November 7, 2006

 

Minutes of the Governing Board Study Session of Tuesday, November 7, 2006, beginning at 5:30 p.m. held in the District Office Board Room.

 

Governing Board Members Present:

 

President Joan Fleming

Mrs. Dee Navarro

Dr. Andy Newton

                                           Mr. Steve Campbell

Mr. Tom Staley

                    

Also Present:

Mr. Kevin J. Kapp, Superintendent

Dr. Chris Reynolds, Assistant Superintendent

Mrs. Renee Raskin, Chief Financial Officer

Mrs. Andi Mayer, Assistant to the Governing Board

 

Others Present:   

         

          David Martin                  Brian Moore                   Tim Carter

          Alvina Green                  Patti Osborne                 Shawna Hodovance

          David McGee                  Barbara Van Fossen       Jim Williams

          Susan Clark                   K. Newman                    Shari Lopatin

          Marianne Brooks           Jay Collier                     Nancy Martinez

          Arn Lavington                Bill Monroe                    Bill Munson

          John Rust                      Ed Yeager                       Joe Moore

          Vince Cook                     Stephanie Hillig             Frank Lawhead

          Jim Williams                  Kenny White                  Joe Howard

          Carol Yetman                 Totsy McCraley

                                                                                                                   

CALL TO ORDER

President Joan Fleming called the meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. after reconvening from an executive session.

 

OPENING CEREMONY AND WELCOME

President Fleming welcomed everyone and thanked those present for attending.  Mrs. Dee Navarro led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

President Fleming asked Mr. Kevin Kapp if the agenda was in order.  Mr. Kapp responded that it was in order.

 

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. Tom Staley voted aye, Mr. Steve Campbell voted aye, and President Fleming voted aye.  The motion carried 5-0.

 

PRESENTATIONS

Mrs. Alvina Green did a slide show presentation on how money from a grant that she had received from the Yavapai Education Foundation had been utilized in her classroom and at Abia Judd Elementary School.  She thanked the Yavapai Education Foundation and Mr. Tim Carter for their continued support.

 

Mr. Tim Carter stated that he was very proud of Mrs. Green for her efforts in helping the students at Abia Judd Elementary School.  He noted that teachers who are awarded grants are required to present this information to their school board and the public so they know how the money is being spent.

 

Mr. Jay Collier reported that the district is spending a lot of money on bond and building renewal projects and that it was a goal to advance the technology and knowledge within our own ranks.  He introduced his entire crew and commended them for doing such a good job for the district.  He stated that his staff members have attended workshops and training for such things as welding, fabrication, locks and keys, which saves the district money when repairs and maintenance can be kept in-house.  He reported that recently Mr. Vince Cook had attended a 30-day training at the North American Technical Expertise and had received the highest score in the class.  He introduced Mr. Vince Cook and commended him for his hard work.

 

Mr. Vince Cook reported that he had received training for theory operation, HVAC, ventilation ducts, air quality, and customer relations and thanked the district for allowing him this opportunity.

 

                                                                                                         

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Mr. Kevin Kapp distributed the November Calendar of Events and encouraged people to attend as many activities as possible.  He noted that the PHS Girl’s Volleyball team was hosting a state playoff game tonight and that the PHS football team had a playoff game this Friday.

 

He distributed the enrollment figures from October 31st and compared them with the same report from last year noting that the elementary schools were up by 51 students (2.2%), the middle schools were down by 10 students (<1%), that Prescott High School was up by 4 students (<1%), Northpoint was up by 84 students (4.6% for the high school level), and that the preschool level was down by 7 students (11%), for an overall district growth of 2.2%. 

 

He reported that last night he had attended the initiation ceremony of the JROTC and that Col. Peeples continues to do an incredible job with that program, with approximately 140 cadets enrolled in the program.  He noted that the typical number of cadets for a new program is 30-35.

 

He announced that Big Lots! is now open in Prescott and that they had donated $2,500 to the district that will be utilized for students.

 

He reported that he had attended a hearing in front of the State Liquor Board for the purpose of asking for a re-hearing regarding the liquor license for the Liquor Barn, along with Dr. Fleming, Mr. Tom Stoxen from the County Attorney’s Office, and the two city attorneys, and that the State Liquor Board had voted 6-0 to not allow for a re-hearing.  He noted that there is an appeal process that the district may pursue.

 

STUDY SESSION:

 

CONSIDER APPROVING CALENDARS FOR THE 2007-2008  AND 2008-2009 SCHOOL YEARS

President Fleming noted that in the past parents had requested two-year blocks for the calendar for planning purposes.

 

Mr. Kapp noted that at the last couple of Board retreats the calendar has been discussed and that the Board wanted to use a template approach for consistency and in order for people to be able to predict when a school break would occur.  He stated that it is very difficult to find a calendar that everyone likes and that the only concern he has received was parents wanting to know when a break would be occurring in future years.  He noted that the proposed two-year block calendars use the same template that has been used for the last two years in the district which gives the district balanced semesters regarding the number of school days, the first semester ends prior to the winter break, the fall and spring break occur at the end of a grading period and remain a full week, the school year ends prior to Memorial Day, the number of school days prior to AIMS testing is maximized by starting school the first full week of August, and our traditional holidays and days off are maintained.  He reported that one adjustment was made by moving spring break in order for it to coincide with Yavapai College, Humboldt and Chino Valley.  He stated that there is no such thing as a perfect calendar, as he found out after chairing the calendar committee for about 10 years, along with Jim Williams.  He noted that every concern has a trade-off.  He noted that some of the concerns included starting on a Monday being too long the first week, teachers coming back five days before school – would prefer four and having one day at the end.  He reported that it was the consensus of the DLT to keep the five days before school.

 

Mr. Dave McGee addressed the Governing Board and stated that he represented the PEA and that there was a lot of frustration with teachers because of the lack of input for the calendar.  He noted that during the IBN process the wage increase does not even cover the cost of living and of the 26 items submitted through IBN, only three were negotiable.  He stated that the Governor says they gave $100 million to increase teacher wages and that he’s not even sure there is a teacher serving on the Communications Committee.

 

Mr. Jim Williams addressed the Governing Board and stated that he felt there should be a calendar committee and that there are areas where slight adjustments could be made for morale.  He noted that teaching up to Christmas does not give families enough time to prepare for the holiday.  He added that with the five days before the start of school, there is not enough time at the end of the school year – teachers can’t do paperwork when they have students – a day after school is needed.  He stated that teachers do realize that there’s not that much give in the calendar anymore and these minor changes would make a big difference to them.  He noted that the last few calendars have just been handed down, which is not good for morale.

 

Mr. Tom Staley asked, why is it important to line up spring break with Yavapai College?  Mr. Kapp responded, it always used to coincide with their calendar because there are families that have children in both out system and at the college, which allows them to take family vacations together.  President Fleming added that many of our employee’s spouses work in neighboring districts too.

 

Mr. Staley asked, did you get any information from the PEA?  Mr. Kapp responded, the Board asked me to give them a calendar and gave me parameters for the last two years.

 

President Fleming recommended that one Board member and some representatives from PEA sit down and discuss possible changes to the calendar prior to the next meeting.  She noted that it has always been a priority to complete semester exams before Christmas and pointed out that the AIMS test impacts the calendar also. 

 

Mr. Kapp noted that the five days before school allows teachers to prepare their classrooms with pay, since they were coming in earlier anyway.  He added that the principals felt those days were very important for professional development, since you need to give teachers time to look at the data.  He noted that the district pays our teachers for 6 extra days above the 180 required and that most districts pay their teachers for more extra days – it’s a low number of days for additional contract time.

 

Mr. Staley stated that teachers are not happy, there’s a low morale because of no input, and recommended that PEA do a survey.  Mr. Kapp responded that he was directed by the Board to not get input, that he’s not in favor of processes that don’t have a good ending and you have to make a decision on where you want to put your energy.  He also added that only teachers from one school have spoken regarding the calendar.  Mr. Kapp stated that it’s a minor detail of when the teachers come back, which we can talk about, and that he would follow Board direction.

 

CONSIDER APPROVING THE FISCAL YEAR 2007 CAPITAL PLAN PACKET FOR THE SCHOOL FACILITIES BOARD

Mr. Kapp reported that this was a very important plan for the district, since it is requesting from the School Facilities Board a third high school  for 2008,due to the increasing enrollment numbers at the high school, and an additional elementary school for 2010.  He noted that Nancy Martinez and the Growth Committee are aware of this plan.  He stated that he was bringing it to the Board because the district is requesting two new schools and must have Board approval before the SFB can proceed.  He noted that the administration has been working with Stone and Youngren regarding these procedures.  He added that because we are making the request does not mean we will get it, since other schools within Arizona are making similar requests.  He reported that the high school has grown by 4-5% each year over the last five years, and that this is the first step in the process.

 

Mrs. Renee Raskin noted that Stone and Youngren thought the district had a good chance of succeeding, based on the enrollment numbers, and that the SFB has the plan, but it must be approved by the Governing Board.

 

Mr. Kapp noted that the other report with the September 1st deadline had already been submitted and the next step is to have this plan approved by the Governing Board and submitted to the SFB by the end of November.

 

Mrs. Raskin noted that these are different documents than what the district submitted for the September 1st deadline.

 

President Fleming asked, if the SFB approves a school for the district, will they also buy the land?  Mr. Kapp responded, that is correct, and added that the SFB loves it when a district can work with a developer or there is already land available, but the bottom line is they will buy the land if necessary.

 

Mrs. Raskin clarified that the district is asking for a high school in 2008 and an elementary school in 2010.

 

Mr. Kapp noted that the new high school would be for up to 1200 students, that the district could move Northpoint to that new facility if pod buildings were used – you could co-mingle two schools if you wanted to.

 

Mrs. Raskin noted that the district submits this report every year and could change it next year if we have higher growth than expected.

 

Mr. Staley asked, how long does this process take?  Mrs. Raskin responded, I don’t know, since we’ve never done it before.  Mr. Kapp responded, the best case scenario would be two years for the high school.  He added that if the enrollment numbers changed, there is emergency funding available.  He noted that he has already attended two SFB meetings to watch the process and to meet their Board members.

 

President Fleming asked, once it’s approved, what happens?  Mrs. Raskin responded, we would then have SFB put us on their agenda for consideration.

         

CONSIDER APPROVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BOND PROJECT PRIORITY LIST

Mr. Arn Lavington reported that at the last Board meeting he had distributed a handout regarding this topic, and then distributed an updated recap of bond projects. He noted that to date the district has spent almost $7.4 million of the bond project money.  He then reviewed the updated bond project list with the Board.  He noted that the number two priority projects have estimates based on square footage and current costs and that it will probably take the remaining bond funding to complete those projects.  He noted that the Bond Project Committee was asked to prioritize the remaining projects that we don’t have funding for and the committee did that and then presented the results to the Board at their last meeting.  He noted that they had addressed the District Leadership Team and reviewed the priority list the committee had developed.  He stated that as a committee they had also appealed to the Board to reserve money from the sale of the Nature Center at the last meeting for priority one projects:

 

                       $100,000.         MV – Restroom Renovation

                           $7,000.         MV – Cafeteria Floor

                         $90,000.         MV – Field Renovation

                         $10,000.         MV – Fountains

                       $110,000.         TH – Field Renovation

 

He noted that the committee had based number one priority projects on health, safety, and welfare of children.

 

He noted that at Dexter the sprinkler system was originally $25,000, then $50,000, then removed from the list because we found out the current system meets the code.  He stated that there is still concern that it should be updated.

 

He noted that the estimated cost of priority one projects is approximately $567,000 and that there is a total shortfall of $2,647,000, which does not include a contingency or design changes.

 

President Fleming asked, regarding the high school band room and cafeteria – we don’t know how firm these figures are?  Mr. Lavington responded, they are estimates that were given to us by Mike Taylor, our architect, based on square footage.

 

President Fleming asked, recently?  Mr. Lavington responded, within the last 2-3 months.  He added that we do not have bids in yet for these projects and that they will probably go out within the next two months, which will give us a better feel for funding needs.

 

Mr. Staley noted that it’s very difficult to prioritize without a clear view of the funding.  He stated that the estimates could go down and be covered by the contingency and legal fees.  He stated that the six classrooms at the high school are $350,000 each and will be very expensive.  He noted that he would be interested to find out what figure HUSD used for their classrooms.  He stated that it was his opinion that we gave the public a list of projects for the bond and we must complete the projects on that list.

 

President Fleming noted that the list is still valid, it just may take the district more time to complete the projects.

 

Mr. Jay Collier noted that the committee looked at adjusting the design and altering square footage at Taylor Hicks – do less and do it well – and were able to save some money. 

 

Mr. Campbell asked, how many schools have fire sprinkler systems?  Mr. Collier responded, the newer schools have them, some of the older schools don’t.  Mr. Campbell noted that it didn’t make sense to him to worry about one school (DX) when there are others that don’t have fire sprinkler systems.

 

Mr. Collier stated that the initial assessment was that those schools are safe.

 

CONSIDER APPROVING A POSSIBLE INCREASE TO THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SALARY FOR 2006-07

President Fleming noted that this should have been done last April, but due to not knowing how much money would be received from the state, this process was delayed until the start of school.  She reported that the Board had discussed Mr. Kapp’s personal goals and his involvement in Board goals, and one idea was to increase his salary by 3% - the same amount that certified and classified staff received.

 

Mr. Staley noted that Mr. Kapp is in the middle of a two-year contract and that there is a reason he is on a separate contract and not on the salary schedule with other staff.  He listed salaries from a Phoenix magazine:

the Governor earns $95,000, an ASU professor earns $102,000, the average superintendent salary in the state of Arizona is $71,515, and Mr. Kapp earns 97,200.  He stated that he did not believe an increase in Mr. Kapp’s salary was prudent at this time, since we don’t know what it will cost to fund the classified salary schedule.  He added that in the business world people get increases based on merit and that he believed Mr. Kapp was adequately compensated.

 

President Fleming stated that she believed the information regarding the average superintendent’s salary in Arizona was off, according to figures the ASBA publishes from a survey on an annual basis.

 

Mr. Staley stated that he’d love to see those figures next week, felt that Mr. Kapp is adequately compensated, and that his contract runs out in June of next year.  He added that he was not taking into account Mrs. Kapp’s highly compensated consulting fees.  He stated that he recommended not doing 3%, but wait until the end of his contract.

 

Mr. Kapp reported that every time an employee group has compared salaries, it has been compared with eight other districts of comparable size.  He noted that of those eight districts, his salary was sixth out of the eight.

 

President Fleming stated that one district that is half the size of our district compensates their superintendent with a salary very close to Mr. Kapp’s.  She noted that the superintendent reports to and is hired by the Board and that the salary is negotiated on an annual basis.  She stated that this should have been done in April and that all administrators had received 3% or a step.  She stated that she also believed that whatever Mrs. Kapp’s salary was has no reflection on Mr. Kapp’s salary, because we don’t normally compute spouse’s salaries together.

 

CONSIDER APPROVING A DELEGATE AND ALTNERATE DELEGATE TO REPRESENT THE GOVERNING BOARD FOR THE 2006 ASBA ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER

President Fleming reported that a delegate and alternate delegate needed to be selected prior to the conference in December.  She recommended that Dr. Andy Newton serve as delegate, since he has not served in that capacity yet.

 

CONSIDER APPROVING POLICY SERVICES ADVISORY, VOLUME 18, NUMBER 4, FOR SEPTEMBER 2006, FOR POLICY ADVISORY NUMBERS 278-280

Mr. Kapp noted that these particular policies were moved along at a faster rate because our district became involved, along with Mr. Dean Pickett.  He reported that one policy will require that all RFP’s include language that the company must not hire or use anyone that is a registered sex offender.  He noted that it also includes notification of the community regarding adult sex offenders who have moved to the area.  He noted that the new part of this policy will allow the schools to release information when juvenile registered sex offenders have enrolled in school, as well as alerting the teachers, if such a student is enrolled in their class.  He reported that these policies will cover a lot of the concerns the Board had and pointed out that there is optional language that must be included in any motion the Board might make.

 

Mrs. Dee Navarro stated that she’d like to see the optional language included in any motion.

 

Mr. Staley noted that he really supported the district adopting these policies.  He then asked, if there is a juvenile sex offender enrolling, are we obligated to take them?  Mr. Kapp responded, yes, we are, but now we will be able to share that information.  He added that if these policies were approved, he would then review them with the Juvenile Court personnel.

 

Mr. Staley asked, so we don’t know if we have any registered juvenile sex offenders now?  Mr. Kapp responded that the principals have been notified on occasion, but that he wasn’t sure if it was done 100% of the time, and that acceptance of these policies would change that process.  He added that parents will now be able to request information and the district will now be free to share that information.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA:

Mrs. Dee Navarro noted that regarding the auxiliary budget, Discovery Gardens is now in the black.  Mr. Campbell added that he’d like to see it continue in the black.

 

Mr. Staley noted that there were two new teachers at Kids & Co. and asked if that were because we have new students?  Mrs. Raskin responded, yes.

 

Dr. Andy Newton and Mr. Tom Staley both thanked all of those people or organizations that had made donations to the district and highlighted some of those donations made to the district.

 

Mr. Kapp distributed an amended personnel report, noting that two new resignations had been added and were marked in bold print.

 

Mr. Staley asked if the district was still doing exit interviews.  Dr. Chris Reynolds responded, yes.  Mr. Staley asked  if we had received any back.  Dr. Reynolds responded, no.

 

CONSIDER APPROVING THE CERTIFIED AND CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL ACTIONS AS PRESENTED

 

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 SEPTEMBER 2006

 

CONSIDER APPROVING THE PREVIOUS MINUTES FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD EXECUTIVE AND STUDY SESSION OF OCTOBER 3, 2006, AND THE VOTING SESSION OF OCTOBER 17, 2006

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

          Dr. Andy Newton 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.

 

The regular meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m.

 

 

 

___________________________________

Governing Board Member