MINUTES
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Washington County School District
121 W. Tabernacle, St. George, Utah  84770
October 13, 2009
3:30 p.m.

A regular meeting of the Board of Education of the Washington County School District was held after due, legal, and timely notice being given to all members and interested parties.  Board President Kelly Blake called the meeting to order and welcomed all visitors.  Board members present were Wendell Gubler, Craig Seegmiller, Carole Morris, Laura Hesson, and Travis Christiansen.  Board member Wes Christiansen was excused.  Staff members present were Superintendent Max H. Rose and Business Administrator Brent Bills.

OPEN MEETING
Board President Welcome – Kelly Blake
Pledge of Allegiance – Member Blake
Reverence – Member Morris
 
CONSENT AGENDA
A.    Minutes – September 8, 2009
B.    Purchases over $10,000
C.    Personnel Items
D.    Contract Bids
E.    Springdale Elementary School LAND Trust Change
F.    Desert Hills High School LAND Trust Change
G.    Bloomington Elementary School LAND Trust Change
Member T. Christiansen presented a motion to approve the Consent Agenda items, striking item D, as it is empty this month.  Member Hesson seconded the motion that passed unanimously.

COMMENT ON ACTION ITEMS
Marshall Topham mentioned a change in Policy 2900 allowing more time to make up a grade as previously discussed.  He said no other comments were received.

BOARD ACTION ITEMS
Policies:
     1.  Policy 2900 Attendance
Member Seegmiller presented a motion to approve Policy 2900 Attendance as written.  Member Gubler seconded the motion that passed unanimously.

DISCUSSION ITEMS
Student Achievement/CSIP – Brad Ferguson
Brad Ferguson reported on the Comprehensive Student Achievement Plan.  The program was written by our technology personnel but each achievement plan is developed by the school.  The CSIP program is a template that schools use to enter their goals.  Board members can access all of the schools using the login information given.  Brad Ferguson reviewed the reports on student achievement and the information included in the CSIP plans.  Student achievement reports show data analysis and provide information to develop Smart Plans.  The program also includes the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.  The site links to the School LAND Trust plan and includes deadline dates for specific reports.  He asked for the Board to review the plans during the next month for approval in the November meeting.  The CSIP site will be available for parent review in the future.

Policy 4240 Videos and Full-Length Movies – Marshall Topham
Marshall Topham explained that the changes would make the policy more up-to-date.   He mentioned that he is also working on a comprehensive bullying and harassment policy to meet state laws.  He will have the principals review the draft next week.

Policy 1101 Criminal Background Check and Employee Reporting of Arrests – Lyle Cox
Lyle Cox said this policy is a result of the legislature asking the USOE to set a rule that all districts create a policy.  The policy requires that employees report arrests, including assault or sexual offenses.  Travis Christiansen suggested including reporting incidents where the employee is sited or charged with an offense as often an arrest is not made with alcohol or drug related offenses.  Information will be noted on the state cactus site for teachers and investigated locally for classified employees.  Anyone who was hired prior to 1992 may not have received a background check and those hired since have only had one check.  The policy will now require all employees and unsupervised volunteers to have a background check every six years.  This also includes, substitutes, and contractors or vendors hired that may have unsupervised access to students.  Travis Christiansen pointed out that the policy states the individual has five days to report the arrest.  He said that they might not have access to report the arrest within 5 days.  Lyle Cox said that the Board would need to determine to what extent the check is done.  Checks can be done using the seven western states or a federal FBI check.  The cost for the classified employees will lie with the district.  Certified checks will be included with re-licensure.  Lyle Cox will check into having two levels of checks.  A more comprehensive check could be done for new employees and the seven state check for existing employees.  He pointed out that the workload would be increased with these checks.  Fingerprinting is done here at the District electronically.  It will also increase the time involved in getting the background checks.  Laura Hesson pointed out that 2.5. only mentions non-licensed reporting.

Policy 0001 Policy and Procedure
Lyle Cox briefly reviewed the policy changes.  The policy governs how policy is induced, modified, and/or implemented.   The Board asked for a revision to assure that the superintendent is not the only gatekeeper, allowing policy to be Board generated as well.

INFORMATION AND REPORTS
District Recognitions and Awards
     Superintendent’s Award for Excellence (Presented at schools)
        Chuck Bundy, Counselor, Pine View Middle School
        Karen Tolman, Media Assistant, Pine View Middle School
        Cindy Galt, Counselor, Sandstone Elementary School
        Edrick Twitchell, Title I Aide, Sandstone Elementary School

     Volunteer of the Month (Presented at schools)
        Heidi Heideman, Pine View Middle School
        Ellen Fujikawa, Sandstone Elementary School

Reports:
     Superintendent
         Superintendent Max Rose mentioned that Clay Mills, school psychologist, just received a state       outstanding service award by the brain injury association. 

     Board

     Association
          Kathleen Wagner, WCEA, reported that they met last week with Superintendent Rose and discussed the initiatives.  She gave information on the initiatives to Board members for their review. 

          AFT – No comments

PUBLIC OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS THE BOARD
Lyndi Frei, Desert Hills High School teacher, shared her concern with a District mandated training held during school and the makeup sessions after school.  She said she didn’t want to leave during school to attend the training as she felt she should be in the classroom teaching her students.  She said she is concerned with the amount of teachers being taken out of class.  She asked the Board to come up with another solution so teachers are not required to be out of class for trainings.  She agrees that holding trainings afterschool is not the best solution either as she is involved coaching.  She suggested having electronic sessions or only mandating that teachers attend a portion of the trainings, not all of the sessions.  A menu of the topics being discussed during each session could be given out so teachers could select those needed most.  Marshall Topham said that the best choice would be after school sessions but teachers refuse to come to the training.

ADJOURNMENT