved.

Mr. Pelzer will be presenting at the IASB Human Resources conference on Friday. The topic is “Stress” and he will be talking about the process of closing a building, He will attend the AEA Superintendent Retreat in Okoboji September 26-28. Advertisements to sell the Cumberland properties have been placed in area newspapers and the Omaha World Herald. A tax rate comparison was handed out to the Board.

DISCUSSION ITEMS: Reorganization was again a topic of discussion for the Board. Gary Dinkla met with Randy Rabe, Anita Board president and they discussed reorganization. The Anita Board will be adding this topic to their agenda for future meetings. Mr. Pelzer wants to organize the joint SIAC meeting this fall and discuss reorganization and the incentives that are available. Then a public meeting will be scheduled, possibly in January.

Discussion on the Cumberland building included the placement of ads, bids are due October 9th by 4 pm and the Board will open the sealed bids at its October 12th regular meeting at 4 pm.

MAN AND ENVIROMENT CAMPING TRIP: Because of time restrictions, the camping trip was held the previous weekend. Perfect weather and a successful outing were reported. No action was taken on this item.

SUPERINTENDENT GOALS: Mr. Pelzer presented two goals to the board:
*Encourage and supply teachers with professional development opportunities to enhance our elementary and middle school literacy program. Provide leadership to our teacher leader team in progressing toward the implementation plan for the Iowa Core Curriculum.
*Develop a three-year plan for facility/technology/transportation projects that utilize PPEL and SILO funds. Continue to employ strategies that will focus on establishing stability in general fund expenditures.

A motion to approve the goals was made by McKee, seconded by Ticknor. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

REQUEST ALLOWABLE GROWTH: A motion to request allowable growth and supplemental aid for a possible negative special education balance was made by Ticknor, seconded by South. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

PHASE I AGREEMENT WITH CMEA: Due to the elimination of Phase I funding by the legislature, negotiations had to be reopened. A salary freeze for the current year and a reduction to the starting salaries for next year were accepted in the agreement with the CMEA. A motion to approve the agreement was made by Ticknor, seconded by McKee. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

CONTRACTS: A contract for Rachel White, preschool driver, and Mike Darling, substitute driver, were approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by Ticknor. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

IASB DELEGATE ASSEMBLY REPRESENTATIVE: The Board decided not to send a delegate to the IASB Delegate Assembly this year. No official action was taken on this item.
2009-2010 SIAC COMMITTEE: The list was not complete so this item was tabled until next month’s meeting on a motion by Ticknor, seconded by Holste. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

CONTRACT MODIFICATIONS: Contract modifications for all certified staff due to Phase I reductions, an increase for Cindy Nichols from .9 to .95 FTE and increasing her extra duty contract to $1,978.73, an increase for Lori Eads from 5/8 to 7/8 FTE, and a lane change for Mary Schoning from BA to BA+24 were approved on a motion by Holste, seconded by Ticknor. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

BUS LEASE: Discussion was held on leasing a second bus. With the additional route due to increasing the length of day for the middle school and high school, there are no extra buses available. If one should break down, we would have to borrow a bus. It was decided to lease a bus from School Bus Sales/Blue Bird Body Company for three annual lease payments of $13,635.04 and the option of a balloon payment at the end of that time or returning the leased bus. Motion to accept the lease as proposed was made by South, seconded by Holste. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

RESOLUTION TO SBRC FOR MODIFIED ALLOWABLE GROWTH: The Board approved a resolution to ask the School Budget Review Committee for modified allowable growth for the Phase I reduction. Mr. Pelzer reported that Larry Sigel would help the district with the process. A motion to adopt the resolution was made by McKee, seconded by Ticknor. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0.

BOARD REPORTS: Mr. Pelzer handed out copies of the Glidden-Ralston CSD feasibility study and discussion followed. The board had asked for an example of a feasibility study. Dinkla had attended a meeting on Project Lead The Way at Anita and reported back on that. South reported that he had received two phone calls asking about the sealed bid process.

ADJOURNMENT: A motion to adjourn was made by Todd McKee, seconded by Sean South. Voice vote, motion carried 5-0. President Dinkla adjourned the meeting at 5:23 p.m.

(signed) Gary Dinkla, Board President 

(signed) Linda Edwards, Board Secretary