PHOENIX-TALENT SCHOOLS Regular School Board Meeting Thursday, May 8, 2014 7:00 p.m. – Phoenix High School MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER _The meeting was called to order at Phoenix High School at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Nagel. Other Board Members present: Director Ruth Staten, Director Marina Piacentini, Director Debra McAlister, Director Dawn Watson Absent: Vice-Chair Craig Prewitt and Director Bob Kerlinger. Also present: Supt. Teresa Sayre, Doug Spani, Jani Hale, Brent Barry, Aaron Santi, Jeff Carpenter, Jeff Rhoades, PHS Robotics Club, Javier Del Rio, Jeff Johnson, Suzanne Foster, Shawna Schleif, Toby Walker, Curt Shenk, Cally McKenzie, Patrick Couture and Board/Executive Asst. Sarie Wu.
ACCENTUATE PHS Principal Jani Hale welcomed the Board to the high school. THE POSITIVE She announced that Erik Sorensen of the Peer Mediator Program was recognized by Community Works with the Young Peace Maker of the Year Award. Principal Hale presented the Board with a coupon for a free plant from the FFA Greenhouse. Their plant sale will run from Friday to Saturday. There are several beautiful plants and flowers for sale. PHS will hold a Career Day Meeting at 8:00 a.m. in the commons next Monday. Next fall, on November 5th, there will be a day where the school is going to have a full-blown Career Day for the students in the hopes of inspiring them to have a vision beyond high school and college. The All District Choir Concert will be next Thursday. The song “Let it Go” from the Disney film Frozen will be performed. PHS had the opportunity to meet Nancy Golden the OEIB Chief Education Officer. PHS is very proud to share the incredible work going on at the school. AP participation had the highest percentage in PHS compared to all 12 of the other high schools in our region.
PHS Asst. Principal Toby Walker informed the Board that the recent rainy weather has cause a couple of events to be reschedules in sports. Next Monday and Tuesday both boys and girls golf teams will compete in Districts. The track teams will compete in Districts at OIT next Friday and Saturday. Baseball and softball will complete their regular season next Saturday. Playoff time is coming up for both of these sports.
TMS Principal Aaron Santi shared that the middle school is winding- up Teacher Appreciation Week. Their parents group put together a nice dinner for the teachers complete with dancing, singing and some great food. Tomorrow the leadership is going to Portland to deliver a charity fundraiser check to the Children’s Hospital in the amount of $2,000 dollars. Ellen Levy will be meeting with teachers to discuss Common Core State Standards, Smarter Balanced and Instructional Techniques. Mr. Santi heard from a TMS teacher that her input will make an already amazing school legendary. OHES Principal Brent Barry reported that the show “Comedy of Errors” went phenomenally! Thanks to the volunteers who helped out. Right now OHES is finishing up OAKS testing. Thanks to the joint efforts of the classified and certified staff to get everything done! Elementary teacher interviews have been held with ten top-notch candidates. It is a testimony to PTS that so many people want to come work here the District received over 65 applications.
PES Principal Jeff Carpenter followed Principal Barry’s comments on the teacher interviews by stating it was great to hear some of the candidates comments on why they want to work for the District. At a recent assembly at PES the students sang along to “Let it Go.” It was a great moment in the assembly that day. Next Monday is the PES Jog-a- Thon. They are hoping to raise some money for new playground equipment. Monday is also Kindergarten Round-Up for PES.
TES Principal Curt Shenk stated that the responses received during the elementary school interviews were great to hear. Many candidates stated they want to work here it’s such a positive and uplifting place. Día Del Niño had a huge turn-out from the community. The year TES had a 3rd grade music concert. They did a wonderful job thanks to the support of the Rogue Valley Symphony! The girls’ volleyball team from SOU came to the event and they were a wonderful contribution to the eventing. Kindergarten Round-Up for TES is coming up in a couple weeks. Mr. Shenk thanked his teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week for all the work they do.
ATI Teacher Jeff Johnson expressed his appreciation for the culture of ATI. The kids come to the school from all different backgrounds and don’t know one another. These students are able to unite and the school has a sense that they’re all part of something together. Last week a student had been on the run for about 14 days and the students and staff all came together to help work with Janet Bailey to find this student and get them back into a safe environment.
Sodexo Operations Manager Melinda Lidbetter reported that on Saturday the food service employees will be helping to organize the food that is coming in from the postal services. Sodexo is also in the process of getting ready for summer food service.
Director Dawn Watson announced that last month was Autism Awareness Month. She attended a charity event where a video was shared on how the Phoenix High School cross country team helped a student with autism succeed. It was inspirational to see. This video is on the high school’s Facebook page.
Chairman Nagel thanked Principal Hale for welcoming the Board that night and for providing them with flower coupons. He stated that he appreciates all that the schools do for the Board. Principal Hale thanked the Board allowing the schools to maintain their wonderful programs. STUDENT REP None REPORT
CITIZEN None COMMENTS
SUPERINTENDENT Supt. Sayre recognized the wonderful teachers of Phoenix-Talent REPORT Schools. She expressed her appreciation for everything the teachers do for our students and District every day.
Supt. Sayre has been approached by Southern Oregon Head Start about considering another daycare program in our school district. Ms. Sayre and Principal Brent Barry will be meeting with Nancy Nordyke to consider this opportunity. They will possibly be placing a program in Medford at OHES. Supt. Sayre stated that this would be a great advantage to the District to have another preschool option by that school.
OEIB Chief Education Officer Nancy Golden visited the high school today. Supt. Sayre informed the Board that it was an honor to receive Ms. Golden. She selected our District to visit and we were fortunate to host such an amazing leader who really knows education.
Supt. Sayre provided the Board with a review of the open enrollment data from the Ashland School District. Every year the numbers fluctuate a little bit. They are small this year in all grades except for preschool. Supt. Sayre is trying to find how to reach these families to let them about wonderful Phoenix-Talent Schools.
Supt. Sayre provided the Board with an agenda for the work session next Tuesday, May 13th. The Board will review their guiding principles and the Board Meeting Dates. No action will be taken at the work session.
PROGRAM Chairman Nagel introduced Jeff Rhoades and the PHS Robotics REPORT: PHS Club to the Board. Mr. Rhoades provided the Board with an overview ROBOTICS that highlighted the current robotics opportunities. Currently, PHS offers a college level class through a partnership with RCC. PHS students can earn up to 5 college credits in the course. PHS has also teamed up with Talent Middle School to develop a Robotics Club. There are 15 students currently participating. These students competed at the first Southern Oregon Robotics Tournament and were awarded the Best Design Award at that event. Mr. Rhoades expressed to the Board the schools’ wish to expand and further develop the program. PHS has the potential of being the first Southern Oregon high school to offer CTE programs in engineering, manufacturing and electronics. There is currently no other program similar to this in the Rogue Valley. Mr. Rhoades thanked Principal Hale, Supt. Sayre, Human Resources Director Cally McKenzie and parent volunteer Mark Stella for their support throughout the development of this program.
Students Evan Schweikert, Lucas Stella, Seth Miles, Amanda Hare, Cameron Johnson and Ramon Balbuena shared some information with the Board about the robotics program and what they did to develop the different robots. The students provided the Board with demonstrations from both the robotics class and club. The robot that was recognized with the Best Design Award was able to pick up multiple balls and lift them up to distribute to a higher location. The students also demonstrated robots that were able to follow the leader and perform binary calculations using LED lights.
Following the presentation a parent expressed his support for the robotics program. He shared with the Board how enthusiastic his children have been to participate and thanked the District for providing this opportunity.
CONSENT Chairman Nagel presented the Personnel Report for review which AGENDA included the following: Approval of Agenda Employment: Approval of Kelly Fogg-Johnson, as 1.0 FTE Language Arts Teacher at PHS Minutes for Effective: August 22, 2014 4/24/2014 Personnel Bobbi Mountain, as 6 Hour Special Education Instructional Assistant at Report OHES Effective: May 1, 2014
Kelly Singleton, as Temporary 1.0 FTE Language Arts Teacher at PHS Effective: August 22, 2014
Jose Vargas Sanabria, as Temporary 1.0 FTE Spanish Teacher at PHS Effective: August 22, 2014
Transfers: Diane Bracamontes, as Elementary Teacher from TES to OHES Effective: August, 2014
John Maulsby, as Elementary Teacher from OHES to TES Effective: August, 2014
Retirement Date Change: Bill Shine, as Maintenance Crew Member, has amended his last Retiree Reemployment Agreement date from June 30, 2014 to May 20, 2014.
Intent to Retire: Denise Wright, as Clerk Typist II at PHS Effective: June, 2017 Resignations: Janice Amuchastegui, as Bookkeeper at PHS Effective: June 17, 2014
On motion by Director Debra McAlister seconded by Director Dawn Watson to approve the consent agenda as presented was approved by unanimous consent.
BUDGET The Budget Committee will be holding its initial meeting on the COMMITTEE proposed 2014-2015 budget at the end of the month. There are APPOINTMENTS currently four vacancies needing to be filled on the committee. Darcy Spence and Roland Kreschmann have both expressed their interest in serving on the committee again this year and an application has been submitted for consideration by Mark McAlister. Business Manager Doug Spani encouraged the Board to welcome them as the new Budget Committee members.
On motion by Director Ruth Staten seconded by Director Marina Piacentini to collectively approve the appointments of Darcy Spence, Roland Kreschmann, and Mark McAlister to serve on the Budget Committee was authorized as per the following vote:
Ayes: Staten, Piacentini, McAlister, Watson, Nagel Noes: None Absent: Prewitt, Kerlinger Abstain: None
PES SIGNAGE Chairman Nagel the signage design for Phoenix Elementary School to the Board for review. Principal Jeff Carpenter stated that this will help let the community know that PES is part of the No Excuses University program. Mr. Carpenter explained to the Board that the school is still deciding whether or not to use a banner or a cased sign. The price listed on the sign proposal is for the cased sign which is quite a bit more expensive. Mr. Carpenter asked the Board to consider adopting the design of the sign for Phoenix Elementary to move forward with.
On motion by Director Ruth Staten seconded by Director Debra McAlister to approve the design of the PES signage as presented, was approved as per the following vote:
Ayes: Staten, Piacentini, McAlister, Watson, Nagel Noes: None Absent: Prewitt, Kerlinger Abstain: None BOARD POLICY Chairman Nagel presented Policy JGAB – Use of Restraint and JGAB Seclusion to the Board. Supt. Sayre stated that this policy was recently reviewed but OSBA has since added language to include the word Use of Restraint ‘physical’ within the policy. There are two sections in this policy that and Seclusion require the Board to make a choice on optional language. Supt. Sayre recommended the Board consider including the ‘volunteer’ language within the policy and noted that the name of our current prevention plan which is Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) can be noted in third paragraph of the policy as well. Supt. Sayre stated that the AR will also be upgraded to match the new requirements. All District forms are currently in compliance.
On motion by Director Marina Piacentini seconded by Director Ruth Staten to adopt Policy JGAB as presented with the inclusion of the “volunteer” language, was approved as per the following vote:
Ayes: Staten, Piacentini, McAlister, Watson, Nagel Noes: None Absent: Prewitt, Kerlinger Abstain: None
RECESS 8:10 p.m.
FACILITIES None UPDATE
ACADEMIC Supt. Sayre provided the Board with Draft A of the Academic CALENDAR Calendar for 2014-2015. Supt. Sayre informed the Board that the development of this draft was based off of feedback from a survey on last year’s academic calendar. Over 385 staff, parents, and community members replied to this survey. Supt. Sayre reviewed some of the survey’s questions and results for the Board. Of the responses 55% indicated it was important to align elementary, middle and high school schedules, 15% felt it was important to align with Medford’s calendar, 80% wanted to start on September 2nd, and 58% liked having the two- week spring break. The survey did have several written comments about incorporating conferences into spring break and 62% would like to have two conferences per year. Supt. Sayre also inquired about how many people were interested in year-round school and about 40% of the responsed indicated that they were. This would still be a 190 day school year but instead of having a large summer break smaller shorter breaks would occur throughout the year.
The changes to the calendar include October 10th is being suggest as a paid inservice day rather than a non-paid day. The elementary and high school calendars were aligned as much as possible with two areas where they couldn’t match up due to the elementary schools being on a trimester system. This occurs on November 14th and March 6th. Spring break will capture one more day. The 16th and 17th will be conference days for the middle school. Supt. Sayre informed the Board that this draft will be posted online for others to review before it goes up for action on May 22nd. She thanked everyone who participated for their feedback.
BOARD POLICY Supt. Sayre provided the Board with a packet of documents to REVIEW review regarding the new legislation around interdistrict transfers. She reviewed an outline of these changes for the Board. There have been several changes including what questions can be asked on transfers request forms, how to release resident students, accept non-resident students and how long transfers can be in effect. The Board is being asked to consider how they’d like to establish slots both into and out of Phoenix-Talent Schools. If the District received more requests than there are slots available the law now requires the District to use a lottery system. Preference may be given to siblings. The number of slots available can be revised during the year so long as there are no pending applications.
Students currently on an interdistrict transfer for the 2013-2014 school year now have the option to be grandfathered into their non- resident district and become a ‘resident’ student. This is a right PTS would like to exercise for the students currently on transfers into our District. The District can rescind a transfer agreement only for behavior or attendance issues. They cannot set anything regarding academics.
The District’s current interdistrict transfer policy JECBC allows students to be released for specific reasons but the District will no longer be able to do this. If students are denied a transfer request a written explanation must be provided, this is currently the practice of the District. Students who move in the school year get an automatic ‘yes’ on their transfer requests but would have to apply the next year one time.
Supt. Sayre asked the Board to review OSBAs recommended Policy JECB – Admission of Nonresident students and consider what language they would like to include. The Board is also being asked to consider a date for doing the annual lottery to fill the slots available. She recommended the Board consider May 30th for this purpose. Chairman Nagel asked Supt. Sayre what her recommendation was for the green language within the policy. Supt. Sayre suggested the use of “may based on district criteria” to give the District more flexibility. She noted that the second section of green language relating to the one time option for 2013-2014 transfers to be grandfathered in may not need to be included in the policy but it is a right the District would like to exercise.
Supt. Sayre reviewed Policy JECB-AR and informed the Board the District would like to change January to March and will probably remove the July date mentioned in the AR. The language regarding the requirement for a written appeal will remain and the petition for admission will go through the superintendent’s office. The District would like to allow students to transfer in as ‘resident’ students until graduation. This would be the students’ choice would make the process easier for their family to remain in the District.
Supt. Sayre reviewed Policy JECF – Interdistrict Transfer of Resident Students. Our current policy is coded JECBC. Supt. Sayre asked the Board to consider using OSBA’s code to help us align with their policies. It was suggested by OSBA that the District include a statement which Sarie Wu will add in green to the policy for the Board Packets before the next meeting. The suggested language read, “The Board will, based upon the availability of space, resources and personnel annually set the number of resident students that will be allowed to transfer to another district.” Supt. Sayre asked the Board to consider adopting this language with the new policy.
Regarding Policy JECF-AR Supt. Sayre asked the Board to consider including the #7 item from the old AR to replace the language in #6 on the new AR. The language in the former policy seems to be clearer being private when reviewing information.
Along with adopting these policies the Board is being asked to establish a number of slots available into and out of PTS. Supt. Sayre provided the Board with an overview of previous transfers into and out of PTS and explained that the students currently on transfers out of the district are likely to be grandfathered into their outside districts. Supt. Sayre suggested the Board consider adding 3 slots to each of the grade level totals for transferring out and 5 slots to the grade level totals transferring in. She stated that the Kindergarten numbers the District may want to increase based on what Kindergarten Round-Up numbers look like this year. Supt. Sayre will report to the Board on any waiting lists after slots have been filled. If there is a hardship or safety issue the new rules do allow the District to amend the rules for those cases.
LEGISLATIVE Business Manager Doug Spani informed the Board that the first FINANCIAL Budget Committee Meeting will be on Tuesday, May 27th. The District UPDATE has been trying to plan a budget that includes the 3 days back and making everything balance so the revenues equal the expenditures. The fund balance will be at 3% but Mr. Spani stated it feels good to try and get a full school year again.
Mr. Spani announced to the Board that he intends to retire from Phoenix-Talent Schools on September 1st. He has been a part of this awesome District for a long time and has made a lot of great friends with a lot of great people.
Chairman Nagel thanked Doug for always doing such a tremendous job for the District. He called Doug his “MVP” and stated that the Board will hate to see him go. REVIEW OF Chairman Nagel reviewed the next meeting agenda. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be on May 22nd at Phoenix High School AGENDA Chairman Nagel will not be present but Vice-Chairman Prewitt will help officiate the meeting. Items for the next meeting include: Academic Calendar Board Policy JECB Board Policy JECF Interdistrict Transfer Slots Board Guiding Principles Board Meeting Dates Facilities Update Meal Prices Student Handbooks PHS Student Discipline Update PHS Drug/Alcohol Policy Review Textbook Adoption Board Policy Review: BDDI, KBCC, BDC Legislative/Financial Update Added – textbook adoption to the agenda under info and discussion.
ADJOURNMENT 8:54 p.m.
Teresa Sayre, Clerk of the Board Rick Nagel, Chairman of the Board
Recording Secretary: Sarie Wu, Board/Executive Assistant