Home » Board Meetings, School News
Board Meeting Minutes icon

Board Meeting Minutes October 2015

Regular Meeting Minutes … October 12, 2015

Presented for Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  November 9, 2015

Download PDF here

DATE:                        October 12, 2015

TIME:             6:00 p.m.

PLACE:          Pioneer School, Main Building, Room 105

MEMBERS    Christina Olstad, Chairperson

PRESENT:      Brad Zink, Trustee

Brandon Roth, Trustee

MEMBERS

ABSENT:       None

CLERK:

STAFF:           Melissa Schnitzmeier, Connie Russell, and Marilyn Michael arrived at 6:00 pm

VISITORS:     None

GUESTS:        None

  1. OPENING
  1. CALL TO ORDER:

Trustee, Christina Olstad called the meeting of the trustees of Pioneer Elementary School District #41 to order in the Room 105 of the main building, Monday, October 12, 2015 at 6:00 pm.  Trustee, Christina Olstad welcomed all those attending.  Trustee, Christina Olstad read the Montana Law about public meetings.

  1. MINUTE APPROVAL: Brad Zink made a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 14, 2015 and the special meeting minutes of September 30, 2015.  Christina Olstad seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  1. HEARING OF THE PUBLIC: None
  1. LEAD TEACHER REPORT:
  • Oct 13 – Nurse Karen
  • Oct 14 – Grades 3/4 to NILE (Glen driving)
  • Oct 15 & 16 – No School – MEA Conference – Ike did not attend the Tech Conference to trade out days like the rest of the staff did, but he would like to request trading MEA to attend the 5 Tech Cadre training sessions that are held December through April on 5 Saturdays.  The cost is $75 which is the same as the tech conference.  Brandon moved to allow Ike to attend the 5 Tech Cadre sessions instead of MEA and have the school pay the $75 fee.  Christina seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  • Oct 21 – Grades K – 2 to Pumpkin Patch (Jeanne driving)
  • Oct 27 – Picture Retakes
  • Nov 3 – Parent/Teacher conferences
  • Nov 5 – PTA Meeting
  • Staff members have been invited to contact Sharon Cline at Shepherd School to meet with her/team for 2 hours (more if needed) to take an in-depth look at using data for standards based grading.  Shepherd has been doing this for several years and has data/record keeping backing them up.  It involves using software systems/computers so they would like several teachers.  We feel that the more training/sharing with other schools the more informed we will be as we go forth with standards based grading.  We would need to hire two subs for an afternoon (hopefully, but it may be a morning) and send over as many as possible, Ike, Connie and the two subs will manage the classrooms.  Brad moved to allow the five classroom teacher to go to Shepherd for standards based training and hire 2 subs to help manage the classrooms while the regular teachers are gone.  Brandon seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  • Ike met some students and their parents at the Yellowstone County Elementary Cross Country Meet at Pioneer Park on Tuesday, October 6th.  The students times were:  Arwynn 12:55, Jordan B 8:49, Grace 8:25, Abby B 7:32, Ramzie 8:56, Kelcey 9:05, Aubrey 9:06, Abby M 9:00, Lliana 11:36, Jaron B 7:21
  1. OLD BUSINESS
  1.  MBI – We are working our way towards Silver.  We are continuing to implement our bi-weekly goals.  We have been working with Mr. Bassett to take our surveys and get SWIS implemented with Theresa doing the data input.  We hope to have reports by the next meeting.
  2. PAVEMENT REPAIR/RAIN GUTTER – A bid from Hard Drives was received to fill in the cracks along the buildings and also fill in larger cracks on the playground  They would use a substance called Mastic Crack which is a rubber with aggregate in it for the larger playground cracks.  The bid is for $1746.90.  Brandon has spoken to them and they would be able to do this over the MEA break.  Brad moved to accept the bid from HardDrives to repair the large playground cracks and fill in the gap between the blacktop and the buildings for the amount of $1746. 90.  Brandon seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.  An adjuster for the insurance and a roofer came and checked for hail damage on both roofs and on the rain gutters.  They found the roofs to be in good shape.  There was very little damage to any rain gutters. A bid was received from All Weather Seamless Raingutters for $325 to replace the downspouts of the rain gutters, plus install a 10 ft piece above the bus barn walk through door.  They would also sell the flashing to us at cost if Kevin would install it.  Brandon will follow up with Kevin to see if he would be interested in installing the flashing.   Brad moved to repair the rain gutters in the best possible way for the school after Brandon talks to Kevin more about what he feels should be done.  Brandon seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried
  3. HIRE ADMINISTRATOR – The board asked Han to repost the administrator position on the OPI website.  Han spoke to Sherry Long and she is trying to find someone to use to do evaluations but is not having any luck.  Brandon knows of 2 people that have administrator licenses.  He will check with them to see if they would be available to do the evaluations.

III.  NEW BUSINESS

  1. FALL ENROLLMENT COUNT – We have 60 students attending Pioneer School as of the October 5th count date.  Last year was 65.
  2. DESIGNATE MINUTES TAKER – The legislature now requires minutes to be taken during closed sessions of board meetings.  Han would like to have Marilyn be the designated minute taker.  The minutes need to be taken during the closed session, written and approved by the board before the meeting is reopened.  These minutes are not made public and then are kept in a locked place in case any question arises in the future.  Christina asked if the board could take the minutes themselves.  Han answered that this would be a good option.  The board will take the minutes and get them written during closed sessions.  Marilyn would be available if needed.
  3. STANDARD BASE GRADES TRAINING FROM HP – Five classroom teachers went to Huntley Project to see how they are doing standards based grading.  The teachers are trying to get as much information as they can to determine how they will do the standards based grading at Pioneer (Also see above Lead Teacher Report).
  4. BUILDING REPAIR – The rain gutters and asphalt are going to be fixed as it was stated under Old Business.  The roofs were looked at and they are in good condition
  5. BUS DRIVER RESIGNATION – Bus driver, Gary Smith submitted a letter of resignation as of October 1st.  Brad moved to accept Gary Smith’s resignation.   Christina seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  6. STATUE VANDALISM – On the night of Thursday, October 8th, the statue of a sailor was vandalized.  Doug Stevens found it tossed across the blacktop on Friday morning.  Marilyn contacted the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s office and filed a report.  Deputy Nichols (badge 337) came and made a report.  He also said they will make sure the Deputy Poe, the resource officer at Shepherd knows about it in case he hears something from students.  Repair and/or replacement costs are being checked on.  Many students would like to do a fundraiser to replace the sailor.  The sheriff’s office case number is 2015-723437.
  7. PROMOTION/RETENTION POLICY – The board reviewed a second option for Policy #2421 that states the school will have the final say on promotion or retention of a student after careful evaluation of each student by staff members.  After reading Policy 2421, Brandon moved to adopt revise Policy 2421 (MTSBA option #2) to the other option #1 offered by MTSBA.  Brad seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.
  1. SEPTEMBER FINANCIAL REPORT

The clerk presented claims warrants numbered 20278 through 20412 in the amount of $7,844.14, and the payroll warrants numbered 8838 through 8844 in the amount of $38,745.87.  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, Christina Olstad moved to approve the financial reports. Brad Zink seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; the motion carried.

  1. TRUSTEE CONCERNS

MAIL: None

OTHER CONCERNS

  1. None

VI .  ADJOURNMENT: 

A motion was made by Christina Olstad to adjourn the meeting. Brad Zink seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous; motion carried.  The meeting ended at 7:00 pm.  The next scheduled regular meeting is Monday, November 9, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 105 of the main building.