Woodland Park School District Re-2
                       BOARD OF EDUCATION                           
Regular Board Meeting – November 9, 2011

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President Rick Wetzel at 7:04 p.m. with the following members present: Bill Blackburn, Carol Greenstreet, Rob Hunt, Amy Nieman, and Mr. Wetzel.

OATH OF OFFICE
The Honorable Judge John Bruce administered the “Oath of Office” to Carol Greenstreet, Director District A; and Rob Hunt, Director District C.

BOARD OF EDUCATION REORGANIZATION
Amy Nieman was nominated for the office of Board President.  MOTION Wetzel, second Blackburn, for nominations to cease and for Amy Nieman to be elected to the office of Board President.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

Rob Hunt was nominated for the office of Vice President.  MOTION Nieman, second Greenstreet, for nominations to cease and for Rob Hunt to be elected to the office of Vice President.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Nieman, Wetzel.  Abstain – Hunt.

Carol Greenstreet was nominated for the office of Secretary of the Board.  MOTION Blackburn, second Nieman, for nominations to cease and for Carol Greenstreet to be elected to the office of Secretary of the Board.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

MOTION Wetzel, second Nieman, for Kelley Havin to be appointed as Secretary to the Board of Education.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

MOTION Nieman, second Blackburn, for Brian Gustafson to be appointed as Board of Education Treasurer.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION Blackburn, second Wetzel, to amend the agenda and table item IX.f.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

HIGH SCHOOL STUCO REPORT
STUCO Student Body President Phil Simon reported STUCO is currently working on the Harvest of Love food drive and next week is the Drive Smart campaign and reviewed the week's planned events.

HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR REPORT
High School Activities Director Brian Gustafson reported fall sports have wrapped up. At the High School: Volleyball was eliminated at the District Tournament; Cross Country Girls placed 12th in State, individual results: Savannah Ebert placed 39th, Lexi Harrison placed 46th, Megan Dillinger placed 53rd; Cross Country Boys Joe Hopfe individually placed 46th; Football finished 5-5 and placed 4th in the conference standings; Marching Band made Finals and placed 3rd at the State Competition. 
 
At the Middle School: 8th grade football team took 2nd place in league when they played in the championship game on October 15th; 7th and 8th grade boys basketball started and both won their pre-season tournaments in Florence; 6th grade co-ed intramural volleyball started and 9 students are participating. Middle School Forensics has started and 67 students are participating; Drama Club has been working hard on their play 'Lady Pirates of the Caribbean - The Musical' with performances to be held on December 16 and 17.
 
Winter sports begin Friday and competition will begin November 30th. Forensics season is also under way and the team recently won 2nd place at the Pueblo West Sweepstakes with Kevin Alexander placing 1st in the Humor category. Upcoming Events:  The High School production of Bye Bye Birdie opens November 17th - 19th; the Madrigal Dinner will be held December 2nd - 3rd; the BETA Club annual food drive is underway to provide food to local families in need. Best Buddies is hosting a Community Dinner on 11/16.

CONVERSATION
This month's conversation was about on-line school choice option. Assistant Superintendent Linda Murray started the conversation by giving a presentation of our current single district on-line school program that we offer to the students that reside in our District + 10 outside of our boundaries. We currently have 83 students in our program. Two curriculums are used: K-12 and Lincoln Interactive. The benefits of providing this choice option are we have been able to bring students into our system; solid curriculum with accountability; able to form relationships with these students; and we receive funding. On-line instructor Sandy Struble answered several questions in regards to the curriculum we use and why we offer two programs.
 
After presenting the information, discussion took place on if we want to expand our current program to a Multi-District Online program. Concerns and questions: how will this be managed; who will manage; how will CSAP and state assessments be handled; we would need to increase staff to manage; would the funding we receive for more students be worth the potential problems of managing students from afar; would need to develop a screening process with set criteria; do we have the ability to choose the geographical area we want to cover.
 
The Board of Education thanked Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Struble for the information and thanked those who participated in the conversation.

CONSENT CALENDAR/Blanket Motion
MOTION Wetzel, second Blackburn, to accept administrative recommendation and approve action on the following items:
 
IX.a. Minutes – Board Meeting October 12; Board Work Sessions October 26, November 1, 2011

IX.b. Bills & Financials (Addendum A)

IX.c.1. Personnel – New Contracts – Classified:  Brian Rucker, HS Parking Lot Attendant/Security, effective 10/17/11 (Remainder of 2011-12 school year); Co-Curricular:  Cliff Richardson, HS Head Baseball Coach; Brian Rucker, HS Asst. Boys Basketball Coach; Keith Sieracki, MS Asst. Wrestling Coach/HS Asst. Wrestling Coach; Lauren West, HS Asst. Girls Basketball Coach; Guest Teacher List:  As Presented.

IX.c.2. Personnel – Resignations – Certified:  Kriste Gose, HS Math, resignation effective December 21, 2011; Robert Heslin, HS Special Education, resignation effective October 30, 2011; Co-Curricular:  Jim Meins, MS Asst. Track/MS Head Cross Country Coach.

IX.d. Board Governance Policies GP-4, GP-5

IX.e. Certification of Enrollment Count:  Columbine - 360, Gateway - 411, Summit - 419, Middle School - 625, High School - 938

MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

SENATE BILL 191 UPDATE
Superintendent Bowman shared the District Evaluation Council had their first meeting of the year and the council reviewed where our District is in this process and will meet again in January to continue the work.

The draft rules have been sent to the Colorado State Board of Education for further review and the expectation is they will approve by the end of November.  Once approved, the rules will be forwarded to state legislation for further action.  

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Superintendent Bowman updated the Board of Education on the two interim committees that were formed for the 2012 Legislative Session.  The School Discipline Bill has made it through legislative council, with major work still to be completed in regards to ‘zero tolerance’; the Educational Success Task Force has added the Accuplacer® assessment for high schools to the bill with 0% funding.

On November 2, 2011, the Governor announced K-12 funding will be reduced $89 million, but in reality due to what they have already said would not be funded; it is $350.4 million not being funded to K-12.  In the last 3 years, $1.1 billion has been cut from K-12 funding.  With these figures, we can anticipate having to cut approximately $700,000 from our budget.  We will being working with DAC for input on reductions and ways to increase revenue. 

FISCAL YEAR 2011 AUDIT
Tom Sistare of Hoelting and Company, Inc., presented the audit (Addendum B) and their findings to the Board of Education and shared the District is financially sound. MOTION Blackburn, second Wetzel, to approve the Fiscal Year 2011 Audit as presented.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel. 

AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK RESOLUTION
Superintendent Bowman and the Board of Education thanked all of our employees’ for the essential role they fulfill in our education system.  Board President Amy Nieman read the resolution.  MOTION Greenstreet, second Blackburn, to adopt the Resolution declaring the week of November 13 – 19, 2011 as American Education Week (Addendum C).  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

DISTRICT ACCREDITATION
Assistant Superintendent Linda Murray shared the District has been accredited by the Colorado Department of Education and reviewed the 4 performance indicators and our rating for each.  Mrs. Murray informed the Board the schools will be accredited by the District Accountability Committee and CDE has informed the District which plan type needs to be filed for each of our schools:  High School, Middle School, Summit and Columbine Elementaries “Accredited with Performance Plan”; Gateway Elementary “Accredited with Improvement Plan”.  MOTION Blackburn, second Hunt, to approve the District Accreditation as presented.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel. 

ADOPTION OF NEW STATE STANDARDS
Assistant Superintendent Linda Murray presented the new Colorado State Standards to the Board of Education and shared that Math along with Reading, Writing, Communicating have been recently updated by the state to align with the common core.  MOTION Greenstreet, second Wetzel, to approve the Colorado State Standards as presented.  Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Nieman, Wetzel;   Voting No – Hunt. 

WPEA REPORT
No report.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Superintendent Bowman thanked all of our staff and community members who supported our efforts to pass a mill levy and a special thank you to the Board of Education for all of their efforts.  He also recognized and thanked Director Rick Wetzel for his years of service to the Board of Education as the president.

Superintendent Bowman reviewed dates for the board to mark on their calendars:  Wednesday, November 16 Quarterly Intergovernmental meeting 7:00 a.m. at Central Office; Wednesday, November 16 School Board Work Session 5:00 p.m. at Summit Elementary.  School presentations will be on Academic Achievement; November 21-25 District closed; Saturday, December 3 Lighter Side of Christmas Parade 6:00 p.m.

Superintendent Bowman shared we are continuing to partner with the City of Woodland Park and are looking forward to future collaborations with local business leaders.

Superintendent Bowman shared this past month connected with the Pikes Peak Rotary Club and recently met with a candidate who is running for Teller County Commissioner next fall.

Superintendent Bowman shared the leadership team is committed to working collaboratively to develop our capacity in evaluation and supervision of instructional staff.  The team spent time at the middle school where the focus was on the learning principle – student engagement.  It was an exemplary day of student learning, teaching, and leadership development.  Additionally, we were able to visit 4 elementary schools in Douglas County School District to look at curriculum options centered on expeditionary learning, core knowledge, S.T.E.M., and S.T.E.A.M.  It was professionally validating to visit other school sites and to learn from each other.

BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT
Director Bill Blackburn formally thanked all the staff and schools for all their work on the mill levy election even though we did not get the results we hoped for.   The Board was not asking our tax payers for a raise, but asking to survive.  Board President Amy Nieman also thanked everyone for their hard work.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
MOTION Blackburn, second Hunt, to adjourn to executive session at 9:10 p.m. for a personnel matter C.R.S. §24-6-402(4)(f).  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

MOTION Blackburn, second Greenstreet, to adjourn from executive session at 10:01 p.m. MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

ADJOURN
MOTION Blackburn, second Greenstreet, to adjourn the meeting at 10:02 p.m.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Greenstreet, Hunt, Nieman, Wetzel.

    Attest:
 
    
    Secretary, Board of Education

    President, Board of Education
 

ADDENDUM A
 
ADDENDUM B
 
ADDENDUM C