Summary of
Regular Board Meeting - December 7, 1998

Regular monthly meetings of the Board of Education will now be close captioned. They will be shown again on Tuesday evenings with captions for those unable to watch on Monday evenings.

Recognition

West and Memorial student dancers Katie Krause, Emily Cox and Litha Ros performed "Snap Shot" choreographed by Memorial physical education teacher Maureen Janson. Caroline Buss, Garty Bohr, Veasna Pom and Patty Baum spoke about the dance program at West and Memorial. Dale Grimm gave a report on the accomplishments of the Friends of the School Forest and an overview of their future plans.

Public Appearances

Twenty-nine people shared concerns related to the special education program with 38 additional written registrations in support of increased staffing, materials, and space for students with Exceptional Educational Needs.

Board President's Announcements And Reports

Mrs. Carstensen announced:

• seats 6 and 7 of the Board of Education are up for election this spring. Carol Carstensen and Calvin Williams announced their intention to run for re-election.
• a $360,000 per year 21st Century Learning Grant award from the U.S. Dept of Education to fund after school, evening and weekend programs at Mendota, Glendale and Lowell Schools. MSCR Director Lucy Chaffin will manage the three year project for children and adults in these communities.
• MSCR has received outdoor recreation equipment valued at $1,000 from Recreational Equipment, Inc. to help better serve low income participants in their high adventure programs.
• Irv and Bob Goodman donated $10,000 to the Goodman-Rotary Fund in memory of Arthur Epstein. Funds will continue support of the senior fitness programs administered by MSCR.
• MSCR has received $2000 from the Empty Stocking grant from Madison Newspapers to help fund the CASPER after school program for homeless children at Emerson School.
• Memorial students Jacob Kitzman and David Mericle's "The Cuban Experience", a Web site project, won first place in the Social Sciences category at the 1998 International ThinkQuest contest held in Los Angeles. They earned $15,000 scholarships. Andrew Holbrook finished fifth with his "Lessons of War" page and earned a $5,000 scholarship.
• the DPI has announced MMSD will receive approximately $593,456 from the federal government to reduce elementary class size. Wisconsin received $20.1 million to reduce class sizes in grades 1-3 to 18 students.
• MMSD received the Wisconsin School Public Relations Association 1998 Spectrum Award for its web page. It received the full 100 points possible in the judging.

Interim Superintendent's Announcements And Reports

Mr. Rainwater announced:

• staff recognitions: David Kelliher for 25 years of service as an MSCR sports coordinator; Lynn Buckmaster, language arts and social studies teacher at Hamilton, for winning the adult competition at the International Future Problem Solving Conference; Priscilla Bondhus for being honored by CESA 2 for distinguished efforts and contributions in school-to-work programming; Peg Mueller, West High teacher and coach, for being inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame; and Barb Keresty, Susan O'Leary and Dale Wortley for coauthoring a book, "You Can Make A Difference: A Teacher's Guide to Political Action."
• Carol Krizmanic's third grade class at Schenk organized a food drive for hurricane victims in Honduras. Youth Making A Difference students at Blackhawk held a food drive for the Lake View Lutheran Food Pantry. Whitehorse MAD Youth students are holding a food drive for the Salvation Army.
• Sandburg will host a thank-you dinner for its 45 volunteer tutors.
• Elvehjem classroom and special education kindergarten teachers will present information about their Kindergarten Inclusion Program at the Early Childhood Conference in Chicago.
• Sue Klein (Huegel), Marth Vasquez (Shabazz), and Don Hunt and Rob Wochinski (West) presented at the Wisconsin Art Education Conference. Tom Buchhauser (Memorial), Scott Eckel (East), Lona George (Thoreau), Nancy Lesh (Elvehjem) and Michael Ross (West) presented at the Wisconsin State Music Conference.

Committee Reports And Action Thereon

Performance & Achievement: Recommendations from the Selection of Program Materials Committee were approved. There will be a report in December on an implementation plan for the recommendations of the EDA Student Results Audit Steering Committee and the Schools of Hope subcommittee on class size.

Budget and Finance: The subcommittee and committee have discussed the five year operating budget forecast. A $1.1 million deficit is projected for next year, depending on student enrollment, and does not include maintenance or technology needs. People wishing to talk with the board about the budget can do so at a special meeting on December 10. Bids were approved for Fiber Optic Back Bone and replacement ballasts.

Human Resources: A workshop is scheduled December 14 to discuss the superintendent search criteria and make decisions about future steps.

Long Range Planning: The committee discussed policy for a long and short term process for dealing with overcrowded schools at the elementary level. PTOs have requested presentations and the chair has been meeting with any interested citizens.

Partnerships: A mission statement was approved: to examine and evaluate suggestions, ideas, recommendations or programs proposed by individuals, groups, organizations, businesses and corporations and make recommendations to the MMSD Board of Education to assist them in making decisions that may result in partnering between an outside entity and the MMSD Board of Education. The methods by which this should be accomplished were also adopted. A possible partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County was referred to the Interim Superintendent for recommendation.

Board of Education/Common Council Liaison Committee: The committee did not meet. Next meeting will be held in January.

Legislative: Issues discussed have included special education funding and reimbursement. Other issues will include the revenue cap and budget. Use of the democratic process was encouraged - writing to or meeting with legislators.

Auditing, Purchasing, Transfers & Other Financial Transactions

Auditing: Interim and Building Fund bills were paid.

Purchasing: Bids were approved for musical instruments for Teaching and Learning.

Transfers: There were no transfers.

Other Financial Transactions: All donations and grants received by the District since November 2, 1998 were approved. The 1998-99 budget was increased to support the Vocational Education program and a Community Learning Center Program at Mendota, Glendale and Lowell Elementary Schools.

Human Resources Transactions and Reports:

All personnel items were approved, including the Educational Assistants Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Reports to the Board:

There were no reports.

Other Business:

Eleven students were excused from attendance for the purpose of enrolling in high school equivalency programs. Eight students were granted diplomas.

Old and New Business: A special meeting is scheduled December 10 to allow community opportunity to speak about the five-year budget forecast or any other issues. Juan López expanded on his reasons for his vote in the Human Resources Committee meeting relative to hiring Art Rainwater as the superintendent. Calvin Williams announced a staff development opportunity at MATC regarding Process Learning.

(A complete copy of these minutes is available from the Board of Education Office, 261-9000. This summary may have been published before the minutes were approved by the Board of Education. Please call to check on any changes.)

Regular Meeting Summaries

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Last Updated: 1999-01-05 10:54AM