MINUTES OF THE AUGUST 6, 2013 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES

August 6, 2013

1. Opening Items

1.01 CALL TO ORDER

The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order at 2:00 p.m. at the Washoe County School District’s Central Administration Building, 425 East Ninth Street, Reno, Nevada.

1.02 ROLL CALL

Vice President David Aiazzi and Board Members John Mayer, Barbara McLaury, Howard Rosenberg, and Lisa Ruggerio were present. President Barbara Clark and Trustee Estella Gutierrez were delayed and not present at roll call. Superintendent Pedro Martinez, Deputy Superintendent Traci Davis and staff were also present.

1.03 PLEDGEOF ALLEGIANCE

Superintendent Pedro Martinez led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.

1.04 PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no response to the call for public comment.

1.05 ACTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA

It was moved by Trustee McLaury and seconded by Trustee Rosenberg that the Board of Trustees approves the agenda as presented. The result of the vote was Unanimous: Pass (Yea: David Aiazzi, John Mayer, Barbara McLaury, Howard Rosenberg and Lisa Ruggerio.) Final Resolution: Motion Carries

2. Items for Presentation, Discussion, Information and/or Action

2.01 SCHOOL CAPITAL NEEDS INITIATIVE

Lindsay Anderson, Director, Government Affairs Department, explained she was present to lay out the plan of action for the Capital School Needs Initiative, formerly known as Assembly Bill (AB) 46, to be presented to the Washoe County Commission who would vote on if the taxes should be implemented or not. She wanted to make sure everyone Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 2

was on the same page when presenting the plan to the County Commission because there were numerous outside groups who wanted to be involved in the process. Many of the groups were present at the meeting to offer their suggestions and input.

Trustee Gutierrez arrived at the meeting at 2:05 p.m.

Ms. Anderson walked the Board members through the various attachments included in her presentation. She began with the draft Project Plan. The Project Plan was broken down into 3 sections that showed each group that the District would have to work with to get the Initiative approved. The first group was the Washoe County Commission and making sure that the Commissioners received all the information they requested. The second group was the general public and establishing a public awareness campaign with various outside groups to garner support. To implement the public awareness campaign, it was the desire of District staff to have the community groups mobilize the public to come out in support of the Initiative. The main group the District had been working with was Say Yes for Kids. Jill Tolles and Mike Kate were the chairs of the group and had worked with other major community partnerships the District had worked with in the past. The intent was to have the District play a supporting role in the public awareness campaign.

President Clark arrived at the meeting at 2:09 p.m.

Ms. Anderson presented the Board with a proposed calendar for meetings with the County Commission. The Commission was interested in holding 3 specific meetings for the Initiative to look at certain areas of concern in depth. For those meetings, the Initiative would be the only item on the agenda so the District would be able to present as much information as possible to the Commissioners. Additionally, the Initiative would be placed on all regular County Commission agendas until voted on. It was important that District staff and the Board of Trustees remained flexible enough to discuss whatever the Commissioners wanted to talk about at all meetings. She presented the proposed dates for the in-depth meetings: August 20, September 17 and October 15, 2013. The topics to be covered were Accountability and the Great Cities School Report, the 2002 Roll-over Bond, and How the District Determined their Capital Needs. The intent of the meetings was to make them like a workshop where the Commissioners questions could be answered and a dialogue take place.

Trustee Aiazzi asked if County staff would be coming to the District to look over some preliminary information they had questions about. Superintendent Martinez stated that County staff had been invited but wanted to talk to the Commissioners first to make sure there would not be any legal issues with that. He added that it might be beneficial if the Trustees were to make the offer for staff to review items at the District during the August 20, 2013 workshop. Ms. Anderson explained that there was time before some Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 3

of the workshops so the invitation could come at a later date. All meetings were tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m. on the suggested dates.

Trustee Aiazzi questioned who would be the face of the District in presenting the information, the Board members or the Superintendent. He wondered who from the District would go talk to groups who wanted more information on the Initiative. Superintendent Martinez mentioned either himself or members of the Board should be able to talk to groups. He was involved in public meetings all the time and would make talking about the Initiative a priority at all of those events. If a special request were to come in from a different group, he would appreciate and welcome the Board members taking an active role in attending those meetings. There were a lot of different groups that were seeking information on the Initiative and he would need additional support in getting to all of those groups.

Trustee Aiazzi indicated there had been some requests coming in so it was important to figure out who would be speaking at those events. Superintendent Martinez stated he was unaware of any specific requests at the time, but knew there would be some coming into the District soon.

Trustee Gutierrez asked what the requests had been. Trustee Aiazzi mentioned that the Republican Men’s Club had made a request for someone from the District to come talk to them. Mr. Martinez stated there were various groups that he spoke to on a monthly and yearly basis, but would like to lay out a specific list of requests that came to the District on AB46 because he might not be scheduled to meet with some of those groups until after the deadline for a vote.

Trustee Aiazzi added that President Clark had been invited to go on radio station KKOH, but had a scheduling conflict so it was important that someone else from the Board or the District went to those meetings and interviews instead of declining requests.

President Clark mentioned that request had come through the District’s Communications Department. She felt that even if a request came in for the Superintendent to attend a meeting there should be no reason that a Board member should not also attend if schedules permitted, that would show a united front on the issue and provide multiple voices and perspectives.

Trustee Gutierrez indicated her support for Trustee Aiazzi’s idea and mentioned it was important that the other Trustees knew about all meetings and interviews so they could add their support if necessary. She wanted to be able to support her fellow Trustees in their efforts. Trustee Aiazzi wanted to make sure that the Board was in agreement on who would be the spokesperson and what the message would be so there was no confusion. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 4

Trustee McLaury added that having a single message had always been a goal of the District and the Communications Department had generally handled that. She mentioned that there were some groups she would not be comfortable going in front of or some types of information she would not be able to speak proficiently about so it would be important that staff and the Trustees knew their strengths and weaknesses and where the best place for them would be. Mr. Martinez indicated that was one of the reasons he wanted the outside support groups represented at the present meeting because those groups were also asked questions about the Initiative and the District wanted to make sure the message was the same.

Trustee Rosenberg stated he was not worried about the questions that could be answered, but about the questions that could not be answered. The Commissioners would want to know specific information and the District better be able to provide it or be able to say “I don’t know, but I will get that information for you” and then make sure that information gets there.

Trustee McLaury stated the Board had participated in media training a few years ago and it would be a good idea to go through it again so that they would all be able to speak to the Initiative positively. Trustee Gutierrez added that it would also be important not to be negative because it would add fuel for the opposition.

Irene Payne, Chief Communications and Community Engagement Officer, stated that media inquiries were dealt with on a case-by-case basis because the media generally had an idea of who they wanted to talk to. The Department regularly provided media training to District staff and any Trustee was welcome to attend.

Ms. Anderson explained that the District was back-mapping from when a decision could be made on the Initiative and working on the timeline from there.

Trustee Rosenberg asked if there was a back-up plan if it looked like the Initiative was going to fail. He had received suggestions about the District suggesting only having either the sales tax or property tax increase go through. It would not give the District everything that was needed, but it would be a start. His read of the present political climate was that the votes were not there to pass the Initiative. He wanted to be able to provide specific examples of repairs that would be required and have staff and the Trustees willing to take people to the schools to show the needed repairs. He stated that the District owed the County Commission no oversight but could voluntarily suggest that the District return to the Commission quarterly to provide a report on how much money was collected, what it was spent on and what still needed to be done. It was not something the District had to do according to the legislation, but it was something the District should do to allow the Commission some oversight. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 5

Superintendent Martinez added that right now the District needed to make sure that they listened to the Commissioners. The District needed to present the facts to the Commission as they stood at the present time and then listen to what additional information was required. The Commissioners had not had the opportunity to be presented with all of the District’s information because the County Commission had been thrown into the process by the Legislature.

Trustee Mayer mentioned that the District should show the Commissioners what had already been done for school revitalization. He felt that Q and D Construction had done a wonderful job maintaining the historical value of Robert Mitchell Elementary School. He had already taken a number of visitors to the school to see what had been done. There were also other schools that could be shown.

Ms. Anderson stated that right now there should not be a conversation on the negotiation process since the topic had not been raised. She indicated there would be continuing conversations between the Board and the County Commissioners. She was encouraging the outside groups to also meet with their Commissioners and had made offers to take the Commissioners on tours of schools in their respective districts.

Trustee Mayer stated Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler attended Sparks High School and should be taken there and other schools she had attended as a child even though the schools were not in her County Commission District. Ms. Anderson commented that she had invited Commissioner Berkbigler to participate in the First Day of School activities, some of which were planned for Sparks High School.

Ms. Anderson then discussed the public awareness campaign. The District wanted the community partners to take the lead in the campaign because she felt it would mean more to the public if it came from someone else. Many of these partners had agreed to take the lead on Letters to the Editor and newsletters. She would also like to maintain and update the website and send information to the individual schools on how to get the information out to family and friends. There was also a discussion about having a door-to-door campaign on a couple of Saturdays and an “Ask the Expert” phone or email line. The goal of all of those activities was to get people to act, either by calling their Commissioners, attending meetings or adding items on social media. Ms. Anderson explained what the District would be working on internally as well. A draft calendar was included in the presentation.

Superintendent Martinez asked if the Trustees felt it was appropriate to have a standing agenda item on the Initiative so that they would be able to receive regular updates and make changes to the plan. Trustee Rosenberg mentioned that the University of Nevada, Reno had similar documents which were referred to as dynamic and volatile because the point was to keep them constantly updated. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 6

Trustee Aiazzi asked about the individual Commissioner-Trustee meetings that were included in the plan. He wondered who was setting the meetings up because he had already met with a couple of Commissioners. Ms. Anderson explained that the District had told the Commissioners that the Trustees were “ready and willing” to meet with them so when the Commissioners responded, the meetings were set up. Superintendent Martinez made a similar offer and had been meeting with the Commissioners as well. Mr. Martinez stated that he had made an offer to the Commissioners to be available to them for questions. Trustee Aiazzi expressed some concern that Superintendent Martinez was meeting with the Commissioners without the Trustees.

Trustee Ruggerio indicated she would like to see a column on the document about what the desired outcome of each step was and resources that would be needed. If the District wanted outside groups to help it was important to know if there would be costs associated with anything and who would be responsible for said costs.

Trustee Rosenberg asked legal counsel if the Board of Trustees and the County Commissioners would be able to go out to lunch somewhere to discuss the Initiative in an informal setting. Randy Drake, Chief Legal Counsel, stated that it would not be able to be done as a group unless it was noticed under the Nevada Open Meeting Law requirements. Trustee Ruggerio indicated she had mentioned the idea of a joint meeting to Commissioner Berkbigler, who seemed amiable to the idea.

Trustee Mayer asked that when revisions to the plan were made it would be important to include a cover sheet that explained what the revisions were and on what page they could be found. Ms. Anderson agreed.

Trustee Aiazzi wondered if there was a list of just Commissioner questions that could be added to after each meeting. Ms. Anderson mentioned there was not a list, but she should be able to develop one and would appreciate any questions the Trustees received in the private meetings to be forwarded to her.

Trustee Aiazzi was uncomfortable with the idea of conducting a phone bank. Ms. Anderson mentioned that the plan was a draft and included various ideas that could be used. Trustee Aiazzi wanted to make sure that the outside groups and public knew that District money was not being used for any activity the community groups did.

Trustee Gutierrez was also uncomfortable with the idea of using District money. She also wanted to make sure all information put out by the District was translated into Spanish because it would help with community outreach.

President Clark indicated there was not a lot of time for the District to wait and would like to see a weekly update from the Government Affairs Department about what had Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 7

been going on with other Trustees and District staff so everyone was on the same page. She urged the Trustees to email Ms. Anderson to let her know of any activities they had been working on with regard to the Initiative so there were not wasted energies talking to the same groups.

Trustee Mayer mentioned that in any communication that went to the individual schools it would be important that the principals and other administrators knew not to send that information home with the children. Using the students as a messenger was not the purpose of the school. Superintendent Martinez stated one of the goals of providing information to the individual schools was so that they could provide the information to their Parent Teacher Organization/Association (PTO/A). The principals were also getting questions and the District wanted to be able to provide them with the information.

President Clark asked that any upcoming meetings also be included in the weekly update so if other Trustees had time to attend a meeting they could.

Ms. Anderson presented the Talking Points to the Board for review.

Trustee Gutierrez mentioned that the previous idea of schools being “warm, dry and safe” had created confusion among parents because they were hearing that the schools were not safe, so she wanted to make sure that everyone, including the community partners, was on the same page. Superintendent Martinez mentioned that staff had revised the Talking Points with regard to that idea and the District was now focusing more on being proactive with regard to repairs and revitalization. He felt the new Talking Points were more on task with what the Trustees were looking for. Ms. Anderson stated the community groups were interested in getting the Talking Points so they could also go out and sell the Initiative to their members.

Trustee Aiazzi liked the document but would like to see the order of items changed to emphasize what the current needs of the District were. The other Trustees agreed with him and staff indicated they would make the changes.

Ms. Anderson moved on to present the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet. She stated the District had gone through various revisions on the sheet and the draft was presented to the Board for their approval.

Trustee Rosenberg mentioned that the question dealing with schools falling down should be placed first since that had been a major concern with the public. Ms. Anderson stated that the item would be moved and staff had been working to make all the answers as direct as possible and less “wonky.” Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 8

Trustee Ruggerio stated she had heard similar concerns about some of the answers being too “wonky” and it was difficult for people to repeat the answers.

Trustee Aiazzi indicated he had spoken with members of the public who were opposed to the Initiative after the last County Commission meeting and came to the conclusion that it was important to emphasize that the District did not want to pay the interest on money in the bank. Governments would generally use the “pay as you go” system for capital projects because if they kept the money in the bank for 5, 10 or 20 years, interest would have to be paid on it, which would end up costing the taxpayer more in the long run. It was important to get away from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) explanation currently in the sheet. Ms. Anderson stated that staff would work on revising that answer.

President Clark stated that the use of acronyms needed to be watched because the general public would not know what was being referred to. She wanted the language to be as simple as possible, so instead of using “instructional needs,” the language should be “classroom needs” and if different terms could not be used, then to provide certain examples that people would relate to. A picture needed to be painted about why certain funds were needed for the classroom and the numbers broken down on a per pupil basis.

Trustee Aiazzi mentioned that he would like to have staff show the FAQ paper to 20 people who did not have a vested interest in the Initiative to see what their reactions were to the questions and answers. He indicated that the questions could be ordered and grouped in a more coherent manner.

Trustee Mayer stated that included in part of the sheet needed to be a section regarding the unfunded mandates that the District had to take care of, such as installing wheelchair ramps.

Trustee Ruggerio mentioned that the question involving the number of administrators needed to be reworked because the Commissioners were very concerned about the District being top heavy and the current answer was not working for them. Ms. Anderson asked if Trustee Ruggerio had any specific information that staff could use to provide the Commissioners with the answers.

Trustee Ruggerio added that the Commissioners were interested in seeing how the numbers had changed in Washoe County from 5, 10 and 15 years ago and not seeing Washoe County compared to national averages. People who did not spend every day working in the business of education had different ways of looking at the process.

Trustee Gutierrez indicated she also had problems and concerns with the answer. She felt the District had the story to tell the Commissioners, but it was not being told in a Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 9

way that the Commissioners and public understood. The effect of the recession on the District needed to be emphasized because there were a lot of cuts that needed to be restored.

Trustee Aiazzi mentioned that Commissioner Berkbigler had asked directly how many administrators were cut during the recession and he did not see the answer included on the FAQ sheet. Commissioner Berkbigler had not asked how much money had been cut or percentages and Trustee Aiazzi wanted to be sure that specific questions posed by the Commissioners were answered directly. He also felt that the District needed to take more credit for things that they had done, such as not taking the money from the real estate transfer tax in 1996 like other school districts in Nevada, how much money the District was able to save in reserves, and that the District funded all unfunded mandates placed upon them. If the perception was that the District was not careful with the money, then the District needed to change that perception and show what staff and past Boards of Trustees had done. The area of concern was if the District was top heavy and that needed to be addressed in a better way. The employee groups needed to be categorized better since there were different definitions of what an “administrator” was.

Trustee Rosenberg suggested that percentages not be used. He wanted to see actual numbers used when talking about what had been done. Instead of saying 20% of the District’s schools were 50 years or older, give then the actual number of schools and the names. He was also concerned with the definition of “administrator” and wanted to see the term clearly defined.

Trustee Ruggerio indicated that the issue with administrators seemed to be between who was teaching the children and who was a manager. She wanted to show the story of the where the $21.2 million in pay cuts went during the recession. That would show the Commissioners and the public that the information the District was providing was accurate and transparent which would create greater trust. Ms. Anderson mentioned that some of the answers on the FAQ sheet were not complete because staff was still gathering information.

Trustee Ruggerio added that some other questions the Commissioners were looking for included receiving more information on the Great City Schools Capital Projects Audit because Commissioners were not satisfied with the responses presented. Trustee Aiazzi mentioned there would be a whole meeting on that one topic between the Board and the County.

Trustee Ruggerio mentioned other questions asked of her were how much did the District spend on Capital Projects staff, how was that expense justified, and had the District considered performing an operational audit of the Capital Projects Department. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 10

Trustee Mayer stated that the definition of “administrators” included positions such as counselors. There were national statistics that would show how many building administrators would be considered acceptable and that would show if Washoe County was above or below the national average. If staff just looked at building administrators, it would be a more accurate number because a lot of the other positions would be removed.

Trustee Gutierrez mentioned that Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) was having a similar issue because there were faculty administrators that taught courses, so were those positions considered administrators or faculty. She felt teachers could also be considered managers because they were in charge of their classrooms.

President Clark wanted to clarify that the Council of Great City Schools audit was a performance audit. The Audit Department was conducting an on-going internal audit of the Capital Projects Department’s operations but there were different components to the audit and all of that needed to be considered. She felt that could be better expressed to the County Commission.

Trustee Aiazzi wondered if it would be possible to pull specific job titles and the number of employees associated with each title. Superintendent Martinez stated that it could be done. He added that about 9% of the District’s total budget was spent on what would be considered building administrators and central office administrators, the national benchmark for school districts was to have that number under 15%.

Trustee Aiazzi indicated that the number for Washoe County needed to be compared to what the number was 10 years ago for Washoe County in columns next to each other. Superintendent Martinez mentioned the student population and demographics had also changed in the past 10 years and that information needed to be included as well. He stated that school districts were very different than any other business because the ratio of supervision could be as high as 30 to 1, whereas other areas of business strove for that number to be closer to 8 or 10 to 1. The District needed to present the information in a factual way but also needed to show how and why school districts were different.

President Clark opened the meeting for public comment.

Jill Tolles, Say Yes for Kids, stated that Say Yes for Kids (SYFK) had reached out to various members of the community for support of the School Capital Needs Initiative. Some of the groups SYFK were working with included the Chamber of Commerce, Council of Excellence in Education, Education Alliance, Builders Association, and others. All the groups wanted to work alongside the District to assure information was presented and the Initiative was successful. She saw SYFK’s mission as three-fold: getting factual information out to the general public, providing input to their members Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 11

to get in touch with Commissioners, and finally to assist the District with the messaging. The group would also be willing to assist setting up Town Hall Meetings and forums for the District to provide more information to the public. The coalition of community partners was planning to meet once or twice a month and would meet before each of the County Commission meetings to be held specifically for the Initiative to determine what they could do during those meetings.

Ms. Tolles mentioned that she wanted to work on the Initiative because she felt it was the right thing to do. She was not getting paid to support the Initiative, but believed it would help the community as a whole. She provided the Board with some recommendations. The coalition would like to have one spokesperson from the District to speak at the County Commission meetings so there would not be confusion and would like to see Pete Etchart be that person since he would be able to provide detailed answers to the Commissioners. She also recommended that the concerns regarding how the Capital Projects Department had been run in the past needed to be addressed. The justification for the increase in taxes needed to be highlighted. What would happen if the Initiative did not pass needed to be specifically addressed and specific examples of what would happen to the District if it did not receive the additional $20 million for repairs. Finally, there needed to be immediate responses to misinformation that was presented in the paper or on the news. She asked the Board if there was anything specific they needed from SYFK to make the project successful.

Trustee Ruggerio thanked Ms. Tolles for her willingness to support the District. She asked for additional clarification on having Mr. Etchart be the spokesperson. Ms. Tolles stated that Mr. Etchard should not be the only person allowed to speak, but he would be able to answer many of the questions the Commissioners had been asking in detail.

Trustee Ruggerio agreed that the District needed to highlight what would happen if the Initiative were to not pass. She asked if SYFK needed anything from the District. Ms. Tolles mentioned that SYFK wanted to be sure that they were provided the most up-to- date and accurate information.

Trustee McLaury mentioned that it had previously been discussed that the Board members’ weekly newspaper column focus on AB46 until a final decision was made. President Clark indicated that she had mentioned it, but in the past it seemed the majority of the Board was opposed to the idea. She felt it was a good idea and that the Board could use social media more effectively to counter misinformation as well.

Trustee Aiazzi mentioned there was a comment section on the on-line articles and the District could quickly respond to misinformation that way as well since the papers would not always print letters to the editor. Ms. Tolles mentioned the District could also use “Fact-Checker” segments on the local news programs since not everyone received the news from the papers anymore. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 12

Trustee Aiazzi indicated that the local radio stations would often use the newspapers as their guide when reporting on local news.

President Clark continued with public comment.

Fred Boyd, Say Yes for Kids, stated he had a couple of concerns. The first concern was raising the credibility of the District by providing more information on the schools that are older than 30 years as well as what the District had been doing for the past 10 years on repairs and revitalization. The number of revitalizations during that time needed to be emphasized and what the work that was done. A list also needed to be put together that would show the preventative maintenance that was required at all schools and what the money would be used for. Mr. Boyd indicated that there was a difference in performance, of up to 15%, when students attended schools where lighting, heating and sound were regularly repaired and maintained. His second concern was that the District and the community organizations needed to form a Fact Squad that would be able to respond quickly to incorrect and widely spread messages, not just provide a statement, but provide the facts as well.

David Dehls, president, Education Alliance, mentioned that the Board had been receiving some very good information from staff on where to go next with the Initiative. The Initiative had brought people from both sides of the political aisle together because they wanted to do what was best for the young people attending public schools. He was concerned with all the misinformation that was being spread regarding the Initiative. Targeted spokespeople needed to be identified and used when the District spoke to certain groups because those spokespeople would be able to answer pointed questions. Messages should be tailored to specific audiences and even tailored to specific Commissioners because people would respond differently to different presentations. He felt it was critical to identify what those messages would be. He wanted to make sure that those groups who were against the Initiative were also a focus because the District needed to present the information to those groups as well and it would allow for the difficult conversations to take place and show opposing groups that the District was willing to speak with them. An answer needed to be developed for those who did not have children in the public schools and explain why they needed to care about the educational system as well.

Mr. Dehls stated that the Education Alliance was supporting the Initiative and would continue to support the District as it had since the late 1980s. The group had at least 30 individuals who were willing to help the District get the message out and help move the Initiative forward because if there was not a sustainable source of funding for the District to take care of maintenance then the taxpayer could feel that the money used to construct the schools and provide an education was at risk. Trustee Ruggerio agreed Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 13

that the District should go before the detractors as well to explain why the money was required.

Jim Pfrommer, past president, Education Alliance, stated that politics should not play a role in the Initiative because it was all about the kids and what people and groups could do for them. It was important to correct misinformation, but there were also numerous groups and individuals that were aligned with the District on the issue. The District needed to make sure that the correct information was getting in the best person’s hand who could effectively deliver the message. He urged the Trustees and others to answer truthfully if they did not know the answers to questions, but it was also important that those questions were eventually answered. He did not want to see the District compromise any further on the language because the repairs needed to be done. By having the discussion at the County level, it would require all people to think about where they wanted to community as a whole to go and how education fit into that vision.

Trustee Aiazzi asked how and when the information would be given out to the public. Superintendent Martinez stated that the FAQs would be continually updated so it was important for the District to just get the information out in the public. The Initiative would be on every agenda so the Board would always be receiving updates and could provide direction. The proposed binder was something that would be given to the County Commissioners and would not be constantly updated, but the District would provide single sheet updates for the Commissioners as required.

President Clark moved the discussion to the draft of the binder that would be presented to the Washoe County Commissioners.

Trustee Aiazzi mentioned that it would be beneficial to compare the maintenance costs per square foot for the District to what private sector businesses paid per square foot. He wanted to make sure that the “Cash in Good Governance” award was emphasized and all dates the District had won were included since the trophy was housed in the County Commission’s building. Additionally he would like to include a comparison with what the County paid in maintenance for their buildings and their total square footage, so the District would be able to show if the District was in line with what the County did during the recession.

Trustee Rosenberg indicated he would also like to see a comparison on where the County received their money for maintenance as well. Trustee Aiazzi thought the County took their money from their General Fund.

Trustee Aiazzi liked the comparison to what it would be like if someone where going to revitalize their home but wanted to be clear on what the District was asking for. Ms. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 14

Anderson indicated the District was only asking for the stove. Trustee Aiazzi stated that needed to be emphasized more.

Trustee Aiazzi wanted greater clarification on the additional Roll-over Bond funds added. The District received additional funds from the Bond because new schools were not built and he wanted to make sure those dollars were accounted for. Superintendent Martinez added that the District was able to generate additional money from the Bond because of how the funds were invested and it would be a good idea to include that in the binder.

Trustee Aiazzi added that projects that had been put on hold should also be included.

President Clark felt it would be beneficial to break down program administration costs as well. Trustee Aiazzi indicated that would be an additional item that should be compared to the County to see if the District was in line with everyone else.

Trustee Mayer stated that program administration costs should be at least itemized by internal and external work because the number would also include inspection costs. Pete Etchart, Chief Operating Officer, stated staff would get the Board that additional information and clarify the items.

Trustee Aiazzi would like to see the time staff spent on specific projects because it would show how much someone’s time was spent on capital projects. The County would do something similar so it would be appropriate to provide something similar.

Trustee Rosenberg asked if there were any District departments that were self- sufficient. Mr. Martinez stated those were the “Enterprise Funds” and included Departments such as Nutrition Services.

Trustee Rosenberg then asked if the individual schools had to provide the funds for maintenance to make the repairs or if it came out of the District as a whole. At the University, the Plant Facilities would charge the individual departments the entire cost, including staff time, if repairs were required. Mr. Etchart mentioned that schools would partially fund certain projects, but the staff time was provided for by Capital Projects or Facilities Management. He indicated one of the recommendations from the Council of Great City Schools was that the District charges the schools for every cost the District had. That would require a culture shift in the way the schools operated and also reduce the number of projects that a school wanted to do because they would be charged more from the District.

Trustee Aiazzi added that the District had already lost a year in the 10-year Capital Projects plan working on AB46 and that would need to be mentioned as well. He also felt that the Board would need to talk about what could happen if the Initiative did not Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 15 pass and also consider if the $20 million per year was enough for what the District wanted to do. The Board needed to take a stand on if the money was enough and if the Board would seek additional funds in the future. Finally he mentioned that individual lists needed to be created for each Commissioner of what repairs were required at the schools in their districts so they would see where the money would be spent and that there was a purpose for each dollar.

Trustee Mayer mentioned that the problem was that the students did not always go to school in their County Commissioner’s district, so it would be important to know where which students were zoned for which school. He would like to see the information for all schools presented to the Commissioners. Ms. Anderson mentioned that a map of the schools had been overlaid on a County Commission District map so the Commissioners would be able to see that information as well.

President Clark indicated that the information pertaining to the individual Commissioners should be placed at the front of the binder and the rest of the information in the back if they wanted to look at it.

Superintendent Martinez thanked the staff for their work on the binder because it was a lot of information to present.

President Clark did not like the slogan for the Initiative. Trustee Aiazzi felt that Mr. Dehls had the correct concept in mentioning that the point of the Initiative was to protect the taxpayer’s investment.

President Clark also indicated that there needed to be a front page that just included exactly what the District was asking for with a couple of bullet points because there would be some people who would only look at the first couple of pages. She did not want the point of the Initiative to get lost in all the information.

Trustee Ruggerio added that the community partners should also have the ability to review the binder since they had provided a number of good ideas. She also wanted to make sure that pictures of the buildings were also included. Ms. Payne indicated the District did not have very many good before and after photos of projects, but there were numerous construction photos that could work as well. President Clark stated that would be a good idea since some of the feedback from the County Commission meeting was that the District was always throwing the kids in front of people. Trustee Rosenberg mentioned that was the job of the Board of Trustees.

Trustee Aiazzi asked when the binder would be presented to the Commissioners. Ms. Anderson indicated that the Commissioners did not know the binder would be presented to them, so it was up to the Board on when it should go to the Commissioners. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 16

Trustee Aiazzi indicated he would like the binder presented to the Commissioners at the August 20, 2013 meeting. It would allow some of the misinformation the Commissioners could be hearing to be addressed and then there should not be surprises in November when they were preparing to make their decision.

Trustee Rosenberg commented that the Commissioners were looking for as much information as could be provided by the District so that the Commissioners would be able to explain their position based on the facts.

It was decided that the binder would be finalized at the August 13, 2013 Board of Trustees Regular Meeting so it could be presented to the County Commissioners at the August 20, 2013 meeting.

Trustee Ruggerio wanted to make sure the concerns raised by the community partners were addressed and brought back to the next Regular Board Meeting.

2.02 SUPERINTENDENT EVALUATION AND CONTRACT

Item was pulled from the agenda for time.

2.03 DISCUSSION OF THE DOOR TO DOOR FOR STUDENT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Due to time constraints the presentation regarding the Door to Door for Student Awareness Campaign was not heard, but President Clark allowed for public comment on the item.

Carl Fuetsch, president, Rotary Club of Reno, informed the Board the Rotary Club would support the Door to Door campaign because it aligned with 4 out of the 5 avenues of service for the Club. The Rotary Club had provided various services to the District over the years and offered over $20,000 in scholarships. There were 8 Rotary Clubs in the area and all the local presidents were interested in participating in the program. The presidents would solicit their club members to join in the Door to Door Campaign. While he was unsure of how many volunteers Rotary would be able to provide, there were about 450 members in the Reno/Sparks area alone. They wanted to participate in the campaign because it was a win-win opportunity. Keeping students in school benefited local businesses in the short and long term.

President Clark thanked him for the offer and stated the District would be in touch.

Trustee Rosenberg indicated he had received a few phone calls regarding the topic. One person had asked if the kids did not go to school, would the Trustees go get them. He responded that essentially that would be happen. Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees August 6, 2013 Pg. 17

Trustee Mayer appreciated the offer from Rotary because it would help show the students that there were people in the community who cared about them.

Superintendent Martinez stated that last year there were about 212 total volunteers, most of which were District staff, who visited about 300 homes. For the 2013-14 School Year, the District hoped to visit over 1,000 homes and was looking at over 600 community volunteers and about 300 staff volunteers to participate. It was a large undertaking and he appreciated all the groups who were willing to provide volunteers because it was a community effort to help raise the graduation rate and the project had never been done to this scale in the United States.

President Clark requested that the item be moved to another agenda for the Board to discuss in greater detail.

3 Closing Items

3.01 PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no response to the call for public comment.

3.02 NEXT MEETING

The next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees would be held on August 13, 2013 at 4 p.m. in the Administrative Building, Board Room 425 East Ninth Street, Reno, Nevada.

4 Adjournment

4.01 ADJOURN MEETING

There being no further business to come before the members of the Board, President Clark declared the meeting adjourned at 4:32 p.m.

Barbara Clark, President Lisa Ruggerio, Clerk