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PROCEEDINGS
OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 CALL TO ORDER Boy Scout Troop 93 presented the colors and led those present in the pledge of allegiance. The following trustees and officers were present: Trustees: Gayle Walker, Tim Trafford, Thomas Jones, Greg Bochy, District Clerk Diane Brook and Superintendent Eileen Johnson. Trustees Jim Painter and Barbara Forrester Frank were absent. Trustee Teresa Stroebe arrived at 7:10 p.m. Staff members present were: Dave DeBoer, Mike Bowman, Mike Sullivan, Art Anderson, Cindy Gopp, Denise Wulff, Pam Richau, Stephanie Smith-Miller, Becky Conner. Evelyn Pyburn from Yellowstone County News was also present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND PAYMENT OF BILLS AND WAGES The Board received a copy of the summary of paid bills by account. The summary included a detailed statement of all expenditures of money with the name of the person or business to which payment is made, showing the service rendered or goods furnished. Greg Bochy moved to approve the February 28, 2005 work session minutes, the March 8, 2005 regular board meeting minutes, the March 14, 2005 work session minutes, and the March 30, 2005 special board meeting minutes as presented and the payment of all bills and wages and extracurricular bills. Thomas Jones seconded the motion. Tim Trafford, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted aye; the motion passed four to zero. PUBLIC WRITTEN REQUEST TO BE PLACED ON THE AGENDA None received Page 2 CORRESPONDENCE A. Letter of Resignation from Middle School Paraprofessional Debra Derhak Chairman Trafford read aloud Ms. Derhak’s letter of resignation. Supt. Johnson recommended acceptance of the resignation and wished her well in her new employment. Thomas Jones moved to accept Debra Derhak’s resignation. Gayle Walker seconded the motion. Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted aye; the motion passed five to zero. B. Letter of Return to Employment from Bonnie Lorang Mr. Trafford read Mrs. Lorang’s letter aloud. Mrs. Johnson advised that Bonnie Lorang will be returning next year from her 2004-2005 medical leave, and we are happy to have her back with us. No action was required. C. Accreditation Received For All Three Buildings The accreditation letters received from the OPI were attached to the agenda. Eileen advised that all requirements for accreditation by the State of Montana had been met in all three schools EDUCATION AND BUSINESS A.Sixth Grade Students Presented Project Citizen. Mrs. Gopp was present with sixth grade students in the Gifted and Talented Program Project Citizen. Mrs. Gopp thanked the Board for giving the students the opportunity to make their presentation. The Project Citizen presented was: Request to Begin a Student Council at Lockwood Schools. The students did an excellent job with their project and presentation. B. Request for Attendance at Yellowstone Academy SD #58 Supt. Johnson recommended approval of a request for attendance at Yellowstone Academy District No. 58 (Boys and Girls Ranch) for EM. She advised that funding for this will be from the Tuition Fund, which is a non-voted levy. Gayle Walker moved to accept the request for student EM to attend Yellowstone Academy. Thomas Jones seconded the motion. Chairman Trafford advised that the tuition is paid in arrears from the Tuition Fund the following school year. Page 3 Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted aye; the motion passed five to zero. Eileen advised that they are careful to only place students at Yellowstone Academy that they really feel will be helped there. PERSONNEL A. Updated List of Substitutes The updated substitute list was attached to the agenda and presented for board approval. Greg Bochy moved to hire Kelly Smith as a substitute teacher. Gayle Walker seconded the motion. Teresa Stroebe asked if Kelly had received a fingerprint background check. Eileen said yes. Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted aye; the motion passed five to zero. B. Hire a Paraprofessional for the Middle School Superintendent Johnson recommended hiring Amanda Wambolt as a paraprofessional replacing Dustin Herbert, who resigned last month. Eileen noted that they will not replace Deb Derhak at this time. They will just add some time to existing staff to cover the duties. Thomas Jones moved to hire Amanda Wambolt as a paraprofessional. Teresa Stroebe seconded the motion and asked if a fingerprint background check had been completed. Mrs. Johnson responded affirmatively. Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted aye; the motion passed five to zero. POLICY A. Policy No. 1610 Annual Goals and Objectives Teresa Strobe moved to adopt Policy No. 1610 on third and final reading. Greg Bochy seconded the motion. Teresa said it is good to complete this process every year. It makes existing members re-look at policy and helps new members to get familiar with policy. Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted yes; the motion passed unanimously. B. Policy No. 5441 Communication with Parents Tim advised that this policy deals with approval of written communications that do not pertain to individual students. Page 4 Mrs. Johnson advised that she had changed the wording as recommended at the last meeting as follows: Paragraph 1, line 1: The building principals and/or the superintendent should shall Paragraph 2, line 2: have not been approved by the building principal, may will not be Thomas Jones moved to approve Policy No. 5441 on second reading. Greg Bochy seconded the motion. Tim Trafford, Teresa Stroebe, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy and Thomas Jones voted affirmatively; the motion passed five to zero. REPORTS AND MISCELLANEOUS A. Principals’ Reports Middle School Principal Mike Sullivan said he had nothing to add to his written report, but he would entertain questions. Chairman Trafford said he noticed that PowerSchool use is creeping up. He asked about student passwords. Pam Richau and Mike Sullivan said students are not given separate passwords. The assumption is that the parents will share theirs. Primary Principal Mike Bowman said he had nothing further to add to his report. Intermediate Principal Dave DeBoer said the testing operation was very successful. He thanked Exxon for their donation toward providing test incentives for the students. In his report, Mr. DeBoer included the results of a fifth-grade student survey about the departmentalization that was implemented this year. He did a parent survey also, but there were only 25 responses. He is going to try to do it again in hopes of getting a better sampling. The trustees discussed the results of the survey. They asked whether the problems kids noted about forgetting items when from moving class to class have been addressed. Mr. DeBoer said they have not addressed that concern during a meeting of the fifth grade staff. Mrs. Johnson said the fifth graders make the transitions between classes very quietly and orderly. Teresa Stroebe said she appreciates the fact that they took the time and effort to make the change to departmentalization. Dave said the teachers deserve a tremendous amount of credit. Page 5 Thomas Jones commented about the possibility of giving science more time within an everyday schedule. He also asked when test results would be available. Supt. Johnson responded that individual test results should arrive in April. Average Yearly Progress determinations by OPI would be available by next fall. Greg Bochy said he thought it worked well for teachers to teach one subject area. Teacher Stephanie Smith-Miller said in her observations the fifth-grade teachers are happier and love what they are doing. B. Technology Presentation Technology Coordinator, Pam Richau gave a presentation entitled: The Search for a Quality Instructional Software Package. She provided information about assessment, curriculum, and data management. A quick look at Compass Learning was provided, including a lesson about temperature for first graders. Mrs. Richau advised the trustees that they can be given passwords to log in and take a more in-depth look at the Compass Software. There was discussion of professional development for teachers and administrators, and the goal of assisting administrators to become instructional leaders. It was noted that Mrs. Carlson’s Kindergarten students will be completing some Compass Learning sample lessons and testing data. Mrs. Richau briefly discussed costs of licensing and curriculum. Licensing is for concurrent users, which is probably the best value. Pam advised that Compass Learning seems to try to maximize what we can get to our kids for the least cost. Pam Richau said of all the assessment/curriculum programs they have combed through, so far Compass Learning has stood out. She reported that Supt. Johnson had just given her another one to review. Those present talked about providing computer learning labs that could be used before school, after school, and during lunch, as well as during regular class time. Pam commented that she and Darlene Hess had gone to Bozeman the previous Friday to pick up 14 PowerMacs and three Apple G3 computers that MSU gave away. Eileen had read about the surplus computers to be given away and advised Pam about them. It was first come, first serve; Lockwood Schools was the first response received so we received all of the surplus computers. Pam advised that they are desktop machines, and they had to purchase a little memory for some of them. She said they will definitely get good use in the classroom. Page 6 There was further discussion of how this type of a system could work well for Title 1 students also. They could go to the computer lab with their class and be served at their own level. Supt. Johnson advised the trustees that Pam is in the process of assembling a list of software and hardware needs and costs. C. Facilities Report Art Anderson brought his written report to the board. They briefly reviewed it. There were no questions about the Activities Report. E. Superintendent’s Report Eileen Johnson advised that she has documentation available for the bulleted items in her report if trustees wanted to review it. OLD BUSINESS OR FOLLOW UP INFORMATION Under old business Mrs. Johnson reported the following: The question was asked at a previous meeting about whether the Athletic Director had training in evaluation of coaches. At summer coaching clinics this topic is addressed and Rob Osborne assured Supt. Johnson that he has taken this course. Tim said he asked the question because he feels evaluation is very important in an employment relationship. Chairman Trafford mentioned that the board will be a trustee short after the election, because only two people are running for three positions. Mrs. Johnson advised of how the board had requested letters of interest to fill a vacant position in the past. Tim said he would like to start the process. Eileen said they could post notices about the vacancy and application process around the community. After a brief discussion, the timeline to fill the trustee vacancy was established as follows: June 1- deadline for receipt of letter of interest; June 7 - interview of applicants by the Board of Trustees; June 14 – selection of new trustee finalized. It was noted that Montana law requires a school board to fill a trustee vacancy within a prescribed amount of time or the County Superintendent of Schools will select someone. Page 7 TRUSTEE REPORTS Greg Bochy and Teresa Stroebe attended the Day of Advocacy in Helena sponsored by MTSBA. They said they visited with the Governor and the Budget Director at the Capitol. Thomas Jones reported that he had attended the sessions about the instructional software and the Homeland Security Grant meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT ON SCHOOL ISSUES None DONATIONS We thank the following organizations and individuals for their generosity to Lockwood Schools: PTA $500 for test incentives Teresa Stroebe asked for them to be included in the newsletter. NEXT MEETINGS The next special facilities meeting will be Monday, April 18, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. ADJOURN Thomas Jones moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:06 p.m. Teresa Stroebe seconded the motion. Tim Trafford, Thomas Jones, Gayle Walker, Greg Bochy, and Teresa Stroebe voted yes; the motion passed five to zero.
__________________________________ ________________________________ Timothy Trafford, Chairman Diane M. Brook, District Clerk |