Bettendorf Community School District Bettendorf, Iowa
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BETTENDORF COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BETTENDORF, IOWA Unofficial Minutes of the August 17, 2015 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (pending Board approval) 1. Call to Order. The Board of Directors of the Bettendorf Community School District, in the County of Scott, State of Iowa, met in open session according to Iowa law for their regular Board meeting at the Administration Center, 3311 18th Street, Bettendorf, Iowa, on August 17, 2015. President Scott Tinsman called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and the Board recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Colleen Skolrood, Board Secretary, verified that the meeting notice had been posted and mailed to the media as required by law. Members present: Directors Anderson, Cassady, Castro, Crockett, Justis, Tinsman, Trahan Members absent: None Other officials present: Dr. Theron Schutte, Superintendent; Maxine McEnany; Director of Financial and Business Services; Mike Raso, Assistant Superintendent; Celeste Miller, Director of Communications; Kevin Skillet, Activities Director; and Colleen Skolrood, Board Secretary. 2. Agenda Approval. Motion by Director Crockett, seconded by Director Justis, to approve the agenda as presented. Ayes: 7 Directors Anderson , Cassady, Castro, Crockett, Justis, Tinsman, Trahan Nays: 0 Motion carried 7-0 3. Comments & Suggestions from Audience. 3.01 President's Statement. On behalf of fellow Board members, at this time I would like to invite any member of the audience to step to the microphone with comments about items of interest or concern that do not appear on the agenda this evening. Please begin by stating your name and address. It would be most appreciated if you would limit your comments to three minutes so that we can keep the meeting moving in a timely fashion and allow others an opportunity to speak. We ask that you remember that Iowa law prohibits us from discussing specific employees or their job performance. If you have thoughts to share about items that are included as topics for tonight's meeting, we would invite those comments when we reach that point in the meeting. Thank you for your support of our school district. Sara Wells, 4555 Hamilton Dr., Bettendorf, had a couple of questions regarding the audit that ended June 30, 2014. She said she is still confused as to the purpose of Exhibit A and why Exhibit A was needed. She also does not understand why five school board members were so adamant to not want these items listed in Exhibit A audited. Ms. Wells noted there are two school board members running for reelection; one was for having these items looked at and audited and the other was clearly trying to avoid it. She feels the current school board owes the public an update on this situation. She said there was a request for a reaudit and asked if anyone knows where we stand with that at this time. Director Anderson said the Task Force has met several times and are working through these Board of Education August 17, 2015 Regular Board Meeting 2 various issues. Dr. Schutte said he is not certain where the state auditor is at regarding the reaudit. Vickie Pyevich, 2727 Eagle Heights Court, Bettendorf, asked what is Exhibit A. Maxine McEnanay said she prepared it because she had some concerns over things that she gave to the auditor that were not looked at and she felt these things should have been looked at. She talked to the State Auditor’s office and they told her to list them as Exhibit A. Director Trahan said after much thought she decided to pull out of the Task Force Committee, but will remain on the Finance Committee, because she does not feel the problems they are supposed to be solving have been dealt with sufficiently in the draft memos to avoid repeating them in the future. She does not want to appear to be endorsing the memos by remaining on the committee. She feels she has not been included in many side conversations among the other members over the past several weeks, which led her to question whether the other members want to sincerely understand what happened in the past and why it happened. Maxine said she dropped the Task Force before Director Trahan did because her work was being picked apart. She said no one told her she had to be back on the Task Force until she got an e- mail last week that said if she did not provide answers to the questions then she was being insubordinate. Director Crockett said she does not know how things will get done when the Finance Director and another member quit. She said that is not how you move things forward. Director Trahan said the committee needs to figure out a way to not pressure people into doing something they are not comfortable doing. Dr. Schutte said it is not appropriate for him to talk about personnel issues in a public meeting. He said Director Trahan is only sharing a part of the situation as it unfolded related to people’s participation within the Task Force and thinks it is very unfair for her cast that kind of shadow without telling the whole story. President Tinsman said Director Trahan cannot definitely say the audit is inaccurate. Several CPA’s have reviewed the audit and cannot say one way or the other, which is why the district got the State Auditor involved. The district is still waiting to hear from them. President Tinsman said he is confused as to why Director Trahan resigned from the Task Force that she wanted in the first place. Director Crockett questioned the wording inaccurate. She said so often we are using dramatic words that do not describe what is going on. She said there might be a disagreement as to the level of seriousness, but it does not mean that it is not being addressed. She said maybe something did not get done properly, but it was so minimal that it did not warrant being written up in the audit, but that does not mean that you tag the word inaccurate to it. Maxine said they cannot say the issues were minimal when they did not even audit them. Director Trahan said time after time the policies are in place but they are not being followed. Dr. Schutte said that when you say policies were not followed, which is sometimes correct, it insinuates that people were purposefully violating policy and that is not the case. He said we need to be fair and accurate in how these things get portrayed. Director Anderson said the two key operational people for the district were asked for their recommendations of things that needed to be changed and they did not make any recommendations. Director Crockett wanted it to make it clear that this had nothing to do with the audit. The district was not written up and there was no problem with what was done. She said if you have proper systems in place, you do not have to rely on communication. Director Crockett said the main thing is we have a sense that there was nothing improper or that anything was misspent. She said we just did not catch it all upfront or realize the amount that was coming in. Board of Education August 17, 2015 Regular Board Meeting 3 4. Commendations & Special Invited Guests. 4.01 ITCA Hall of Fame Induction - Gary Roberson. Former Bettendorf High School Girls Track Coach, Gary Roberson, has been selected for induction into the Iowa Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame. Gary was instrumental in starting what has become a very strong girls' athletic program at Bettendorf High School. He was the school's first softball and track coach when those sports were first offered in 1976. He coached the girls' softball team for 5 years before concentrating on the girls' track program. Over the course of 17 years as head coach, Roberson guided the girls' track team to top 3 finishes at the Iowa State meet in 5 consecutive seasons (1986-1990), including State Team Championships in 1986, 1989, and 1990. Roberson also coached Bettendorf to State Championship and State Runner-up finishes in Cross Country during a 7 year stint (1987-94) as head cross country coach. In addition to the 3 State Team Championships, Roberson coached numerous individual and relay state champions (17) including relay teams that won four consecutive 4 X 800 meter Relay titles. Roberson will be inducted during ceremonies held in conjunction with the Iowa State Track and Field Coaches Conference to be held in Ames in December. 5. Consent Agenda. Motion by Director Crockett, seconded by Director Cassady, to approve the consent agenda as printed. Ayes: 7 Directors Cassady, Castro, Crockett, Justis, Tinsman, Trahan, Anderson Nays: 0 Motion carried 7-0 5.01 Approval of August 3, 2015 Regular Board Minutes, and August 12, 2015 Special Board Minutes 5.02 Approval of August 17, 2015 Bills Recommended for Payment 5.03 Approval of Administrative Recommendations – Personnel Classified Resignation Christina Bries/HH/Paraeducator/Effective 8/10/15 Jared Kannenberg/BMS/Paraeducator/Effective 8/18/15 Victoria Raychel-Swank/BMS/Paraeducator/Effective 8/19/15 Tyler Vens/HH/Paraeducator/Effective 8/11/15 Michael Wallace/MT/Paraeducator/Effective 8/11/15 Classified Recommendation for Employment Leann Holst/MT/Paraeducator/$15.71 per hour/4.75 hours per day/Replacing Marie Winder/Effective 8/20/15 Frances Lofgren/BHS/Interpreter for Hearing Impaired/$19.00 per hour/7.5 hours per day/Replacing Ann Sheller/Effective 8/21/15 Christina Lorentzen/HH/Paraeducator/$15.71 per hour/5.75 hours per day/Replacing Beth Raygor/Effective 8/21/15 Maria Pieper/BMS/Paraeducator/$15.71 per hour/5.0 hours per day/Replacing Rebekah Steinfeldt/Effective 8/21/15 Michelle Poole/HH/Paraeducator/$15.71 per hour/5.75 hours per day/Replacing Jamie Carroll/Effective 8/21/15 Lynn