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| Madison Metropolitan School District Madison, Wisconsin Art Rainwater, Superintendent | ||
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| BOARD OF EDUCATION Minutes for Special Meeting - Open Session August 7, 2006 |
Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street, McDaniels Auditorium Madison, Wisconsin |
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Special Meeting of the Board of Education was called to order by President Johnny Winston, Jr. at 5:10 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carol Carstensen, Lawrie Kobza, Lucy Mathiak, Arlene Silveira, Shwaw Vang, Johnny Winston, Jr.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruth Robarts
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
PRESENT: Joe Carlsmith
STAFF PRESENT: Sue Abplanalp, Mary Gulbrandsen, Pam Nash, Doug Pearson, Roger Price, Joe Quick, Art Rainwater, Clarence Sherrod, Lisa Wachtel, Barbara Lehman-Recording Secretary
OPEN SESSION in McDaniels Auditorium
1. Approval of Minutes
It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Arlene Silveira to approve the minutes of the Special meetings in open session dated March 27, April 10, April 24, May 1, May 8, May 15, May 22, and July 17, 2006 as distributed. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
2. Public Appearances
There were no public appearances.
3. Announcements
Mr. Winston invited the board and the public to the 6th Annual Streetball and Block Party on Saturday, August 12, from noon to 7 p.m., at Penn Park. Activities will include an adult men's basketball and flag football tournament, music, entertainment, free bingo, youth and family activities, information booths, food vendors and more.
4. Financial Transactions
(Packets included Contract Compliance statements and detail memoranda. Copies are attached to the original of these minutes.)
a. It was moved by Lawrie Kobza and seconded by Carol Carstensen that the bid of $0.295 to $0.158/decatherm from WPS for bulk natural gas supply districtwide be approved from the 2006-07 through 2009-2010 general operating budgets.
Questions: Interruptible vs. non-interruptible accounts. Price comparisons. What happens with the savings.
A substitute motion was made by Lawrie Kobza, seconded by Carol Carstensen, that the bid of $0.295 to negative $0.158/decatherm from WPS for bulk natural gas supply districtwide be approved from the 2006-07 through the 2009-10 general operating budgets. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
b. It was moved by Lawrie Kobza and seconded by Carol Carstensen that the proposal of $39,180 from Mueller Implement for a replacement lawn mover, Mahindra 7010 with mower deck, be approved from the 2006-07 general operating budget.
Questions: Amount of staff input.
Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
5. Proposed Board Policy 4615 regarding Animals on School Premises
(Packets included a cover memorandum (7/3106), the proposed policy language, and appendices. Copies are attached to the original of these minutes.)
Sue Abplanalp, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Schools; Ebby Melahn, kindergarten teacher at Lowell; and Lisa Wachtel, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning; presented the draft policy.
Presentation highlights: committee members, committee process, five main animal groups in the policy, appendices, the appeal process, recommendations, and resolution (a copy of the presentation is attached to the original of these minutes). Animals can reside in classrooms for up to one semester then can be renewed for instructional or emotional purposes. Procedures for renewal. Animals distributed from the district's science center. Invertebrates for high school courses. Forms to be filled out. Best practices for introducing animals. Recommendations for cleaning enclosures. No consensus on whether board policies 9000 and 8381 apply to the charge of the committee.
Discussion: Issue needing resolution refers to public employees being paid by taxpayers to train animals.
Ms. Melahn objected to the training issue being part of the new policy. She thought there were no problems and that this issue should be addressed under volunteerism.
Discussion continued: Suggestion to amend the paragraph to state "during work hours." There is a problem with the use of "during work hours" because it may not cover training of animals on field trips that occur outside of work hours. Language already refers to in pay status which covers any time an employee is working for the district. Animals are trained then put into service.
It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Lucy Mathiak that the Board adopt the proposed Board Policy 4615, Animals on School Premises, with the request that Attorney Sherrod revise the statement on page 13 to make it clear that it is only about hours when an employee is under some official responsibility in terms of the district. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
6. Proposed Modification of Board Policy 4233
(Packets included a memorandum explaining the conflict between Board Policies 4615 and 4233 (8/3/06) and the proposed modification to Policy 4233. A copy is attached to the original of these minutes.)
It was moved by Lawrie Kobza and seconded by Carol Carstensen that, to accommodate the newly created Board Policy 4615 regarding animals on school premises, that the board approve a modification to the language in line 1(g) of Board Policy 4233 to read as follows: "1. The following shall not be allowed on school grounds...(g) dogs or other animals except as provided by Board Policy 4615. Student Representative advisory vote was aye. Motion unanimously carried by those present.
7. Superintendent's Goals Report
Discussion/Clarifications: Performance goals were proposed by the Board and approved by the Superintendent. Goals are tied into the evaluation, not compensation.
Strategic Priority #1 - Instructional Excellence
Discussion/Clarifications: Changes to assessment and measurement methodology. Longitudinal data will be available over time. Data will be aggregated. Will be able to analyze individual student growth by gathering data through the use of the new Student Information System. New system will also help with complete recordkeeping between schools. New system will also keep track of food and pet allergies. Difference in baselines for reading and math. Status of hiring a new math coordinator and background requirements. One measurement methodology will be selected for each offering; challenging curriculum, diverse curriculum, and contemporary curriculum. Developing a survey of students and teachers. Defining challenging. Insufficient staff to do a structured analysis. Having a goal for each area then measurement becomes part of the goal. Matching students to next level of challenge. Board, working with the Superintendent, will choose one measurement methodology then one measure of success for each area. Superintendent created the plan and structure; how this functions for the district is outside of his evaluation. Moving toward setting goals for this school year. Considering cost in terms of staff time. Designing a survey for students and the importance of getting their feedback and following up on how they do after graduation. Measurement issues came up from the Board's evaluation of the Superintendent last year; agreed to strategic plan priorities but difficult to measure. Possible role for representative student focus groups. Need to hear from those who are disenchanted. Preparing pre- and post-tests. Standards define fundamental knowledge from individual courses. Best evaluators of the students are the teachers.
Strategic Priority #2 - Student Support
Usefulness of the climate survey and Dane County Youth Survey.
Strategic Priority #3 - Staff Effectiveness
How the assessments will get at this. What the Human Resources report addresses. Developing the MMSD work force. Reporting on courses taken, including gateways teachers, resource teachers, central office programs, etc. Provide information on the available job pools for employment categories.
Strategic Priority #4 - Home and Community Partnerships
Difficult to measure. Looking at how to strengthen the bond between schools and families. School-by-school function. Missing the two-way communications. Developing an assessment tool on effective communication. Cost in terms of staff time. Using the climate survey, structuring a set of questions, representative sample, how they are sent home. Recently developed School Improvement Plan survey. Community Partnerships Committee will be addressing all the tools the district uses to get feedback. District-funded entities not included in the report. Listed partnerships are continuing.
Strategic Priority #5 - Fiscal Responsibility
How the assessments will show that resources are being used efficiently and strategically. Evaluating programs for efficiency through the budget. Difficult to measure the benefit in education. District continually looks at results and the work of other educational entities. Using student achievement data. Tracking discrete students over time. Disaggregating for certain programs on standardized tests. Breaking out resources (e.g., lights, bidding process, etc.); harder to deal with issues like sports or fine arts. Everything work-flowed on business side. Difficult to benchmark education. Difficultly finding the best measurement that everyone can agree on. Doing a functional analysis every quarter.
FOLLOW UP: Closed session meeting to talk about math coordinator position. Provide annual reports from last year relative to recruitment and Human Resources Department. Provide response rate and demographics of the respondents to the climate survey. Provide data on the number of partnerships that receive funding or staff from the district. Provide the definition of partnerships that was used when the Goals report was written.
8. Other Business
There was no other business.
Recessed at 7:23 p.m.
Reconvened at 7:30 p.m.
MEETING CONTINUED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION in Room 103
Previous: 2006-07-17 || Special Meeting - Open Session || Next: 2006-08-14