OFFICIAL MINUTES
ESTACADA SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Executive Session – Chairman David Bugni called the Executive Session to order at 6:00 p.m. in the central office conference room. Present: Directors Mark Greene, Dan Harding, Steve Crosby, and Carrie Wheeler; Superintendent Mike Call, Assistant Superintendent Howard Fetz, Business Manager Donna Cancio, recording secretary Jeanie Pinkerton and Clackamas County News representative Ali Ryan. Directors Jack Scott and Danny Scott were absent. In accordance with ORS 192.660 1b and d personnel and negotiations were discussed.
Call to Order/Roll Call – Chairman Bugni called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. on the high school choir room. Directors Greene, Harding, Crosby and Wheeler were present. Also present were Superintendent Call, Assistant Superintendent Howard Fetz, Business Manager Donna Cancio, CCN Representative Ali Ryan, administrators, staff, students, citizens, and recording secretary Jeanie Pinkerton. Directors Danny Scott and Jack Scott were absent.
High School Student Body Report – Pam Koenig reported on the results of the Equestrian competition, Clackamas Skills competition, and band and choir competitions. The wrestling team finished third at State. Ms. Koenig said student art would be shown at the Spiral Gallery in Estacada.
Bond Update Report – Ken Andrews said the upstairs portion of the junior high is nearly finished and ready for floor coverings. The science wing is ready for painting. The kitchen remodel is beginning. The auditorium plans will be ready in about a week. The overall projection for junior high completion is at the end of May or first of June. Then we’ll do the punch list and clean up work. The alley separating the building from the stadium will have new a new drain system, new sanitary system, and a new water system near Sixth Street. We will re-grade the area after the utilities to funnel the water into a catch basin. The Grade School roof will be on most of the building in a week. The masonry will take about a week to finish. Sheetrock will begin in the east and west classroom pods and should be completed the first part of June. We will be working with Emerick to allow for space for furniture storage. The budget will be very close due to the number of changes. We expect with the contingencies left on the job we should come pretty close to breakeven.
Tony Walters said the high school is finished with the exception of a few quirks. River Mill is in the dry – all windows and doors are in. Sheetrock will be done today and texturing will begin Friday. The gym is all sheet rocked and will be taped tomorrow. The boilers will be started tomorrow or Friday so there will be regular heat instead of temporary heating. Painting, ceilings, lights, ceramic tile will be done in the next three to four weeks. The gym floor will be started and four weeks of curing time is necessary. The outside of the gym and the play shed is painted and done. We’re currently working on the lighting for the play shed area. We’re about a week behind at Eagle Creek. The heating will be done on Friday. Mudding, taping, and finish work will be done in the next three to four weeks. Site work at both schools is an issue due to the rain. Both sites have oil tanks in and ready to go. River Mill and Eagle Creek will be furnished around mid or the end of May.
Ken Andrews added that the storage building by the high school will be completed around April 10. The high school parking lot – the southwest corner is severely eroded and will need re-grading, repaving and a new catch basin system. The water will be drained into the creek. We’re working with the architects now on the administration building.
OSBA Policy – Steve Woods said OSBA will be doing a review and update of the Estacada policy book. There may be many changes due to the No Child Left Behind Act. It’s important to keep policies in compliance – one area of non-compliance could cost the district a lot of money. What is involved for the Board is time. The Board has the option of how much involvement they wish to have in the process. Each section of the policy book will be reviewed and updated. Meetings with the district will be about two hours each. I suggest the Board definitely be involved in the first two sections of the policy book which deal with Board governance. The Board asked Mr. Woods to develop a schedule starting in July.
Hearing of Citizens – There were no citizen comments.
ACTION ITEMS
1. Consent Agenda – A motion by Mr. Crosby, seconded by Mr. Greene, to approve the consent agenda was unanimously approved.
2. Policy – A motion by Mr. Crosby, seconded by Mrs. Wheeler, to approve the second reading of Policy IKGA/Certificate of Initial Mastery Proficiency Standards was unanimously approved.
3. Resolution #137/Furnishings – A motion by Mr. Crosby, seconded by Mr. Greene to approve Resolution #137/Furnishings was unanimously approved.
4. Resolution #138/Renewal/Non-Renewal – A motion by Mr. Greene, seconded by Mr. Crosby, to approve Resolution #138/Employee Renewals, Non-Renewals, Extensions, and Non-Extensions was unanimously approved.
5. Grade School and Junior High Change Order – A motion by Mr. Greene, seconded by Mr. Crosby, to approve the Grade School and Junior High Change Order was unanimously approved.
Mr. Andrews said this amount is included in the 99 percent projection.
Superintendent’s Report – Mr. Call said Mr. Lewis and Mr. Espenel would give brief reports on the state report card scores. Mr. Espenel said the KPI reports we gave in October included preliminary test scores. Some activities and changes have been made to our curriculum to address our scores, i.e., block scheduling, an extra period of reading, monthly classroom assessments, and a new homework policy. We are also involved in TESSA – Technology Enhanced State Assessment. Mr. Greene asked if a student passes TESSA what do you do? Mr. Espenel said there is more intensive work in the classrooms, or perhaps a high school class.
Mr. Lewis said we were pleased with our strong rating. We’ve been trending upward for a four year period, i.e. in test scores, dropout rates, etc. We also recognize we have a long way to go. Roughly fifty percent of our students are passing the benchmarks, which is way too low. We have two areas of concern – math and reading benchmarks. We’re using TESSA to address this. We are also doing more classroom integration of cross curriculum. Math teachers are working with the professional/technical teachers to develop real life problems. We started mentor groups this year with about twenty students assigned to each staff member to help track students. We just started gathering data and surveying students on the pros and cons of the trimester and the results will be presented to the Board at a future meeting. We started a process of looking at staff development as a plan for next year. We’re developing a list of needs and issues in the test scores to be addressed. Even though we are still disappointed in the dropout rate, we are below the state average. We lost 36 kids and we are currently doing a study of where these kids are. Eight of them are back in school now. We hope the mentor groups can help with this. We are making phone contacts and sending letters inviting these kids back to look at options, i.e., our program, the GED program, etc.
Lawsuit Outcome – Superintendent Call said we are
very pleased that there is no longer a pending lawsuit against the district and
read the following statement: “The
Estacada School District is pleased to announce that the Oregon Tax Court has
ruled completely in the District’s favor with respect to two lawsuits filed by
Mark Luedtke. In his lawsuits against
the District, Mr. Luedtke alleged that the District engaged in a number of
budgetary irregularities and purposefully underestimated property tax revenue
in order to increase the 2003 levy. The
District denied all of Mr. Luedtke’s allegations.
Mr. Luedtke filed both of his lawsuits against the
District in mid-August of 2002. Mr.
Luedtke requested a substantial amount of information from the District, which
the District obligingly provided him.
Once Mr. Luedtke was provided with all of the documents that he
requested, the District filed two separate motions with the Oregon Tax Court,
asking the Tax Court judge to dismiss both of Mr. Luedtke’s complaints on
several different grounds. Mr. Luedtke
responded alleging that the District knowingly underestimated budget resources
and knowingly levied a greater tax levy than was required for the 2002-2003
year. The Tax Court found in favor of
the District in both cases and dismissed Mr. Luedtke’s complaints. Final judgment was entered by the Tax Court
on January 21, 2003, and Mr. Luedtke has declined to appeal the Court’s ruling.
The District encourages citizen involvement in the
budgetary process and welcomes the comments and criticisms of citizens where
appropriate. Unfortunately, the District
attempted on many occasions to provide Mr. Luedtke with the necessary
information to persuade him that in fact nothing improper had taken place, yet
he was unpersuaded and filed his lawsuits anyway. This litigation was very costly in terms of
legal fees and time spent by the District in addressing them, and while the
District respects every taxpayer’s right to file suit if they believe they have
a case, the District regrets that Mr. Luedtke could not be persuaded that his
position was without merit prior to filing his lawsuit. The District remains committed to working
with any citizen or citizen groups that have questions about the budgetary
process.”
Mr. Call said we are looking at student information systems, including Power School. The cost is $56,000 plus $5,000 for the server. We are currently spending about $25,000 for the system provided through ESD. In light of the No Child Left Behind Act it is increasingly important for parents to have access to student information. The Power School program is web based and under state contract. It provides a strong scheduling component. There is about a two-year payback on this program. Parents can access the program at any time to see how their child is doing, i.e., grades, attendance, etc. Teachers can enter data at home also. We will give you more information and a recommendation in the future.
Business Office Reports – Donna Cancio referred to the reports in the board packet and asked if there were any questions. There were no questions.
Board of Directors’ Reports - Mr. Greene said he would have a costs analysis for the weight room for the next board meeting. Mr. Harding said he read to the kids at the Grade School – it was a good thing and very fun. Mr. Bugni said we are in the math adoption process and will report to the Board in June for an adoption purchase in July. I heard many favorable comments about the Art Abrams band. There will be an Academic Task Force meeting tomorrow. About ten percent of the parents responded to the survey. I also read to students at the Grade School. Our auditorium goal has been met for the Meyer Memorial Grant requirement – a total of $90,000 with $30,000 from Meyer, $13,000 from other foundations, $20,000 from the lottery fund, and the remainder from the community. We are hoping to retain about $10,000 of the $15,000 surplus for seed money for performances, and $5,00 for additional enhancements.
Hearing of Citizens – There were no citizen comments.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Future School District Funding Scenarios – Mr. Bugni said the Portland School District has acquired additional funds and that has led legislators to discuss the feasibility of returning to the idea of having communities fend for themselves. It concerns me that we do not have the infrastructure to support this. If we return to a method of funding where we have to create a tax base we would be hurt. Other communities would be hurt too. The funding issue can’t be solved just at a district level. Can we find out if there is a group that can be formed to say a certain level of education funding must exist? We need to make that message clear. The Oregonian is not seeing the whole picture. What is a good way to do that? Mr. Greene said that’s a good point. Portland being in trouble is a double-edged sword. People now see there is a real funding problem, and then along come gifts, taxes, etc. Mr. Call said OSBA would be the logical place to go. We also have COSA. Mr. Bugni said we should make it clear that we support quality education for all – equalization. Dr. Fetz suggested contacting our state senators and representatives so they hear these concerns. Mr. Bugni said I just don’t want to see us going backwards. Mr. Crosby said we also need to kick start our education sub committee. I will get with the newspaper and do that. If we can form a strong alumni association we can raise money. Mr. Crosby requested copies of the CPA final report.
PERS Resolution – Mr. Call said there are a number of proposals regarding the PERS situation. In some districts there are charges of PERS overcharges. This resolution challenges that. Mr. Greene asked what is the benefit of supporting this resolution? Mrs. Wheeler said if we support this resolution we would be siding with public Employers against PERS.
Other – Mrs. Cancio said there would be a Budget Committee workshop on April 2. The CPA group will be invited. Mr. Harding requested the CPA final report.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
The Board reconvened in executive session at 9:05 p.m. in the central office conference room to discuss personnel and negotiations issues according to ORS 192.660 1b and d.
The executive session adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
2. Policy IKGA/Certificate of Initial Mastery Proficiency Standards
3. Resolution #137/Furnishings
4. Resolution #138/Employee Renewals, Non-Renewals, Extensions, and Non-Extensions
5. Grade School and Junior High Change Order
___________________________________ ______________________________
David Bugni, Chairman Michael Call, Superintendent
Board of Directors Estacada School District
Jp/minutesmarch,2003