Members Present:       

Jim Waugh, President
Leon Leachman, Vice President
Vicki Coash
Dan Ingalls
Chris Locke
Bernie Spradling
Tom Storrer

Sue Givens, Superintendent
Norm Wilks, Director of Fiscal & Support Services
Jackie Clark, Board Clerk
David Wagner, Director of Operations
Julie Jensen, Director of Curriculum
Jim Shum, Lincoln Teacher
Lora Meirowsky, ENEA
Steve Fellers, High School Teacher
Tammy Fellers, Director of EXTEND
Robin Nixon, The El Dorado Times
Vince Haines, PKHLS-Architecture PA
Dave Stewart, PKHLS-Architecture PA
Ray Connell, Patron
Tom Murry, Patron

Facilities Tour

The BOE toured summer projects at district facilities.

Board President Jim Waugh adjourned the Work Session at 6:15 p.m.

At 6:30 p.m., Chris Locke moved to recess into an executive session for a period of 30 minutes to discuss matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy rights of the individuals to be discussed, and to have preliminary discussion of the acquisition of real property in order to protect the public interest in acquiring property for school district use with board members, the Superintendent and the Director of Fiscal and Support Services present. Tom Storrer seconded the motion; the motion carried 7-0.

The board returned to general session at 7:00 p.m. with the same people as listed above present.

At 7:00 p.m. President Jim Waugh opened the public budget hearing. Norm Wilks reviewed the published 08-09 Budget. He reminded board members that the published budget contained a mill levy increase of 2.929 mills for a total mill levy of 49.865. Wilks said he expects our mill levy to be the second lowest of the school districts in Butler County.

At 7:15 p.m., President Jim Waugh closed the public hearing.

Bernie Spradling made a motion to approve the agenda plus the addendum (9a—EXTEND Charter School Enrollment; 17— Lease with Junior Wildcat Football; 19a—Additional USD 490 Personnel Recommendations; 20a—Additional BCSBC Recommendations; 20b—Additional Executive Session). Seconded by Dan Ingalls, the motion carried 7-0.

Vicki Coash made a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented. Seconded by Bernie Spradling, the motion carried 7-0.

Minutes of the July 14, 2008, Regular Meeting
Minutes of the July 29 Special Meeting
Financial Reports
Credit Card Report
Middle School Activity Report
High School Summer School Report 

        •  El Dorado Inc. Report – Dan Ingalls
Dan Ingalls reported that at their last meeting El Dorado Inc. members discussed the addition of Barton Solvents to the Industrial Park and the job fair scheduled for this fall.

        •  Legislative Update – Leon Leachman
Leon Leachman discussed the state budget for next year and the projected shortfall in revenues. He reminded board members of upcoming KASB meetings.

        •  Director of Operations Report – David Wagner
David Wagner reported that all pier work is complete in Phase II of the high school bond construction. He said that workers are currently installing grade beams and structural steel in the commons area. Wagner said there have been pavement delays due to the rainy weather. He said the job trailers would be moved onto the new pavement when it is finished. In addition, he reported that a temporary walkway was installed between the activity center and the old gym pass gate.

Wagner also reported on maintenance projects including upgrades at the stadium, stage curtains installed at Skelly, the installation of new skirting on one of the mobiles at Skelly, replacement of a rooftop unit at the middle school, upgrades to lighting and stage in the EMS auditorium, landscape work at EMS, and re-keying doors in the attendance centers. In addition, Wagner said he is working on specs for re-roofing the dome of the EHS gym.

        •  Director of Fiscal & Support Services Report—Norm Wilks
Norm Wilks said the reorganization of maintenance and custodial operations has gone very well under the direction of Director David Wagner. He also talked about the recent changes in the Kansas Open Meetings Law, pointing out the definition of what constitutes a meeting and a serial meeting. In addition, Wilks said the County has asked to use our school buses in case of emergency evacuations. He said we would cooperate if we don’t need the buses for our own transportation needs.

        •  Superintendent’s Report—Sue Givens
Superintendent Givens said that together with ENEA the district would offer a Candidates Forum on September 20, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.. She said state representative and senator candidates would be invited to participate. She said the forum would be open to all staff and BOE members. The forum will be hosted at the middle school auditorium. She asked BOE members to send suggestions for questions to her as soon as possible.

Givens said principals would invite their Site Council members to the Education Election Seminar to be held Wednesday, September 3rd. In addition, she provided the 2008-09 schedule for BOE building visits.

Givens shared a mock-up of the “Accountability Card” that she would like to have available in local businesses. The card will contain 10 performance and accountability bullet points that tell patrons how our schools are doing.

She thanked the central office staff for making sure the district was ready for school one week early as well as for the successful implementation of mail-out enrollment. In addition, she thanked the City for making the Civic Center available for our back-to-school staff meetings.

Julie Jensen, Director of Curriculum, reviewed student assessment data and shared preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status. She reported that for the first time in five years all our schools met the federal mandate for Adequate Yearly Progress. She said that the district scores in math and reading for ALL students exceeded the state AYP targets by over 14% in reading and 16% in math. She said our trend data shows a consistent increase in both math and reading district scores. She said the most significant improvement was the special education population’s 19.5% increase in math scores. Jensen said that out of every 10 USD 490 students eight to nine of them demonstrated proficiency on the state assessments. She said that our students’ science and social science scores would not be available until this fall. Jensen reminded the BOE that our district will remain on the list of districts on improvement because we must demonstrate continued improvement for two years. In addition, Jensen reported that our ACT scores increased last year while a higher percentage of EHS students took the ACT test. She also told the BOE that the district would participate in the NAPE (national) testing program this school year.

Tammy Fellers, EXTEND High School Director, presented course outcomes specific to the school. The outcomes received District Steering Committee endorsement on August 6. She reported that 41 students have completed the application process to attend EXTEND High School. In addition, she said she is now fully staffed. She said the staff would be focusing on empowering students to find success. Fellers said the school would like to offer five new courses: Train to Serve, Serve to Learn, Learn for Living, Work Experience and Internship. She explained that these courses are job readiness courses. These courses are in addition to our present high school outcomes and specific to the charter school grant.

Leon Leachman made a motion to approve as presented the EXTEND High School Outcomes for the five new charter school courses. Seconded by Dan Ingalls, the motion carried 7-0.

EXTEND Director Tammy Fellers reported that she has received 41 applications for the charter high school. The grant allows 40 students in the program. She requested permission to apply to the State to amend the grant application to allow 41 students be enrolled in the school.

Leon Leachman made a motion to approve the petition to the state to amend the grant to allow us to offer the program to 41 students. Vicki Coash seconded the motion; the motion carried 7-0.

Information was presented regarding a campaign to encourage individuals to consider the teaching profession. Superintendents throughout the state are asking Boards of Education to support this initiative with a $100 commitment. The campaign (Change Lives…Teach) will include TV spots, radio spots and a web site.

Vicki Coash made a motion to approve a $100 commitment to the Kansas Teacher Recruitment Statewide Image & Promotion Campaign. Seconded by Dan Ingalls, the motion carried 7-0.

Mr. Wilks presented pertinent information concerning the 2008-09 school budget at the budget hearing held earlier in the evening.

Bernie Spradling made a motion to approve the USD 490 2008-09 School Budget as presented. Seconded by Tom Storrer, the motion carried 7-0.

Recommended handbook and policy updates from KASB were presented during the July BOE meeting. The administration recommended the BOE approve the policy updates with the exception of Policy JDDA, which the BOE had previously adopted.

Vicki Coash made a motion to approve the policy updates. Seconded by Dan Ingalls, the motion carried 7-0.

Annually, the Board is asked to approve procedures and credit limits established for various individuals (Board Policy CGA). There were no changes in policy or credit limits recommended for the administrators listed (Sue Givens, Doug Jensen, Julie Jensen, Norm Wilks, Greg Buster and Karen Wright).

Leon Leachman made a motion to approve the credit card procedures and credit limits as listed in Board Policy CGA. Seconded by Bernie Spradling, the motion carried 7-0.

A proposal to amend the 2008-2009 Negotiated Agreement reflecting modifications to planning period calculation at EXTEND High and the addition of Board-provided Dental Coverage was presented to the E-NEA. E-NEA unanimously ratified and the administration recommended that the BOE approve the amendments.

Bernie Spradling made a motion to approve the amendments to the 2008-2009 Negotiated Agreement. Seconded by Vicki Coash, the motion carried 7-0.

The administration recommended approval of Preferred Health Systems and Delta Dental for group health insurance and Vision Direct for group vision coverage.

Leon Leachman made a motion to approve Preferred Health Systems and Delta Dental for group health insurance and Vision Direct for group vision coverage. Seconded by Tom Storrer, the motion carried 7-0.

A lease between USD 205 Bluestem and USD 490 for premises described as Bluestem Elementary Haverhill School Building was recommended. The site will be the central location for special education itinerant staff offices and special education staff development meetings.

Dan Ingalls made a motion to approve the lease between USD 205 Bluestem and USD 490.  Seconded by Bernie Spradling, the motion carried 7-0.

The lease is for use of specified facilities for six home games and bowl game competition during the 2008 season. The only change from past agreements is the addition of wording requiring Junior Wildcat Football to reimburse the district for lighting costs at the practice field.

Vicki Coash made a motion to approve the lease with Junior Wildcat Football. Seconded by Leon Leachman, the motion carried 7-0.

Leon Leachman made a motion to approve the USD 490 personnel recommendations, which include the addendum. Dan Ingalls seconded the motion. The motion carried 7-0.

Bernie Spradling made a motion to approve the BCSBC recommendations which include the addendum. Seconded by Vicki Coash, the motion carried 7-0.

Tom Storrer made a motion to approve the following requests for Intrust purchase cards for the following employees hired for new positions requiring purchase cards and for current employees requiring a higher credit limit. Chris Locke seconded the motion; the motion carried 7-0.

Mitzi Gardner, $200/month limit
Chris Dunlap, $200/month limit
Connie Unger, $200/month limit
Mary Lippert, $200/month limit
Brandy Ray, $200/month limit
Pam Patterson, $500/month limit
Stefani Childs, $200/month limit
Brandy Underwood, $500/month limit
Lisa Arndt, $2,500/month limit
Valarie Williams, $1,000/month limit

At 8:30 p.m., Leon Leachman moved to recess into an executive session for a period of 30 minutes to have preliminary discussion of the acquisition of real property in order to protect the public interest in acquiring property for school district use with board members, the Superintendent, the Director of Fiscal & Support Services, Vince Haines, David Stewart, Ray Connell and Tom Murry present. Dan Ingalls seconded the motion; the motion carried 7-0.

The board returned to general session at 9:00 p.m. with the following people present.

Jim Waugh
Leon Leachman
Vicki Coash
Dan Ingalls
Chris Locke
Bernie Spradling
Tom Storrer
Sue Givens
Norm Wilks
Jackie Clark

• August 12 - Chamber of Commerce New Teacher Breakfast at Civic Center
• August 13 – First Day of School, K-6th and 9th
• August 14 – First Day of School, 7-8 and 10-12
• August 27 – Stadium Committee Update (Special Meeting w/BCC & City) @ Civic Center Meeting Room, 4:30 p.m.