July 8, 2020 Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT ON THURSDAY JULY 8th, 2020 AT 6:00 PM at WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL.

THOSE PRESENT:

Conducting: Curtis Whipple

ADMINISTRATION

Curtis Whipple called the meeting to order. 

Pledge of Allegiance.

Curtis Whipple offers the reverence.

Randy Shelley takes the oath of office.

Cory motions to approve the minutes.  April seconds the motion. All in favor.

SCHOOL FEES

Curtis explains the change to fees for the upcoming year and opens it up to public comment. Chylene Whipple asks if the shirts and cap and gown are purchased or rentals. They are purchased.  

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Tyler reviews the legislative estimates for FY21. Overall, we are down approximately $75,000 over last year with state funds. There were a few programs that were reduced while others were increased. We had a decrease in enrollment of 12 and this did affect our budget, but there was also an increase to the WPU of 1.8% which helped offset some of that. Approximately $335,000 was removed from Administrative Costs; $224,000 was added to Necessarily Existent Small Schools. 

Shawn asks about a scholarship payment.

April makes a motion to pay the bills.  Shawn seconds. All in favor.

CITIZEN COMMENTS

Shawn Davis makes a comment on behalf of the student body president at Wayne High School. They are doing a fundraiser by selling lawn signs.  

INFORMATION ITEMS

District Improvement Committee

Superintendent Shelley comments that he would like to be involved in the process going forward.

Roles & Responsibilities

Randy covers a few edits on the Roles & Responsibilities document. He states that he believes it is a good delineation of roles and that if we are going to pass it, we should abide by it. It will be added next month as a business item.

Facilities Committee

Superintendent states that he would like to see long-term plans and that we should have a proactive plan to get ahead of the maintenance required for our buildings. Shawn asks about the progress of the windows at Loa Elementary. It is in process. Cherie Blackburn comments that she appreciates the work done on the elementary and that it looks great.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Return to School Plan

Superintendent specifies that this is a general plan and that we are going to meet tomorrow with any available faculty to get feedback. The state requires us to submit a plan and this is the template we are submitting. Other plans were utilized to get ideas and modified to fit the needs of our district. 

Our staff will need to wear masks where distancing is not possible. We will strongly encourage students to wear masks. We will have to be flexible with regard to what happens with the state and local health directives. 

There are many groups lobbying for the schools to stay in session. We are planning a return to a normal schedule with potential for modifications if need be. April comments that it is hard to do both in-person and remote learning. Superintendent responds that there may have to be a combination of both. There needs to be instruction on all days. We will also have to make accommodations for students who are at-risk or don’t feel comfortable in school. Canvas will need to be used regularly by all teachers. He recognizes there will be an additional burden on teachers but we have to do the best we can in the present circumstances. 

April asks about having Friday as a remediation day. Superintendent Shelley says that there were mixed feelings in the conversation, but that overall, the goal is to keep kids in school receiving instruction. He comments that you can’t have just one day a week to catch up. This needs to be happening every day.  He stresses that there is a difference between assignments and instruction and that though there may not need to be assignments every day, there needs to be instruction. 

Dr. Chappell asks about testing for COVID-19 on students. Randy responds that the discussion focused on educating kids, parents, and staff to recognize symptoms and then they will contact the health department. Part of the plan is to ensure that parents are spotting symptoms and not sending kids to school who are symptomatic. 

Jeff comments that the current debate is how long does the virus linger in the air. There is more focus on distancing and masks and less on contact surfaces. Randy remarks that when students are in close contact for extended periods, the risk is higher. The goal is to switch things up regularly and limit risk. There will be added training as well as regular disinfecting and cleaning schedules. 

Dr. Chappell stresses that we need to connect symptoms with testing. Spread is minimized and contract tracing is simplified in proportion to the speed of testing.  

Lance Peterson comments that having teachers gone will be a major issue this year. We will need help from anyone available. Debbie James comments that many of the substitutes are high-risk, so our pool is even smaller. Randy states that we may have to have teachers providing instruction at home and have someone else physically in the class. We will need to put it out to the community and get any help available. 

Jeff says that this plan will help protect workers. We need to protect our teachers and can do so by ensuring that everyone is cleaning their hands and staying home when sick. Many other sicknesses disappeared in March because of the increased sanitizing and distancing that occurred.

He suggests we may want to get a face shield for staff. Randy comments that we discussed this and are deciding how many to order. The state has used some federal funds to purchase PPE for every district. 

This includes sanitizer, wipers, masks, and thermometers. We will have to order additional PPE. 

Chylene Whipple asks about attendance policies for this year. Randy says that there is more flexibility to ensure that kids stay home when they are symptomatic. 

Curtis says there is a lot of pressure to get kids back in school because that is what is best for them. Shawn says that there needs to be availability for kids who are at home to access the assignments and instruction. Randy says that we will provide more training on Canvas and he believes that there may be more teachers appreciating it.

Cherie Blackburn says that this will be a challenging year for teachers and we need to keep an open mind with what will be happening. April comments that there are various needs for each class and we will need flexibility for different classes and grades.

Randy says his number one priority will always be the students. By taking care of teachers, we also take care of our students. He says we will do the best we can to address needs and be patient. 

Cory asks about specifics. Randy says this is a general framework. Cory says he thinks teachers should be recording lessons to help those kids who are not in class. Randy says that we will have to find creative ways to do this because we have limited funding. We may also have to move away from hard deadlines for assignments and focus more on competency. We will need patience for both teachers and students in this scenario.

Cory asks about the 180-day requirement. Randy says that it will be relaxed to some degree. They are discussing alternative ways to measure attendance. 

Jeff Chappell makes a motion to approve the School Reopening Plan. Shawn seconds it. All in favor.

Randy says that our first step is to involve faculty in the meeting tomorrow and then we will be meeting with administrators the following two weeks. Community involvement will also be important. 

Energy Audit Invoice

The board discusses the transcript of a prior meeting in April 2019 where they authorized additional work on a ground-source heat pump and accompanying expenditures of $5,000.

Cory makes a motion to approve the original invoice as well as the $5,000 approved in a prior meeting.  April seconds it.

Jeff says we are meeting our legal obligations.

Curtis calls for a vote. All in favor. Motion carries.

Policies

April makes a motion to approve the annual review of policies BBD Board Members Board Internal Operation, BAA Board Powers and Duties, and BBF1 Board Members Code of Ethics. All in favor. 

Curtis asks about the timing for conducting a review for the Superintendent and Business Administrator. 

Cory makes a motion to approve second reading of policy BBG – Board Members: Compensation & Expenses.

Sports Stipends

Cory says that we are not out of line in our stipends. Many other districts pay less, including other large districts. Randy says that you need to consider the number of participants. He says that there is one observation that stands out and that is there is one sport which receives significantly less than other districts. 

The board discusses the elements that go into determining a stipend and how other districts differentiate, including longevity, experience, number of participants, etc. 

Dr. Chappell suggests that the timing is not great for trying to remedy this because of the budget scenarios. 

Cory suggests paying the cross-country coach for both boys and girls. 

Jeff makes a motion to address this during the next budget session. Curtis seconds. 

Cory says it will be good to look at both track and cross-country and do various scenarios. 

Cory calls for a vote. All in favor.

New Hires/Separations

Cory makes a motion to approve Austin Moore as a new Loa Elementary teacher. April seconds.  All in favor.

April makes a motion to approve the retirement of Laura Brinkerhoff. Jeff seconds.  All in favor.

Other Items

Cory asks about a website posting for the superintendent position. Andrea says it will be removed from the latest news section.

Cory says there is a competition for the Utah School Boards Association Master Board Awards (MBA) Powerup training and encourages the board to participate.

April asks why the board stopped doing work meetings. They previously held a work meeting at 6 pm and board meeting at 7 pm. Curtis asks if they were necessary. She comments that it may be beneficial to have a work meeting if there were a lot of information to cover on one item. 

Shawn asks about dates for upcoming board meetings. 

Cory makes a motion to go into closed session per Utah Code Annotated Section 52-4-205(1)(a) at 8:13  pm. April seconds.

Open meeting resumes at 9:27 pm.

Curtis adjourns the meeting at 9:27 pm.