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Board Meeting Minutes November 2016

Regular Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 10, 2016

Presented for Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 7, 2016

 

DATE:                        October 10, 2016

TIME:             6:00 p.m.

PLACE:          Pioneer School, Main Building, Room 105

MEMBERS    Brad Zink, Chairperson

PRESENT:      Bill Bullard, Trustee

MEMBERS

ABSENT:       Kari Jones, Trustee

CLERK:          Han Lee

STAFF:           Connie Russell, Eva Ticknor and Marilyn Michael arrived at 6:00 pm

VISITORS:     None

GUESTS:        Erin Wilson with zipwhip via phone from 6:05 to 6:25

 

  1. OPENING
  1. CALL TO ORDER:

Trustee, Brad Zink called the meeting of the trustees of Pioneer Elementary School District #41 to order in Room 105 of the main building, Monday, October 10, 2016 at 6:00 pm.  Trustee, Brad Zink welcomed all those attending.  Trustee, Brad Zink read the Montana Law about public meetings.

  1. MINUTE APPROVAL: Bill Bullard made a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 12, 2016.  Brad Zink seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  1. HEARING OF THE PUBLIC: None
  1. LEAD TEACHER REPORT: Connie Russell presented the Administrator Report as Melissa Schnitzmeier was out of town.
  • MT Edition Value Added – Program through AIM (Infinite Campus) that will allow us to create and manage a universal report card as well as take attendance.  Melissa is in the process of setting up the program.  Staff is in the process of identifying power standards (see attached).
  • Melissa is meeting with Amie Havner, Project Coordinator for Yellowstone Youth Crisis Network to discuss a counseling grant.  The meeting is scheduled for October 17th at 2:00 pm.
  • New playground equipment update – this will take longer than expected as the pieces are not grouped together and I quote “It’s going to be like putting together Lincoln Logs”.  PTA is in the process of getting all of this worked out.  Marilyn added that Kari was informed by PTA that they are looking for 2 – 3 volunteers for approximately 8 hours to pick out the pieces.
  • Upcoming Events:
    • Drug Free Schools Week 10/24 – 10/28
    • Picture Retakes 10/27
    • End of the First Quarter 10/28
    • Barnes & Noble Bookfair 10/29
    • Parent/Teacher Conferences 11/8
  • Reports
    • AIM – Previous Year Wrap-Up and New Year Preparation complete
    • TEAMs – Submitted 10/4/16
    • Title Grant – Open and in progress
  • Professional Development
    • Literacy Conference – October 20 & 21 – Emily is registered.  The rest of the staff attended Summer conferences
    • MCEL – Administrators Conference – October 20 & 21 – Melissa registered
  • Field Trips
    • NILE – 10/18/16 – 4th/5th Grade
    • Pumpkin Patch @ J & K Farms 10/19/16 – Grades K – 3
    • Alberta Bair
      • K – 3 1/9/17 @ 9:30 am
      • 4 – 6 10/31/16 @ 9:30 am

 

  1. OLD BUSINESS
  1.  HOT LUNCH – Marilyn reported that Kari had informed her that Jami called about 4 places and none were interested in doing lunches.  She was planning to do another survey, but feels it doesn’t make sense if no restaurants are interested.  Bill moved to table this to the next meeting so Kari could be here to help make the decision to drop this for now as she is the one that started the talks.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  2. COUNSELOR SERVICES – Melissa is checking into a grant for counseling services.  Bill confirmed with Han that we have no more than $3000 available to spend on a counselor.  He would like to move forward with offering Kyanne the time to service teachers as well as students as needed.  It was determined that she could be offered 100 hours for the year at a maximum of $30 per hour.  Bill made a motion to offer Kyanne $20 per hour with a maximum offer of $30 per hour not to exceed $3000 to provide counseling services.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.  A job description will be drafted to provide service to help teachers as well as students.  Brad will wait for Melissa to get back to do this.
  3. BUS CAMERA (Video File Storage Time Limit) – MTSBA was asked how and how long any downloaded videos from the bus cameras should be kept.  MTSBA said that we need to make a policy that states we will keep the videos in a locked place and the videos must be kept as long as the student remains at Pioneer School.  MTSBA does not have a policy, so we will have to make one on our own.  Bill made a motion to adopt a policy to keep the videos in a secure location and keep them for the duration of the student enrollment at Pioneer School.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.

 

III.  NEW BUSINESS

  1. FALL ENROLLMENT COUNT – Han reported that the fall enrollment count is 57 compared to 60 at this time last year.
  2. POLICY UPDATE – Han presented updates from MTSBA to policies 3110, 3121, 3125, 3416F, 3225, 5012, 5121, 5015, 5122, 5130, 5221, 5222, 5232F, 5240, 5250, 5510.  Bill had questions about whether we should have the word “Superintendent” or something else in policies 5222 and 5250.  He asked to have Han check with MTSBA on these.  Bill made a motion to table the adoption of the policies until we receive an answer from MTSBA.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  3. TEXT PROGRAM – Erin Wilson from zipwhip called in to explain what their program does.  She showed through the smart board how the text program is used.  We would be able to send text messages from our landline to parents to report school closures, bus issues, etc.  It could also be used to send reminders to parents about upcoming events at the school.  We could have multiple users, so teachers could have their own log-ins, however, all messages would be viewed by all of the users.  We could cancel at any time if we do not like the program.  Brad asked Erin what her bottom price for the service would be and she stated she felt $30 would be the lowest but if that would not work, to let her know.  Brad told her $20 would be the most we could pay and she agreed to this price.  Bill made a motion to purchase the zipwhip program for texting parents at a price of $20 per month.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.  Bill stated he would like to have a note go home to explain the new way on contacting parents.  Marilyn said she would also like to have the parents fill out a form telling us what phone number they would like the texts to go to.  Marilyn will draft a letter informing parents of the new text program and collecting the best phone numbers from all families.  Marilyn will contact Erin to move ahead with this program.
  4. NEW COPIER – Marilyn explained the Chris Lehfeldt from Automated Office delivered toner recently and told her that our copier is getting harder and harder to find parts for.  It is 10 years old and when they need parts sometimes they have to get parts from old machines.  Marilyn had Chris bring in prices.  He brought in prices for 2 used machines and 1 brand new one.  Through a government contract that Canon has, we can get a brand new machine for less than the used ones.  One used machine was $6500, one was $7500.  The new one was $5918.  It has a stapler and a 3 hole punch and is very similar to the one we have now.  Han stated that there is REAP money to use to purchase the new copier.  After looking over the prices and descriptions of the copiers, Bill made a motion to purchase the new Canon imageRUNNER Advance 4251 through the WSCA-NASPO contract for a price of $5918.  Brad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.  The board asked Marilyn to contact Chris at Automated Office to move forward with purchasing the new copy machine.

 

  1. SEPTEMBER FINANCIAL REPORT

The clerk presented claims warrants numbered 20669 through 20691 in the amount of $8,650.01, and the payroll warrants numbered 8898 through 8901 in the amount of $41,791.72.  The ACH and Direct deposits were included in the amount. The clerk presented the trial balance sheets for each fund and a monthly report stating each line item YTD and budget balance remaining for the each fund.  After review of the report, Bill Bullard moved to approve the financial reports. Brad Zink seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.

 

  1. TRUSTEE CONCERNS

MAIL: The following items were read.

  1. Staff schedule

 

OTHER CONCERNS: None

 

VI .  ADJOURNMENT: 

A motion was made by Bill Bullard to adjourn the meeting. Brad Zink seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; motion carried.  The meeting ended at 7:20 pm.  The next scheduled regular meeting is Monday, November 14, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 105 of the main building.