June 21, 2010 Regular Meeting

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF EDUCATION
C & M COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT – JUNE 21, 2010

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

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

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

MINUTES, BILLS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:  Ticknor moved, seconded by South, to approve the minutes of the May 17, 2010 regular board meeting, bills, and financial statements.  Voice vote, motion carried unanimously 5-0.  

COMMUNICATIONS:  None.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:  Due to the size of the preschool addition project, a formal bid process is not needed, according to the architect, so proposals will be requested.  Removal of the plywood from the existing building and installation of drywall will also be bid out.  The gym floor project will start a few days late.  The gym walls have been repainted and Mr. Pelzer has talked to the company about the logo and lettering.

Promethean boards will be purchased and installed in the classrooms that do not currently have them.  Representatives from Promethean will provide professional development training.  Microsoft Settlement vouchers will be used for this.

Carpeting has been installed in the two smaller rooms in the northwest part of the building.  The skylight project is on hold until the weather clears up.  The doorway at the south end of the hallway of the elementary building needs to be widened to 72 inches per the fire marshal and May Contracting will complete that project this summer.

Mrs. Carns and Mr. Adkins have been teaching summer school with over 20 students attending. This session will end July 1 and Mr. Adkins will conduct classes for two weeks in August.  Interviews were conducted for a preschool teacher and Nicole Dembinski accepted an offer on Friday.  The Anita district will hold her contract with costs shared equally between the districts.  She does not yet have her special education endorsement and Corey Sebetka will be contracted to provide services for those students.  

DISCUSSION ITEMS:  Reorganization was again a topic of discussion.  The vote will be held September 14th and the board discussed ways to get information out to the public.  Mr. Pelzer presented information on what the district will receive for sharing incentives for the next two years.  

2011 IASB LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES:  The Board developed its Legislative Priorities for the upcoming session.  They include:  Supports continuation of sufficient incentives for and assistance to encourage sharing, reorganization or regional high schools to expand academic learning opportunities for students and to improve student achievement.  IASB supports expansion of sharing incentives to include special education, curriculum and other critical administrative positions.  The incentives must be available to districts regardless of geographic proximity to each other; Supports setting allowable growth at a rate that encourages continuous school improvement and reflects actual cost increases experienced by school districts and AEAs. Our priority is to increase and maintain the state cost per pupil and the spending authority associated with it to build a strong base for future education resources; Supports the repeal of the legislated school start date and restoration of local school district authority to determine when it is in the best interest of students to start school.

SHARING RESOLUTIONS:  The following resolutions were adopted on a motion by Holste, seconded by South and passed unanimously 5-0
*Resolution 10-9:  Operational Sharing Resolution:  RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of C & M Community School District will enter into an operational function sharing agreement to share a Transportation Director with the Anita Community School District.  
*Resolution 10-10:  Operational Sharing Resolution:  RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of C & M Community School District will enter into an operational function sharing agreement to share a Maintenance Director with the Anita Community School District.  
*Resolution 10-11:  Operational Sharing Resolution:  RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of C & M Community School District will enter into an operational function sharing agreement to share a Superintendent with the Anita Community School District.  

SHARING AGREEMENTS:  An agreement to share the services of the business manager (Linda Edwards) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by Ticknor, and passed unanimously 5-0.  An agreement to share the services of the transportation director (Mona Calhoun) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by Ticknor, seconded by South, and passed unanimously 5-0.  An agreement to share the services of the maintenance director (Kyle Williams) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by Holste, seconded by Ticknor, and passed unanimously 5-0.  An agreement to share the services of the elementary/middle school principal (Larry Hunt) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by Holste, and passed unanimously 5-0.  An agreement to share the services of the preschool teacher (Nicole Dembinski) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by Ticknor, seconded by South, and passed unanimously 5-0.  

CONTRACT:  A contract for Kyle Williams as maintenance director was approved on a motion by Ticknor, seconded by Holste, and passed unanimously 5-0.

SRO AGREEMENT:  A School Resource Officers’ program agreement with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office to place a school resource officer in our schools was approved on a motion by South, seconded by Holste.  All Cass County schools will pay $3,000 with that cost split between Anita and C & M.  The motion carried 5-0.

AGREEMENT WITH CASEY COMPUTER CONSULTING:  An agreement with Jim Casey of Casey Computer Consulting to provide technology services at the same rate as last year was approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by Ticknor. The motion carried 5-0.

CLOSED SESSION:  Sean South made the following motion:  I move that we hold a closed session as provided in section 21.5(1)i to evaluate the professional competency of an individual requesting closed session when considering hiring, performance or discharge—in order to avoid needless and irreparable injury to their reputation, for the purpose of evaluating the superintendent. Jennifer Holste seconded the motion. Roll call voice vote was taken and all directors voted aye.  The Board went into closed session at 4:45 p.m.

Following the evaluation of the superintendent, the board returned to open session at 5:09 p.m. on a motion by Todd McKee, seconded by Rob Ticknor.  Roll call voice vote was taken and all directors voted aye.  No action was taken in closed session.

SHARING AGREEMENT:  An agreement to share the services of the superintendent (Steve Pelzer) with the Anita district was approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by South, and passed unanimously 5-0.  

CONTRACT:  A contract for Steve Pelzer as superintendent for the 2010-2011 school year was approved on a motion by McKee, seconded by Ticknor, and passed unanimously 5-0.
BOARD REPORTS:  More discussion on the upcoming vote was held.

ADJOURNMENT:  A motion to adjourn was made by McKee, seconded by Ticknor.   Voice vote, motion carried unanimously 5-0.  President Dinkla adjourned the meeting at 5:29 p.m.

signed Gary Dinkla, Board President     

signed Linda Edwards, Board Secretary