I-728 HEARING

Information was presented to the board and visitors regarding the I-728 funds for 2007-08 and 2008-09. Rob Roettger reviewed the plan for the St John school, listing the amount of money we would collect and the areas served. Programs supported by I-728 will be the Reading specialist, preschool class, staff development, summer school and curriculum enrichment. Sabrina Jones asked about the before/after school programs and Mr. Roettger explained that the program would continue under Title I/LAP. Suzanne Schmick talked about the use of the I-728 funds for the Endicott school. She listed five areas of application for the program including professional development, early childhood education, summer school, WASL support and a reading specialist.

Andrea Miller called the St John meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.

Dwight Lust called the Endicott meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.

Rob Roettger led the flag salute.

Roll Call:

Present from St John were Andrea Miller, Frank Watson, Sabrina Jones and Mark Bailey. Present from Endicott were Dwight Lust, Frank Garrett, Marvin Schmick, Greta White and Debbie Schlomer. Scott Hollingsworth was absent. Also present were Mr. Winters (Superintendent) and Evelyn Beck (Business Manager). Guests at the meeting included Suzanne Schmick, Rob Roettger, Becky Dickerson, Janet Leifer, Gary and Janet Luft, Lonnie and Sue Lynch, Michele Beckmann and Christy Thrasher.

Andrea Miller welcomed the visitors to the meeting and reminded them to wait to be recognized before speaking on an issue, remembering to be as brief as possible.

AGENDA/MINUTES:

Mark Bailey moved and Frank Watson seconded the motion to approve the board minutes of the March 24, 2008 regular meeting, the minutes of the March 28, 2008 special meeting and the agenda of the current meeting with the addition of: Approval of the Reassignment of Suzanne Schuster from preschool teacher to accounts payable/payroll clerk for the next year. All St John board members agreed. Greta White moved and Marvin Schmick seconded the motion to approve the board minutes of the March 24, 2008 regular meeting, the minutes of the March 28, 2008 special meeting and the agenda of the current meeting with the addition of: Approval of the Reassignment of Suzanne Schuster from preschool teacher to accounts payable/payroll clerk for the next year. All Endicott board members agreed.

CONSENT AGENDA:

ST JOHN – Sabrina Jones moved and Mark Bailey seconded the motion to approve the items on the consent agenda. Approved were the April 2008: payroll warrants #7468-7557 in the amount of $183,066.60; the General Fund accounts payable warrants #7401-7467 in the amount of $60,264.76 and the ASB Fund accounts payable warrants #4293-4312 in the amount of $5,037.35. A letter of resignation from Stephanie Holfand (Cooperative Schools Counselor) was also accepted and approved. All St. John board members agreed.

ENDICOTT – Frank Garrett moved and Debbie Schlomer seconded the motion to approve the items on the consent agenda. Approved were the April 2008: payroll warrants #38455-38524 in the amount of $125,063.79; the General Fund accounts payable warrants #38392-38454 in the amount of $38,213.05 and the ASB Fund accounts payable warrants #1248-1251 in the amount of $853.61. Also approved was Resolution #07-03 to cancel warrant #36303. All Endicott board members agreed.

OLD BUSINESS:

The board reviewed the policies #2163 – Special Education and Related Services for Eligible Students, #3413 – Student Immunization and Life Threatening Health Conditions, #3414 – Student Infectious diseases, #3416 – Student Medications at School, #3417 – Student Catheterization, #3419 – Self-Administration of Asthma and Anaphylaxis Medications and #3420 – Student Medication Error. Frank Watson asked several questions regarding the changes. On #2163 he asked about the paragraph discussing “Mediation of Resolution Agreements”. Mr. Winters said that it would refer to the next paragraph regarding graduation exercises and whether the district would make accommodations to allow students with special needs to participate in commencement exercises. On #3414 he discovered a typographical error in the paragraph under reporting at the building level. In policy #3417 he asked for clarification of the paragraph covering employees who are not licensed nurses. After hearing the explanation of this policy Mr. Watson accepted the policy as read. For the St John board, Frank Watson moved and Mark Bailey seconded the motion to approve this list of policies as they were presented and policy #2163 pending clarification of the one paragraph from WSSDA. All St John board members agreed. Debbie Schlomer moved and Greta White seconded the motion to approve all of the policies listed as they were presented.

The board continued to explore the language in the 1000 series of board policies. The discussion began with policy #1310. Frank Watson stated that he did not like the word patron and would like to change the word. Sabrina Jones and Andrea Miller said that they liked the word patron and felt it was important to the true meaning of support for the school. The majority of the board felt it should be left as is. Mr. Watson said that he didn’t see why we would need policy #1320. He suggested that we use policy #1310 for the adjustment of a policy and not have a policy that would allow the board to suspend a policy for any certain time. Sabrina Jones asked if Frank would like to contact the legal services from WSSDA before we would eliminate it. Frank will email WSSDA and the board will table further discussion of #1320 until more information is received. The board had no discussion on policy #1330. Mr. Winters said that the special meetings criteria in policy #1400 would be used to schedule the board retreat day at ESD 101. The board had no comment on policies #1410, #1420 and #1440. Frank Watson suggested that we eliminate policy #1450 - Absence of a Board Member, but the board suggested that we review this policy with the WSSDA legal services also before we plan to remove it from the districts’ policy manual. Sabrina Jones moved and Mark Bailey seconded the motion to approve the 1000 series of policies as they have been presented pending clarification of Frank Watson’s questions from WSSDA. All St John board agreed. Greta White moved and Marvin Schmick seconded the motion to approve the 1000 series of policies as they have been presented pending clarification of Frank Watson’s questions from WSSDA. All Endicott board agreed.

NEW BUSINESS:

Mr. Winters reviewed the history of the St John bond and building renovation project. He listed the board members that served on the board when the resolution was passed and the building renovated. Those board members were: Mark Bailey, Steve Gfeller, Todd Dickerson, Sharon Kile and Bryan Bezdicek. Mark Bailey moved and Frank Watson seconded the motion to approve Resolution #07-04 to close the Debt Service Fund and transfer the remaining funds to the Capital Projects Fund. All agreed. The board and visitors were served cake to celebrate the closing of the debt.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Sue Lynch talked to the board about a current civics class presentation. Since the class was not able to attend the board meeting due to track and baseball, she asked if several of the board members could come to school to attend a class and observe first hand what the students are accomplishing. The Endicott board said they would come to the class at 10:00 am tomorrow.

Janet Luft addressed the part of the athletic handbook that dismisses students from the team after two code violations. She feels that as a school we are here to guide them but not close them out when they make a mistake. She said that everyone makes mistakes and that we are sending the wrong message by booting them out of a sport and then they may go out and do even more. She said that most of the schools around here have shorter suspensions and students are able to come back to the team and compete. Rob Roettger said that he has asked for copies of the athletic codes from the area schools to see what the trends are but he is not ready to make any proposal at this meeting. Michelle Beckman said that she feels that the proximity of any drinking is too strict and she would like to have it evaluated as an issue of real life. Sabrina Jones said that this is something that we will be addressing this summer. Mr. Roettger said that he is reviewing several different policies and has observed the criteria for suspension is varied. We will be reviewing this handbook over the summer. Andrea Miller suggested that we bring this back to the May board meeting to begin planning for the summer action.

Becky Dickerson wanted to offer a suggestion on the board minutes. She asked that the school board minutes be posted on the website. When she is doing research for school district stories she looks at district websites across the state and most do post the minutes on the website. No board members were opposed to that so they can be put on the website.

COOPERATIVE BOARD MATTERS

The board would like to schedule a training day for the board at ESD 101 to educate the members on procedural and legal matters regarding the business of the board. If we can choose a day, Mr. Winters will call the ESD and set up a meeting room and the appropriate persons to address the board. The board suggested that we wait until after graduation. The week of June 9-16 would be a good time to check on availability. Mr. Winters will contact the ESD and notify the board.

Andrea Miller gave a handout from Steve Dal Porto and the State Board of Education. Mr. Dal Parto addressed graduation requirements including the number of credits and the classes being required for completion. He also listed a website to contact the state board or him directly if any questions arose.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Mr. Winters gave a report on the suggested phone system project for Endicott. We will continue to research this project and bring information to the board as it becomes available. The St John sprinkler project is planned to continue this summer. The cost to complete the playground area would be under $10,000. We will be watching the fund balance and the expenditures to make sure we will be able to continue with this project.

Suzanne Schmick shared several items from the Endicott school. She talked about the conclusion of the WASL testing period. The testing makeup period is coming to a close at this time. She talked about the May calendar and the many activities that will be held during that month. She noted the band concert, the spring sports schedule, the first ever Mothers Tea Yoga Art Show with extended congratulations to Sue Lynch for her yoga training. Leah Chinnel will be accompanying students to a college campus on May 9^th and eighth grade promotion will be the day after the high school graduation. Mrs. Schmick has been working with the Community Child Center from Pullman to open a new ECEAP preschool in Endicott. All of this is happening with an effort of good will with the Lutheran preschool. The timing of this grant would help support the preschool and have the current preschool teacher become the ECEAP teacher. We must notify them by the end of this month to make sure we receive the student slots available. More will be coming on that as it develops. Mrs. Schmick is very excited about the possibility of this program in the building. Approximately seven ECEAP students are now possible but she doesn’t think Endicott would have tuition paying students.

Rob Roettger provided information from the St John school. Enrollment has increased by seven students this last month. He gave a WASL update from the Elementary and High school. He shared his opinions on the WASL and a letter that he will be placing in the Community Current’s next edition. He admitted that he grapples with the whole issue of students not graduating from high school when they have completed all requirements but the WASL scores. Mr. Roettger also reported on ECEAP funding for the support of additional projects. We have twenty preschool students in our program. The Stock Show lock-in was a great success with fifty-three students participating. The Ag Mech team finished second at the state level and the Trap shooting team placed third in state. The band concert and senior banquet are also on the calendar for next month. Information for the senior students and their parents was provided for the board’s review.

The April enrollment reports were reviewed.

Evelyn Beck provided fiscal reports for both schools. She covered the treasurer’s statement, budget status, trial balance and cash balance reports for both districts.

Evelyn Beck reported on the recent close to the audit with a successful report and letter of commendation from the State Auditor’s office.

Andrea Miller acknowledged the guests and thanked them for attending.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Mark Bailey moved and Sabrina Jones seconded the motion for the St John board to go into executive session at 8:45 p.m. to discuss the review of an employee performance. Marvin Schmick moved and Debbie Schlomer seconded the motion for the Endicott board to go into executive session at 8:45 p.m. to discuss the review of an employee performance.

Sabrina Jones moved and Mark Bailey seconded the motion for the St John board to come out of executive session and adjourn at 9:50 p.m. Greta White moved and Frank Garrett seconded the motion for the Endicott board to come out of executive session and adjourn at 9:50 p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

Andrea Miller adjourned the St John board meeting at 9:50 p.m. Dwight Lust adjourned the Endicott board meeting at 9:50 p.m.

Rick Winters, Andrea Miller, St. John Board Chair

Superintendent

Dwight Lust, Endicott Board Chair