BOE meeting, April 7, 2008

The BOE held a Work Session beginning at 5:00 p.m. to review several items. Comm. Wogahn was absent. I arrived late and the BOE was in the middle of a discussion about the Community Survey and how that would move forward. REMINDER: This discussion in April 2008 is a continuation of presentations that were made in June 2007 (10 months ago!) as a beginning point to the Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) effort that was approved unanimously in February of 2007 (15 months ago!). There is a label in this Blog that you can reference about that effort. Ken Faanes was leading the discussion which was fairly confusing due to the significant delay between the original presentations and the current effort. A few comments from my notes:
Comm. Cummins thought that the BOE should be clear that they intend to use the "product" from this effort to adhere to the Feb. 15, 2007 motion to undertake CCP.
Pres. O'Brien was concerned that there would be weeks of study without a clear community consensus.
Comm. Faanes thought that the wording of the survey should avoid talk of referendum.
Comm. Craig indicated that the option of "do nothing" is unacceptable and that as a compromise, the BOE could use the services of the Springsted Group. Again, see previous CCP posting.
Someone raised the option of using the WEAC services that had been made available by ECAE Pres., JoEllen Burke but G. Butler indicated that service was "limited."
Comm. Craig wanted to use the PAC and the website to encourage the public to respond.
Comm. Kneer's comment: "Let's get going! We keep hearing that we aren't doing anything and we really aren't." I swear to God.
Comm. Bollinger suggested that they "use the old RFP" (Request for Proposal) to which Comm. Faanes said "There was no RFP." At some point, Pres. O'Brine just said that they would direct Administration to proceed.

Then Bob Scidmore gave a Technology Update and Future Direction that indicated that there is a one-time chance for the ECASD to make an investment in owning our own network (rather than leasing it from Charter). Apparently the leased costs will double next year but we will only have a fraction of the capacity we currently have. Bad News as the need for more capacity is increasing exponentially and the Charter option somehow locks the ECASD into the Main Office building as their network operations site. If the ECASD joined many community partners in financing this new network (CINC?) we would have plenty of capacity at lower cost and the project would pay for itself in less than 5 years. Cost next year would be $300,000 to lease but $600,000 to build our own. Comm. Cummins and Craig suggested using Fund Balance (in consultation with Dan V.) since this would be a one-time non-recurring expense.

Time was running out so BOE members agreed that there was not adequate time left to give attention to the Little Red Study Committee Recommendations. Another Work Session was scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. on April 21 to have this discussion. G. Butler also suggested that the SAGE Committee be discussed and Comm. Craig indicated that the Charter Advisory Committee recommendations need attention. Lots of stuff that needs ongoing attention and participation of citizens, staff and the BOE. I suggest that, in lieu of the desperately needed Board Governance initiative, somebody better start making a list and checking it twice.

The Regular Meeting then was called to order and the announcement from Closed Session was that the BOE had unanimously approved the hiring of Dr. Ron Heilmann. Announcements included that Carol Craig and Adam Shiel were elected to the BOE and a teache, Odelia McGlaughlin (sp?) won an ccounting Award. Sorry that I may have missed the name on this but I am a really bad stenographer when lots of things are being announced. Also a couple of students won Kohl scholarships.

Dr. Leary announced that he is investigating a possible policy that would allow for a 2 hour delay of school due to inclement weather rather than having to cancel for a full day. G. Butler indicated that applications for student representatives to the BOE are due next week. Also on 5-15-08 there will be an all administrator meeting including principals to share the Continuous Improvement results.

Public Comments consisted of yours truly congratulating Dr. Craig on her impressive margin of victory and the recognition that the public sees her continuous calls for Strategic Planning and Community Engagement important. I renewed my request that the BOE initiate planning for our district and that the referendum results from a year ago clearly indicated that without planning or shared responsibility with the public, we can hope for no improvement. I also indicated that I disapproved of the proposal to eliminate the Grant Writer position as, in my experience, Grant Writers pay for their salaries many times over with successful grants. Gretchen Beckstrom, a teacher at Northstar, indicated her support for the ECAE bargaining team and thanked teachers for their unity and she hopes for a settlement soon.

On the Consent Agenda there was some discussion about the resignation of a Building Service Manager and Comm. Craig suggested that this position not be filled and Comm. Cummins concurred. Pres. O'Brien disagreed. Comm. Wogahn suggested that the BOE take time to gather information and they agreed that the job would NOT be posted as of now.

The motion from last meeting giving the administrators and other non-affiliated employees a 2.0% increase in total compensation for '07-'08 and 2.5% in '08-'09 was approved with Comm. Cummins dissenting and Pres. O'Brien abstaining (his wife is an employee in this group). Cummins said her non-approval was based on her understanding that a different scenario had been laid out in Closed Session and that this employee group typically followed the teachers agreement which has not been settled.

All members approved the open enrollment applications and the gifting policy and the SAGE waivers for all 8 schools currently in the program.

The Regular Committee meeting was called to order with G. Butler giving an update on the CESA 10 contract which includes a lot of shared services that CESA can do more cheaply than the ECASD can do them. Comm. Cummins had a question about support staff for Montessori and McKinley Charter schools, Comm. Bollinger asked about the Instructional Material Center and Mr. F. Weissenburger assured him that it was very beneficial to be involved in this consortium. They also talked about the EC County Off-Campus school that is at CVTC but I am not sure what types of student use this facility that the ECASD pays rent of $23,000/year. Also, the Foster Grandparents program cost us $999 but Fred W. said it is a really "good value" for the district.

Dr. Leary shared hs draft of the Senior Citizen Pass to ECASD events. Not too much controversy on this item! Comm. Cummins suggested to get the Senior Tax Incentive program (I think Altoona has this) to get more help in the buildings. Comm. Craig suggested getting a business to sponsor it and Leary will investigate. Mr. Kling clarified that this pass will NOT be valid for WIAA sponsored events.

Then there was an extremely informative report from Paula Wainscott and Dan Walsh about the EC4T (aka 4 year old kindergarten). In 3 years the program has grown by 30%, and 90% of parents indicate they would recommend it to others. Next year there are 732 children registered up from 439 in '05-'06! Right now there are 22 sites, including 5 ECASD Head Start sites. There were several handouts all indicating the importance of EARLY childhood education for best academic results for children. The EC4T program seemed to be emphasizing needy students and the importance of preparing all children to be ready for kindergarten. Also, elementary teachers have been very pleased with the program and how it helps children be ready to learn. There is transportation available (but not for kids in daycare sites) which allows parents to request transportation and their child will be placed in a site and session that is on the bus routes.

Comm. Craig commented that she was critical 4 years ago but now was VERY IMPRESSED and happy that they had solved the transportation problem. Comm. Wogahn: "Kudos to you!" All BOE members thanked the presenters for their work and success.

Next was a discussion about funding for national competitions in light of the Memorial HS Jazz Band request for funding their upcoming trip to NYC to compete in the Essentially Ellington event. Mr. Weissenburger indicated that funding for national competitions was eliminated from the budget in '98'-99. Comm. Kneer felt that funding this request was a "slippery slope". Comm. Cummins commented that the discussion "speaks to the priorities of our community" that there is funding for hockey but not music. There was confusion as Mr. Weissenburger erroneously classified the Essentially Ellington competition as an "invitation" rather than a competitive reward. Parent Paul Kuehn clarified the error and teacher Bruce Hering thanked the BOE for other support of the Music programs.

This was followed by a discussion of the restructuring of the Dept. of Technology presented by Bob Scidmore. He indicated that there was currently a weakness in the organization of the Technology Dept. n that there was no redundancy nor backup for critical needs and applications. Scidmore proposed cutting 2 positions and creating 1 new position. This was feasible because apparently the software now is so powerful and end users can do their own reporting. Thee was some questioning by BOE members about the job description that seemed so specific that it appeared it was written with someone in mind. Comm. Craig commented that "even Mr. Bollinger who is skilled in all areas doesn't meet these qualifications!" Bollinger's comment back was that there are a lot of individuals who never got degrees but he thought it was a reasonable job description. There was some mention about Closed Session discussion that was lost on me.

More discussion on the Grant Writer position that was proposed to be dropped due to budget reductions but F. Weissenburger said that UWEC may not want to collaborate on the position so we would discontinue the partnership and roll it into another position.

Legislative Report was that across the state 30 referenda passed and 30 failed. in Western Wisconsin only 3 passed and 9 failed. Also, the gap in student achievement for African American children is growing and the state of Wisconsin is the worst. Also, WI is now 17th in the country for funding and 10 years ago we were 11th in the nation. The census reports indicate that WI is 17th in instructional salaries and 6th in benefits. I don't know how Eau Claire stacks up i the state of WI to these figures.

Comm. Cummins indicate that the Clear Vision Community Planning process is coming t an end.

Adjourned at 9:40 p.m!!