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| Madison Metropolitan School District Madison, Wisconsin Art Rainwater, Superintendent | ||
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| BOARD OF EDUCATION Minutes for Regular Meetings March 5, 2007 |
Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street, Auditorium Madison, Wisconsin |
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I CALL TO ORDER
The Board of Education meeting was called to order by President Johnny Winston, Jr. at 7:19 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carol Carstensen, Lawrie Kobza, Lucy Mathiak, Ruth Robarts, Arlene Silveira, Shwaw Vang, Johnny Winston, Jr. (left at 7:33 p.m.)
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE PRESENT: Joe Carlsmith
STAFF PRESENT: Sue Abplanalp, Mary Gulbrandsen, Steve Hartley, Bob Nadler, Doug Pearson, Roger Price, Art Rainwater, Marcia Standiford, Ken Syke, Barbara Lehman-Recording Secretary
LEGAL COUNSEL PRESENT: Attorney Clarence Sherrod
Spring Harbor teacher Dave Ropa presented a videotape of a trip that he and fellow Spring Harbor teachers took to China this past summer. Their project was to study flagship species and help protect wildlife and their habitats. They are developing curriculum to be shared districtwide and statewide. Student Rachael Morgan spoke about their Earthcam project and how the demand for technology can affect changes in human development.
II APPROVAL OF MINUTES
It was moved by Arlene Silveira and seconded by Carol Carstensen to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting dated February 5, 2007. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
III PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Laura Chern, parent in Lapham/Marquette area, spoke to the options that have been presented regarding long range planning. She did not feel that the option to combine Lapham and Marquette Elementary Schools and increasing class size would help address performance concerns at East High School. She supported a joint referendum resolution on April 3 for districts across the state asking for a change in education funding. She added that the district should ask for money if it is needed but she was not sure about public support. She thought the district has done the best it can to "cut out the fat."
There were no written registrations.
Johnny Winston, Jr. left the meeting at this time. Chair was turned over to Lawrie Kobza.
IV BOARD PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS
MSCR Summer Preview is at LaFollette on March 6 and Memorial on March 7. Over 50 local activity providers will let you know what they are offering this summer. Call 204-3000 for information.
Employees of the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and citizen volunteers will receive the Distinguished Service Award, the school district's highest honor for their contributions to students and schools on Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial High School auditorium.
Forty-one names for the new elementary school have been submitted for consideration to the Board. Citizens can make comments about the proposed names by going to www.mmsd.org until March 21. A public hearing regarding the names will be held on Monday March 19 at the Doyle Building at 6:30 p.m.
A copy of the report is attached to the original of these minutes.
VI COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ACTION THEREON
A Performance and Achievement
1 It was moved by Shwaw Vang and seconded by Ruth Robarts to approve the Evaluation of Learning Materials adoptions in the amount of $267,677.58. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
Mr. Vang reported that the last meeting was tonight but he could not report on it until the next Regular meeting. At the February 12, 2007 meeting they heard a report on the 2006 summer school program and the recommendations for 2007 summer school.
2 It was moved by Ruth Robarts and seconded by Arlene Silveira to table the motion to approve the summer school recommendations for 2007 for kindergarten-ready through high school as presented in the February 2007 Executive Summary for last summer and the recommendations for the coming summer. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
Mr. Vang also noted that the committee discussed the proposed expansion of the Nuestro Mundo Charter School. No action was taken. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled.
B Finance and Operations
Ms. Kobza reported that the last meeting was February 19, 2007. There was a very good presentation from Pam Nash and Roger Price about middle and high school athletic programs, costs, and offerings and of the extracurricular programs. These presentations are part of the Board's continuing look at the district's different programs and how they affect the budget. There was also a short update on the Citizen's Budget. There was discussion about the issuance of bonds as part of a refinancing plan and a presentation from the Superintendent about the impact of the Governor's proposed budget. The next two meetings will be held March 7 to work on the Citizen's Budget and put that to rest for this year and on March 19 to see the Linden Park construction plans and the People's Budget.
C Human Resources
Ms. Robarts reported that the last meeting was tonight, March 5, but could not be reported on until the next Regular meeting because of the way it was noticed. The agenda included the annual report on minority staff recruitment/retention. This would be the last Human Resources Committee meeting for this school year.
D LongRangePlanning
Ms. Carstensen reported that the last meetings were held on February 6 and February 12, 2007. The February 6 meeting focused on the community meeting held at Sherman Middle School. This meeting began with the exercise of how the district goes about planning for space and presented the various options for addressing overcrowding at Lake View. The February 12 meeting reviewed the feedback from the set of community meetings held in January and February and also looked at proposed options for dealing with overcrowding at Lake View. The committee voted and brought forward a recommendation in terms of resolving the overcrowding at Lake View. Information was included in this evening's packet describing the affect of the proposed motion.
Ms. Gulbrandsen reviewed the option to move students who live in the Brentwood neighborhood to Emerson Elementary School (a copy of the information and data sheets is attached to the original of these minutes). The other options removed with this proposed motion were the parings.
Discussion: Committee switched directions and narrowed the options down to one. The proposed motion is a highbred of the committee discussion. Two meetings were held in the area and both of them had translators; one at Warner Park and one at Sherman. A considerable amount of feedback was received acknowledging that Lake View is overcrowded and their school community is ready for a decision to be made. A letter was sent out to every household (also translated and sent out in Spanish).
1 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira that in order to address overcrowding at Lake View Elementary School, move Brentwood to Emerson and remove the other options. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
2 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Shwaw Vang to remove Ideas F and E from consideration.
Discussion: The packet for the committee meeting described a variety of options. Ms. Gulbrandsen reviewed Ideas E and F. There was some confusion about removing these options from the Long Range Planning Committee agenda. The committee looked at the rest of the options in terms of budgetary impact and left on the table the ones that the administration could consider in making recommendations for the budget. Ideas E and F were removed from their consideration by the committee. The committee then asked the Administration for more information about the other options that were not being taken off the table.
There was some discussion about the requirement of Board action on any action taken by a committee which can only make recommendations.
It was moved by Ruth Robarts and seconded by Lucy Mathiak to table motions "h" an "i" until after the Board receives the Administration's recommendations on the budget.
Discussion: Raises some questions about the function of the committees. Putting motions in a form that better explain for the public what they are about. Committee discussion was about not making any further recommendations in terms of various options that were left on the table that involved closing or consolidating schools until the Administration makes their budget recommendations. There is a meeting scheduled for the full Board relative to budget implications of long range planning that will take place on March 19 and will focus on any recommendations from the Administration. Duplicate materials will be made available for March 19.
Student Representative advisory vote was aye. The motion to table carried unanimously with Johnny Winston, Jr. absent.
The Superintendent noted that the Administration has done an in-depth analysis of the options other than E and F. Ms. Kobza clarified that Administration was given direction from the committee and that if the Board wants more it can ask.
The Long Range Planning Committee is not currently scheduled to meet in the near future.
E Community Partnerships
Ms. Mathiak reported on the last meeting of February 12, 2007 where the committee continued the cycle of hearing reports back from community organizations that have received funds from Fund 80. The second group of presenters will be at the next meeting on March 12 in the auditorium. The last meeting heard presentations from the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute, Kajsiab House, and the Gay-Straight Alliance for Safe Schools. The presentations were good were will be helpful in thinking out how to use Fund 80 resources to strengthen Madison's communities and schools. They also had a nice presentation from MSCR on student forums and how they are supervised which was also very helpful. The next meeting is set for March 12 to hear reports from the Urban League of Greater Madison, Centro Hispano, and the African American Ethnic Academy and to take up a referred issue on building permits.
F Communications
Ms. Silveira reported on the February 26 meeting where they reviewed the legislative agenda which was reorganized at the request of Ms. Robarts to focus it a bit more for the district lobbyist and the community.
1 It was moved by Arlene Silveira and seconded by Ruth Robarts to approve the MMSD Legislative Agenda as revised at the meeting. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
Joe Quick, Legislative Liaison, gave an analysis of the Governor's proposed state budget. The committee then discussed a plan for a public information meeting to be held on March 29 inviting people who are interested in advocating for items that would benefit the district relative to the Governor's proposed budget and changes in school district funding legislation. The short-term focus will be on the Governor's budget and the longer term effort will look at district funding. The next committee meeting is scheduled for March 26.
VII AUDITING, PURCHASING, TRANSFERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
A Auditing
1 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira that interim bills be approved amounting to $23,990,237.76 and covering the period of February 1, 2007 through February 23, 2007. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
2 There were no School Building Fund bills.
B Purchasing
1 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira that the bid of $319,005 from Town & Country for fire alarm system replacement at Hamilton/Van Hise be approved with funding from the 2007-08 General Operating Budget, referendum (estimated at $177,500). Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present with Shwaw Vang absent.
C Other Financial Transactions
1 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira that the Board approve the resolution awarding the sale of $30,365,000 General Obligation School Building and Refunding Bonds; providing the form of the bonds; and levying a tax in connection therewith.
Discussion: Mr. Price reviewed the information in the packet explaining the reasons for the debt issuance (copies are attached to the original of these minutes), the resulting savings, Moody's bond rating, the updated resolution, and additional information related to bid tables and quotes received today. It was clarified that the lower borrowing rate would mean a lower tax impact.
Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
2 It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira that all grants and other donations received by the MMSD since February 5, 2007 be approved. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
VIII HUMAN RESOURCES TRANSACTIONS AND REPORTS
It was moved by Ruth Robarts and seconded by Shwaw Vang to approve Item VIII 1-268 in its entirety with the exception of any item a board member may wish to have separated out. There were no separations. Student Representative vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
IX REPORTS TO THE BOARD
A Common Council/Board of Education Liaison Committee
Ms. Mathiak reported that the last meeting focused on the Municipal Court Truancy Report for 2005-06. She commented that it was a very helpful document and there was a very good presentation on the district's truancy efforts. She hoped for a larger Board presentation. The committee also talked about the structure and function of the committee. It is an odd committee and there are not a lot of times when it makes policy recommendations. There have been many times when county representatives would have been helpful. She is hoping that the committee will pick this up and come back to the Board and City Council with recommendations after their next meeting on March 28 in Doyle in Room 103.
B Student Representative Report
Joe Carlsmith reported that the Senate ended up not meeting with Spencer Black or Fred Risser but the Student Senate discussed the proposed legislation relative to moving security expenditures out from under the revenue cap and about the 17 year-old vote. They continued their revisions to the suspension and expulsion policies which will be taken up again at the February 27 meeting. They also discussed the proposed Studio School charter school and about district special education services; presentations had been given to the Board on the previous night. They also took up athletics and extracurricular activities in connection with a Board presentation and then they looked at and discussed the Code of Conduct. They are still discussing the extent to which they feel the Code of Conduct should be a list of rules for the administration to abide by or a general outline. The next meeting is set for the following Tuesday hopefully with Mr. Black and Mr. Risser.
X OTHER BUSINESS
A It was moved by Shwaw Vang and seconded by Ruth Robarts that, pursuant to the provision of Section 118.15 of State Statutes, that the Board excuse 25 students from school attendance for the purpose of allowing them to enroll in programs for high school equivalency diplomas. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
B It was moved by Shwaw Vang and seconded by Ruth Robarts that, effective immediately, all newly enrolled elementary students who reside in the Allied Drive area shall be enrolled in either Crestwood or Stephens Elementary School in accordance with current Allied Drive student assignment procedures. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
C It was moved by Shwaw Vang and seconded by Ruth Robarts that 59 students be granted diplomas of graduation based on completed requirements. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
D Old and New Business
There was no old or new business.
XI ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Ruth Robarts and seconded by Arlene Silveira to adjourn the meeting at 8:24 p.m. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger Price
Secretary to the Board of Education
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