Minutes of the May 12, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees

MINUTES OF THE MAY 12, 2020 REGULAR MEETING OF THE WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 12, 2020 1. Opening Items 1.01 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order at 4:00 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 health emergency declared by Governor Sisolak, the meeting was conducted virtually. 1.02 ROLL CALL President Malena Raymond and Board Members Jacqueline Calvert, Andrew Caudill, Katy Simon Holland, Scott Kelley, Ellen Minetto, and Angela Taylor were present. Superintendent Kristen McNeill, Student Representative Nathan Noble, and staff were also present. 1.03 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Board President Malena Raymond led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance. 1.04 ACTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA Trustee Simon Holland requested Agenda Items 5.01 through 5.05, all related to Board Policies in the 9000 series, be pulled. She would be interested in the Board having a more in-depth discussion about the policies at a future meeting. It was moved by Trustee Simon Holland and seconded by Trustee Taylor that the Board of Trustees pulls agenda items 5.01 through 5.05 for consideration at a future meeting and approves the agenda as revised. President Raymond opened the motion for discussion. Trustee Caudill requested clarification on if all the policies needed to be pulled or just the policy relating to the evaluation of the Superintendent. Trustee Simon Holland indicated she had spoken with staff and believed it would be cleaner to pull all the policies and have a discussion later during a work session. She Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees May 12, 2020 Pg. 2 felt the current meeting would already be lengthy and the type of discussion the Board should have on the policies would be in-depth. President Raymond added she had spoken with Superintendent McNeill regarding the request prior to the meeting and agreed that pulling all the policies would allow the new superintendent to be more a part of the conversations. The result of the vote was Unanimous: Pass (Yea: Jacqueline Calvert, Andrew Caudill, Katy Simon Holland, Scott Kelley, Ellen Minetto, Malena Raymond, and Angela Taylor.) Final Resolution: Motion Carries. 2. Consent Agenda Items President Raymond called for public comment. The Board received comments from the following individuals related to Consent Agenda Item 2.06 (all comments may be viewed as an attachment to the minutes): Brittany Dawson Joshua Roach It was moved by Trustee Caudill and seconded by Trustee Kelley that the Board of Trustees approves Consent Agenda Items 2.02 through 2.07. The result of the vote was Unanimous: Pass (Yea: Jacqueline Calvert, Andrew Caudill, Katy Simon Holland, Scott Kelley, Ellen Minetto, Malena Raymond, and Angela Taylor.) Final Resolution: Motion Carries. 2.02 The Board of Trustees approved the grant application to the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation from Incline Village High School in support of the Competency-Based Learning Program during the 2020-21 School Year for $736,168. 2.03 The Board of Trustees approved the recommendation of the Risk Management Department to approve the three year agreement with Vaccination Services of America, Inc., DBA TotalWellness, for wellness screenings, with a rate of $45.00 per participant in year one, $44.00 per participant in year two and $43.00 per participant in year three, beginning August 1, 2020 and ending December 31, 2022, for an estimated total of $432,940. 2.04 The Board of Trustees provided final approval to the proposed revision of Board Policy 1160, Communications, Community Relations, and Public Engagement. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees May 12, 2020 Pg. 3 2.05 The Board of Trustees approved the memorandum of agreement between the Washoe County School District and the Association of Professional Technical Administrators for the implementation of temporary assignment pay (COVID-TAP). 2.06 The Board of Trustees approved the memorandum of agreement between the Washoe County School District and the Washoe Education Association for the temporary implementation of temporary assignment pay (COVID- TAP). 2.07 The Board of Trustees approved the amendment to the University of Nevada, Reno Field Based Instructor Agreement between Washoe County School District and the College of Education for reimbursement to the District of three (3) teachers in the amount of $242,000. 3. General Public Comment 3.01 PUBLIC COMMENT The Board received public comment from the following (all comments may be viewed as an attachment to the minutes): Paul K Thomas Heck Sherron Jones Katie Pitts Jennifer Mentgen Jeff Church Kathy Johnson Richard Clark Pat Hoffman Robin Landry 4. Budget Items 4.01 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION ABOUT FISCAL IMPLICATIONS RELATED TO COVID-19 ECONOMIC IMPACTS TO THE STATE AND DISTRICT BUDGET Mark Mathers, Chief Financial Officer, began the presentation. Staff would be providing information related the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic on the General Fund and Nutrition Services Fund, actions taken to minimize impacts of the increased costs, and possible reductions to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget and FY21 budget due to possible impacts on the State’s budget. It was important to note the District had not Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees May 12, 2020 Pg. 4 received any final decisions related to the budget from the State; however, they wanted to be forward thinking because a fiscal emergency had been declared by Governor Sisolak. Mike Schroeder, Budget Director, provided information on the impacts to the General Fund. He mentioned the situation was fluid and changes had already occurred to the estimated amounts since the presentation was created. Mr. Mathers took over providing information on the estimated costs of the pandemic due to technological difficulties. The District had seen increased costs to the Print Shop for the costs of printing the Distance Learning packets during each phase of the emergency, overtime for staff printing the packets, new printers to assist with the increased workload, and supplies to ensure staff safety while at work. The current estimated total was $535,400 in expenses. The impact to the General Fund for the expenses was not a great since the District had seen a savings from decreased utility and fuel costs, as well as reduced travel costs for staff. Trustee Kelley requested additional information on the amount of savings the District had seen in each category for future presentation. Mr. Mathers remarked he would try to include the information; however, there was a lag in billing cycles so he did not currently have the amount of savings. Mr. Mathers presented the information on the impact of the health emergency to the Nutrition Services Fund. The Fund had previously been out-performing projections for the current fiscal year, but based on the approximately daily losses of $55,000, the Fund was projected to lose $2.8 million. Since the Fund had a healthy cash balance at the beginning of the year, the net loss would be approximately $1.8 million, with an ending cash balance of almost $4.4 million. Other school districts were seeing similar impacts to their nutrition services funds because of the decrease in federal reimbursements related to the Free and Reduced Lunch program. Mr. Schroeder reconnected to the meeting and provided information on what the District was doing to prepare for impacts to FY20. A vacancy freeze had been implemented for positions unrelated to school administration, teacher allocations, and special education aides and assistants. The Financial Review Committee would review unfilled positions to determine if the position could remain unfilled for a longer period of time or if the position could be eliminated. The District was currently able to see a monthly savings of $723,235 in savings from unfilled positions. Non-personnel expenditures were also reviewed for purchases and contracts over $25,000. The District was considering additional steps to reduce expenses for FY20, such as suspending carry-over funding for encumbrances, freezing auto allowances during Distance Learning, suspending furniture purchases, and shifting all building repair costs to the Government Services Tax Fund. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees May 12, 2020 Pg. 5 Trustee Taylor wondered why building repair costs did not come out of WC-1 funds or the Capital Fund. Mr. Mathers noted the repairs that were taken out of the General Fund were smaller repairs, usually taken out of the Risk Management Fund when damage to a building or area was small enough to not meet the insurance deductible. The District had been reviewing the process and the expenses were eligible to be paid for from any Capital Fund, including WC-1 and Rollover Bonds. The proposal was to use the General Services Tax Fund since it was similar to a reserve fund for the District. There were additional considerations when funding projects with bonds that did not make sense to perform with the smaller amounts for repairs. Trustee Caudill asked if any of the positions currently unfilled would have to be filled for the District to be prepared for the next school year. Mr. Schroeder mentioned there were essential positions in schools that would have to be in place for schools to open with appropriate staffing levels. The unfilled positions were primarily central office positions. The intent was to look at every position to determine if the position were needed immediately, could remain unfilled for a few months, or could be eliminated completely. Mr. Mathers provided information on the possible impacts to FY21. He reminded the Board the intent was to have contingency plans in place based on current information and assumptions so deeper cuts or reductions would not be necessary.

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