January 20, 2021 Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT ON WEDNESDAY JANUARY 20th, 2021 AT 7:00 PM at WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL.

THOSE PRESENT:

Conducting: Shawn Davis

ADMINISTRATION

Shawn Davis called the meeting to order. 

Pledge of Allegiance.

Reverence is offered.

Liz Torgerson takes the oath of office.

Curtis motions to approve the minutes from December 9th, 2020.  Cory seconds the motion. All in favor.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Tyler Newton provides a financial review. He recognizes Coral Chappell for applying for an equipment grant for food services. He says that the equipment grant was received and an order placed for a new tilt skillet and oven for Loa Elementary. He reviews the ESSER II funds, which will be coming within a few months and mentions some allowable uses. There are questions regarding uses and it is suggested that it could be used for the air handling at Loa Elementary. Liz has questions about summer school and the board discusses how well it would be attended and how it could structured. 

Tyler mentions the state school employee stipend, which is currently proposed as a $1500 bonus to full-time licensed employees and a $1000 bonus to full-time classified employees in school settings. Both are pro-rated for actual FTE. This is likely to be approved and distributed in early Spring. 

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

CITIZEN COMMENTS

No public comments.

Chylene Whipple

Chylene Whipple says that Hanksville Elementary has been struggling with classroom management over the last few years. Hanksville is now on a state improvement plan and she feels it has been neglected. She believes that there are many children now at home school because of things that have happened in the past. She mentioned that the current teacher has had to be out due to health issues, and is concerned about the support being offered. She suggests that there are local substitutes available to help who have classroom experience. She says that there is a period during the day when they need extra help with the students. She mentions specific employees and says that they haven’t been to Hanksville Elementary as much as was previously discussed. 

Chylene continues by saying that they were progressing but that the current direction is not positive. She attributes this to not receiving the help necessary and some of the community dynamics. She concludes by saying that she believes their school has been put on the back-burner. 

She then presents some solutions to the school board which includes using a substitute who previously worked for the school district, providing more social work and behavioral help, adding an aide in the morning hours and tutoring.  

Shawn thanks Chylene for her comments and says that the board will discuss possible solutions.  

INFORMATION ITEMS

Superintendent’s Report

Instructional Coach

Randy suggests that we use some of the additional money received to hire an instructional coach. He says that we currently don’t have any mentoring program in place. This is part of the new alternate licensing requirements. Many of the teachers do not have support they need and this would help relieve some of the pressure on administrators. 

Liz asks where the instructional coach would be based and what their day would be like. Randy responds that they would initially focus on new teachers but also help veteran teachers as professional development. They would help teachers set goals, looking for areas of improvement, help with classroom management, teaching strategies, lesson plans, etc. 

April asks if the money is better used to split an existing class or for an instructional coach. Superintendent Shelley responds using John Hattie’s Visible Learning data which shows that coaching has an effect size of 1.57 compared with 0.21 for class-size reduction. Of the factors studied, the majority had greater effects on student learning than class-size reduction. Based on the data, we get a bigger bang for the buck by hiring a coach rather than an additional teacher. 

Instructional coaches aren’t part of the evaluation process, they are simply there to assist the teachers. They have to be able to keep confidence and build trust. 

Curtis says he would like to see the job description so we know what the position is. 

Mission, Vision, and Goals

Randy discusses the existing goals and says they are more like standards. The administrative team has been working to interpret the standards and translate them into what success looks like and how we know when we have arrived. 

High School Trophy Case

We have a lot of trophies stored in the shop at the high school. We would like to build another trophy case to display the trophies. This would be a high school shop project. 

Masks at Public Events

There was an anonymous comment regarding masks at public events. The concern was coming to an event at the high school and seeing district employees not wearing masks. They specifically mentioned board members doing the same thing. The question was asked why we are asking attendees and staff to wear masks if leadership does not. 

Vaccines were given last Wednesday to over half of the employees. Hopefully we can reach a point where masks are no longer required.

Committee Reports

The improvement committee met last week and plans were discussed to expand upon the professional development held in January. Teams will be organized to discuss goals and employees asked to participate in a book study. 

Shawn says that there are lots of good things coming from the improvement committee. He says he thinks that it is helping the morale of the district. He thinks if there were a survey, it would be much better. 

Board Training

The board discusses the USBA conference. 

Curtis says that he is grateful they made an effort to provide education regardless of the COVID challenges. He most enjoyed the session on superintendent/board relations. Respect, positive tone, engagement, personal interest, showing gratitude, nurturing relationships, and not having surprises were all discussed in that meeting. 

Liz also enjoyed that session and said that you have to know your role and support the decisions of others made in their role. 

April also enjoyed the board/superintendent session and the part about not having surprises. Communication is essential with the board needing to know what is happening and the same for the superintendent.

Cory echoed the comments that had been made. He enjoyed Kalani Sitake’s stories that he shared and how we are similarly a family working together.

Superintendent Shelley mentioned a story that Coach Sitake shared about impacting students in a positive way. Each of us could be impacting students in that way without knowing it.

Tyler enjoyed Kalani’s speech. You can tell what a great leader he is. He sets expectations for his athletes, gives them autonomy, and provides support. He cares about others and you can feel it.

Shawn was also impressed by Coach Sitake and his leadership. He also enjoyed the board/superintendent relations session. He says it is important for the board to work together and support each other. He summarizes the last session, which focused on mental health for kids. There is help available, but each of us needs to be willing to reach out as well. 

BUSINESS ITEMS

Audit Committee Member

Shawn would like to appoint Liz Torgerson as the new audit committee member. Tyler mentions that some community members should also be on the committee. The board will consider some people who might be a good fit.

Cell Phone Allowance

Curtis makes a motion to approve the cell phone allowance. April seconds. Cory asks if we are going to make it retroactive. The board agrees that it should compensate for any time he did not have a phone. It is called to a vote. All in favor.

March Board Meeting

February meeting will be moved to the 11^th at 6pm. Cory asks if we really need to provide Zoom. April agrees that we don’t. 

March board meeting will be held on the 17^th at 6pm. 

Curtis makes a motion to move the February meeting to the 11^th at 6pm in Hanksville and the March meeting to the 17^th at 6pm at the high school. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Policies

First Reading

Cory makes a motion to approve first reading of ECCA – Curriculum Reading Achievement for K-3, ECCB – Curriculum Mathematics Assessment for K-3, EDH – Special Programs Student Internships, FDC – School Breakfast program, FDF – Positive Behaviors Plan, and GCG – School Climate Survey. April seconds. All in favor.

Second Reading

April makes a motion to approve second reading of CKB – Travel. Cory seconds. All in favor. 

Third Reading

April makes a motion to approve policies CBDC – Procurement of Professional Services, Policy CCF – Procurement of Design Professional Services, CJDH – Transportation Operations Post Route Inspections, DABA – Paraprofessional Qualifications, DFC – Employee Surveys.  Cory seconds. All in favor.

New Hires

Curtis makes a motion to approve the new hires pending background check. April seconds. All in favor.

The following new hires were approved:

Sarah Staples – substitute teacher

Employee Separations

April makes a motion to approve employee separations. Cory seconds. All in favor.

The following employees resigned:

Julia Woolsey - paraprofessional

Other Items:

Shawn congratulates the sophomore girls for winning the tournament. 

CLOSED SESSION

Cory makes a motion to go into closed session per Utah Code Annotated Section 52-4-205(1)(a) at 8:51 pm. Curtis seconds. 

Open meeting resumes at 10:21 pm.

Shawn adjourns the meeting at 10:21 pm.