MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 4J, LANE COUNTY,

December 7, 2005

Meeting Convened

The Board of Directors of School District No. 4J, Lane County, Eugene, Oregon, held a regular meeting on December 7, 2005, at 7 p.m., at the Education Center, 200 North Monroe Street, Eugene, Oregon. Notice of the meeting was mailed to the media and posted in Education Center on December 2, 2005, and published in The Register-Guard on December 5, 2005.

ROLL CALL

BOARD MEMBERS: Beth Gerot, Chair Tom Herrmann, Vice-Chair Eric Forrest Charles Martinez, Jr. Craig Smith Virginia Thompson

STAFF: Barbara Bellamy, Director, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Ted Heid, Director of Labor Relations Tom Henry, Deputy Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer Hillary Kittleson, Director of Financial Services Susan Fahey, Operations and Reporting Manager Caroline Passerotti, Financial Analyst

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Katie Parker, Churchill High School Jordan Ries, North Eugene High School

MEDIA: Anne Williams, The Register-Guard KEZI News

CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND FLAG SALUTE

Board Chair Beth Gerot called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. and led the salute to the flag. She noted that Board Member Anette Spickard and Superintendent George Russell would not be present at the meeting. Deputy Superintendent Tom Henry would be filling in for Superintendent Russell.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Mr. Henry introduced the following guests who would be speaking to the first item of information of the agenda: Mike Garling, temporary principal at Edgewood/Evergreen School, Marily Walker, a teacher at Evergreen, Julie Hulme, a teacher at Edgewood, Laura Blake Jones, a parent at Evergreen, and Kris Shaughnessy, a parent at Edgewood.

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 1 Mr. Henry pointed out that there was information in the red folders that the board members would need for the meeting: policy statements, data about free and reduced lunch, and minutes from the March 9 board meeting, an article on small schools, and information on the district’s hazardous weather procedures.

COMMENTS BY STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES

Katie Parker said that the students at Churchill High School were very busy right before the holiday season. She said that on December 8, all of the students would be participating in a Positive Behavior Class because the school had been having some problems with fighting and bad language. She said that some of the problems stemmed from the fact that the senior parking lot had been discontinued this year. She said that the senior lot was being reinstated.

Ms. Parker reported the following items: the basketball team was off to a good start; the Mr. Lancer fund raiser had begun; the student executive leadership held its holiday party and the boys beat the girls at every game that was played.

Jordan Ries, North Eugene High School, said that Kay Graham, an assistant principal at North, had given each student leader at an ASB Leadership meeting the following framed quote: “A leader challenges the process, inspires the vision, enables others to act, models the way, and encourages the heart.” He said that the student leaders would be focusing on that quote for the year.

Mr. Ries said that Project Give to raise money and to collect canned food for the North Eugene/Santa Clara area was underway. He said that on December 15 Grocery Outlet was having a three minute “all you can grab shop-a-thon” for the project. He said that the food boxes would be distributed throughout the community on December 16 and 17.

Board Member Virginia Thompson read a report sent to her from Sarah Adler at . Ms. Adler said that she would not be able to attend the board meeting as she would be attending a Hospice training that was only given on December 7 for teens. Ms. Adler said that the South ASB had been organizing its budget for the last week and was learning a lot about allocating funds and parliamentary laws.

ITEMS RAISED BY THE AUDIENCE

Jim Seaberry, 3294 Stark Street, read a statement prepared by John Dodson about the covenant on the property on which the Santa Clara School was located. Mr. Dodson warned the board that continuing on its present course would lead to more lawyers fees and would lead to the decision about the covenant being made by the courts. He said that the lawyers were charged with protecting the tax payers of School District 4J even from a board that chose not to choose a path.

Mr. Seaberry left a drawing with the board showing his opinions on the issue.

COMMENTS BY EMPLOYEE GROUPS

Merri Steele, Vice-President of the Eugene Education Association (EEA), informed the board that she and Paul Duchin, President of the EEA, had attended the National Urban Education Association conference in Kentucky. She said that the EEA had received one of about 25 grants given at the conference. The grant was for the seminar series offered by the EEA and the district giving teachers opportunities to receive instruction from local universities on a variety

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 2 of topics. She said that the grant was to put the information on-line to make the process more accessible to many people.

Ms. Steele said that the conference also provided information on other grants, the No Child Left Behind Act and upcoming concerns regarding the act, work load, and a variety of other topics.

Ms. Steele said that the staff was looking forward to the break.

ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

Receive a Report on the Consolidation of Evergreen and Edgewood Elementary Schools

Barbara Bellamy, Director, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations, gave a brief introduction. She acknowledged the hard work that had already been done toward combining Edgewood and Evergreen Elementary School and creating an educational program that would begin in the 2006-07 school year. She said that the board would have to approve the consolidation of the two schools sometime before June 1, so that the district could inform the Oregon Department of Education for reporting and data tracking purposes.

Members of the Edgewood/Evergreen Partnership Committee distributed copies of their presentation to the board.

Ms. Hulme began the report by saying that the staff and site councils of Edgewood Elementary School and Evergreen Alternative Elementary School agreed to work together to create a single new school. She thanked the 4J staff and board for its support and help in this process by providing extended relief time, additional staffing, and for inviting a very talented facilitator, Betsy Shepard, to help them through the process.

Ms. Walker gave a brief historical perspective saying that declining enrollment, budgetary constraints and reduced staffing had affected both schools, which were located in the same school building. She said that the site councils and staff saw an opportunity to create a stronger, more robust learning experience and school by joining together in a new partnership to create a new neighborhood school incorporating the best of both schools. She said that the Edgewood/Evergreen Partnership Committee was then created and had been meeting since spring of 2005 to define the new school’s focus and develop the educational program. The school will have one budget, staff and site council. The school name has yet to be determined.

Ms. Jones reviewed the membership of the Partnership Committee and Ms. Shaughnessy reviewed the task forces created to craft proposals for class configuration, the identity of the new school, and public relations.

Ms. Shaughnessy said that the staffs and parents entered into the partnership with the best of intentions and good will and that even though the work had been very hard at some time, the people involved had increased their regard for one another. Ms. Jones said that the process had been very productive and the people involved had been very engaged, creative, resourceful, and good to each other. Ms. Shaughnessy said that the biggest stumbling block was resources and the number of FTE to be able to offer the kind of curriculum they would like. She said that she did not think that the greater community understood the lack of resources for public schools.

Ms. Jones said that the theme of the new school would be “Community” which would incorporate community circles comprised of K-5 students working together over time with a staff

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 3 member on selected projects that would build a sense of community both within the school as well as within a larger scope of community. She listed some of the possible networking opportunities which were provided in the handout. Ms. Jones concluded by noting the following building blocks on which the staff had agreed:

• K-5 Community circles • Spanish instruction for a minimum of twice a week • Primary (K-2) and Intermediate (3-5) teams • Skill grouping for 3-5th grade math • Primary Back-to-Back (specialist time: small group reading time) • Dedicated time for choice/interest groups • “Looping” philosophy would be considered • Primary team would decide on math regrouping and grade configurations • Half-time kindergarten with a wraparound program option

Ms. Gerot thanked the committee for its work and for the collaborative nature of its work.

Board Member Craig Smith asked how the reconfiguration might affect enrollment. One of the committee members said that the committee thought that it would revitalize the school by pooling resources, having a clearer focus, and building on the best of both programs.

Board Member Virginia Thompson commented that this process would provide a lot of learning for the district. She thought that it would be wise to watch the process closely in order to benefit from that learning opportunity. Committee members agreed that one difference was that everyone in the process was a stakeholder and had agreed to the change.

Board Member Charles Martinez said that he agreed with Ms. Thompson and thought that detailing the process might be beneficial in terms of what the challenges were and how the committee dealt with those challenges. Committee members said that the process was being documented as well as notes about what the committee would do differently or what would be helpful. The hope was to share this information with other schools in order to help with other similar processes.

Mr. Henry asked the committee members to extend the appreciation of the board to the other members.

Receive a Report on the Appeal of the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) League Reclassification

On November 22, the district submitted an appeal of the OSAA athletic league reclassification decision to the state board of education. Under the new league plan, Sheldon and South Eugene High Schools would become part of a league with North Medford, South Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg High Schools, beginning in the 2006-07 school year. The district submitted a written protest to the OSAA, prior to adoption of the league restructuring, because of the negative impacts on students and families: longer travel time for student competitions, loss of classroom and study time, and increased costs. On December 5, the state board would consider adopting a rule specifying the procedures for filing and hearing an appeal.

Ms. Bellamy provided an update on the appeal. She said that the petition made the following two requests:

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 4 • That the league reclassifications be suspended for next year so that the district could begin scheduling games. She said that the OSAA had just responded that it would not suspend the reclassifications. • That the State Board of Education looks at the criteria that were approved by the OSAA as mandated by the State Legislature in 2003.

Ms. Bellamy said that the State Board first had to get a rule in place as to what the process would be. She said that the district might not get a ruling until February 2006 which would leave a lot of unanswered questions. Ms. Bellamy said that Salem/Kaiser also appealed and that Medford had indicated an interest in appealing.

In response to questions from board members, Ms. Bellamy said that the process was just unfolding and that it was not certain what would happen with scheduling. She said that there had been contact with other athletic directors in the State asking for patience and understanding for the district’s appeal.

ITEMS FOR ACTION AT THIS MEETING

Extend the Term of the Public Charter School Contract for the Network Charter School and Approve an Addendum to the Charter School Contract SCHEDULE A

Mr. Henry reviewed that the board had a presentation from Caroline Passerotti and Sam Tupou about extending the Network Charter School (NCS) contract at its November 9 board meeting. He said that the district and the charter schools’ staff were requesting a one-year extension to provide the school with additional time to implement some improvements which were identified in the school improvement plan. The report recognized the considerable progress NCS had made and the extent of change the charter school had undergone in its first two years of operation. It also acknowledged that more work was required to complete the implementation of a comprehensive instructional program. Similar to the district's other charter schools, NCS had experienced leadership turnover, modified its governance model, and adapted its instructional program to better meet students' needs and respond to requirements of the Oregon Statewide Assessment. Unlike the other charter schools, NCS was developing and implementing a unique, hands-on instructional program for middle and high school students, coordinated through a network of small businesses and non-profit organizations. The term of its initial contract allowed three years for Network Charter School to implement its program, while the terms of the initial contracts for The Village School and Ridgeline Montessori were five years. In December 2000, board policy was revised to reduce the term of an initial charter from five to three years.

Both district and charter school staffs believed Network Charter School would benefit from an additional year to implement improvements to its instructional program before entering into renewal discussions.

Based on these findings, Superintendent Russell recommended that the board approve extending the term of the charter school contract between 4J and the Network Charter School for one year, to June 30, 2007. With approval of this extension, Superintendent Russell would also recommend that the board approve an Addendum to the Charter School Contract, which would align contract renewal language with the revised Charter School Renewal Process provided at the October 5, 2005 meeting. A copy of the proposed Addendum was included in the board packet.

Caroline Passerotti was present to answer any questions.

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 5 MOTION: Virginia Thompson, seconded by Craig Smith, moved that the board approve extending the term of the charter school contract between Eugene School District 4J and the Network Charter School for one year, to June 30, 2007.

VOTE: All members present voted yes (6-0).

CONSENT GROUP - ITEMS FOR ACTION

MOTION: Board Member Tom Herrmann, seconded by Charles Martinez, moved that the consent calendar be approved.

In response to a question from Board Member Eric Forrest, Ms. Fahey said that Advanced Security now provided security for the district.

VOTE: All members present voted yes (6-0).

Approve Student Requests for Individual Graduation Plans SCHEDULE B

The Oregon Minimum Standards allowed local school boards to approve alternative graduation plans for individual students. A memo from Sam Tupou, High School Curriculum Coordinator, describing requests for individual graduation plans was included in the agenda packet. If a board member would like to review the plans, Sam Tupou could make them available.

Superintendent Russell recommended approval of the individualized graduation plans, as requested.

Grant Exemption to the Competitive Bidding Process for READ RIGHT Systems, Inc. Tutoring Services

In August 2004 the Board approved an exemption to competitive bidding procedures and the issuance of contracts totaling $137,600 to READ RIGHT Systems, Inc. for Winston Churchill and North Eugene High Schools to purchase a tutorial based reading program. As part of that exemption, the Board approved findings that indicated the exemption was unlikely to substantially diminish competition, would not encourage favoritism and that the exemption resulted in substantial cost savings to the district.

The staffs at North Eugene and Winston Churchill High Schools have been pleased with the program and thought it would benefit their students to expand their programs by purchasing the optional year 2 tutor training package. The cost of the additional tutoring services was $39,800 per school, totaling $79,600. The services included certifying one district employee at each school to train future district tutors.

Board Policy Revision DJCA – Personal Services Contracts #3 states “Contracts over $75,000 but under $150,000 shall be procured by an informal competitive process…” Acting in the capacity as the district’s local contract review board, the board might grant exemptions to the competitive bidding process to make purchases as provided by ORS 279B.075(2)(d): “Other findings that supported the conclusion that the goods or services were available from only one source”. Read Right trainers were the only individuals trained specifically on the reading program now used by Churchill and North. As required by OAR 137-047-0275 (2), the district had published a 14-day public notice describing this anticipated sole-source contract award.

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 6 Superintendent Russell recommended granting an exemption to the competitive procurement process and amending the contracts with READ RIGHT Systems, Inc. to include the additional year 2 services for the comprehensive reading remediation programs at a cost of $79,600 for both schools.

Award Contract for Security Services

Proposals were opened October 22, 2005 for the provision of Security Guard and Patrol Services. Request for Proposals were issued to eight (8) vendors. Responses were received from North Pacific Security, Securitas Security Services, Advanced Security Inc., all of Eugene, Oregon and Sentinel Specialized, Pleasant Hill, Oregon. The District would typically spend approximately $50,000 annually for these services.

Vendors were asked to respond to 25 questions concerning District requirements for Security Guard and Patrol Service. There were 150 total possible points, and the award was based on an average of the points awarded by four (4) evaluators. The total was as followed:

Securitas Security Services 103 points, 69% of the possible points Advanced Security Inc. 98 points, 65% of the possible points North Pacific Security 91 points, 60% of the possible points Sentinel Specialized 78 points, 52% of the possible points

Superintendent Russell recommended that the Board award a contract with Securitas Security Services, to provide security services as per the requirements of the Request for Proposals, beginning from the date of execution of the contract for a period of 12 months, with the possibility of four (4) 12-month extensions.

Approve the "Offer vs. Serve" Option for National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs

The Nutrition Services department was going through a Coordinated Review Effort, which was an audit that was performed by the Oregon Department of Education every five years. A small piece of the audit required the Board of Directors to approve the "offer vs. serve" (OVS) option if being used. OVS was designed to decrease plate waste and reduce food cost while maintaining the nutritional integrity of breakfast and lunch program.

Under OVS, students must be offered three menu items daily. Of the minimum requirement of three menu items offered, one must be an entrée, one must be fluid milk, and one must be another item such as a roll, fruit, vegetable etc. To receive subsidy for a meal under OVS, a student must take an entrée and at least one other menu item. If OVS was not used, the student must take an entree, milk, and a side in order for it to receive subsidy.

Superintendent Russell recommended that the board approve the District's use of the offer vs. serve option when serving breakfast under the National School Breakfast Program and lunches under the National School Lunch Program. Students must select an entrée and at least one other menu item.

Approve Grant Applications

Clean School Bus Grant SCHEDULE C

Staff in the Transportation Department submitted a $69,724 grant application to the E.P.A. The purpose of this grant was to assist the district with funds for the purchase and installation of

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 7 EPA verified retrofit technology installed on district school buses and $20,000 toward the replacement of a pre-1994 school bus. The goal of the project was to improve school bus emissions.

Superintendent Russell recommended approval of the grant application.

Afterschool and Community Education Program SCHEDULE D

Staff in the Instruction Department submitted a $440,324 grant application to the Oregon State Department of Education. The Afterschool and Community Education (ACE) Project would provide afterschool academic classes, enrichment services, and family educational development activities at three economically disadvantaged elementary schools in Eugene (Adams, Harris and Meadowlark). The “ACE” Project would provide academic enrichment activities to help students meet state and local standards in reading, writing, and math problem solving. The project would include enrichment activities requested in the fall 2005 parent survey such as art, dance, physical recreation, theater, technology, and martial arts; also, drug prevention, asset building, and the National Institutes of Heath WE-CAN – Way to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition – obesity prevention program. Family activities would be conducted by (LCC) and the Lane Arts Council at each school. LCC staff would make available a wide spectrum of adult literacy and adult education classes depending on parent need.

Superintendent Russell recommended approval of the grant application.

Approve Personnel Items

Superintendent Russell recommended approval of the personnel items included in the packet. These covered employment, resignations, and other routine personnel matters. (SEE ATTACHED)

ITEMS FOR ACTION AT A FUTURE MEETING

Approve Board Policy Revisions

Mr. Henry reviewed the following revisions to five board policies for consideration by the board:

School Choice policy JECC (currently titled Attendance Area)

The board adopted strategies for implementing the recommendations out of the Access and Options report included a provision that the district would change the school choice lottery to give alternating preference to low-income students from district Title I schools. This was adopted as one of the board's goals for this year. Included in the superintendent's goals was the following:

Create and implement an alternative school lottery selection process that provides alternating preference for students of low-income families from Title I neighborhood schools, and implement this new process during the January - March 2006 school choice period.

Mr. Henry referred members to the copy of the proposed changes to School Choice , which were included in the red folders. He reminded the board that three questions emerged during the discussion about the concept of providing priority to low-income students:

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 8 1. Who would get preference? Mr. Henry said that after many internal conversations, Superintendent Russell was recommending that low-income students in all schools would get preference and not just those in Title 1 schools. 2. Which schools should be targeted for priority? The board amended its original strategy to read that all schools, both neighborhood and alternative, should be targeted for priority. 3. Should there be a cut off or threshold for offering priority to schools. Superintendent Russell was continuing to recommend that the threshold be the district average for free and reduced lunch and when a school met that average it would no longer have students receive priority status for application to that school.

Mr. Henry said that another change was that the process for neighborhood schools in reference to transfers had been combined with the lottery process. He said that there was now one form, a school choice form, and all of the records, lotteries, and procedures were centralized. He said that the language now reflected those procedures.

Mr. Henry reviewed the proposed changes to the School Choice document.

In response to a question from Dr. Martinez, Mr. Henry said that the data used for the district average would be data as of the last day of November, 2005. Dr. Martinez suggested that the date of the data being used be identified.

Mr. Henry reiterated the purposed for the changes in the policy:

• To improve student achievement by creating a more balanced mix of economically diverse schools. • To broaden and diversify participation in the school choice system by providing an opportunity to low-income families that might not have thought that they had good access to the choice system.

Mr. Henry noted that the Brookings Institute in its extensive studies cited that if disadvantaged students were to benefit from choice their parents needed to be given the first opportunity to choose.

Mr. Henry said that there had been some Title 1 schools that had expressed concern about losing support because of these changes. He said that the district would be monitoring this very carefully for this impact. He added that the federal government did give some leeway in this area by allowing the district to continue a school for qualification for one year if it fell below the threshold for qualifying for Title 1 status.

Ms. Bellamy reviewed the proposed policy changes for the following policies:

Ms. Gerot suggested that the words “student panel” be changed to “student representatives.” Ms. Bellamy said that the staff would make that change and have it for the board at its next meeting.

Meeting Rules policy BDD

This policy specified the procedures used during school board meetings. The proposed revision deleted wording that said that the chair would call for discussion from the audience on each action item. This revision aligned with the board’s current practice. Up to 30 minutes of public comment time would continue to be scheduled at regular meetings of the board as “Items from the Audience”, as required by board policy BDDB Order of the Agenda.

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 9 Ms. Bellamy noted that there was a draft with proposed changes to Education Records included in the red folders. She pointed out the changes on pages 8 and 9 or the draft.

Education Records policy JO

The federal 2001 No Child Left Behind Act required all public high schools to release the name, address and telephone number of a student to United States military recruiters upon request, unless a student or parent has made a written request prohibiting the release of this information without parental consent.

The proposed policy revision added a reference to this federal requirement and also stipulated that the district would annually inform high school students and parents that they might deny release of this information to military recruiters. The proposed policy revision aligned with current district practice. The district included the military recruitment information denial form in the annual school calendar that was mailed to all student households and provided to new students. All 4J high schools also provided information about the opportunity to “opt out” and make the denial form available to students during September and January registration activities.

Ted Heid, Director of Labor Relations, reviewed the following policy:

Use of Tobacco Products policy GBK

Superintendent Russell proposed amendment of the district policies on use and possession of drugs and alcohol to include tobacco use for students, staff and public, and tobacco possession by students. The proposed amendments of these policies were the bolded text in the attached policies. The Oregon Department of Education adopted a new administrative rule in May 2004, which prohibited the use of any tobacco products by students, staff and the public while on or in district owned or leased or rented property, facility or vehicle. This prohibition extended to possession for students. This new ODE administrative rule would be effective January 1, 2006.

Caroline Passerotti, Financial Analyst, reviewed the following proposed policy change:

Public Charter Schools policy LBE

As discussed with the board earlier this year, the 2005 Legislature amended the state charter school law (effective July 1, 2005) to create a charter contract renewal process and redefine the length of time for which charter contracts can be approved. The law was also revised to require a public hearing on a charter renewal request, permit a charter school to submit a revised renewal request in the case the district denied the renewal request, and create an appeal process in the case the revised request is denied. In October, staff provided the board with an update of the district's Charter Contract Renewal Process, which reflected these changes.

Attached was a draft of Board Policy LBE (Public Charter Schools) also revised to include these provisions. As the revised charter school law permits districts to use a different schedule for processing renewal requests if mutually agreed upon by the district and the charter school, the schedule outlined in the district's Charter Contract Renewal Process had been incorporated. In addition, the policy had been amended to remove statutory provisions which have expired; clarify charter school reporting requirements; add clarifying language recommended by the Oregon School Boards Association; and make minor, technical corrections.

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 10 Ms. Bellamy noted that there was a change to the Non-Resident Students Policy regarding foster care and that a copy of the proposed change was in the red folder.

Superintendent Russell will recommend that the board approve the revisions to the above referenced board policies at its December 21 meeting.

COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS BY INDIVIDUAL BOARD MEMBERS

Mr. Forrest said that he attended the Curriculum Committee meeting and found it to be very interesting and informational. Mr. Henry reported that the district had received a $400,000 grant for the progress monitoring components of the assessment system.

Dr. Martinez said that he and Ms. Thompson attended a recent Equity Committee meeting.

Ms. Thompson said that the Equity Committee was making progress on focusing in on its mission. She said that the committee was really interested in working on specific projects dealing with diversity.

Ms. Gerot reminded board members to let Ms. Wagner know of their interest in attending the NSBA conference.

Ms. Gerot reported that the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) would meet on December 8 at 11:30 a.m. for a conference call. She asked board members to contact her with any feedback or interest in the MSAN.

Ms. Gerot reported that the Wellness Committee had finalized its first phase of work and had some tentative policy language. She said that the staff would be working with that language and bringing recommendations to the committee in January. Ms. Gerot said that the committee was very diverse and had done some good work which she thought would result in good policy language for the district.

ADJOURN

Ms. Gerot adjourned the open session at 8:03.

______George Russell Beth Gerot District Clerk Board Chair

(Recorded by Elise Self) m:\2005\4j school district\school board\05-12-07 bd minutes.doc

Minutes – Board of Directors – December 7, 2005 11