The Board of Trustees of School District No. 58, Bingham County, Idaho met in regular session at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at the Aberdeen School District Office in Aberdeen, Idaho.
Chairman Elaine Blik opened the meeting at 7:03 p. m. Present were Todd Lowder, Sherrie Mauroner and David Wahlen. Mike Shackelford was absent.
Financial Auditor Morgan Hatt briefed the Board on the results of the annual audit performed for fiscal year ending June 30, 2018. He discussed how the fund balance has increased over the last five years with supplemental levies and good financial management contributing to this increase. He recommended that the district should maintain a high fund balance to have at least a month of reserves for payroll and expenses as well as funds available for unforeseen costs. Trustee Lowder asked about the effect of the plant facility failing for fiscal year 2018-2019. Mr. Hatt indicated the district will need to expend general fund dollars for plant facility expenses until another plant facility levy passes.
Andrea Myler asked the Board about the coupon books for the elementary school fundraising. She asked if the fundraiser would be used to pay for the elementary school roof, or the middle school intercom system. Mrs. Ward indicated that student funds raised would not be used for district building expenses. Ms. Colton said that a committee would decide what the funds are used for within the elementary school.
Mrs. Ward reviewed her written report. She thanked Kristy Copeland and Layne Arnoldson for scheduling and preparing the booth for the fair. She appreciates all the work they do on behalf of the Aberdeen Education Foundation and she thanked all those that worked in the booth this year. A bid was received for the Middle school Intercom system and the district is working on having an intercom system installed as soon as possible. The elementary school roof should be finished sometime in October. She added that EMT communication devices do not work in the new high school and costs to install a system would be approximately $45,000. She wants to talk to Bingham County about this issue. She will schedule a time to meet with the Bingham County Commissioners. A new door may be installed at the old auditorium for students to pass through to the locker rooms. This will help with not tracking in dirt on the gym floor and she will request construction bids for this project.
Mr. Pincock discussed his written report. He thanked the Board for hiring the extra teachers and for their roles in making the new high school a reality. Fall sports have started and the soccer District Tournament will start when we return from Harvest Break. High School student Cole Pratt did well in his first race for the cross-country program. The high school is hoping to grow this program. He added that there was a coaches meeting in August and a handbook was made available.
Ms. Mennear reviewed her written report and highlighted that the beginning of the school year went very smoothly. Beginning of the year testing is now complete and ISAT test scores from last year were reviewed with test scores from this year to determine which students may need interventions and monitoring. She added the state is working on Gear Up funds and she will know soon if these funds will be available this year for 7th and 8th graders.
Ms. Colton discussed her written report and highlighted that the elementary school building is working on a ‘Kindness is Cooler’ drive. All students write a completed act of kindness on a red heart and post it on a bulletin board. Teachers had the Pesky Learning Center teach writing best practices on September 17th and 18th. She added that three to four grade levels are working with students to be “greeters” as students enter the classroom in the morning.
Mr. Vaughn discussed his written report. He highlighted that he was selected and appointed by the State Department of Education to serve on the Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP) for Idaho. This advisory panel works with parents, directors and various state agencies to work with and support students with disabilities. He prepared a report showing ISAT results from the 17-18 school year as well as comparisons among subgroups and growth.
There were changes to the agenda to add approving the high school incentive program under Business Item-Actions 8-F, the name of the theater under Business Item-Actions 8-G and executive session for personnel was added under Item 11 and adjournment changed to Item 12.
A change was made to the August 15th regular meeting minutes under Business Items-Discussion, Discuss Auditorium Name. The sentence “Trustee Wahlen proposed assigning someone from the school board to be on a committee for the new auditorium” was corrected to “Trustee Wahlen proposed forming a committee to plan events at the new auditorium, with a Trustee assigned, each nominating a member for the committee”. With the changes made to the August 15th Regular Meeting Minutes, Trustee Lowder made a motion and Trustee Mauroner seconded to approve consent items-actions 7A-H as modified. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Mauroner and seconded by Trustee Lowder to approve the 2017-2018 annual financial audit report. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Lowder and seconded by Trustee Wahlen to table assigning a school board member for the performing arts committee until a later date. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Lowder and seconded by Trsutee Mauroner to change the November 2018 Board meeting date from Wednesday, November 21st to Monday November 19th at 5:30 p.m. The motion passed.
Trustee Lowder made a motion and Trustee Mauroner seconded to approve the 2018-2019 Continuous Improvement Plan which also includes the 2018-2019 College and Career Plan and the 2018-2019 Literacy Plan. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Lowder and seconded by Trustee Mauroner to approve the middle school 2018-2019 open enrollment application. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Mauroner and seconded by Trustee Wahlen to approve the high school incentive program for students who earn the privilege to leave early for lunch. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Trustee Lowder and seconded by Trustee Wahlen to approve the name of the theater as discussed. The motion passed.
Trustee Wahlen said he is hearing good things about the school and is happy with the new high school and auditorium. He is happy we were able to move Harvest Break.
Trustee Lowder misses Mike Shackelford’s input when he is not able to attend a Board meeting. He likes working with the other Trustees, school administrators and teachers. He is hearing positive feedback from the schools and appreciates the administrators and staff.
Trustee Mauroner is glad things are going better for the teachers this school year.
Trustee Blik is happy to hear things are going well at the schools. She has not heard anything negative. She is thrilled things are good and that everyone needs to keep communication open with each other. She appreciates what everyone does at the district and schools and hopes everyone enjoys their Harvest Break. She reminded everyone that the plant facility levy will be run again on November 13th and asked everyone to come and vote.
At 9:23 p.m., a motion was made by Trustee Lowder and seconded by Trustee Wahlen that the Board of Trustees of School District No. 58 recess from an open meeting into executive session pursuant to Section 74-206, Idaho Code, in order to discuss Section 74-206: Subsection B (Personnel) and that following the executive session the Board will reconvene in public session for the purpose of conducting further business or for adjournment of the meeting.
The regular session meeting reconvened at 10:31 p.m.
A motion was made by Trustee Mauroner and seconded by Trustee Wahlen to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 10:32 p.m.