UNOFFICIAL MINUTES MUSCATINE BOARD OF EDUCATION December 12, 2011 The Board of Directors of the Muscatine Community School District, in the County of Muscatine, State of Iowa, met in regular session on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. President Tim Bower called the meeting to order. Directors Tammi Drawbaugh, Dennis Fox, Brenda Garcia-‐Van Auken, Penny Jones, Nathan Mather and Mary Wildermuth were present. Also present were Superintendent Bill Decker, Director of Special Programs Jan Collinson, Director of Human Resources Wes Fowler, Director of Finance Jean Garner, Director of Operational Services Walter Crowder, Director of Elementary Innovation and Instruction Shane Williams and Director of Secondary Innovation and Instruction Diane Campbell. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. President Bower welcomed visitors and media representatives. Tonight’s Muskie Celebration included three groups: FFA National Champions, Mulberry’s Lego League, and the AMA Gara Project of MHS g2 teachers Cathy Kramer and Sarah Jacques. Muscatine’s FFA program recently brought home three teams who placed in the Nationals recently. The Horse Judging team took first place in Nationals. The team consisted of Erin Lagone, Heather Burrows, Becca Ness, and Grace Seaba. The team thanked Kathy Weber for her help and support throughout the competition. The Sales team received 8th place in the national competition. Team members included Ashley Hansen, Danielle Chitty, Drew Rominger, and Rachel LoBianco. They thanked Lee Insurance, Chris Boar of Monsanto, Wayne Humphries, Kevin Guck, and Jean Broders of Grain Processing Corp. for their sponsorship, time, expertise, and donations. The Livestock Judging team placed 10th. Team members are: Ashley Tomlin, Ethan Wiegle, Chad VanderLinden, and Gideon Kappler. All three teams explained the process and the areas they were tested at the competition. Director Jones congratulated them for a job well done and stated that as a district, they are extremely proud of the FFA program. Superintendent Decker added that the FFA teams are a point of pride for the district and that they are considered student leaders. They are champions regardless of placement by the way they conduct themselves. Mulberry student Betsy Becker introduced the two Mulberry Lego League teams: the 5th Grade Red Dragons and the 4th Grade Silver Builders. She thanked coaches Larson and Price as well as the United Way Small Grants committee for giving them the money for the Lego robotics and the money to participate in the competitions. Both Lego teams then demonstrated the robotics and explained to the board what it is they had to do in 1
order to compete. Team members include: Fifth Grade Red Dragons – Thomas LoBianco, Brody Larsen, Blain Long, Will Zillig, and Tanner Nienhaus; Fourth Grade Silver Builders – Betsy Becker, Brady Holmes, Carter Holmes, Trevor Anderson, Olivia Bastin, Alex Oppel, Meg Manjoine, Dylan Shafer, Ethan Heth, and Caleb Hennings. Cathy Kramer and Sarah Jacques, 11th grade chemistry and calculus g2 teachers, shared with the board the project: Addressing World Population Issues. Mrs. Jacques noted that the project came about when Holly Hanna’s last year’s g2 class read the book Strength in What Remains about Deogratias Niyzonkiza in which the class invited Deo to come and talk to them. Through the generosity of the Stanley Foundation, Deo made the trip to Muscatine. He talked about his work in Burundi called the Village Health Works which focuses on clinical, food security, education, and women’s health. She then shared the cross-‐curricular aspects of the project. The math department will be looking at population and issues that affect population. They will be analyzing the data and making predictions of what the population will look like and create relatable statistics. In government, the students will be looking at different population theories. The English department will be reading a Strength in What Remains, and chemistry classes will get to create something that will help the people in Burundi. Cathy Kramer shared the project Ama Gara. Ama Gara means “health” in the dialect of Burundi. The teachers and students will be looking at a clinical project to reduce COPD by developing a community kitchen that uses ethanol to reduce the use of biomass by using a cellulosic ethanol plant development. Basically they will be taking garbage and making clean burning ethanol from that garbage. This is a project developed along with Deo when he was here last year. Staff and students will work with Deo’s agronomist as well. The students will also be looking at food security and nutrition and an indigenous water filtration system. Mrs. Kramer also shared the exciting news that she and Mrs. Jacques were invited to work with the MIT D-‐lab. She thanked the Stanley Foundation for their generosity which allowed both Kramer and Jacques to visit MIT. They were able to meet Amy Smith who is one of the 100 most influential people of the world according to Time Magazine. D-‐lab is a group of people who has a wealth of expertise in these types of projects (Ama Gara). She noted that D-‐lab only does project-‐based curriculum and when they heard about Muscatine’s g2 program they were very interested in finding out how we are doing it and how we want to ramp it up. She stated that she is honored that the MIT D-‐lab is interested in mentoring Muskie students and staff throughout the next couple of years. For more information regarding D-‐lab go to www.d-‐lab.mit.edu Superintendent Decker spoke to his personal experience in chemistry and noted that while he doesn’t recall the activities he did as a chemistry student, he was sure that students would remember this project. He stated that this is significant learning and one of the goals for the district, not just in g2, but in all parts of the district.
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Robin S. Krueger, 1305 Orchard Avenue, spoke to the board during Citizen’s Speaks specifically regarding the minutes of the November 14, 2011 meeting where there was 33 pages of notes with little amount of actual business that took place. She noted how this is an unnecessary expense. She highlighted the mission statement of the district and read policy 202.01 Ethical Code for Board Members and the IASB’s Code of Ethics for School Board Members. Emily Smith, MHS Student Council Photographer, reported on recent student council activities. She noted that the council has been focusing on the food drive and has completed the tootsie pop competition, helped with Two Weeks of Love, completed Mr. Muscatine, and held the Bowls of Hunger event. The council is still collecting cans and raising money and will be dropping off cans and cash to the Salvation Army, the domestic violence shelter, the food pantry, and the Bags of Blessings program. She also shared that student council members have participated in ringing bells for the Salvation Army and has supported a Christmas family through the domestic violence shelter as well as helped Santa write Christmas letters for local 1st and 2nd grade students. She noted that once the food drive is complete, the council will move its focus to Senior Survivor and preparing for the National Leadership Conference and Leadership Week. Wes Fowler, Director of Human Resources, thanked the student council and Mrs. Bobay for participating in Two Weeks of Love. The students donated over 1,500 food items. A motion was made by Director Mather and seconded by Director Jones to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2011 regular meeting and the November 21, 2011 special meeting, the bills and claims against the district dated December 12, 2011, and the employment recommendations as follows: The schedule C resignations of Ryan Castle as assistant high school football coach and Susanna Rivera as Central Middle School volleyball coach and the hire of Stephanie Aguero as assistant high school girls’ softball coach. All ayes; motion carried. President Bower noted that there were a number of discussion points brought forward over the last several weeks since the last meeting and asked that board members use this time to discuss whatever needs to be discussed. Director Mather stated that after reading the 2011 Report Card, he was concerned that in every demographic and grade level scores dropped between 5 – 10% virtually across the board. He noted that Superintendent Decker addressed some of his concerns in the Muscatine Journal article regarding the test scores but that he has other concerns. Superintendent Decker agreed that across the board every single test score went down. He shared that an emphasis on test scores causes test score inflation. The school district has a history of putting a strong emphasis on one test score. Teachers actually talked to him and others about how the emphasis on test scores took time away from real 3
teaching and learning in order to focus on test scores. He stated that there needs to be a balance on summative tests, a once a year test, and the formative data that happens throughout the year. All are important, but one or the other should not be the sole focus. He noted that if you get to where only one test matters, then you take away from the others. When you focus on one test score, you review what needs to be done. Thus, the pressure is on for test prep to get more and more important. He stated that the district’s focus should be on students, teaching, and learning everyday, and once a year we stop and see how we are doing and then look at results and make good instructional decisions from it. In the past, the emphasis has been to build up to the test, get the score, and without any emphasis on the data collected with the tests. By moving the needle a little bit back to the middle where the summative tests are still important, but not over emphasized, allows us to now focus on the formative data that is also important. He noted that this is not a reduction in teaching and learning, it is a reduction in preparation mode. He didn’t realize how strong that was until teachers continually said that test scores are going to drop if not emphasized. Teachers knew that the emphasis was too far in that regard. They knew if we didn’t emphasize the review of the test, the test scores would drop. He stated that that meant to him that we did not have an accurate score. He believes the current scores are now a more accurate analysis of where the district is. Director Mather stated that he understands and appreciates the explanation; however, he still has a couple of concerns. He asked what other specific standards are the district using for assessing student learning. He noted that to be responsive to the community, we should be able to point to evidence. Superintendent Decker noted that at the October 24 meeting, the principals presented on many types of the criteria that each level is using. He noted that one assessment that matters the most is the ACT test in which the latest scores showed an increase in test scores from the previous year. This information would be in the October 24 minutes but will also be brought to the board again sometime in January. He also shared that the assessments are differentiated by level, i.e. DIBELS is appropriate for the elementary which keeps track of reading. He stated that one of the real problems is that the tests, especially at the high school, have very little relevance to the students. Students feel there is no reason to do well. Students will tell you openly about the Christmas trees drawn using the bubbles. The community, however, feels that the test scores are important. He noted that the high school has gone to the PLAN test which is a predictor to students on how well they will do on the ACT. This is a relevant test because the ACT is what gets students into college and possibly scholarship/grant money. Director Mather stated that he wants to make certain that the district is not cherry picking its data to present to the community.
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Superintendent Decker stated that the board and community has seen the data and can assure Director Mather that there is no cherry picking. He is hopeful that the Inform product will help teachers make relevant instructional decisions based on all assessment data. Director Mather stated that he wants to make certain that it is a transparent process. Superintendent Decker stated that it most definitely is a transparent process. Director Garcia-‐Van Auken asked regarding the comments that Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass made when he was in town that if there is a significant dip of more than two points that there is cause for concern and asked if the district is saying that not teaching to the test is one of the reasons for this dip. She also asked if the district does any comparisons with other districts regarding test scores. Superintendent Decker shared that the district does receive information as to how it compares to the AEA schools. Our scores are still very favorable. He noted that he respects Dr. Glass, but further noted that Dr. Glass is not aware of our district’s situation. He shared that if we felt like our scores are reflective of our students then Dr. Glass’ point would be very well taken. He stated that our district directors and principals have indicated agreement with this explanation and we can say that what we now have in front of us is more accurate data. Director Jones asked if administration looked at the same cohort group and would we still see the dip in scores. Superintendent Decker noted that more than likely we would because the same concept applies. Teachers knew the scores were going to drop because we haven’t reviewed the same way. The board then discussed how best to ask and receive information that is needed and discussed open meeting laws and how emailing all members constitutes a meeting. A consensus was made that communication is key in both directions and that board members should seek information from each other, call each other, and work together and/or ask for information from the superintendent. If questions are asked of the superintendent or administration that requires a significant amount of time and money expended to get the answers, then the question should be drilled down to determine what exactly is being requested or needed. Superintendent Decker updated the board on the high school facilities. He noted that the architecture firm, FEH, has been in the district twice since the last board meeting. FEH met one day with individual teachers from different departments and different areas of the school. He stated that the goal is to not personalize the space to individual teachers but for the space to be a standard space. He shared that one of the topics that came up recently is the possibility of working with FEMA to provide storm shelters which would provide the ability to create more storage space at different ends of the 5
buildings. With FEMA’s support, the cost would be distributed 75% by FEMA and 25% by the school district. This would affect the music department on one end and general school storage on the other end without a great deal of cost to the district. The architects spent time working with the engineering firm in respects to the HVAC and the roof and how this works together. He noted there were some complications with the existing air handling unit as it is right above where we wanted to open the space at the stairway but the architects felt that this could be worked around by flipping the air handling unit to the opposite end. The architects spent time talking about the boiler roof modifications and the different ways that would be done and the timing of the project. They also spent a large amount of time discussing what the classroom space would look like, the new and remodeled. Specifically: how would it be arranged -‐ how we learn now or just a square, some soft space, and more group-‐oriented space. It was also suggested that a vestibule could be created where buses pull up during the day and students can wait indoors and this can then be used in other ways. Discussion also focused on lockers and the students’ needs. More than likely they would be using the lockers to store their backpacks as this doesn’t work now because the lockers are long and skinny. The staircase conversation was also talked about. He noted that as FEH gets closer to putting a plan together that is doable, then the community forum will happen which would be sometime after the holidays. Director Jones asked if the architects were looking for federal rebates and grants for energy efficient construction. Tyler Riley of FEH noted that Alliant Energy and Mid American both have programs for new construction that give pretty sizeable rebates but you also have to be a MidAmerican Energy consumer. Since the district is only a gas customer then the rebates drop significantly. He noted that FEH is looking into this with Alliant Energy. He also noted that the architecture firm will look at every rebate that is available. Director Garcia-‐Van Auken asked if the district has considered the extra costs in maintaining the additional square footage. Superintendent Decker agreed that when square footage is added, it will add cost. He stated that this, however, will not be an obstacle to the project. The district will plan for it once the square footage is determined. Director Jones stated that there is a misconception out in the public that the district will be seeking a bond issue for the construction that will need to be voted on. Superintendent Decker stated that no one has ever talked about a bond issue and that the construction will have no impact on the levy whatsoever. The community meeting will explain the construction design as well as the financial side of the project. This meeting will then be available on the district website for all community members to view. Mr. Riley described the process. He noted that the architects are coming to Muscatine every two weeks to meet with the superintendent and the instructors. They will be 6
using feedback from the individuals to work on the design. The first thing that happens is to figure out the size of the classrooms. He noted that there is a process in design development. Part of the community involvement is showing where the walls, doors, etc. are and to explain the whole process. He told the board that they could ask him questions at anytime. The board heard a second reading on the following policies: 403.08 Professional Organizations 403.14 Use of School Owned Equipment and Materials 403.15 Use of School Owned Vehicles 404.02 Conditions of Instruction 404.03 Academic Tutoring 404.06 Substitutes for Teachers 404.07 Planning Time with Administrative Procedures 404.10 Contracts with Certified Staff 703.06 Travel Allowance Administrative Procedures A motion was made by Director Fox and seconded by Director Jones to approve the following policies: 204.12 Complaints before the Board with Administrative Procedures 302.01 Classifications – Certified and Classified Administrators/Professionals 303.00 Code of Ethics of Administrators 401.05 Appointment of Personnel 401.07 Suspensions with Administrative Procedures 401.13 Professional Growth and Staff Development 403.01 Child Abuse by District Employees with Administrative Procedures 403.02 Substance Free Workplace with Administrative Procedures Director of Special Programs Jan Collinson reviewed the contract with Timberline regarding Medicaid billing. Muscatine is a Medicaid provider and is reimbursed for those services that are provided. The services need to be written in the IEP and parents have to give permission to allow Medicaid to be billed. Medicaid billable services are not instructional but are behavioral and/or physical (including health). She noted that the chart talks about how the district started with one student in 2007 and it now bills for 23 students. The average amount that remains in the district after reimbursing DHS is about $10,000/student. Thus, this is definitely worth district time to do this. A few years ago, Timberline was approved to do the Medicaid billing. Ms. Collinson’s administrative assistant currently does the billing and is at the maximum amount of time to be able to do this. Timberline is piloting taking over more of the duties and charging 2% to do this which would be well worth the district’s money. This would then allow us to increase the number of students that are billed which could result in the reimbursement of $360,000 -‐ $460,000, depending on the total number of students.
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Director Mather noted that it looks like the district would be able to expand billing up to 50 students which would be from $230,000 to $400,000. Jean Garner, Director of Finance, specifically noted that this is reimbursement and not additional revenues. The reimbursement offsets the district’s special education costs. A motion was made by Director Jones and seconded by Director Drawbaugh to approve the addendum to the Timberline contract regarding Medicaid billing. All ayes; motion carried. Ms. Collinson shared with the board information regarding the Century 21 Grant, the Iowa Alternate Assessment, and demonstrated i-‐Guy technology. Ms. Collinson gave a brief history of The Century 21 Grant and noted that it was initially written by Flickinger Center; however, they did not receive the grant. Now that Flickinger knows what is involved with the grant, they have a good chance to receive it. A grant writer worked with Ms. Collinson this past week writing the grant specifics. Superintendent Decker noted that the CAMP program rolled into the Muscatine Y and those options are still available, however, this grant will greatly improve after school options for children. Ms. Collinson noted that the grant’s RFP should have been out by now but it is not. As soon as it comes out, the board will receive a copy of it. Ms. Collinson updated the board on the Iowa Alternate Assessment. She noted that many students cannot take ITBS or ITEDS but the district still has to assess them according to NCLB. She explained that the Iowa Alternate Assessment is for those students who have severe cognitive abilities. The teacher takes the current curriculum and adapts it down to the level of the student. She read an email from Brian Foy, Assistant Coordinator of Low Incidence Disabilities with AEA 9, that stated that all four Muscatine sites received perfect rubric scores on their building action plans. The district was also the only site that obtained this accomplishment and were invited to speak to the whole group at its January meeting. Those sites/teachers are: Deb Castle and Jeff Schmelzer at Muscatine High School, Erin Plemmons at West Middle School, Dottie Lawrence at Washington Elementary, and Tammy Holcomb at Jefferson Elementary. Director Jones asked if that email could be forwarded to the board members so that notes could be sent to the teachers. Ms. Collinson demonstrated a new technology called the i-‐Guy. The i-‐Guy is really an iPad II and the “guy” is the iPad case that is durable for kindergarteners. The district has a student that has speech issues. When teachers/paras cannot understand the student, the student gets frustrated, angry, and can act out or shut down. The i-‐Guy allows the non-‐verbal student to be able to communicate with others.
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Director of Finance Jean Garner reported on the November 2011 financial and treasurer’s balance for the General, Schoolhouse, Nutritional, Activity, and Payroll funds. Mrs. Garner invited any board member who would like to meet with her to review the financials to give her a call. Mrs. Garner stated the an adjustment in the amounts submitted to the SBRC for modified allowable growth needs to be made due to late computer programming changes at the state level. The net is exactly the same. Therefore, a new motion with the new amounts will need to be acted on. A motion was made by Director Jones and seconded by Director Wildermuth to approve on-‐time funding modified allowable growth for increasing enrollment of $69,419, for open enrollment out of $165,901, and for LEP beyond 4 years of $112,601. All ayes; motion carried. Director of Human Resources Wes Fowler presented the negotiations schedule for 2012. He noted that the driver’s negotiations are 30 minutes longer and the reason for this is that last year a new driver contract was written and the added time is just in case there are more items that need to be adjusted. He further noted the teacher’s contract is just salary and benefits and not language unless there are items brought to the attention of both administration and the MEA. Mr. Fowler stated that there will be at least one negotiation strategy session with the board prior to the meetings. This strategy session is a closed session. Director of Elementary Innovation and Instruction Shane Williams reviewed with the board the customer service survey that was conducted during the week of parent-‐ teacher conference. The survey was offered electronically and also in hard copy format. Overall the results were positive. Director Mather stated that the numbers look overwhelming great. He asked who were surveyed. Mr. Williams stated that those who came to parent-‐teacher conference were given the survey. The survey was also available on the website so parents who did not attend conferences could also fill it out. Mr. Williams gave an update on the bandwidth issue. As was reported at the last board meeting, the district has been maxing out its allowed bandwidth. In order to provide relief, something had to be done immediately knowing that there will be a long-‐term option brought before the board in the future. AEA 9 informed us that they had a slack in their bandwidth that they were willing to sell us through July 2012. The district now has 100 Mb of bandwidth available. Mr. Williams stated that without announcing the additional bandwidth to staff, the max thus far is 80 Mb. He stated that the district is in a better position now but for the long term we know we will need to be thinking about the bigger picture.
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Director of Secondary Innovation and Instruction Diane Campbell and Bob Weaton, high school principal, reviewed the MHS Schedule for 2012-‐2013. One of the areas that has proven to be a challenge is the schedule at the high school. Mr. Weaton noted that they are at a point in its history at the high school that they need to take a serious look at how they can get the schedule to fit the needs of its students. Currently, the high school has been in a 7-‐period schedule. The high school leadership team looked at different types of schedules and had visited schools throughout the state that have different schedules. The high school leadership team felt that they were not accommodating the needs of the students due to the opportunities that the high school now offers the student body. The recommendation is to move from a 7-‐period day schedule to an 8-‐ period “Fat/Skinny Block” schedule. Mr. Weaton explained that the team will be looking at which classes would be considered “fat” and which ones would be considered “skinny.” Director Mather noted that his concern would be that this time would be used for homework. Mrs. Campbell shared that there is literature available that talks about what is meaningful homework. She stated that there needs to be a real purpose for homework that needs to be intentional and guided. Mr. Weaton noted that the issue is quality vs. quantity of time. He stated that he has never been an advocate of seat time equating to maximum learning and feels that it is the quality of instructional time that is important. He further stated that he is not overly concerned that a skinny is 40 minutes but what is done in that 40 minutes. He summarized the pros and cons. Basically the con is the timing of the change but feels that the necessity for change outweighs the crunch this puts on the time needed to develop the schedule. This schedule would give students additional options and would give staff room to be extremely creative in their instructional practices. Superintendent Decker noted that even though timing is an issue, the fact that this has been brought to administration by the staff allows for a better chance of this working. The biggest positive is that the teachers are saying this will help them create a closer relationship with students. Director Jones stated that one of the keys will be that the district provide good professional development. Mr. Weaton agreed and stated that upon board approval administration will go back and re-‐create the professional development for the second semester. Director Garcia-‐Van Aucken asked if other schools are doing this. Mr. Weaton noted that the schedule in front of them is actually Linn Marr’s schedule. He further noted that in conversations that he has had with various principals across the state is that they are looking at moving to a modified block schedule. He stated that scheduling and schedules are like attendance policies because there is not one good one out there. You keep tweaking it until it works.
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President Bower asked how this schedule will line up with Muscatine Community College’s schedule. Mr. Weaton said that this will be a challenge. Superintendent Decker noted that this is challenge right now. Superintendent Decker noted that this will be brought before the board in January for approval. Mr. Weaton stated that administration and the leadership team is going to proceed and do preliminary planning in hopes that the board will approve the schedule change. President Bower noted that the board will be going into closed session per Iowa Code Chapter 21.5(i) for the purpose of the superintendent’s evaluation. He updated the board and community on future board meeting dates which are: a Lunch and Learn session on Wednesday, December 14 on finance, a Lunch and Learn session on Tuesday, December 20 on special programs, a regular meeting on January 9, 2012 at 7 p.m. at City Hall, and a planning/regular meeting on January 23, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Administration Center. A motion was made by Director Wildermuth and seconded by Director Jones to go into closed session per Iowa Code Chapter 21.5(i) for the purpose of the superintendent’s evaluation: Roll Call: Ayes: Bower, Drawbaugh, Fox, Garcia-‐Van Auken, Jones, Mather, and Wildermuth. There were no nays. Motion carried. Time: 11:14 p.m. A motion was made by Director Jones and seconded by Director Wildermuth to return to open session. Roll Call: Ayes: Bower, Drawbaugh, Fox, Garcia-‐Van Auken, Jones, Mather, and Wildermuth. There were no nays. Motion carried. Time: 11:33 p.m. A motion was made by Director Jones and seconded by Director Drawbaugh to adjourn the meeting, All ayes; motion carried. Time: 11:33 pm. Tim Bower, President
Lisa Mosier, Secretary
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