March 7, 2006
Minutes of the
Governing Board Study and Voting Session of Tuesday, March 7, 2006, beginning
at 5:30 p.m. held in the District Office Board Room.
Governing
Board Members Present:
President
Mrs. Dee Navarro
Dr. Andy Newton
Mr. Steve Campbell
Mr.
Also
Present:
Mr. Kevin J. Kapp, Superintendent
Dr.
Mrs.
Mr. Spencer Johnson (arrived at 5:32
p.m.)
Mrs. Andi Mayer, Assistant to the
Governing Board
Others
Present:
Mark Goligoski Jay Collier Teresa
Flack
Barbara Van Fossen Shelly Bunch Cece Ware
Alfie Ware Linda Messing Randy
Fuller
Donna Norris Carolyn O’Reilly Susan
Clark
Totsy McCraley
Joe Howard Mike Murphy
Lauren Millette Bill Monroe Mary
Anne Kapp
Jim Cowan
President
President Fleming
welcomed everyone and thanked those present for attending. Mrs. Dee Navarro led the audience in the
Pledge of Allegiance.
President Fleming
asked Mr.
Dr.
Andy Newton moved that the Governing Board approve the agenda as presented. Mr. Steve Campbell seconded the motion.
Mrs.
Dee Navarro voted aye, Dr. Andy Newton voted aye, Mr. Steve Campbell voted aye,
and President Fleming voted aye. The
motion carried 4-0.
Mrs. Dee
Navarro gave an update on her recent trip to
SUPERINTENDENT’S
REPORT
Mr.
Mr. Kapp
thanked everyone who participated in the Seventh Annual School Fair and noted
that Janice Snyder had done a wonderful job organizing that event. He reported
that the fair had been more spread out this year and that all booths had
visited with a lot of parents and prospective parents. He noted that the school fair is the official
“kick-off” for registration for the 2006-07 school year and that he would be
bringing preliminary numbers to the Board in a few weeks.
Mr. Kapp
distributed a copy of a certificate of appreciation awarded to PUSD for our participation
in the school bus idling reduction program and reported that Mr. Jim Cowan had
attended an event in
He noted that
he and President
President
STUDY AND VOTING SESSION:
CONSIDER THE
REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF THE PRELIMINARY SOFT CAPITAL, UNRESTRICTED CAPITAL AND
THE BUILDING RENEWAL BUDGET REQUESTS FOR FISCVAL YEAR 2006-2007
Mrs. Renee
Raskin explained that this is part of the normal budget process and that the
principals and directors were given allocations based on the 40th
day count. She reviewed the total for
preliminary soft capital, unrestricted capital and building renewal. She noted that the district may not receive
any or all of the building renewal money and pointed out to the Board that
there is no contingency fund built into that budget. She also clarified that instructional aides
(should be aids) was not personnel, but should be thought of as instructional
materials.
Mr. Tom Staley
asked what the district had received last year for building renewal. Mrs. Raskin responded $716,000. Mr. Staley recommended that the Board
consider using any building renewal funds received for those unfunded or
delayed bond projects. Mrs. Raskin
clarified that the Board would want to build a contingency for those projects
and that building renewal funds can be used for major renovations, but not to
build classrooms, and that it would depend on the project.
Mrs. Dee
Navarro stated that the district does need some type of contingency fund for
emergencies and that she would like to see some of that money go towards bond
projects and a contingency.
Mrs. Raskin
pointed out that the tennis court repairs are also in that budget and that the
amount is the district’s portion.
Dr. Andy
Newton noted that the tennis courts equaled 30% of that budget. Mrs. Navarro clarified that the amount is our
portion, or 33% of the total cost.
Mr. Steve
Campbell asked, when we meet next week are we being asked to approve all of
this? Mrs. Raskin responded, yes. Mr. Campbell stated that he thought there was
some hesitancy to approve everything carte blanche and that he’d like to see a
contingency also and didn’t know whether he could approve everything next
week. He also stated that one very large
project that had caught his attention was the PHS exterior doors for $45,000. Mr. Jay Collier responded that the district
has been using Norcon Industries for doors so far, that the company is part of
the MOHAVE contract, that he didn’t think there would be a better price and
that for consistency sake, the district should continue using this company. He went on to say that students are extremely
abusive to the exterior doors, which is why the district had to go with heavy
duty doors.
Mr. Staley
noted that before we even know how much money we’re going to receive, we’re
approving these expenditures and that he had a problem with that, since some of
the bond projects would have priority with him.
President
Fleming stated that she agreed and asked if the Board had to vote on this next
week. Mrs. Raskin responded, you don’t
have to – we can bring the building renewal budget back at a later date and you
can just vote on the other two budgets.
Mr. Staley
asked, will be know by the April meeting whether we’ll receive the
funding? Mrs. Raskin responded,
hopefully by the end of the school year.
Mr. Staley suggested delaying this item until the Board can receive much
firmer numbers.
President
Fleming asked, are we going to ask the principals to reprioritize again? Mr. Staley responded, no, they have done a
good job – we just don’t want to commit at this time. Mrs. Navarro noted that a contingency is
needed and money should be set aside and maybe the principals did need to
reprioritize. President Fleming stated
that the Board should find out how much funding will be received and then we’ll
know if we have to go back and reprioritize.
Mr. Kapp added
that two weeks from tonight the Board has the option to amend the motion and
not vote on the building renewal portion of the budget. He noted that soft capital and unrestricted
capital are formula-driven and you know you’re going to get that money.
Mr. Campbell
asked, Taylor Hicks wants to renovate their kitchen into a faculty
bathroom? Mr.
CONSIDER APPROVING
THE LEASE PURCHASE OF A TIME CLOCK SYSTEM FROM KRONOS, INC.
Mr. Kapp
reported that 12-13 years ago the Amphitheater School District was audited by
the Department of Labor and had to pay over $1 million in back pay for
classified staff for any time they claimed to have worked overtime for the past
three years because they had no way to document their hours. He noted that several school districts were
then audited by the Department of Labor or did self audits. He stated that our district did a self audit
in 1992-93 and asked all classified employees if they had any comp time they
had not been paid for and our district paid out approximately $35,000. He noted that there is a need to have a
system in place to prevent this from happening again. He reported that currently in our district we
have a comp time procedure where employee’s must get approval from their
supervisor to work overtime, submit a time slip, for which they can receive
comp time, overtime, or flex time. He
went on to say that a few years ago our auditors had strongly recommended the
use of time clocks and that we are about the only district of this size that
does not have a time clock system.
Mr. Staley
asked if we had that in writing from the auditors. Mr. Kapp responded that the information was
obtained from a verbal out-going report through the auditors to Renee Raskin. He noted that because the Department of Labor
is beginning to review this again, the administration is proposing the use of
time clocks, which is actually a device that collects data and would ensure
that classified employees would be compensated and the purpose would be for the
protection of our hourly wage employees.
He added that this system would not restrict the availability of
overtime when there is a need for it and would allow for overtime when it’s
appropriate. He noted that the district
could also use time slips, but that would involve a lot of paperwork and
storage. He added that he did realize
there was some concerns regarding this proposal and noted that the
Mrs. Raskin
reported that the district had looked at Kronos because that system ties in
with our Visions software and we could become paperless. She noted that the auditors had strongly
encouraged the use of time clocks and had said that the district could face
liability without the system and that it would protect our employees as well.
Mr. Staley
asked, the $60,000 includes training and maintenance? Mrs. Raskin responded, yes - that $8,400 is
for 47 professional service hours, which would be used to train Suzanne
Plumb. Mr. Staley noted that if they do
a proper job in training in the first place, why would we need additional
time? Mrs. Raskin responded, that’s what
they recommended. Mr. Staley stated that
he felt the training should cover that without the use of additional
hours. Mrs. Staley asked, the $2,500 per
month for 24 months – where does that money come from? Mrs. Raskin responded, soft capital. Mr. Staley asked, have we budgeted for
this? Mrs. Raskin responded, yes.
Mr. Staley
asked Mr. Kapp, we’ve had a system in place for the last 10 years? Mr. Kapp responded, yes. Mr. Staley asked, and have we had any
problems? Mr. Kapp responded, no, it’s
worked fairly well. He added that the
employee’s need to follow the procedure of getting pre-approval from their
supervisor to work overtime. He added
that he has received advice from the auditors that the Department of Labor
would probably not approve of the current system. Mr. Staley stated that he would like to see
something in writing from the auditors to justify this expenditure.
President
Fleming stated that it appears that this system would save us time, money,
paper, and would not change what we are currently doing.
Mr. Campbell
reported that in his experience a written system doesn’t work. He noted that he uses a time clock and when
an employee forgets to clock in and has to write their time down, they always
put the correct time down, even though their time clock record does not reflect
that for the rest of the week.
Dr. Chris
Reynolds noted that a supervisor would be able to get into the system to adjust
for extenuating circumstances.
Dr. Andy
Newton stated that we don’t have employee’s abusing the system and it could
save us from additional problems down the road.
Mrs. Melissa
Moore addressed the Governing Board and stated that she works at Abia Judd and
has been following policy G8450 (GDL).
She noted that she administers the para-pro test after work and that she fills out the time
slip and that the current system seems to be working fine and not costing
$60,000. She reported that she was
certified, but paid as a classified employee, and that the use of a time clock
would make her feel devalued. She added
that she could think of many other uses of $60,000 and that this never would
have been brought up during the “lean” years.
She stated that now that the district has growth, we seem to becoming
casual with large expenditures. She
noted that they used to have an IRC with staff, a librarian at
Mr. Kapp noted
that if we save the money in soft capital, we can’t spend it on personnel, and
we could remove that item from the list, but could only spend that money on
other soft capital items. He noted that
this would treat classified employees differently, but the law says we must any
way and that this is not being proposed to put them in a lower class – it’s to
protect them and ensure they get paid for any overtime and provide
documentation for the auditors.
CONSIDER
THE APPROVAL OF PERMITTING THE MOVING OF THE FENCE ALONG THE WEST BOUNDARY OF
THE
Mr. Kapp noted
that the owner of the Liquor Barn has made this request and that they are
attempting to relocate their store across the street from where they are
currently. He reported that it is legal
to move the fence, that he had checked with the
President
Fleming noted that the distance is just under 300 feet and asked Mr. Alfie Ware
to speak to the Board.
Mr. Ware noted
that he was part-owner of the Liquor Barn and hoped to move to the new
location. He distributed a map that
designated the existing fence and the proposed fence that needs to come in line
with the rear of their new location – approximately 298 feet.
Mr. Joe Howard
stated that his concern was that the fence sits on the edge of the creek and
could create a corridor or space for transients and homeless people to come
into contact with students.
President
Fleming asked, what about the bus loading zone?
Mr. Howard responded, it’s right in that area. Mr. Kapp pointed out that the bus drop-off
area does not fall within the law, but is a physical reality.
Dr. Andy
Newton asked, are we sure we have a problem here? We’re talking about 298 feet.
Mr. Ware
proposed to leave the existing fence up, along with the new fence line, which
would not create a space for transients.
Mrs. Navarro
asked, what about the group we gave access to the creek for walking area? President Fleming responded, that’s down in
the creek area.
Mr. Staley
stated that he had two concerns. One is
kids waiting for their buses making it a recreational area and the other is we
don’t know where our property lines are, and unless we have an accurate survey,
we could be out of compliance with state law.
Dr. Newton
responded, that’s not our problem – it means that he could not open his
store. He added that the district needs
to find out who would make the actual determination of the footage from the
store and the fence line.
Mr. Ware noted
that it would probably be the liquor board or city council and that the city
would probably make the measurement because it’s their responsibility and they
give a recommendation to the state to say yes or not.
Mr. Campbell
stated that he felt the issue was more where the fence is – not where our
boundary is. He stated that his concern
was that it will expose liquor signs and advertisements to kids on a daily
basis.
Mr. Kapp
reported that he had received two calls about the school district doing
anything for a liquor store and whether a board should do something to assist a
profit business. He noted that the Board
could always postpone the vote.
Mr. Ware
stated that he had talked to Mr. Bill Fain and they had the same problem with
the new arena in
Mr. Staley
pointed out that with an enclosed arena, the consumption takes place inside,
but with the store, people would buy liquor and then can take it outside.
Mr. Ware noted
that there is a carpet store between his new location and the field and that he
is located in the middle of the building.
CONSIDER
APPROVING NEW ACADEMIC COURSES AT
Mrs. Totsy
McCraley reported that the high school has a number of new courses they’d like
the Board to consider. She noted that
five years ago one of the high school’s North Central goals was to add AP
classes every other year and that has not been done for three years. She stated that the high school is proposing
to add three new AP courses: AP Art. AP
Government, and ROTC classes.
Mrs. Navarro
asked, how many of our teachers are compensated for giving up their prep
period? Dr. Reynolds responded, all of
them.
Mr. Staley
asked, how much are the stipends? Dr.
Reynolds responded, one-seventh of their salary.
Mr. Staley
asked, what’s the $30 fee per semester for?
Mrs. McCraley responded, for additional art supplies. Mrs. Staley asked, and we have means to cover
those fees if a student can’t afford that fee?
Mrs. McCraley responded, yes.
Mr. Staley
asked, there are two books for AP Government?
Mrs. McCraley responded, yes. Mr.
Staley asked, one costs $80 and the other $40?
Mrs. McCraley responded, yes.
Mr. Campbell
noted that the Board had talked about ROTC and that the district would provide
one teacher and the Air Force would provide one. Mrs. McCraley clarified that the cost of one
officer and one non-commissioned officer for ROTC would be split down the
middle between the district and the Air Force.
She also noted that the high school is asking for additional courses –
not additional teachers.
President
Fleming asked Mrs. Shelly Bunch to describe the AP Government class. Mrs. Bunch reported that the need for an AP
Government class was student initiated and that the department currently has
about 70 AP World History students looking for an additional AP class to go to. She noted that by offering the “We the
People” class first semester and the AP Government class second semester the
students would get both credits on their transcripts and still be prepared for
the AP exam and possibly receive college credit.
President
Fleming asked Mr. Spencer Johnson if he had any comments. Mr. Johnson commented that having recently
gone through the college application process, it’s important for students to
have those AP courses to be competitive and that he hoped the Board would
continue to add AP courses to the high school curriculum.
CONSIDER
APPROVING THE SELECTION OF ( )
AS
PRINCIPAL OF
Mr. Kapp
stated that he was recommending the selection of Mrs. Stephanie Hillig as the
new Principal of Granite Mountain Middle School and reviewed some of her
employment history with the Board. He
complimented Dr. Reynolds and the entire committee for the process that looked
at 12 applications, developed criteria, paper screened down to six candidates
for interviews, with three being recommended to the superintendent for
interviews. He noted that the three
candidates he interviewed were all very highly qualified, which made his
decision very difficult. Mr. Kapp stated
that he felt Mrs. Hillig would be a good principal and a good match for
CONSIDER
APPROVING THE FOLLOWING COOPERATIVE PURCHASING CONTRACTS FOR THE 2006-2007
SCHOOL YEAR: AZ STATE, MOHAVE, SAVE,
TCPN, AND GSA
Mr. Arn
Lavington reported that this is an annual “housekeeping” item that gives the
district the option of using these contracts, she we need them.
CONSIDER APPROVING
MR. KEVIN KAPP – SUPERINTENDENT, DR. CHRIS REYNOLDS – ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT,
MRS. RENEE RASKIN – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, MR. ARN LAVINGTON – DIRECTOR OF
PURCHASING, AND MR. JAY COLLIER – DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES, AS DESIGNATED PERSONS
AUTHORIZED BY THE GOVERNING BOARD TO USE “EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT” FOR GOODS AND
SERVICES WHEN AN EMERGENCY CONDITION EXISTS FOR THE 2006-2007 SCHOOL YEAR
Mr. Arn
Lavington noted that this also is an annual “housekeeping” item needed to
follow current procurement procedures and that if any expenditure came in above
the budget, the superintendent would notify the Board.
Mr. Staley
asked, can any one of the people make an emergency decision? Mr. Lavington responded, any one person could
make a decision in regard to an emergency situation.
CONSIDER APPROVING
PAINTING BID #020806A FROM CENTURY PAINTING USING
Mr. Arn
Lavington reported that this bid was for painting the inside of the listed
schools:
$
78,000
$
15,000
$
15,000 Prescott Mile High
Middle school
$108,000
He noted that
Century Painting had come in at $13,000 under budget. He added that these items at these locations
were deemed top priority of items put on hold.
Mrs. Dee Navarro moved that the
Governing Board approve Kristen Rex,
Brian Bucholtz and Jerry Nunez as designated hearing officers for long-term student suspension hearings
for the 2005-2006 school year. Mr. Steve Campbell seconded the motion.
Mrs. Dee Navarro voted aye, Dr. Andy
Newton voted aye, Mr. Tom Staley voted
aye, Mr. Steve Campbell voted aye, and President Joan Fleming voted aye. The
motion carried 5-0.
CONSIDER THE
APPROVAL OF CERTIFIED AND CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL ACTIONS AS REQUESTED
CONSIDER
RATIFYING THE VOUCHERS AS PRESENTED
CONSIDER
THE APPROVAL OF THE AUXILIARY OPERATIONS AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES FUND STATEMENT
OF RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2006
Mrs. Raskin
distributed and reviewed a tax credit report.
Mr. Staley stated that he wanted a report on tax credits only – not
activity fees.
President
Fleming clarified, you want the total balance of just tax credit donations for
each school – one figure for each school.
Mr. Kapp noted that the Business Office could provide such a report for
the Board in a few weeks.
CONSIDER THE
REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD STUDY SESSION
OF FEBRUARY 9, 2006, AND THE VOTING SESSION OF FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Mr. Steve Campbell moved that the
Governing Board meeting be adjourned. Mrs. Dee Navarro seconded the motion.
Mrs. Dee Navarro voted aye, Dr. Andy
Newton voted aye, Mr. Tom Staley voted
aye, Mr. Steve Campbell voted aye, and President Joan Fleming voted aye. The
motion carried 5-0.
Hearing no
objection, President Fleming adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m.
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