February 13, 2012 Public Hearing and Board Meeting Minutes

 

Call to Order

President Romens called the public hearing meeting to order at 6:45 p.m.

 

Upon roll call the following Board members responded as being present:   President Romens, Ann Staiert, Henry Clark, Craig Patzer and Dave Blum.

 

The public hearing was over at 7:00 p.m. and the regular meeting started at 7:00 p.m.  The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

 

None

None

 

Henry Clark made a motion to approve the consent agenda including items 4A through 4L with the following items pulled out: 4C Item 10 Board Policy 405.2; 4C Item 11 Board Policy 405.2R; 4D Item 2 Board Policy 406.1; 4D Item 8 Board Policy 407; and 4D Items 16-19 Board Policies 408.4, 409, 409.1, 4091R. Ann Staiert seconded the motion.  All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Minutes were approved from the work session on January 4, 2012; work session and regular meeting on January 9, 2012; special meeting and work session on January 23, 2012 and the Super Board meeting held on January 31, 2012.

Second Reading Approvals:

 

First Reading Approvals:

The  employees  designated  as  retiring  are  requesting  the  leave  incentive.        The  coaching  positions  are contingent up finding suitable replacements.

The open enrollment requests were approved for Savannah, Kiley, Jessica and Brodie.  The open enrollment request for Benjamin was denied due to our district being unable to provide the appropriate program.

Financial reports as of January 31, 2012 were approved.

 

The Board discussed 4C Item 10 Board Policy 405.2 and 4C Item 11 Board Policy 405.2R. Following discussion, Dave Blum made a motion to approve Board Policies 405.2 and 405.2R as presented. Craig Patzer seconded the motion. Patzer, Romens, Blum and Staiert voted yes. Clark voted no. Motion carried.

 

The Board discussed 4D Item 2 Board Policy 406.1; 4D Item 8 Board Policy 407; and 4D Item 16-19 Board Policies 408.4, 409, 409.1, 4091R. Following discussion, Henry Clark made a motion to approve Board Policies 406.1, 407, 408.4, 409, 409.1, 4091R as presented. Dave Blum seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

 

This time is reserved for patrons and Board members to speak to items not on the agenda and to request to speak to any items on the current agenda.

Craig Patzer reported on the Boost for Families meeting he attended.

Henry Clark requested to read the following into record.

I believe as an organization we have come to a critical point on Safety. One where it is not a discussion of degrees, but where we are far over the line. This issue has existed or started over the last five years. Normally this would be a building level or administration level of responsibility. Having reached the severity and length of time currently, with the improvement arrow not pointed upward, this becomes a Board level responsibility. I recommend the following actions:

1. Have the insurnace company and our Attorney's hold sessions with the Board and explain to us, our group and individual responsibilities and liabilities.

2. Curtail all external relationships and engagements to our immediate school resources and systems for the next two years until we have developed, implemented and curtailed all employee and student safety issued to a manageable level. 

3. Learn fromthe past and the future. Have all Employee and Student incident reports above a level "x" from the last two years and going forward, brough before the board on a timely basis for it's review. This will allow more timely identification and response to any required Board Policy, resource and Goal setting steps required.

4. The Safety committee which it is my understanding has not met this school year should report out every month to the board in a "structured" fashion. Since this committee has not met this last year, I would recommend the leadership of that committee be changed to reflect the urgency and skill sets needed to move this forward. 

5. Our newer Board members may still think this a "degree" question. I would recommend they be brought up to speed on all Worker Safety issues by a review of the claims report for the last 5 years. I would also recommend they be brought up to speed on all the Student incident reports for the last two years and also sensitive "closed" meeting actions for the last two years.

 

It is not a question of degrees anymore, it is a question of leadership. Why is this urgent? Because our number one product to the community is Safety. Without getting past Safety we cannot effectively address Education. If we can't trust our organization with our children's Safety, then we can't trust us with their money or more importantly their education.

 

I appreciate the guidance and wisdom of the community leaders who I have sought out their advice on both my assessment of the situation, and, the direction and steps needed to move forward.  Thank you.

 

Following Henry Clark’s comments, Dave Blum commented that safety is an ongoing plan of the Board and spoke on discussions the Board has had regarding safety.

 

Theresa Romens spoke on how the community has put their trust into the Glenwood School Board of Directors by passing the Revenue Purpose Statement. She also reported on the Super Board Meeting between the City Council and County Board of Supervisors. There is a legislative coffee scheduled for Saturday, February 18 at the engineers’ office from 9-10 am. A Super Board Meeting of school districts will be held in Corning, Iowa on March 29th. The district will have a Department of Education site visit in April. There will be some interview questions for the Board on April 24th. A work session will be held from 6-8 p.m. on March 26, 2012 in the Central Office board room on safety.

None

 

Building Administrators, Director of Special Education, Activities Director, Kids Place Director, Technology Director, Food Service Director, Director of Operations, Print Shop and School Improvement reported on their respective buildings or areas of assignment.

 

None

 

New Business

A.Presentation and Approval of Fiscal Year 2011 Audit

Mary Babinat, auditor from Nolte, Cornman & Johnson, P.C., presented the Fiscal Year 2011 audit to the Board. Following the presentation, Dave Blum made a motion to approve 2010-11 audit report. Ann Staiert seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

B.Approval of Approximately $9,000,000 General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 2012 Henry Clark made a motion to approve the consideration of sealed bids opened and reviewed by the Superintendent of Schools, Secretary of the Board, and the Financial Advisor, as well as approval of a Resolution Directing the Sale of approximately $8,499,865.84 in General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 2012. By refunding the bonds, the district saved $719,535 or 6.93% over the life of the bonds. Ann Staiert seconded the motion.  A roll call vote showed all in favor of the motion.  Motion carried.

Dave Blum made a motion to terminate Wells Fargo as the District’s Paying Agent. Henry Clark seconded the motion.  All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Ann Staiert made a motion to hire Bankers Trust as the District’s Paying Agent. Craig Patzer seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Ann Staiert made a motion to approve the following resolution: RESOVLED, that the  Board  of Directors of Glenwood Community School District will levy property tax for fiscal year 2012-2013 for the regular program budget adjustment as allowed under Section 257.14, Code of Iowa. Dave Blum seconded the motion.  All voted “aye”.  Motion carried.

Henry Clark made a motion to approve the school calendar as proposed for the 2012-2013 school year. Craig Patzer seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Craig Patzer made a motion to approve the practicum/student teaching clinical agreement with Kaplan University for placement of practicum and student teaching students. Dave Blum seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Ann Staiert made a motion to approve the student teaching agreement with Northwest Missouri State University for the Fall 2012 semester. Henry Clark seconded the motion. All voted “aye”. Motion carried.

Ann Staiert made a motion to approve the agreement  with  Distributed  Website  Corporation  for rSchoolToday Activity Scheduler. Craig Patzer seconded the motion.  All voted “aye”. Motion carried.