SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

SPRINGFIELD, OR 97477 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2001

7:30 P.M.

MINUTES

6/ A work session regarding board policies was held September 24, 2001 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the District Administration Center, 525 Mill Street. Board members in attendance included Jennifer Heiss, Tom Atkinson, Marty Lenk, Garry Weber and Jonathan Light. Others in attendance included Jamon Kent, Judy Land, Len Arney, Steve Barrett, Roger Jordan, Bruce Smolnisky, Charlie Beck, Debbie Egan, Cherie Kistner, Karen Lewis, Diana Alldredge, Marion Malcolm, Martha Damato, Jerry Prud’homme, Kate Wallace, P. Elaine Hayes, Carol Prud’homme, Jody Sedlak, and Shirley Gauthier. The work session was concluded at 7:25 p.m.

1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER/FLAG SALUTE

A regular meeting of the Lane County School District No. 19 Board of Education was held September 24, 2001 in the boardroom of the Administration Center. Chairman Heiss called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

Attendance

In addition to Chairman Heiss, board members in attendance included Tom Atkinson, Marty Lenk, Jonathan Light and Garry Weber.

District staff, students and community members identified included Jamon Kent, Len Arney, Steve Barrett, Roger Jordan, Judy Land, Bruce Smolnisky, Charlie Beck, Debbie Egan, Cherie Kistner, Karen Lewis, Julee Reinhart, Erin Wolff, Diana Alldredge, Marion Malcolm, Martha Damato, Jerry Prud’homme, Kate Wallace, P. Elaine Hayes, Carol Prud’homme, Jody Sedlak, Shirley Gauthier, Dinah Pflugrad, Diane Bova, John Svoboda, Greg James, Steve Dustrude, Gloria Griffith, Yvonne Atteberry, Joyce Thomas, and Kim Sullivan of The Springfield News.

2. CONSENT AGENDA – ITEMS FOR ACTION

Marty Lenk moved, Garry Weber seconded, to approve the following items in the Consent Agenda, including the Addendum to Personnel Resolution #01-02.020, as specified in the superintendent’s recommendations, with the exception of items B and C which were removed from the consent agenda for discussion:

A. Approval of September 10, 2001 Minutes

D. Personnel Action, Resolution #01-02.020

E. Elementary Reading/Language Arts Supplemental Textbooks, Resolution #01-02.021

6. Adoption of Oregon Administrative Rules Contract Exemptions; Exceptions,

VOTE: The motion passed: 5-0.

3. PUBLIC COMMENTS

P. Elaine Hayes, 650 E Street, Springfield, thanked board members and staff for their hard work and thoughtfulness in considering revisions to the District’s harassment policy. Ms. Hayes said that SAfER would be willing to assist district staff in revising the harassment procedures.

Jerry Prud’homme, 557 Poltava Street, Springfield, commended board members for the work session they held on the harassment policy and encouraged them to look at the November 1999 issue of the American School Board Journal, which dealt with similar issues as they were discussing.

Kate Wallace, 2923 Game Farm Road, Springfield, applauded the board for considering the proposed revision of the District’s harassment policy. Ms. Wallace suggested drawing from the experience of community members for harassment training.

Diana Alldredge, 822 N. 57^th Street, Springfield, spoke about the Ribbon of Promise parent guide for bullying and harassment that the Ribbon of Promise board, of which she is a member, is considering. Ms. Alldredge commented on accountability of complaints made and suggested training in order to help the victim(s).

Shirley Gauthier, 538 West M Street, Springfield, spoke of an article in The Register-Guard regarding the use of slang terms she found offensive.

Board members thanked members of the public for their input on the revision of the District’s harassment policy.

Alpha Delta Kappa Month

Chairman Heiss read the following proclamation in recognition of International Alpha Delta Kappa Month:

WHEREAS: Women in education constitute a great portion of the nation’s working force, and are constantly striving to serve their communities and nations in education, civic, cultural, and charitable programs leading to harmony, happiness, and peace among all people, and

• to give recognition to outstanding educators

• to establish high standards of education

• to promote educational and charitable projects and activities enriching the lives of individuals everywhere and assisting these individuals into a happy, constructive, and fulfilling life.

NOW, THEREFORE, We, elected board members of the Springfield Public Schools, of Springfield, Oregon, by the authority vested in us, do hereby proclaim the month of October as

International Alpha Delta Kappa Month

IN WITNESS THEREOF, In accordance with Springfield Public Schools, as board members we have hereunto set our hands and caused the official signatures of the school district of the City of Springfield, State of Oregon, to be affixed this 24^th day of September 2001.

Chairman Heiss reminded board members and staff that the annual ADK Tea would be held October 3, 2001 in the boardroom at 4:30 p.m.

4. REPORTS and DISCUSSION

A. Student Reports

Julee Reinhart, Thurston High School student representative, reported that THS recently beat Churchill in football; the library, which has been under construction, will open October 1 and the roofing projects would also be completed. She reported that a new lounge room, with billiard and ping-pong tables, would be opened for students to use during lunch periods. Other upcoming activities include Homecoming on October 12, where 500-600 students attend; and Club Day on Tuesday, September 25, an opportunity for students to hear about the various school clubs. She also reported that the first edition of the Pony Express was printed on Friday.

Erin Wolff, Springfield High School student representative, reported that the Associated Student Body is working to have the reader board fixed or replaced and that she’s trying to get bilingual announcements every morning at the school. She is working with Minority Community Liaison Oscar Ponce on the project. Springfield High has hired two new teachers to compensate for the extra student enrollment. Ms. Wolff also reported that she was working to set up a committee with representatives from all clubs.

B. Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent Kent had no comments.

C. Board Communication/Reports

Tom Atkinson reported that he attended an open house at Thurston Middle School, where he found staff and students enthusiastic and positive about the new school year. Atkinson shared that he would be joining TMS 8^th graders for an overnight outing to SkyCamp and that he was a candidate for the open state representative position in District 42.

Garry Weber reported that he attended the Briggs Middle School open house last Thursday and is scheduled to attend three upcoming elementary open houses.

Marty Lenk reported that he would be attending the Lane Council of Governments meeting on Thursday and asked board members to give him input about what they would like him to report about the District at the meeting.

Jonathan Light reported that he recently attended the Maple Elementary barbecue and will attend the Brattain open house on Thursday. He also extended a personal invitation to board members to participate in the Springfield Chamber Tailgate Auction on November 30, which our students benefit from through scholarships. Light thanked student board members for their input during the meetings and invited them to attend board work sessions in the future.

Jennifer Heiss reported that she attended the Agnes Stewart Middle School open house and the Willamalane Focus Group meeting to assist the park district with goal planning.

In response to a question from Marty Lenk regarding the TEAM Springfield meeting last week, Superintendent Kent said that discussions included the possibility of developing the Oxbow property into a park; the TEAM Springfield agencies jointly hiring a grant writer; and security measures in light of the events of September 11, 2001.

D. Mentoring Program Report

Roger Jordan introduced Mentor Facilitator Diane Bova, who provided an overview of the mentor program which focus is to provide guidance to new teachers. There currently are 26 new teachers who are served by 19 retired master teachers. The role of the mentors is to provide support and assistance to teachers new to the field of education.

Ms. Bova introduced retired master teacher Dinah Pflugrad, who taught 29 years at Springfield High School and is mentoring two first year Special Education teachers at Thurston High School, Lionel Coleman and Cindy Thomas. Ms. Pflugrad commented on the great success of the program and said, "It’s a program that needs to be continued."

Ms. Thomas spoke of her first few weeks in the teaching profession and thanked Ms. Pflugrad for her assistance and the resources that she has provided.

Mr. Coleman expressed appreciation for the assistance he’s received from Dinah Pflugrad to ease the fears he’s had as a first year teacher and said he considers it to be an honor to work in the Springfield School District.

In response to a question from Garry Weber, Diane Bova said that all new teachers with no teaching experience and those teachers who requested extra help are a part of the program.

In response to a question from Marty Lenk, Roger Jordan said the mentoring program was a brand new program in Springfield. Chairman Heiss commented that there used to be a mentoring program sponsored by the state, but it ran out of funding.

Ms. Bova spoke of the positive, pleasant experiences those involved in the program were having and said she was very proud of the District for their support of the mentoring program. Ms. Bova said she would like to come back later in the year to report on the progress of the program.

Jonathan Light commented that the program could become a model for other school districts to use.

5. Board Goal Statements, First Reading

Board members received revised Board Goal Statements for first reading and discussion. Board members discussed the various goal statements. Regarding Goal #2, staff were asked to include details about the percentage of SPS employees who are positive about their jobs as referenced in the August 1999 SPS Employee Survey. Staff were also asked to break out further the percentage of respondents who rated Education as better or the same than 10 years ago as referenced in the September 1999 Springfield Tomorrow Community Survey.

In response to a question from Jonathan Light, Cherie Kistner reminded board members that surveys would be conducted in October and the results would be brought back to the Board in November, at which time the goal would be further refined.

Board members discussed the description of Goal #2 and agreed to remove the last sentence from the description: According to various public opinion polls a majority of the people are satisfied with their local schools. (Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, 62%, OSBA, 56%)

Jonathan Light questioned Goal #3 and it’s reference to revision of the District Improvement Plan. Board members discussed alignment of the curriculum and its relation to the District Improvement Plan. Board members expressed concern with the state dictating what is taught and "teaching to the state test."

Superintendent Kent explained that the District must follow the state mandates regarding curriculum and alignment. Kent said if the District aligns the curriculum independently of the CDIP, the District may end up with two separate tracks.

Bruce Smolnisky pointed out that the District must submit a CDIP to the state. The District has already been aligning curriculum; and he fears there will be a parallel track with the CDIP and a set of goals that may not be in alignment.

In response to a question from Jonathan Light, Bruce Smolnisky said it is the responsibility of the Board, all district staff, parents and the community (stakeholders) to put together the District Improvement Plan; it is the responsibility of the District Administration to oversee the process; and it’s the Board’s responsibility to grant final approval of the District Improvement Plan prior to it going to the state by the March 29, 2002 deadline.

In regard to Mr. Light’s concern with curriculum alignment, Superintendent Kent pointed out that the district intranet web page currently contains a variety of curriculum information available for teacher reference. At this time the web page contains course syllabi, links of all adopted textbooks and supplemental materials, links to various education web sites, links to information on content and performance standards, CIM/CAM/PASS scoring guides and the state report card. Mr. Smolnisky said it may take teachers some time to become accustomed to the on-line availability of these new resources.

DISCUSSION - Items Removed from Consent Agenda

2. Enrollment Update

Item B, Enrollment Update, was removed from the Consent Agenda for discussion at the request of Board member Jonathan Light.

Mr. Light asked staff to provide enrollment data broken down by school. Superintendent Kent responded that the information would be provided. Light also asked for help in understanding how self-contained students fit into the enrollment picture. Judy Land explained that self-contained students are mainstreamed for part of the day and the other part of the day the self-contained students are in a separate classroom. She said that over 1500 students are identified as requiring special services. Of those, approximately 288 students are in self-contained classrooms for 60% or more of the school day, often accompanied by an educational assistant. Debbie Egan clarified that students are mainstreamed only into what has been determined to be an appropriate placement.

Mr. Light questioned the class loads of the teachers and the availability of extra help in the classrooms for those with special needs students. Len Arney responded that teachers assigned to self-contained classrooms have educational assistant time assigned to them to assist with the students.

Tom Atkinson commented that the enrollment report reflected that the early leavers from the 11^th to 12^th grade was the second lowest in a decade.

Judy Land pointed out that the enrollment report was made as of September 18, 2001 and that the official enrollment would be made to the state as of September 30, 2001. Ms. Land explained that the numbers could fluctuate between these two dates. Ms. Land said that as of September 18, the District was 41 students over projection.

C. District Improvement Plan Report

Item C, District Improvement Plan Report, was removed from the Consent Agenda for discussion at the request of Board member Jonathan Light.

Jonathan Light asked that the board be brought up to date once the survey process had begun. Superintendent Kent said the District is in the process of searching for firms interested in conducting research. Cherie Kistner explained that the District has begun the RFP process and information would be shared with the Board and a recommendation for a firm would be made at the October 8 board meeting. Ms. Kistner reminded board members that staff would continue to use the work plan and time lines as presented previously to the board.

5. ACTION ITEMS

None

6. OTHER BUSINESS

None

7. NEXT MEETING

Chairman Heiss announced the next board meeting would be held October 8, 2001, at the Administration Center boardroom, 525 Mill Street, Springfield. A work session on Sites and Facilities Long-range Planning is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. and a tour of the WET Project Trailer will begin at 7:00 p.m.

8. ADJOURNMENT

With no other business, Chairman Heiss announced adjournment at 9:06 p.m.

KL