PRESCOTT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
146 South Granite Street
Prescott, Arizona 86303
September 6, 2005
Minutes of the Governing
Board Study Session of Tuesday, September 6, 2005, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
held in the District Office Board Room.
Governing Board Members
Present:
President Andy Newton
Mrs. Dee Navarro
Mr. Steve Campbell
Dr. Joan Fleming
Mr. Tom Staley
Also Present:
Mr. Kevin J. Kapp,
Superintendent
Dr. Chris Reynolds,
Assistant Superintendent
Mrs. Renee Raskin,
Director of Business Services
Mr. Spencer Johnson,
Student Representative
Mrs. Andi Mayer, Assistant
to the Governing Board
Others Present:
Totsy
McCraley Frank Lawhead Susan Clark
Bill
Munson Brian Moore Nancy
Martinez
Joe
Howard Jim Williams Marianne Brooks
Linda
Ryan Hilary Eller Gerry Janssen
Mary Anne
Kapp Dorrean Walker David Martin
Arn
Lavington Jay Collier Jay Collier
Louise
Clark Ed Yeager Arn Lavington
Susan
Fahrni Kerrie Bluff Mike Taylor
Steve
Frost Buzz Harris
CALL TO ORDER
President Andy Newton
called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m.
OPENING CEREMONY AND
WELCOME
President Newton welcomed
everyone and thanked those present for attending. Mr. Spencer Johnson led
the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
President Newton noted
that Item No. 9 would be postponed.
Mr. Steve Campbell moved
that the Governing Board approve the agenda as amended. Mrs. Dee Navarro
seconded the motion.
Mr.
Steve Campbell voted aye, Dr. Joan Fleming voted aye, Mrs. Dee Navarro
voted aye, Mr. Tom Staley voted aye, and President Newton voted aye. The
motion carried 5-0.
PRESENTATIONS
Ms. Kerrie Bluff, the
Yavapai County Director for ASBA, was present to introduce herself to the
Board, to inform them of her two-year term and to let the Board know that
if they have any issues with ASBA, she would be the person to contact.
She reminded Board members of the Law Conference taking place this week
and of the County Workshop on October 12th to be hosted by the
Camp Verde School District. She reported that Stone & Youngren would be
donating door prizes and that attendees should wear a bandana to qualify.
She also noted that the ASBA Annual Conference would be held in December.
Dr. Joan Fleming noted
that at the Annual Conference our PHS Highlytes would be performing at the
banquet and the middle school jazz band would be performing that morning.
Mr. Steve Frost, Project
Manager from APS, was present to update the Board on the APSES projects.
He distributed a handout that illustrated the amount of money spent, what
funds the money came from, and the percentage of completion for each
project. (A copy of this handout is available from the Superintendent’s
Office.) He noted that all of the projects should be completed by mid to
late October.
Mr. Kapp reported that
Buzz Harris had attended the Principal’s meeting and most of the
principals had complimented Buzz on his crew’s good work, which had been
done behind the scenes for the most part.
Mr. Mike Taylor updated
the Board on the status of bond projects and distributed two miniaturized
blueprints of design work for Abia Judd and Taylor Hicks. (A copy of
these documents is available from the Superintendent’s Office.) He
reviewed the Abia Judd plans with the Board noting that the old baseball
field would be taken out, that currently there are 91 parking spaces and
that by the end of the project there would be 40 additional parking
spaces. He noted that he is ready to forward all the files to the
mechanical, plumbing, electrical and civil engineers and that the next
step after that would be a site plan review with the city. He reported
that the Taylor Hicks plans also needed to be reviewed by the city and
that fire truck access was a big item on both projects. He noted that he
would be meeting with the principals and other pertinent personnel to
establish their preferences and finalize the design plans. He reported
that we are currently behind schedule on both projects due to late surveys
and that Phase II would begin in the next few weeks.
Mr. Tom Staley asked when
the projects would be completed. Mr. Taylor responded, in the fall of
2006.
Mr. Kapp asked, at Taylor
Hicks, where will the classrooms go? Mr. Taylor responded, where the
portable building currently is, near the top of the MPR (on the design
plans).
Mr. Arn Lavington added,
knowing that we are going with a four section school, we were instructed
by Superintendent Kapp to go out for bid for both a six and eight
classroom plan to compare costs.
Mr. Staley asked, are we
behind schedule on that also? Mr. Taylor responded, all four projects
are.
Mr. Steve Campbell asked,
will the new buildings be connected to the old buildings for inclement
weather? Mr. Taylor responded, it’s likely that we’ll want to do that,
but we just haven’t planned those yet. Mr. Lavington noted that if you
had a covered area, it would inhibit fire lane access also.
Mr. Staley asked, we’re
not moving the playground equipment now? Mr. Taylor responded, no. He
added that the portables will stay for now and be moved at a later date
and be used for additional parking. He also noted that they will be
reviewing the plans for the Williamson Valley Road widening project and
make sure there are no conflicts.
Mr. Arn Lavington
distributed a Bond Expenditure Report and thanked Mrs. Janice Snyder for
putting the report on our website, along with construction photographs.
He noted that the carpet and tile had been purchased from Mohave and that
because all petroleum based products would be going up in cost, they had
locked in the price for carpeting and tile, which we will receive in March
and that they were still $67,000 under budget. He also stated that they
hoped to have an additional $50,000 in carry forward money on top of the
$197,374 noted in the report. He also noted that Mike Taylor has only
used $30,000 of the $279,000 contingency available. He reported that the
district is in real good shape so far, but that he did expect construction
prices to go up. In closing, he noted that our bond was for $18.6 million
and that so far we have contracted for close to $4.3 million that has been
committed. He added that we also have Mike Taylor’s projects coming up
for a total of $6.5 million in committed bond money.
Mr. Campbell asked, when
we set the budget for these various buildings, how did we do that? Mr.
Lavington responded, Mr. Taylor helped us with a cost per square footage
and that he is trying to design within that budget.
Mr. Staley complimented
Mr. Lavington and Mr. Collier and noted that he was pleased that the
district was under budget going into the larger projects and that the
project managers have been coordinating three rather large pools of money.
Mr. Kapp reported that the
district does have a bond page on our website with financial information
and photographs and that soon there would be groundbreaking pictures to
post there.
Mr. Jay Collier reported
that regarding the APSES projects, as we get further along and people see
the bright lights and notice the cooler air, we need to remind people what
we’re trying to achieve – that in 10 years down the road it will be a wash
and pay for itself – and people must continue to be energy conscious and
conserve as much as possible. He noted that teachers have already wanted
to go beyond the set points and the more we go off the set points, the
less we have in energy savings. He stated that he had met with Totsy
McCraley and the PHS Department Chairpersons and noted that lights will be
our biggest savings and that we must remember not to go wild with heating
and cooling. He added that each principal will have the autonomy to
deviate from those set points, but that we must continue to conserve.
Mr. Collier reported that
regarding the locks, he had met with Allen Sharp and noted that we are a
little bit behind schedule and that they had reminded each other of the
time lines. He noted that Phase II would not begin on September 12th
as scheduled. He reported that there must be a 120 day time frame and
we’ll start during Christmas break now instead of Fall Break. He noted
that they were back on track and things are going well.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Mr. Kapp distributed the
Calendar of Events for September 2005, noting that there are plenty of
things going on in the district and encouraged Board members to visit
these activities when they can.
He also distributed a copy
of enrollment figures and reported that the district is up by 44 students
at the elementary level (2%), up by 15 students at the middle school level
(1.2%), up by 79 students at the high school level (4.3%), and up by 21
students at the pre-school level for a total of 160 students, or 3%
growth. He noted that the district’s goal has been to maintain our 2-3%
growth and we are doing that. He reported that the preschool went from 27
students to 48 and it was felt that by screening those students earlier
might have been part of the reason for the increase.
Mr. Kapp distributed a
copy of a report regarding the number of hits to our website and noted
that we are receiving over 1,000 hits each day to prescottschools.com. He
stated that supports the idea that maintaining a web page is very
important and also that he continues to get compliments regarding our
website.
He distributed copies of
the registration for the County Workshop to take place October 12, 2005,
and asked Board members to let Andi know if they were planning on
attending.
He distributed an e-mail
from Attorney General Terry Goddard and State School Superintendent Tom
Horne regarding the enrollment of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina and
noted that we did have one family enroll at Abia Judd.
Mr. Kapp updated the Board
on the search for a PEAK building. He reported that the building the
district was hoping to lease would not work out due to no sprinkler system
and an inadequate water supply to the building to have one put in. He
noted that Denny Colgan was still looking at 2-3 other sites, one by the
airport and one in PV. He added that in the meantime, PEAK is being
housed at PMHMS.
Mr. Kapp announced that
the ASBA Law Conference would be going on this week from Thursday through
Saturday and that three Board members would be attending. He noted that
he would be attending his first School Facilities Board meeting to find
out how that process works.
Mr. Tom Staley asked,
regarding SFB, if we got the okay today to build a new high school, isn’t
the minimum acreage 40 acres? Mr. Kapp responded that he thought that was
correct. Mr. Staley suggested that the district start looking at land now
so it’s not an obstruction later.
STUDY SESSION:
CONSIDER THE APPROVAL
OF COMPENSATING ELIGIBLE CERTIFIED STAFF IN DECEMBER 2005 UTILIZING THE
CLASSROOM SITE INSTRUCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT FUND CARRY-OVER MONEY
BASED ON EITHER A TIERED METHOD OR A FLAT RATE METHOD
Mrs. Renee Raskin noted
that the resolution should read, “Consider the approval of compensating
eligible certified staff in December 2005 utilizing the classroom site
fund carry-over money based on either a tiered method or a flat rate
method.” Mrs. Raskin gave a brief history on the receipt of 301 funding
noting that we began to receive the funding during 2001-02 and at that
time it was $237 per weighted student count. She noted that the district
now receives $353 per weighted student count. She noted that these funds
should continue to go up and was proposing paying a $250 flat rate in
December, with the rest paid out using a tiered method before teachers
leave in June. She noted that last year using the tiered method teachers
received between $492 for the beginning teachers to $890 for the more
experienced teachers.
She noted that the
performance pay would be $1,800 if the person received all ten shares and
that she would like to pay out the $70 in December. She went on to say
that the flat rate would be approximately $560, with the tiered being from
$350-$750. She noted that the JLBC established that the $70 is one-time
money that goes to the teachers in December.
President Newton noted the
reason it’s one-time is because it’s carry-over money. Mrs. Raskin added
that we haven’t received money yet at the county, but they did tell us the
amount.
Mrs. Dee Navarro asked, we
would pay out $237 in a tiered fashion? Mrs. Raskin noted that it would
be $250 – one-time only in December and then the balance would be tiered.
Mrs. Navarro asked, and we’ve been doing that all along? Mrs. Raskin
responded yes. Mr. Campbell added that we do that because we don’t
receive all the money and it was what the Board felt comfortable with.
Mr. Campbell asked, why do
we do a flat rate and then tiered? Mrs. Raskin responded, we give a flat
rate and tier the balance. Mr. Campbell noted that we’ve rewarded the
beginning teachers on the new salary schedule, so maybe we should tier the
full amount. Mrs. Raskin responded that she could do it that way.
Mr. Campbell stated that
$250 would be fine in December, but tier the total amount, subtract $250
out and pay the balance in the spring. Mrs. Navarro added, plus $70 on
top of that, right? Mrs. Raskin responded, yes – per weighted student
count. Mr. Campbell asked, and that could be tiered out also? Mrs.
Raskin responded yes.
Mr. Tom Staley asked, when
is the second payment made? Mrs. Raskin responded, before they leave the
district in May.
Mrs. Dorrean Walker
addressed the Governing Board and stated that she wanted to echo what Mr.
Campbell had just said – PEA supports the tiered method for the same
reason – the beginning teachers were rewarded the most and experienced
teachers received less with the new salary schedule and by tiering this
money it would now reward the most experienced teachers.
Mr. Jim Williams addressed
the Governing Board and stated that the $70 is a one-time fund, we have
20% going into our salary schedule, which will increase the salary
schedule by $84,000 – or reduce M & O. He noted that the $84,000 should
kick into the lower 40 and should not go into the salary schedule unless
it is funded by M & O. He added that it’s important that the teachers
receive that one-time money, so move it all into the lower 40 and pay it
out to the teachers that way – not supplant M & O money.
Mr. Staley stated that it
was very specific, out of the top 20% - where’s $84,000 coming from? Mr.
Williams responded, it’s the amount that would go into the salary
schedule. Mr. Staley noted, this is in addition to that – it does not
decrease the salary amount – we’re giving everyone an extra $70. Mrs.
Raskin added, the $84,000 will go out to teachers – will be paid to
teachers directly.
Mr. Staley stated that it
was his recollection that during salary negotiations Mr. Williams had come
to the Board with incorrect information and that he would request that he
come to the Board with correct figures in the future.
President Newton stated
that he would prefer to use the tier method.
Dr. Fleming stated that
she agreed.
Mrs. Navarro stated that
she didn’t have a problem with doing it that way.
Mr. Kapp noted that it’s a
windfall – one-time money that will go to the teachers.
Mr. Campbell noted that
our history has been to just pay it out – not to go into the salary
schedule.
Mr. Kapp reported that the
$70 per student is guaranteed, but that the $353 figure could fluctuate.
CONSIDER APPROVING THE
UTILIZATION OF 2004-2005 GROWTH FUNDS AND 2005-2006 GROWTH FUNDS TO
ACCOMMODATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT GROWTH NEEDS AS PRESENTED
Mr.
Kapp reported that the place for growth has been the high school and that
after five weeks of school, the administration felt pretty comfortable
with the numbers. He noted that they had met with the high school
administration and would be proposing the addition of four half-time
teachers in Math, Business, Science and Social Studies by using growth
money. He noted that the other area of growth is special education and
that the students coming in have very high needs. He reported that Susan
Clark had given a tour at Miller Valley and that there are programs that
don’t have a place to work out of because when the Board added to the
music, art and P.E., they now use those rooms five days a week, so gifted
no longer has a space. He reported that to move a portable to Miller
Valley the district could use current year growth money ($500,000) or old
growth money ($14,000). He noted that building renewal funds could be
used to set up the portable, but not pay for the lease.
Dr.
Chris Reynolds noted that last spring the Board had approved an overflow
priority list, which is money saved over the summer from replacing
retiring staff with new staff. On that list was $7,400 for
reclassification and $38,000 for a new high school counselor.
Mr.
Kapp reported that the high school was in dire need of a counselor and
that the high school is currently over the NCA ratio for students to
counselors and that we should meet the needs of our kids. He noted that
currently the ratio is 482 students per counselor.
Mrs. Navarro asked Nancy Martinez, are the six positions the ones we lost?
Mrs. Martinez responded yes, and of the six positions, four are for brand
new students whose IEP’s require one on one aides. She reported that they
are seeing more severe behaviors that must be closely supervised and that
the one-on-one aides help to change that behavior. She noted that all of
these are for safety reasons. She went on to say that their special
education enrollment is already up by 10% over last year and that she is
anticipating more special education students enrolling.
Mr.
Staley noted that we were adding teachers both at the high school and for
special education – how many students will be served by those positions?
Mrs. Martinez responded, eight.
Mr.
Staley asked, at the high school – how many students? Mrs. McCraley
responded, eighty.
Mr.
Staley pointed out that the expenditure for eight students would be
$76,000 and for 80 students it would be $81,200, which is about $10,000
per student – that seems real high to me. Mrs. Martinez responded that
the one-on-one aides are for autistic students, which are more severe.
Mrs. Navarro pointed out that those expenditures are mandated.
Mr.
Staley asked, at what point in time does a student get so violent that
they can no longer be a student? Mr. Kapp responded that there is a
process in place and that the district does have some students in
residential care.
Mr.
Staley asked, at what point does a student get so dangerous that we can’t
give services? Mrs. Martinez responded, that’s determined by the IEP
team. She also noted that the earlier you get one-on-one aides for those
kids, the more chance you have of modifying their behavior.
Mr.
Staley stated that that seems grossly over-weighted – or under-weighted.
Mrs. Martinez responded, that’s just special education and we have tried
to be creative with para-professionals.
Mr.
Staley asked, have you looked at those students? Mrs. Martinez responded,
the students that are here have a legal right to be here and we look at
them all the time.
Mr.
Staley asked, when you look at these children, is there any way to save
money? Mrs. Martinez responded, cost cannot be a factor.
Mr.
Kapp noted that this is one of the reasons we send Dr. Fleming back to
Washington, D.C. – the federal government was supposed to fund and we have
never received 100% of the funding.
Mr.
Staley pointed out, it’s a good thing the gifted folks don’t ask for the
same thing.
Mr.
Kapp asked Susan Clark to talk about the Miller Valley situation. He
noted that he only put down the rent - $20,000 total and didn’t put down
the cost of bringing a portable up here.
Mrs. Susan Clark reported that the New Horizons program is now working in
the cafeteria, sometimes in the kindergarten classes, with the limitations
being that there are clean-up times and other programs using the
cafeteria, along with the social worker, Kids & Co. and PTSA. She noted
that in the kindergarten room, if you’re very tall, it’s hard to work on
those smaller tables and chairs. She noted that she would be glad to give
any Board member a tour. She also noted that the Title I reading teacher,
the Gold Mine director and the school psychologist are all working out of
closets, which is not necessarily very professional. She noted that they
have partitions in the resource room, which is used for other programs.
She stated that she was just asking for one room for space and storage.
Mr.
Staley asked, is one portable enough? Mrs. Clark responded that they were
looking at a double portable and that the cost was not that much
different.
Mr.
Staley asked, could we use two portables? He asked, New Horizons was
moved? Mrs. Clark responded, it was shared space. Mr. Staley asked, the
gifted program was hurt by the expansion? Mrs. Clark responded yes. Mr.
Staley pointed out that when in doubt – cut or move the gifted program,
which he thought was a shame.
Mr.
Campbell asked, how much would that cost? Mr. Kapp responded, around
$14,000. Mr. Campbell asked, and we have about $500,000 now in building
renewal? Mrs. Raskin responded, between $400,000-$500,000.
Dr.
Fleming requested that the Board be given the balances on paper. Mrs.
Raskin responded that she could do that.
Mrs. Navarro asked with sudden growth money – can that be used if we were
to go over the bond money? Mr. Kapp responded, yes, but not building
renewal. Mrs. Navarro added, if we didn’t have enough, we might want to
tuck away some of the new growth money. Mr. Kapp stated, that’s what we
did last year.
Mr.
Staley asked, how much last year and this year? Mr. Kapp responded, last
year $588,000 and this year $500,000.
Mr.
Jay Collier noted that there was only room for one more portable on the
electrical panel. Mr. Kapp added, one for this year will get us through.
President Newton noted that it would be an improvement.
Mr.
Campbell asked, the established cost for teachers – how did we come up
with that amount? Mr. Kapp responded that it was a ballpark figure.
Mrs. Totsy McCraley stated that Mr. Kapp has presented our case very well
– we just keep growing. She noted that they have had high numbers in
social studies of the last several years and the reason for the part-time
business teacher is because the Board changed the graduation requirements
by adding computer applications, for which keyboarding is a prerequisite,
and not all middle school students have that credit when they come to the
high school.
Mr.
Campbell asked, where will you put those extra teachers and classes? Mrs.
McCraley responded, we’re going to be very creative – we already have
eight traveling teachers and will have more. She noted that they
currently have 1,929 students and that they have reduced the number of
special requests from students and parents. She added that when in a
situation as we are right now, spreading those kids out is very important.
Dr.
Fleming stated that she had a big concern about not asking for an extra
English teacher because of AIMS. Mrs. McCraley responded that they were
looking at their greatest areas of need, which are business, science, math
and social studies, and after those needs a fulltime counselor. She added
that English class sizes are growing and are of concern.
Dr.
Fleming asked, where is the counselor? Mrs. McCraley responded, this is
for new growth and a counselor would be coming out of overflow. She added
that North Central requirements state that high school teachers are only
suppose to have 170 students each day and the student counselor ratio is
supposed to be 425/1 and is currently 482/1, which makes them unable to do
what they need to do for their kids.
President Newton asked, would anyone have a problem adding an English
teacher? Half-time?
Dr.
Fleming asked, how much help would a half-time English teacher give? Dr.
Susan Fahrni responded that they had set their class sizes at 35, which is
horrific. She noted that they have 24 sections with 34-35 students in
each and that they could very much use a three period half-time Language
Arts teacher to help with class size. She distributed handouts that
summarized current class sizes for many of the departments.
President Newton pointed out that it will be difficult to hire teachers at
this time of year.
Mrs. McCraley agreed and noted that by the time the Board votes on these
positions and we advertise it will be the end of the first nine weeks.
She noted that if the Board would allow them to advertise early, they
would have a better chance or hiring someone and a better timeline. Mr.
Kapp noted that the high school is considering a proposal to help those
larger classes out by having a substitute teacher assist the assigned
teacher in the larger classes. He noted that according to the School
Facilities Board, the official capacity at the high school is 1,950. He
noted that they were going to try and show that within three years we’ll
be above capacity, which is based on the 100th day count. He
went on to say that we will have to continue to be creative until we get
new classrooms from the bond or establish some satellite classes.
Dr.
Reynolds reported that half-time teachers are hard to find at this time of
year and that often we retain them as fulltime teachers when someone
retires. Mrs. McCraley added that most half-time teachers are teachers
that have been on staff and want to remain on staff. She noted that the
benefit of having half-time teachers is that with a fulltime time teacher
they teach five periods and two half-time teachers teach 3 periods each,
so you pick up an extra section. She added that we need to make sure that
the half-time people that we have will help us out in other capacities,
i.e., clubs, sponsors, etc. She noted that when they hire at the high
school level they try to hire teachers that have dual certification.
Dr.
Fleming stated that she’d like to see a fulltime English teacher added and
that with the pressure of AIMS, English is very important.
Mr.
Kapp pointed out that we have a $30,000 starting salary and that the
prospects of finding a mid-year grad improves with the new salary
schedule.
Mrs. McCraley noted that with a mid-year college grad, often times they
teach half of the day and substitute the other half.
CONSIDER APPROVING THE
UTILIZATION OF APPROXIMATELY $7,200 FROM 2004-2005 “OVERFLOW” MONEY TO
COMPLETE THE RECLASSIFICATION OF SELECTD CLASSIFIED POSITIONS, RETROACTIVE
TO JULY 1, 2005
Dr. Reynolds noted that
this was a continuing discussion regarding the reclassification of certain
employees. He noted that we have $7,200 left and that we could take that
money and move to second priorities and could then successfully reclassify
everyone on the list.
Mr. Staley asked,
everyone? Dr. Reynolds responded, yes. He noted that originally the
Board had wanted that to go to new teachers and that he was asking the
Board to use those funds for reclassification.
CONSIDER APPROVING A
20% “BUY-OUT” PROGRAM FOR QUALIFYING PARTICIPANTS WITHIN APPROVED
PARAMETERS FOR THE 2005-2006 SCHOOL YEAR
Dr. Reynolds reported that
the administration was bringing for the Board’s consideration a buy-out
program for our employees that would allow people to participate and
declare their intentions prior to Christmas break, with the names being
submitted to the Board in January. He noted that item number one in the
parameters provides two different ways for employees to qualify through
either 15 years of service or 10 years of service and a salary of $42,000.
Mr. Campbell asked, what
does the new salary schedule do to the buy out? Will we really save money
and how does it affect the teacher experience index? Dr. Reynolds
responded that it would still provide a savings, but that he didn’t know
for how long and that it was based on the salary of the person leaving
with the salary of the person we will hire. He stated that he believed we
would continue to make a summer savings, but maybe not as high as we have
in the past. He noted that regarding the teacher experience index,
independent of a buy-out, people will still continue to leave the
district. He noted that this helps those people who were here for a long
period of time during the salary freezes, etc.
Mr. Campbell noted that
when the teacher experience index goes down, the district does not receive
that money from the state.
President Newton asked,
the TEI is a pretty low number? Mrs. Raskin responded, yes.
Mr. Campbell stated that
over the last five years it has been significant and when buy-outs
encourage teachers to leave earlier, it affects the TEI.
Mr. Staley pointed out
that $42,000 versus $30,000 is still $12,000.
Dr. Reynolds reported that
last year when they estimated our summer savings, we were a little short.
Mr. Staley noted that
under parameter number seven it states an employee must submit a letter of
resignation and that under eight it states that they would be placed as a
new employee. He stated that when we take a retiree as a new employee the
district should consider this retiree among any and all other applicants.
He stated that he would like to amend the parameters to read that “they
would be subject to the open position policy and they don’t automatically
get that position.”
Dr. Fleming stated that
it’s not automatic – they must be out for a year or hired through a third
party in order to come back the same year and that it’s legal and is
provided for in the law.
Mr. Staley stated that if
a principal wants to re-hire them they don’t even have to get approval
from human resources. Dr. Reynolds responded, they do clear it with me
and we discuss the rehiring, but ultimately the principal is responsible
for the hiring.
Mr. Staley noted that we
don’t know if we got the best person for our clients if we don’t open up
all those positions and we don’t know that there might not be someone
better out there. He stated that he felt the Board should amend the
parameter.
Mr. Kapp noted that anyone
can amend the parameters. He noted that when advantageous the Board uses
current year growth money to cover the cost of the buy-out. He noted that
summer savings now would be around $12,000 and it used to be $15,000 and
would probably creep up over time. He noted that buy-outs allow the
district to reward long time employees with their retirement and by
knowing early the district is able to post the positions and get better
candidates.
Dr. Fleming suggested
having one salary for certified and one salary for classified and asked
Dr. Reynolds to have a recommendation for that by the next meeting.
Mr. Staley noted that
regarding advertising early, he felt that the district should advertise
for every single position.
Mr. Bill Munson stated
that he understood why there is an appeal to open every position, but that
it should be left up to the principals. He added that if a teacher is
burned out, the principals won’t make that offer of coming back to them.
He stated that the principals can withhold making that offer and that you
should remember that these are loyal employees and with new employees they
are still new employees and unknowns. He stated that he would hate to
lose the ability to keep those teachers and that we don’t want to make
opening it up a charade – especially when we know we have a valuable
person we’d like to keep.
Mr. Staley stated that
competition builds efficiency and asked, why would a teacher retire and
come back? Mr. Munson responded, it’s monetary. Mr. Staley stated that
it was double dipping. Mr. Munson responded that it’s perfectly legal,
moral and allows them to maximize their income and to characterize that as
something bad is not right. He noted that the district is getting a
veteran teacher that knows our operation inside and out and we don’t have
to take them if we don’t think they are the best option.
Mr. Staley stated, you
said for monetary reasons – not because they have a passion for teaching.
He noted that if we get this person back, how do we know it is the best
person? Mr. Munson responded, no one in this room wants a person in the
classroom that is not passionate about children and teaching and hiring is
the most important job that I do – every single one is critical. He added
that teachers that are passionate – you know they are good and not the
unknown teacher – it’s good for all of us and loyalty is a part of that.
Mr. Kapp stated that you
never know that if they are the best and I resent the fact that you are
alluding to favoritism. Mr. Staley responded, I’m glad you brought that
up – not only is there favoritism, but I have proof that the
superintendent created a position for his wife.
Mr. Kapp stated that he
would like the President to bring the meeting back to order and on to the
agenda.
President Newton stated
that what we’re really talking about is whether we should offer a buy-out
next week.
Mr. Spencer Johnson noted
that his experience with teachers that have retired and come back has been
nothing but positive and that the scenario that Mr. Staley poses – it’s
the principal that does the hiring and he didn’t see how bias would come
into effect.
CONSIDER APPROVING THE
LIST OF QUALIFIED EVALUATORS FOR THE 2005-2006 SCHOOL YEAR
Dr. Reynolds reported that
this is the list of qualified evaluators for this year.
Dr. Fleming stated that
she was delighted that all have completed the level I and II training.
Dr. Reynolds noted that they will all be by the end of the year.
Mr. Campbell asked, are
there just two levels? Dr. Reynolds responded, four.
CONSIDER APPROVING
AUTHORIZATION FOR THE DISTRICT TO INITIATE APPRAISALS FOR DISTRICT-OWNED
PROPERTY (THE NATURE CENTER ADJACENT TO GRANITE MOUNTAIN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND
PROPERTY ADJACENT TO PRESCOTT MILE HIGH MIDDLE SCHOOL)
Mr. Arn Lavington reported
that he had utilized the means of an RFP to obtain an idea of what it
would cost the district to appraise these three parcels. He stated that
he had sent out one RFP to nine different entities and had received back
two responses, with one being a “no bid.” He reported that it would cost
$175 each for the two smaller parcels and that the appraiser would use the
Freddie/Fannie vacant land reporting format. He noted that the larger
parcel would cost $400 using the same format, but with more analysis. Mr.
Lavington distributed a letter to the Board from the respondent to the
RFP, noting that the cost would still be under $1,000. He went on to say
that there is a problem in that the land needs to be surveyed before
appraisals can take place, since these parcels are not broken out
separately from the school’s surveys. He stated that he had talked to
Gary Kelley about possible survey costs and he had stated that it would
take a ton of research and history to come up with separate legal
descriptions for these parcels and that the Nature Center property would
cost between $10,000-$12,000 to survey and the parcels at Prescott Mile
High Middle School would cost between $7,000-$10,000 to survey, so a
maximum of $23,000 and a minimum of $18,000, unless during the research
they can find short cuts to come up with separate boundaries.
Mr. Staley noted that
whoever was going to buy it would want a separate legal description.
Mr. Lavington noted that
you can’t ask for an accurate figure without accurate boundaries.
Mr. Kapp asked, could they
give us a range within 10%? Mr. Lavington responded, we don’t even know
the acreage at the Nature Center and that he has estimated that there’s
about 16 acres.
Dr. Fleming asked, so
you’re asking us to increase the cost of the survey as well as the
appraisal? Mr. Lavington responded, I think that if you’re not using the
land then sell it.
Mr. Kapp stated that the
district would need to know an accurate value of the Nature Center in
order to either sell it or trade with the City of Prescott.
Mr. Jay Collier reported
that we’re also being asked to maintain that property by Yakashba Estates
who has requested that the district clean it out due to being a fire
hazard, so in that respect it’s a liability for the district.
Mr. Campbell asked, where
do we come up with $23,000? Mrs. Raskin responded, 2004-05 or 2005-06
growth money.
Mr. Lavington noted that
the Board has already approved Kelley-Wise Engineering, so we would not
have to go through a bid process.
Mr. Kapp noted that
another option is to do one and not the other – do the Nature Center and
hold off on the parcels at Prescott Mile High Middle School.
CONSIDER APPROVING THE
DECLARATION OF CURRICULAR AND INSTRUCTIONAL ALIGNMENT TO THE ARIZONA
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
Mr. Kapp noted that the
district just needs to sign that our curriculum is in alignment with the
Arizona Academic Standards and whether we do evaluations for our employees
– which the answer to is yes.
CONSIDER APPROVING NEW
PROCEDURES FOR THE BACKGROUND CHECKING AND POSSIBLE FINGERPRINT
REQUIREMENTS OF PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN PROVIDING PURCHASED SERVICES FOR
PRESCOTT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Dr. Reynolds noted that
the district already has an affidavit that lists 20 felonies and that
Spencer Johnson had his parents look at the affidavit and they are both
attorneys.
Mr. Campbell asked Spencer
to recap his parent’s suggestion. Mr. Johnson stated that he felt the
Board’s concern was mainly for sexual predators on campus in terms of the
children and that his parents had recommended that contracts for services
with PUSD include a clause that provides that the contractor warrants its
employees and sub-contractors are not required to register as sex
offenders pursuant to statute, which addresses conviction for the a list
of crimes. He noted that the employer would certify by affidavit that
none of his employees, sub-contractors, or sub-contractor’s employees have
been convicted of the listed crimes. He noted that the list was more
narrowly defined because it is believed that a sufficient number of
construction workers have probably committed crimes listed on the current
affidavit used by PUSD, which could result in fewer bids by contractors
for future or ongoing projects, and that if the primary concern is that of
sexual predators being present on school campuses, then the proposed
provisions would adequately address the issue.
Dr. Fleming stated that
she felt Mr. Johnson had the best solution to this problem – that the
classroom teachers should talk to their students and remind the kids
repeatedly that they are not to talk to any of the workers on the school
grounds.
Mr. Johnson reported that
fingerprinting can be done electronically.
President Newton stated
that he thought it would be impracticable to fingerprint everyone that
walks onto a campus and that if you do something that shows the contractor
that you don’t want those kinds of people on a job at a school site, it
will heighten the contractor’s awareness as well as that of the teachers
and children.
Mr. Collier asked if the
Board was still going to delineate between limited and long term.
Mr. Staley stated that he
has a seven year-old at Taylor Hicks and that he would like to see, as a
parent, for the Board to do anything and everything we can do and that he
really didn’t give a damn if a contractor is not willing to keep predators
off our campuses.
Mr. Lavington noted that
there are pre-construction meetings where we tell contractors that there
is to be no student contact at all or the worker is off the job.
President Newton stated
that he thought the Board was reaching a consensus and that using a simple
affidavit is reasonable.
CONSIDER APPROVING A
CHANGE IN POSITION TITLE FROM BUSINESS MANAGER TO CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
AND PLACEMENT OF THE POSITION ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE SALARY SCHEDULE ON THE
COLUMN FOR THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT
This item was postponed
until October.
CONSIDER ADOPTING THE
NEW “WORTH THE WAIT” TEXTBOOKS AND MATERIALS THAT HAVE BEEN ON 60-DAY
PREVIEW FOR USE BEGINNING IN THE 2005-2006 SCHOOL YEAR
Ms. Linda Ryan distributed
a handout regarding the curriculum and noted that this material would be
used at the 6th grade level only.
Mr. Staley noted that at
the high school level he had attended a presentation by TAPP, which looks
like a great program. Ms. Ryan noted that TAPP currently works with both
the Chino Valley and Humboldt school districts and that they use the same
curriculum as we do. She noted that TAPP is a good organization and many
of our students go to their extra-curricular events.
President Newton clarified
that “Worth the Wait” is just for 6th grade, while “Choosing
the Best” is for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade.
Dr. Fleming noted that one
of the Board’s goals was to address the sex education program and analyze
its effectiveness. She stated that she’d like to be involved with the
review of these programs and meetings. Ms. Ryan noted that they haven’t
actually set a meeting yet, but would soon.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE
CONSENT AGENDA:
Dr.
Reynolds noted that 150 substitutes are the most we’ve had in five years
and that the pay increase must have helped.
CONSIDER APPROVING THE
TRUSTEES OF THE EMPLOYEE BENEFIT TRUST (EBT)
CONSIDER THE APPROVAL OF
CERTIFIED AND CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL ACTIONS AS REQUESTED
CONSIDER ACCEPTING THE
DONATIONS AS PRESENTED
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 JULY 2005
CONSIDER THE REVIEW AND
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD EXECUTIVE AND STUDY
SESSION OF AUGUST 9, 2005, THE VOTING SESSION OF AUGUST 11, 2005, AND THE
JOINT BOARD MEETING WITH SKYVIEW CHARTER SCHOOL ON AUGUST 24, 2005
ADJOURNMENT
Hearing no objection,
President Newton adjourned the meeting at 8:55 p.m.
___________________________________
|