Minutes - Union County Board of School Trustees

MINUTES - UNION COUNTY BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES October 12, 2015– 7:00 P.M.

ATTENDEES: Dr. Wanda All, Mr. Jantzen Childers, Ms. Jane Hammett, Mr. Manning Jeter, Mr. Gene Lipsey, Mr. Mike Massey, Ms. Betty JoAnn McMorris, and Ms. Kakie White.

ABSENT: Ms. Jane Wilkes

Call to Order: Dr. Wanda All, Board Chair, called the meeting to order.

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance: The invocation was given by Ms. Kakie White, who also led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Notice to Media: In accordance with the S.C. Code of Laws, Section 30-4-80(d), as amended, the following have been notified of the time, date, place and agenda of this meeting: The Union Daily Times, Union County News, WBCU Radio Station and The Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Minutes Dr. All stated the first action item is approval of the meeting minutes from September 14, 2015 and September 28, 2015 and a request was made to vote on them separately. Ms. Kakie White made a motion to approve the minutes from the September 14, 2015 meeting and Mr. Jantzen Childers seconded the motion. The vote was (7- 0) in favor of the motion. Ms. Jane Hammett abstained. Dr. All stated they would now discuss the meeting minutes from the September 28th meeting. Mr. Manning Jeter stated that some items were missing and made a motion to table the vote on the minutes from the September 28th meeting until the next Board meeting. Dr. All asked Mr. Jeter to submit the items that he was interested in adding to the minutes to the secretary. The motion to table the vote on the meeting minutes passed by affirmation from the Board.

Superintendent and School Board of Trustees Dr. Kristi Woodall stated that we need to submit the delegates who will take the votes to the Legislative Advocacy Conference on December 5, 2015. She stated that Mr. Jantzen Childers and Ms. Jane Wilkes are registered for this conference. She said each could take one vote or one could take two votes and have an alternate. Dr. Wanda All asked for the pleasure of the Board. Mr. Mike Massey made a motion that each registered Board member serve as Delegate taking one vote each. The motion was seconded by Ms. Jane Hammett. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion. Dr. All stated that this authorizes Mr. Childers and Ms. Wilkes to each carry one vote unless one cannot attend at which time the other delegate will carry both votes.

Dr. Wanda All stated there was one item that was left off the agenda. She asked the secretary to add Board beside the line item labeled Superintendent. She said the Board is supposed to discuss representation for the combined stadium, fair, and Union County High School committee. During the last meeting, it was discussed that the groups were interested in a joint venture in which a plan is formulated to perhaps build an additional building on the stadium property and the Stadium Commission also wants a longer term commitment from the school district and them for this joint venture so that improvements can be made. She asked for the pleasure of the Board regarding this proposal. Mr. Gene Lipsey made a motion to appoint Mike Massey as a representative of the School Board to serve on the committee. The motion was seconded by Mr. Manning Jeter. Ms. Jane Hammett asked if there are a certain number of representatives needed to serve on the committee. Dr. All stated one representative and one alternate. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion. Mr. Manning Jeter made a 1 motion to appoint Mr. Gene Lipsey as the alternate representative to serve on the committee. The motion was seconded by Ms. Jane Hammett. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion.

Instruction Ms. Cindy presented data on Advanced Placement, Dual Credit, SAT, ACT, WorkKeys, and ACT for 11th graders to the Board. She explained that a lot of data has been released but the data for the ACT for juniors which was given in the Spring of 2015 is still embargoed. This information will be presented at a later time. Dr. All asked Ms. Langley what she sees when she looks at the data and what can we do to improve. Ms. Langley stated that we need to spend more time making sure that what we are doing in the classroom matches the way we are testing the students. We need to attend conferences in the summer and allow teachers to work with other teachers who are successful in those areas.

Ms. Katie Haney provided an update to the Board on the Costa Rica trip that was approved by the Board on June 8, 2015. She presented information regarding group participation in snorkeling and water activities while in Costa Rica. This item will be presented at the meeting for action by the Board.

Ms. Kathy Taylor, Principal at Jonesville Elementary Middle School, presented information regarding a field trip to New York and Washington, D.C. May 15-18, 2016 to the Board for action. She said they did an interest inventory to see who wanted to attend the field trip. Out of 158 students, one hundred parents said their students were interested in going on the trip. Forty two parents expressed interest as a chaperone. The proposed dates are May 15-18, 2015. The cost will be between $450.00 and $500.00 which is all inclusive. Some of the parent comments and concerns included the middle school students may be too young for this trip and the cost of the trip. She explained they are providing fundraising opportunities for the students. Some will be individual student profits while other fundraisers will be schoolwide. Parents, teachers and the PTO have shared fundraiser ideas to help with the cost of the trip. Some of the attractions they will visit on the trip includes the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, China Town, Little Italy, Central Park, Aladdin, the Broadway play and a tram tour of the Arlington National Cemetery and Changing of the Guards. Included in the cost of the trip is a T-shirt for each student, all meals, and hotel fees. The teachers are working on a brochure to give to the chaperones so that when they go through the attractions, the same historical information will be shared with all the students. She stated by looking at the number of students participating at this point the student teacher ratio will be 1 to 6 but hoping that number will be smaller due to the interest level of chaperones. They will stress to the chaperones the importance of staying with their group at all times.

Ms. Cindy Langley presented the second field trip request to the Board. Fifth graders from Foster Park Elementary School requested to attend YMCA Camp Greenville in Cleveland, South Carolina November 4 through November 6, 2015. Mr. Manning Jeter made a motion to approve both field trip requests, seconded by Mr. Jantzen Childers. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion.

Dr. Wanda All stated the next item on the agenda is executive session. She said the request for an appeal hearing was withdrawn prior to the meeting. The need for executive session will be to discuss two personnel issues. One is relative to a salary request and one is an employee evaluation. The other item is one contractual matter for facilities. Mr. Manning Jeter made a motion to enter into executive session, seconded by Mr. Jantzen Childers. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion. The Board entered into executive session at 8:02 P.M.

The Board reconvened into open session at 11:00 P.M. Dr. Wanda All stated that while in executive session, no votes were taken. She said that during executive session, the Superintendent was evaluated based on a goals based evaluation for 2014-2015. The results of that evaluation were the Superintendent met her goals and had a satisfactory evaluation.

2 Dr. Wanda All stated that the Board will have a special called Board meeting next Monday at 6:00. She said that Ms. Kim Petty will notify every one of the meeting place. It’s going to be a work session and will work on the goals for the upcoming year for the Superintendent’s evaluation.

Adjourn Mr. Mike Massey made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Betty JoAnn McMorris. The vote was (8-0) in favor of the motion. The Board adjourned at 11:01 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted by Kim Petty