October
16, 2007
The Montgomery County School Board met on the above date in the administrative building at 7:30 p.m. for the purpose of a work session.
Board Members Present
Penny J. Franklin, Chair W. Wat Hopkins
Phyllis T. Albritton B. Wendell Jones
Jamie M. Bond Susan K. Morikawa
David G. Dunkenberger, II
Staff Members Present
Tiffany Anderson, Superintendent
Judith K. Barylske Lisa R. McAlexander
Daniel A. Berenato Mark J. Pasier
Christina T. Gilley Walter L.
Harvey C. Goodwin Brad King, Attorney
Lois T. Graham
Call
to Order
Ms.
Franklin called the meeting to order with the pledge of allegiance to the flag
at 7:30 p.m.
Adoption
of Agenda
On motion by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mrs. Bond, the Board voted unanimously to adopt the agenda as presented.
Honors, Awards and Recognitions
Continuing
the commitment of recognizing student achievement and accomplishments, four new
“Senior of the Month” selections have been made by high school principals in
October
Eastern
Student recognized for the month of
September:
Dr.
Anderson read a proclamation from the Governor recognizing Susanne M. Dana, a
chemistry teacher at
School
Board members received recognition for earning the following Virginia School
Board Association awards through the
David Dunkenberger – Certificate of
Recognition
Penny Franklin – Certificate of Recognition
Wendell Jones – Certificate of Recognition
Susan Morikawa – Certificate of Recognition
The School Board recessed at 7:49 p.m. and reconvened at 7:58 p.m.
Public Address
Sylvia Ramos, parent, spoke of her efforts to enroll her child at Christiansburg Primary School (CPS) and the fact that she was not informed of the kindergarten age requirement during that process. Ms. Ramos indicated that she was told after her child’s second day at school that her child would not be able to continue to attend school at CPS because the child would not turn five years old by October 30, 2007. Ms. Ramos indicated that representatives from the Virginia Department of Education told her that the October 30 deadline is simply a guideline established for school divisions to follow. Therefore, she made an impassioned plea for the School Board to intervene and grant an exception for her daughter so that she might continue attending CPS.
Mary Lough, a library media specialist at
Patricia Turner, long-time teacher within the county, thanked the School Board for its consideration in giving employees a $500 across-the-board bonus. She noted that teachers at the top of the scale received an increase of only around $200 overall while there were increases in co-pays and prescription charges. Ms. Turner encouraged the School Board to find a way to increase teachers’ salaries so that more teachers will be able to afford to stay in this profession.
Amy Shea thanked the School Board for the attention given to the Elliston and Shawsville area. She noted that many people in the Elliston community are strongly opposed to consolidation. Ms. Shea said community members are looking forward to the strand meeting on October 30. She thanked the School Board members that came to the recent meeting that was held in Elliston.
Item 10/07-180 Personnel
Report: On motion by Dr. Hopkins,
seconded by Mr. Dunkenberger, the Board unanimously voted to approve the
personnel report with an addendum.
The personnel report is attached and made a
part of the minutes as pages A1-A4.
Item
10/07-181 Payment of Bills: On motion by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mrs.
Morikawa, the Board unanimously voted to approve the bills as presented.
Operating Fund:
Utilities, 9/11/07, Ck. Nos. 446380-446401, $148,632.00
Bills, 10/16/07, Ck. Nos. 446108-446379, $392,644.48
Cafeteria:
Bills, 10/10/07, Ck. Nos. 2371-2386, $116,849.08
Work Session
Dr. Hopkins moved, seconded by Mr.
Dunkenberger, and the Board voted unanimously to enter a work session at 8:09
p.m.
Item
10/07-182 Comprehensive (Six Year) Plan for
Improvement Update:
Dr. Anderson presented the 2002-2008
Comprehensive Plan for Improvement to the School Board as information. In response to a question from Mrs.
Albritton, Dr. Anderson said community meetings are held and ads are placed in
the newspaper to help inform the community about this process.
Item 10/07-180, Item
10/07-181, and Item 10/07-182
Mrs. Albritton was very interested in having
a component that works with students’ self-esteem that would include a buddy
system. She also questioned whether any emphasis is put on reading at the end
of the first grade rather than waiting until the third grade. Dr. Lois Graham,
Director of Elementary Education, explained how the PALS assessment, Title I,
and other assessments and services immediately help to evaluate and address any
needs students have at all levels. Dr. Anderson noted that the administration
would be working with Dr. Paula Wilder on the Six-Year Plan for Improvement and
reported that there would be a larger community meeting in November 2007.
Return to Regular Session
Mr. Dunkenberger moved, seconded by Dr.
Hopkins, and the Board voted unanimously to return to regular session at 8:20
p.m.
Superintendent’s Reports, Recommendations and
Announcements
Item 10/07-183 Capital
Improvement Project List (Information/Action):
On motion by Dr. Hopkins, seconded by Mrs.
Morikawa, the School Board unanimously approved the capital maintenance project
budget list for FY 2007-2008 as presented.
Item 10/07-184 Plan
for One-Time Employee Bonuses (Action):
Walter Shannon, Assistant Superintendent for
Operations, noted that the School Board voted at its meeting on September 18,
2007 to give employees a one-time bonus using carryover funds from the
2006-2007 school year budget. School Board members debated the issue of how to differentiate
between employee groups when giving this bonus. Mr. Dunkenberger proposed
increasing the bottom two tiers by $50 while Mr. Jones proposed giving both
categories of part-time workers $300 regardless of whether they worked more or
less than twenty hours per week.
Mr. Dunkenberger moved, seconded by Mrs.
Albritton, and the School Board approved by a six to one vote giving full-time
regular employees $500; part-time regular employees who work more than twenty
hours per week $350; part-time regular employees who work less than twenty
hours per week $250.
Item 10/07-182
(Continued), Item 10/07-183, and Item 10/07-184
Voting in favor were Mrs. Albritton, Mrs.
Bond, Mr. Dunkenberger, Dr. Hopkins, Mrs. Morikawa, and Ms. Franklin. Opposed was Mr. Jones.
Mr. Shannon said the fact that certain
individuals work multiple jobs within the school district would be taken into
account when determining the total hours worked and thus the amount of bonus
they should receive. Dr. Hopkins pointed out that he is married to a part-time
employee in the school system but said he does not consider this fact a
conflict of interest.
Item
10/07-185 Legislative
Priorities for 2008 (Action):
The legislative priorities for 2007 were
presented to help the School Board establish priorities for 2008. Dr. Anderson noted that the Virginia
Association of School Superintendents hasn’t completed their legislative
priorities at this time. Mr. Shannon noted
that he would have to recalculate the teaching positions for this year but said
the number probably would not change that much from what is reflected in the
2007 priority listing.
Mrs. Morikawa moved, seconded by Mr.
Dunkenberger, to accept the legislative priorities as presented to update for
2008.
Dr. Hopkins moved that the priorities be
amended to list a number 8 and that the national board paragraph be pulled out
to help create this additional item.
Mrs. Morikawa and Mr. Dunkenberger accepted this friendly amendment. The
motion and the amendment were unanimously passed by the School Board.
Item
10/07-186 Discussion
of School Board Recognitions (Discussion/Action): Mr. Dunkenberger made a motion
that board members contact principals and encourage principals to bring to
their board members anyone that principals felt did something special so that
individual board members could bring this information to the School Board in
order for the School Board to have the option to recognize these
individuals. Mrs. Albritton seconded the
motion.
Item
10/07-184 (Continued), Item 10/07-185, and Item 10/07-186
Mrs. Albritton also asked about the
possibility of having a special column in the newspaper highlighting
individuals in the school division similar to what is done for staff at
Virginia Tech. After more debate, the Board determined it was not appropriate
to give a directive to principals in regard to recognitions. Therefore, Mr. Dunkenberger rescinded his
motion.
Item
10/07-187 American
Electric Power Easement at Price’s
Item
10/07-188 School
Crisis Plans (Action): Mr.
Jones moved, seconded by Mrs. Morikawa, and the School Board certified that
crisis plans have been completed by schools in the district and reviewed by the
School Board. Voting in favor were Mrs. Bond, Mr. Dunkenberger, Dr. Hopkins,
Mr. Jones, Mrs. Morikawa, and Mrs. Albritton.
Ms. Franklin abstained from voting.
Item 10/07-189 Auburn Middle School FFA Field Trip (Action): On motion by Dr. Hopkins, seconded by
Mrs. Albritton, the Board voted unanimously to approve the AMS field trip to
Item
10/07-190 Christiansburg
Middle School FFA Field Trip (Action):
Mrs. Albritton moved, seconded by Mrs. Morikawa, and the School Board
unanimously voted to approve the CMS field trip to
Item
10/07-191 Blacksburg
High School Cross Country Teams Field Trip (Action): On motion by Mrs. Albritton, seconded by
Mrs. Morikawa, the Board voted unanimously to approve the BHS field trip to
Item 10/07-186 (Continued) and Items 10/07-187-191
Item
10/07-192 Budget
Calendar for Fiscal Year 2008-2009 (Discussion/Action): Mr. Shannon presented a budget planning
calendar for fiscal year 2008-2009 for discussion and noted a proposed change
in the presentation of the rollover budget information and new requests. He said the previous rollover budget would no
longer be presented as a separate budget document. Mr. Shannon stated that in lieu of a rollover
budget being presented at the first meeting in January, the School Board would
receive a summary of all budget requests, and the rollover information would be
included in this summary.
On motion by Dr. Hopkins, seconded by Mrs.
Albritton, and unanimously approved by the School Board, a public hearing for
citizen input was scheduled at 7:00 p.m. on November 20, 2007.
Item
10/07-193 Confirm
and Set Meeting Dates (Action):
The School Board discussed potential meeting dates for a joint meeting with the
Board of Supervisors. It was noted that
a couple of Board members would not be available on November 7 and 8, which were
the dates originally proposed for the joint meeting.
By consensus, November 27, 2007, at 6:00 p.m.
was set as a possible date for a joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors.
Unfinished Business by School Board Members
School Board
members debated whether to change the school division’s practice of not
counting years of service for those who have taught in private schools. As this has not negatively impacted
Montgomery County Public Schools to this point, it was determined that the
practice will not be changed at this time.
Item 10/07-192 and Item 10/07-193
New Business by School Board Members
Mrs. Albritton referenced a letter received from Blacksburg Middle School Norfolk
Mrs. Morikawa asked about the Board possibly responding to the parent who addressed the Board this evening from CPS. Mr. Brad King, School Board attorney, told the Board that he had briefly talked with the parent after her address about the law and had told her that he would be speaking with the superintendent directly following the meeting regarding this situation. Dr. Anderson also noted that in the past when these issues have arisen they have been quickly resolved after the administration is made aware of the problem.
Announcements/Information
Mr. Dunkenberger reported on the meeting at Elliston-Lafayette and said he had promised to tell the Board that those in attendance voiced strong opposition to consolidation. It was confirmed that the community meeting/public hearing in Elliston is scheduled on October 30, 2007.
Dr. Anderson announced that Laura Williams, in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club, helped facilitate a $200,000 a year grant award (that funnels through the Boys and Girls Club) which will help with the the transportation of students to Shawsville Middle School and Christiansburg Middle School.
Agenda Preparation
November 20, 2007 Report on Action-Based Learning Lab Pilot
Program
Governor’s School Presentation
BHS Stadium Update
January
2008 Report on Drug, Alcohol and
Gang Activity
Adjournment
The
meeting was adjourned at 9:52 p.m. on motion by Mrs. Morikawa, seconded by Mrs.
Albritton, and passed unanimously.
School Board Chair Deputy
Clerk of the
School Board