Athens City Board of Education

1 1 ATHENS CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION 2 3 MINUTES 4 5 Monday, May 9, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. 6 7 The Athens City Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, 8May 9, 2011, in the Library at the Athens Junior High School, 200 Keith Lane, 9Athens, Tennessee. 10 11CALL TO ORDER 12 13 Mr. Bevins, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. Mike Bevins, 14Chris Adams, Brian Heatherly, Amy Sullins, Preston Brown, and Director of 15Schools Robert Greene were present for the meeting. Chris Liner was absent. A 16quorum was present. 17 18PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND MOMENT OF SILENCE 19 20 The Board and guests stated the Pledge of Allegiance to the American 21flag. A moment of silence was observed. 22 23RECOGNITION OF GUESTS 24 25 Mr. Bevins welcomed everyone to the meeting. Guests present were: 26Mike Simmons, Principal at the Athens Junior High School; Bob Owens, 27Assistant Principal at the Athens Junior High School; Mark Pickel, Principal at 28City Park School; Dawn Martin and Debby Samuels, representatives of the 29Athens Education Association; Ginger Robinson, Enrichment Teacher; Hannah 30Teague, student; Donna McCollister, parent; Shakendré Warner, member of 31Leadership McMinn; Dawn Zollner, Federal Projects Bookkeeper; John Dyer, 32Technology Systems Supervisor; Raymond and Edna Wilburn, spouse and 33retiree; Beth Jackson, Sheila Rollins, Bunny Browder, Linda Filyaw, Janet 34Burce, and Sylvia Pelley, retirees; and Greg Moses, Staff Writer for The Daily 35Post Athenian. 36 37PUBLIC COMMENTS 38

2 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 2 2 1 Mr. Bevins explained that at this time of the meeting the attendees were 2provided an opportunity to discuss topics with the Board. No one addressed the 3Board. 4CONSENT AGENDA 5 6 Mr. Bevins reviewed the Consent Agenda: 7 8 A.) Approval of Agenda – May 9, 2011 9 10 B.)Approval of Minutes – April 11, 2011 – Regular Meeting 11 12 C.) Approval of Staff Travel Requests 13 14 Board approved travel for Anthony Smith, Technology Curriculum 15 Coordinator, to attend the 2011 International Society for 16 Technology in Education (ISTE) conference “Unlocking Potential” 17 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Conference dates are June 25-29, 18 2011. 19 20 D.) Approval of Bid for Ruckus Wireless Equipment and Software 21 Agreement 22 23 Board approval was given for purchase of Ruckus Wireless access 24 point equipment and software agreement, from low bidder Insight 25 Public Sector. Total bid cost is $10,278.24. 26 27 E.) Approval of Contracts for Services for Special Education Students 28 29 The Board approved annual contracts: 30 31 1.) Grace Rehabilitation Services, Inc. (physical and occupational 32 therapy) 33 2.) Curlee Communication Consultants, Inc. (summer speech 34 services) 35 36 Mr. Adams made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Second was 37made by Dr. Sullins. Motion carried. 38 39 (A copy of the documents discussed is included in the Minutes Book.) 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 3 2 1STUDENT PRESENTATION 2 3 Ginger Robinson, Enrichment Teacher, said it was an honor to work with 4enrichment students. There are so many advances in technology that students 5can create exceptional projects, using imagination and knowledge. Mrs. 6Robinson introduced Hannah Teague, stating Hannah read a book and created a 7summary of the book on Animoto “book trailer”. Hannah shared how she 8created the “book trailer” on the web-based program at Animoto. Hannah 9showed her creation to the Board and guests. Mr. Bevins congratulated Hannah 10for the making of an outstanding project and wished her well in her future 11academic studies. 12 13CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS 14 15 Mr. Greene congratulated Beth Jackson, Media Specialist at Westside 16School, for receiving TEA Distinguished Education Award, stating she would 17receive official recognition at the annual Teacher Education Association’s 18banquet later in May. 19 20 Mr. Greene announced that Janey Morris, Supervisor of Special Education 21and Federal Projects, and Sheila Rollins, Media Specialist at City Park School, 22traveled to Washington, D.C. on May 4-6 to attend the 2011 Inaugural RIF 23Leaders for Literacy Conference. Mrs. Morris and Ms. Rollins received 24acknowledgment for the system’s outstanding Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) 25program, recognized as one of the top 30 programs in the United States. 26 27RECONITION OF NON-CERTIFIED STAFF WITH 15 OR MORE 28YEARS OF SERVICE 29 30 Mr. Greene announced the personnel being recognized for 15 or more 31years of service. Mr. Bevins presented them with a certificate, plaque, or gift. 32Those recognized were: 33 Teresa Wrinkle Secretary to the Director of Schools and Board of 15 years Education and Human Resources Assistant Eddie Arnold Supervisor of Maintenance 25 years Diane Frank Finance Supervisor 30 years Edna Wilburn Food Service Worker 30 years 34 35 Mr. Bevins thanked the personnel for their years of service to the school 36system. 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 4 2 1RECOGNITION OF RETIREES 2 3 Mr. Bevins stated that the nine personnel being recognized for retirement 4has 234 years of collective service to boys and girls of Athens. He thanked the 5retirees for their years of dedicated service and congratulated them on this 6milestone in their careers. Mr. Greene announced the retirees and Mr. Bevins 7presented each retiree with a gift from the Board: 8 Tina Nelson Food Service Manager City Park 26 years Edna Wilburn Food Service Worker Athens Jr. High 30 years Bunny Browder 4th Grade Teacher Westside 26 years with Athens City Schools and 28 total years Janet Burce 2nd Grade Teacher Ingleside 27 years all with Athens City Schools Jim Cornwall Physical Education Teacher Westside 23 years with Athens City Schools and 44 total years Linda Filyaw Kindergarten Teacher Ingleside 20 years with Athens City Schools and 36 total years Beth Jackson Media Specialist Westside 30 years with Athens City Schools and 33 total years Sylvia Pelley 2nd Grade Teacher Ingleside 19 years with Athens City Schools and 35 total years Sheila Rollins Media Specialist City Park 34 years all with Athens City Schools 9 10(Tina Nelson and Jim Cornwall were not present.) 11 12PERSONNEL UPDATE 13 14 Mr. Greene reviewed the few personnel changes made since the April 15meeting. (A copy of the list is included in the Minutes Book.) 16 17ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE 18 19 Mr. Greene informed the Board that enrollment as of May 6, 2011, was 201575, compared to 1654 last year. Mr. Greene reported the attendance for the 8th 21month was 96.1102 percent compared to 95.7741 percent in the same reporting 22timeframe in 2010. 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 5 2 1FOLLOW-UP ON BOARD MEETING CHANGES DISCUSSED AT THE 2APRIL MEETING 3 4 Mr. Greene stated there was much discussion at the April meeting 5regarding possible changes to upcoming meetings. To clarify, Mr. Greene 6informed the Board the following schedule would be followed: 7 Wednesday May 25, 2011 Board Work Session at Central Office (Noon) – Update on FY11 Budget Amendment No. 2 and FY12 School Budget Monday June 6, 2011 Called Board Meeting at Central Office (Noon) – Review/Approval of FY11 Budget Amendment No. 2 and FY12 School Budget Monday June 13, 2011 Board Meeting (5:30 p.m.) at Central Office Tuesday June 14, 2011 City Council’s work session (5:45 p.m.) – Update on FY11 Budget Amendment No. 2 and FY12 School Budget Tuesday June 21, 2011 City Council’s meeting (6:00 p.m.) – Approval of FY11 Budget Amendment No. 2 and 2nd/final reading of the FY12 School Budget 8 9APPROVAL OF BIDS FOR PLAYGROUND FENCING AT CITY PARK 10AND INGLESIDE SCHOOLS 11 12 Mr. Greene stated the Board reviewed the bid tabulations for the 13playground fencing at the work session on May 2. The Board requested pricing 14for green vinyl coating. The price for commercial grade, vinyl appearance is an 15additional $5,000-6,000. Mr. Greene recommended the Board approve the low 16bid for 9-gauge 4-foot vinyl fencing at City Park and Ingleside Schools. 17 18 On a motion by Mr. Heatherly, and a second by Dr. Sullins, the Board 19approved the bid for commercial grade, green vinyl, 9-gauge 4-foot fencing from 20Quality Fence Company, Inc., for a total cost of $12,565 for City Park School 21and $10,920 for Ingleside School, with funding from the BEP Reserve. 22 Motion carried. 23 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 6 2 1APPROVAL OF SURPLUS LIST FROM FOUR STAR ACADEMY 2 3 Mr. Greene informed the Board that the personnel at Four Star Academy 4completed inventory checks and identified items that will not be transferred 5during the transition from Four Star Academy to other Athens City Schools, 6noting the “Office Items” on the list may be kept within the school system. Mr. 7Greene recommended approval of the surplus list and authorization for a yard 8sale at Four Star Academy, and allow proceeds to go directly back into the pre-k 9program. May 30-June 3 are the scheduled dates for the pre-k classrooms to be 10moved to City Park and Ingleside Schools. The tentative date for the yard sale at 11Four Star Academy is June 4. 12 13 Dr. Sullins made the motion to approve the surplus list and yard sale at 14Four Star Academy as recommended by Mr. Greene. Second was made by Mr. 15Adams. Motion carried. 16 17APPROVAL OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS FOR THE QUARTER 18ENDING MARCH 31, 2011 19 20 Mr. Greene presented financial reports for the quarter ending March 31, 212011, for review and consideration. Mr. Greene recommended approval of the 22financial reports: 23 24 1.) General Purpose 25 2.) Educational Capital Projects 26 3.) Federal Projects 27 4.) Food Service 28 29 Mr. Adams made a motion to approve the financial reports as presented 30for the quarter ending March 31, 2011. The motion was seconded by Dr. 31Brown. Motion carried. 32 33DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF FIRST READING OF FY12 BUDGET 34 35 Mr. Greene provided the Board with a handout showing the local 36Maintenance of Effort (MOE) beginning FY08 through FY11 and the definition 37of MOE. In order to meet Maintenance of Effort (MOE) for the FY12 Budget, 38$265,600 above the FY11 allocations the City of Athens would be required. 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 7 2 1Discussion/Approval of First Reading of FY12 Budget continued… 2 3 Mr. Heatherly said in the last two years the school system has cut the 4school budget and decreased the number of teaching personnel in order to have a 5balanced budget. Since the local Maintenance of Effort has not been met, the 6Board has allowed the school system to become an “average” system rather than 7a “better than average” system. 8 9After further discussion, it was agreed that the Board would go on record and 10request the Athens City Council fully fund the FY12 School Budget with the 11required total local MOE and request the additional $265,600. 12 13 On a motion by Mr. Heatherly and second by Dr. Brown the Board 14approved the first reading of the FY12 Budget with the understanding that 15changes may occur between first reading and second reading on June 6 at the 16Called Meeting. Motion carried. 17 18DISCUSSION/APPROVAL OF TSBA’S SUMMER LAW INSTITUTE 19 20 Mr. Bevins asked Board members who would attend TSBA’s Summer 21Law Institute in Gatlinburg, scheduled for July 22 and 23. Dr. Sullins, Mr. 22Adams, Mr. Bevins, and Mr. Greene said they would attend. Mr. Adams made a 23motion to approve travel, including Mr. Liner if he wishes to travel, to attend the 24Summer Law Institute. Second was made by Dr. Brown. Motion carried. 25 26RENEWAL OF PROCESS FOR BOARD OF DISTINCTION 27 28 Mr. Bevins informed the Board that notification has been received that the 29Board’s status as TSBA Board of Distinction will expire in October 2011. Mr. 30Bevins reviewed the checklist of activities the Board will need to complete in 31order to apply for a two-year award. 32 33REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS 34 35 Mr. Greene informed the Board: 36 37  The planned date for moving pre-k classes from Four Star Academy to 38 City Park and Ingleside Schools is May 30-June 3. 1Athens City Board of Education Minutes – May 9, 2011 Page 8 2 1 Report from the Director of Schools continued… 2 3  The grant application for the LEAPS Grant was submitted for a new 4 Kids Connection sites at Westside School and the Athens City Middle 5 School 6 o LEAPS is Lottery for Education Afterschool Program 7 o Funding is established thru uncollected lottery funds 8 o The LEAPS notifications are anticipated by late summer and 9 grant funding start date would be August 15 10  The sixteen cafeteria tables have been purchased for the Athens City 11 Middle School. The tables will be picked up on or after May 16. 12  Mr. Simmons and Mr. Arnold are working on the changes to the sign 13 at the driveway of the middle school. 14 15COMMUNICATIONS 16 17 There were no communications to be discussed. 18 19UNFINISHED BUSINESS 20 21 There was no unfinished business. 22 23NEW BUSINESS 24 25 With there being no other business before the Board, Mr. Bevins 26adjourned the meeting on May 9, 2011, at 5:55 p.m. 27 28APPROVED ON: ______29 (Date) 30 31APPROVED BY: ______32 Chair 33 34______35 Director of Schools