Summary Minutes of the Board of
Education Meeting
The regular meeting
of the Board of Education was called to order by President Samuel
President Samuel
A motion was made by Director Hoffman and
seconded by Director Becker to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the
Board of Education held
A motion was made by Director Hoffman and
seconded by Director Spicer to approve the payment of bills. Ayes all.
Director of Finance Ramona Jeffrey reviewed
the receipts, disbursements, and cash balance in each of the fund accounts for
the month of June.
Mrs. Jeffrey presented and reviewed the
Schedule of District Cash and Investment Balance Composition and the District
Secretary Balance Composition as of
Director of Personnel Martin Gordon reviewed
the following personnel changes: New
Hires – Jamie Roethler, Kerri Schroeder, Thomas Kirby, Christine Eige, and Tara
Truex; Resignations – Monica Jarvis and Tiffany Yaw; and Hew Hires/Supplemental
– Jim Cornick, Jim Lee, Scott Swenson, Matthew Evans, Jennifer Schlitter,
Trisha Shovein, Jessica Robison, Shannon Dykstra, Tom Kirby, Angela Brodersen,
Paul Conner, and Sara Bucknam. A motion
was made by Director Spicer and seconded by Director Young to approve the
personnel changes. Ayes all.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear reviewed the calendar
dates making special note of the new teacher workshop reception and luncheon at
the
President
There were no requests to address the Board
during the Open Forum.
There was no recognition submitted for this
meeting. Assistant Superintendent Hal
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear
presented a draft of the five-year comprehensive school improvement plan for a
first reading. This plan must be submitted to the Iowa Department of Education
by September 15. Formal approval of the
plan is set for the Board of Education regular meeting on August 20.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear provided
the Board with a list of the textbook purchases and costs for the 2007-2008
school year and reviewed what purchases were made for the various curriculum
areas.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear presented
anti-bullying/harassment policies for first reading. These policies are being presented due to an
adoption of a new law by the 2007 Iowa Legislature. The district has had policies in place since
1994, but with the new law some of the language needs to be updated. These policies and regulations will be
presented for second reading and approval at the
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear
presented Board Policy Section 600 – Education Program for first reading. This section is being presented as part of
the five-year board policy review process.
This section of the Board Policy Manual will be presented for second
reading and approval at the
A list of state legislative resolutions
submitted by the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) was presented for
Board consideration. This organization
has asked the Board to submit five legislative priorities for the IASB
legislative agenda for 2008. A motion
was made by Director Spicer and seconded by Director Hoffman to submit the
following legislative action resolutions as the Mason City Community School
District Board of Education’s five priorities:
1.
Support
extending the school infrastructure local option tax to a statewide penny sales
tax distributed on a per pupil basis, recalculated annually to adjust the
statewide average revenues per student.
2.
Support
funding to ensure that all three and four-year-olds have access to a high
quality public school preschool program to be funded by including preschool
students in the enrollment count with revenues that do not divert what would
otherwise be K-12 resources. Funding should
be allocated for literacy-based programs with well-articulated standards of
high quality.
3.
Support
full state funding to implement quality professional development to improve
student learning through each school district’s Career Development Plan. Additional days should be funded and required
until a minimum of 10 days of quality professional development exists in every
school district. The school district is
the appropriate authority to determine the content and participation in
professional development.
4.
Support
settling allowable growth at a rate that encourages continuous school
improvement and reflects actual cost increases experienced by school
districts. The allowable growth rate
should be set no lower than 6 percent.
5.
Support
flexibility in 1) the development of a school calendar, including hours vs.
days of instruction, and 2) the content of the calendar, whether it be
professional development or student contact time.
Ayes all.
Director Becker left the meeting at this
point.
A motion was made by Director Young and
seconded by Director Spicer to adopt the following resolution:
WHEREAS,
on January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act of 2001, which applies to all school districts and schools
within states that accept federal Title I dollars; and
WHEREAS,
the Mason City Community School District Board of Education supports the
goals of NCLB of raising student achievement; closing the achievement gap; and
ensuring that each child has a highly qualified teacher; and
WHEREAS,
the Mason City Community School District Board of Education continues to
welcome the accountability for improving student and school performance; and
WHEREAS,
the Mason City Community School District Board of Education has had four years
of operational experience in implementing NCLB; and
WHEREAS,
the Mason City Community School District Board of Education has
identified improvements that could be made to NCLB that would eliminate
barriers to full implementation of the federal law; and
WHEREAS,
one of the key improvements proposed, using individual student growth for all
students as the measure of school district success, is a more meaningful and
sensible way to inform school improvement and demonstrate accountability than
the current proficiency requirements; and
WHEREAS,
the National School Boards Association (NSBA) developed draft legislation based
on input from local school boards across the nation that would address the
concerns of local school boards, and improve the implementation of NCLB; and
WHEREAS,
in April 2006 the NSBA Delegate Assembly re-affirmed its support of federal
legislation that is consistent with the NSBA draft legislation; and
WHEREAS,
in January 2007 Representative Don Young (R-AK) re-introduced legislation, the No
Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2007, H.R. 648, that is consistent
with the NSBA draft legislation; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Mason City Community School
District Board of Education urges Representative Tim Latham to
fully support H.R. 648 by becoming a co-sponsor of the bill, and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Mason City Community School
District Board of Education seeks the support of local community and civic
leaders and appropriate members of the Iowa Senate and House of Representatives
in encouraging Representative Tim Latham to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 648,
and be it finally
RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be
sent to members of
A roll call vote was taken resulting in ayes
all.
Director Becker reentered the meeting at
this point.
A motion was made by Director Spicer and
seconded by Director Hoffman to adopt the following resolution:
WHEREAS, pursuant to the provision of the Iowa Code
Sections 257.18-257.21 an instructional support program is available to all
WHEREAS, the Mason City Community School District
board of Directors believes it is in the best interest of the school district
to pursue participation in the instruction support program, and,
WHEREAS, certain procedures are required to be
followed in order to participate,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Directors of the
Section 1.
That this Board hereby evidences its intent to consider participation in
the instructional support program.
Section 2.
That this Board shall hold a public hearing on the 20th day
of August, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the Mason City Community
School District Administration building at 1515 South Pennsylvania Avenue,
Mason City Iowa, at which time the public will have the opportunity to speak on
the question of the District’s participation in the instructional support
program.
Section 3.
The board proposes the public be heard on the following
proposition: Shall the Board of
Directors of the Mason City Community School District in Cerro Gordo County, State
of Iowa, be authorized for a period of five (5) years commencing with the
2008-2009 budget year, to levy and impose an instructional support tax in an
amount (after taking into consideration instructional support state aid) not to
exceed four percent (4%) of the total of regular program district cost for the
budget year and monies received under section 257.14 as a budget adjustment for
the budget year be authorized annually as determined by the Board to levy a
combination of an instructional support property tax upon all the taxable
property within the school district, commencing with the levy for collection in
the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 and to impose an instruction support
income surtax upon the state individual income tax of each individual income
taxpayer resident in the school district on December 31 for each calendar year
commencing with calendar year 2008 on each year thereafter [the percent of
income surtax not to exceed one percent (1%)] to be determined by the Board for
each fiscal year, to be used for insuring on-going enrichment and remedial
learning opportunities for grades preschool through grade twelve as well as to
support student technologies, software and curriculum.
Section 4. That the Secretary is authorized and directed
to publish the Notice of Public Hearing on the proposed instructional support
levy not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the hearing in a
newspaper of general circulation within the district.
A roll call vote was taken resulting in ayes
all.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear
presented a renewal agreement between
A motion was made by Director Becker and
seconded by Director Spicer to approve a 28E agreement between
A motion was made by Director Hoffman and
seconded by Director Young to approve a one-year contract extension with Drive
Tek to provide drivers education instruction at
The Wellness Booklet and program for the 2007-2008
school year was taken under consideration.
A motion was made by Director Becker and seconded by Director Spicer to
approve the Wellness Booklet and program as presented. Ayes all.
Student handbooks
for 2007-2008 were presented for approval.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Minear noted addendums to reflect policy
changes will be attached to handbooks following approval of the
anti-bullying/harassment policy approval at the August 20 board meeting. A motion was made by Director Spicer and
seconded by Director Hoffman to approve the 2007-2008 student handbooks. Ayes all.
A motion was made by Director Young and
seconded by Director Spicer to approve the federal guidelines for free and
reduced price meals for the 2007-2008 school year. Ayes all.
A motion was made
by Director Becker and seconded by Director Young to appoint Ramona Jeffrey as
Board Secretary/Treasurer and Susan Deike as Recording Secretary for the 2007-2008
fiscal year. Ayes all.
A motion was made by Director Spicer and
seconded by Director Young to approve a contract from
The
superintendent's contract was taken under consideration. It was moved by Director Spicer and seconded
by Director Becker to approve a three-year contract with a 4% total package
increase. Ayes all.
A motion was made
by Director Becker and seconded by Director Young to adjourn. Ayes all.
The meeting was adjourned at
Susan A. Deike
Recording Secretary
Samuel
Board President