July 20, 2006
Minutes of the
Governing Board/DLT Retreat Planning Session of Thursday, July 20, 2006,
beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Green Room at
Governing
Board Members Present:
Dr. Joan Fleming
Mr.
Mrs.
Absent: Dr.
Mr.
Also
Present:
Mr. Kevin J. Kapp, Superintendent
Dr. Chris Reynolds, Assistant
Superintendent
Mrs.
Mrs.
Others
Present:
Barbara Van Fossen
Bucky Bates
Jim Cowan Arn Lavington Jay
Collier
Janice Snyder
Jake Magallanez
Donna Norris David Martin Susan
Clark
Nichole McNally Tom O’Halleran
Breakfast took
place from
GOVERNING
BOARD 2005-2006 GOAL COMMITTEE UPDATES
Professional
Development – Mr.
1. Designated time every Wednesday for
professional development (same this
year as last year).
2. Professional Learning Communities
3. AimsWeb
He noted that
all staff surveyed showed that people liked that we have a professional
development program and there number one suggestion was to focus more on one
topic. He stated that for this year,
Data-to-the-Desktop will be the focus point.
He noted that the professional development coordinator position had been
posted but the district has not been successful in finding a qualified
applicant.
Dr. Chris
Reynolds added that the committee felt that we should not drop the ball, but
continue posting the position and in the meantime, the district will use a
purchase service model. Only one bid was
received from Mary Anne Kapp and the committee approved that bid. He noted that the district will continue to
post the position and that the purchased services will be paid out of that
position’s salary, which had to be cut down to 60%.
Mrs. Navarro
stated that the committee did not want to lose the continuity of professional
development and felt this was the best alternative.
Attendance
and Tardies Committee
– Mr.
Mrs. Geneva
Saint-Amour noted that LaPaz just finished doing that and offered to obtain
those forms and procedures from LaPaz that their
Character
Counts Committee – Mr.
Joe Howard reported that the program has been implemented and that there was no
need to continue this committee and that he would continue to coordinate NBA
week and be the contact person.
He noted that
the following were the 2005-2006 accomplishments by the committee:
Communications
Committee – Dr. Joan
Fleming announced that this committee was looking for a new administrator to
replace Mike Harlan and that the committee meets once a month. She noted that she had asked Janice Snyder to
attend because she is our webmaster and that one of our goals was to get that
position fulltime, which was accomplished.
She reported
that the committee would like for all contact with the media to go through
Janice Snyder and that Mr. Kapp would be talking to the DLT about that
later.
Mr. Kapp noted
that anything you want to publicize, please go through Janice Snyder and she
will make sure that it’s in the newspapers, on the web and on the radio.
Dr. Fleming
noted that the committee had an end of the year BBQ for all staff and was
planning a welcome back BBQ for all staff on September 29th at
Mr. Kapp noted
that the Marketing Program has a budget of $75,000 from the Civic Center Fund,
which is outside of the budget, yet brings more students to the district which
adds to the budget. He reported that the
marketing budget pays for a portion of Janice Snyder’s salary and that she is
not only the webmaster, but the events coordinator and is in charge of the
School Fair. He noted that the brochure
has already been updated and is being distributed, as well as the activity
calendar. He added that the
Communications Committee was looking at the possibility of doing a Myth-Reality
brochure to provide the correct information regarding topics where there is
public misperception.
Growth
Committee – Mrs. Nancy
Martinez reported that it was felt that this committee needs to be on-going and
that people from both inside and outside of the district needed to be added. She reported that during this school year the
Growth Committee has met several times to discuss where our district is going
in terms of growth and how best to plan for this growth. She noted that the committee had met with the
City of
1. Elementary
– make schools three sections instead of present four sections in some schools.
2. High
School – hold the high school to 1600 students to help with growth and
overcrowding.
3. Middle
school
She reported
that the committee had then brainstormed ideas on how best to accomplish the
above with the following being a partial list of their ideas:
She noted that
the committee’s biggest concern was that the district not piecemeal our schools
in order to accommodate growth and that the district should be proactive on our
growth issues.
Mr.
Mr. Kapp
suggested having Stone and Youngberg come up to help us qualify and work with
the SFB, or look at a bond.
Mrs. Martinez
noted that the preschool is exploding and that people are moving to
Mr. Campbell
suggested having the district approach the City of
Mr. Kapp noted
that property would have to be purchased for a new building at the high school
or a new high school since PHS is land locked.
Mr. Campbell
agreed and pointed out that we’re done with construction at most of our schools
regarding any new construction.
Mr. Lawhead
stated that there is a need to look at new space now and that direction was
needed from the Board.
President
Fleming suggested having Renee and Kevin attend some of the committee meetings.
Mrs. Navarro
asked if the Board has ever done a five or ten year plan. President Navarro responded that one was done
when Dr. Short was the superintendent through Joy Kimmel.
Mrs. Navarro
suggested developing a five or ten year plan.
Mr. Kapp responded that was probably appropriate now that we’ve had four
years of pretty steady growth of 2% a year.
President
Fleming suggested looking at Kimmel’s plan and see if it’s still valid.
Mr. Kapp noted
that now that we’ve had four years of growth we need to figure out how much
growth has happened at each level.
Mr. Navarro
stated that she felt we were playing catch-up now and that we need to be more
proactive.
Mr. Campbell
noted that Totsy McCraley has told the Board that high schools become not as
effective after so many students and that 1,600 is a good number.
President
Fleming suggested having a Board meeting with SFB representatives to gain a
better understanding. She also gave an
update on the
Nutrition
and Fitness Committee
– Mrs. Barbara Van Fossen reported that the team nutrition menu was great at
PMHMS, that they had changed all the food items in the snack bar to more
nutritious offerings and had found out that kids liked some things and not
others. She noted that sales were down
about 20% in the snack bar, but up for hot lunches, and that overall they were
up by 45%. She noted that the vending
machines were changed out from soda to water, sports drinks and juices. She stated that the decline in sales in the
snack bar was hard on the vendors but they were now coming on Board and that
she has even had to buy some items from Costco on a weekly basis. She reported that changes made at the middle
schools are: no more deep frying, all
vending machines have juices, water or sports drinks, snack items must meet the
nutrition guidelines and no more carbonated drinks. She noted that regarding the high school,
they must compete with the outside fast-food places so we have always offered
candy, coke, etc. She stated that they
would be changing some of that this year to meet the nutrition guidelines with
a slow transition and that they were now offering a thin pressed pizza and
veggie pizzas. She noted that if there
is a closed campus it would help the food service.
Mrs. Van
Fossen stated that the committee had only met once due to the challenges of her
being the new Food Service Director and that they would meet more regularly
next year. She stated that Linda Ryan
would be talking about nutrition curriculum and that they did not have a chance
to do anything regarding physical fitness, although recess before lunch would
help.
Ms. Linda Ryan
reported that regarding the new health curriculum, there would be new materials
for kindergarten, that the district has not had any for 15 years, that the
health curriculum would address nutrition and that it would offered through a
health newsletter for grades 1-5, through the P.E./Health curriculum for grades
6-8, and through an elective health course to be offered at the high school
next year with the prospect of making it a required course in the future.
President
Fleming asked if many kids had signed up for the new health class. Mrs. McCraley responded that there weren’t
many because the site council needed time to look at what to take off of the
required courses, but that they were offering it once each semester and that
they would be placing new students in that class to meet their elective
requirements and that the person teaching the course has already taught out of
that book.
President
Fleming noted that the state needed to make P.E. a required class. She also noted that this committee would be
an on-going committee.
KIDS &
COMPANY UPDATE
Mrs.
Mr. Kapp noted
that the program was initiated in 2002-03 with the theory that if you hook the
kids early, you would keep them, which our enrollment numbers support. He thanked Marianne Brooks for all her hard
work with that program over the last three years.
Mrs. McNally
distributed a handout that reviewed the enrollment history, student-teacher
ratio, the programs, obtaining growth through referrals, advertising for the
program, finances of the program, goals, and the prospect of expanding the
program to
BREAK
President
Fleming introduced State Representative Tom O’Halleran who dropped by to talk
about the budget that was passed, how it might impact education, and answered
questions from the Board and DLT regarding the budget.
GOALSETTING
FOR 2006-2007 SCHOOL YEAR
Mr. Kapp
reviewed the brainstorming ideas and tentative goals developed at the Board
Retreat the day before.
Discussion
followed regarding those ideas and whether or not they should be goals. Mr. Jay Collier expressed concern about not
putting anything more on teachers’ plates.
Mrs. McCraley noted that PHS was working on their five goals for NCA and
that the staff was already very focused on this process. Mr. Howard expressed concern about having the
dress code as a main goal and thought it would have a negative PR impact and
felt it should be an administrative goal if the Board goals were representing
what is most important to us. Mrs.
Saint-Amour noted that Northpoint students would be wearing uniforms next
year. Ms. Ryan felt that the uniform
report cards, sex education, health, and Accelerated Reader/Accelerated
Math were all curricular and should be
put on the administrative list. Mr.
Campbell suggested that each goal should only have one or two bullets rather
than four or five. It was suggested that
the DLT be invited to the Board’s brainstorming session with both groups
refining the goals the following day.
After a lot of
discussion, the Board and DLT came up with the following goals for this school
year.
Summary of Governing Board Goals
Goal #1 – Academic Achievement
Membership:
Goal #2 – Professional Development
Membership:
Marianne Brooks or Linda Ryan (Chair), Chris Reynolds, David Martin,
Joan Fleming, Bucky Bates,
Goal #3 – Completion of Bond Projects
Membership:
Jay Collier (Chair), Jim Cowan,
Goal #4 – Growth
Membership: Nancy
Martinez (Chair), Jake Magallanez, Totsy McCraley, Barbara Van Fossen, Joe
Howard, Renee Raskin,
ON-GOING GOALS:
Communications/Marketing Committee
Membership:
Joan Fleming (Chair), Arn Lavington, Jay Collier, Janice Snyder, Andi
Mayer, Abbie Roses,
Student Attendance/Tardies
Membership:
Character Counts
Membership: Joe Howard (Chair) –
will continue to coordinate what was started
Nutrition and Fitness
Membership: Barbara Van Fossen
(Chair) and others from last year
Administrative “To Do’s”:
Curriculum – Linda Ryan:
District Technology Committee:
Person Responsible:
President Joan
Fleming adjourned the meeting at 2:00 p.m.
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