School Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2022

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT ON WEDNESDAY JUN 8th, 2022 AT 6:00 PM at WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL.

THOSE PRESENT:

ABSENT: April Torgerson

Conducting: Shawn Davis

ADMINISTRATION

Shawn Davis called the meeting to order. 

Pledge of allegiance is recited.

Curtis offers a reverence.

Cory makes a motion to approve the minutes from 5/11/2022. Liz seconds the motion. All in favor.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Liz makes a motion to pay the bills. Cory seconds. All in favor. 

CITIZEN COMMENTS

None

INFORMATION ITEMS

Data Review

David Chappell says that ACT scores were about 2 points lower than expected (17.3 overall) with the largest drop in English but lower in all categories. Nationally, the average was 20.8 and in Utah, 20.2. He isn’t exactly sure why. He has looked into individual scores and says it appears some students intentionally did poorly but there were a number of students who have 4.0 grades and did not do well on the ACT. There were only two students who scored above 25, which was not as high as in the past.

ACT prep will be included as part of the curriculum in English and possibly other subjects as well for the coming year. The high school also plans on adding a study hall at the end of school which provides additional help for those who are scoring below 70% in a class. Students scoring above this threshold will be able to leave early. 

Randy says that increasing ACT scores is one of the goals in the strategic plan as well as the PCBL grant.

Superintendent Report

Randy mentions that the personalized competency-based learning grant has been available for 4 cohorts and is quite restrictive in its selection process with only 5 LEAs receiving it this time. He says that it begins as a planning grant, then implementation, and then expansion. We have been awarded a $50,000 planning grant for this coming year. If we continue, the implementation grant gives us $100,000/year for two years, and $137,000/year for two additional years in the expansion grant.

He says that PCBL is not going away and emphasizes that our district’s vision is “Personalized Education…Limitless Possibilities”. This is our goal and this grant gives us some ability to move towards that goal.

Superintendent Shelley then reviews the staff well-being survey, which provided us a baseline on employee wellness, professional learning, teacher efficacy, and coaching and feedback. He covers aggregated responses to questions and discusses the results with the board.

Randy reviews the process of choosing the architect. He reviews VCBO’s proposal and describes the high school’s recommended location, which would connect it between the existing auditorium/gym and the shop, requiring the removal of the pool. They discuss security issues and why this design makes the most sense for the safety of the kids and overall flow. The board discusses whether they want to proceed with the design as shown or modify based on the issue with the pool. They would like to continue with this proposed location.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Public Hearing on Tentative Budget/Proposed Tax Rates

Tyler discusses various aspects of the budget. The budget includes increased amounts of property tax going into the school lunch and transportation programs because of cuts to state funding in transportation and the end of free lunches for all students. He mentions a school bus grant that will be applied for, and provides an estimate of $160,000 that has been spent on activity travel this year. Each sport costs between $10,000-$18,000 on bussing alone. Some districts have implemented methods to reduce travel and he states that we may need to evaluate that in future years as current one-time funding expires. 

The district will need to go through Truth in Taxation to finalize the tax rates. The rates are to remain the same as the prior year with the exception of the capital levy, which will be raised to 0.0024, qualifying us for the Small School Construction Fund as well as the Revolving Loan Fund through USBE. 

Curtis makes a motion to approve the amended FY22 budget, FY23 tentative budget, and proposed tax rates for FY23. Cory seconds. All in favor.

Architect Contract Approval

Tyler talks about the contract with VCBO. The fees are based on the scope of the project, its complexity, and what can be utilized from other designs the architects have used. There is some discussion about the fees proposed and various consultants included in the contract.

Curtis makes a motion to approve the architect contract with included addendum items. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Policies

Cory makes a motion to waive first and second reading and approve policy CKB-Travel. Curtis seconds. All in favor.

Cory makes a motion to approve first reading of policy FFC-Student Travel. Liz seconds. All in favor. Liz asks about the word “requirement” and suggests it is changed to “requested”. 

Cory amends his motion to approve first reading of policy FFC-Student Travel with said change. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Curtis makes a motion to approve policies FDAD-Health Requirements Communicable Diseases, FDAF-Concussions and Head Injuries, FDB-Health Requirements Suicide Prevention, FDC-School Breakfast Program, FDEA-Wellness Policy Food Sales, EFC-Grading Participation of Private and Home School Students in Statewide Assessments, FE-Student Records, FEA-Education and Family Privacy, FED-Student Data Protection. Cory seconds. All in favor.  

New Hires

Liz makes a motion to approve the new hire. Cory seconds. All in favor. 

New Hire:

Parker Peterson – science teacher/math aide @ WMS

Separations

Liz makes a motion to approve employee separations. Curtis seconds. All in favor.

Other Items

Curtis talks about a rumor in Hanksville regarding bussing of all students to Loa Elementary. Superintendent Shelley says that there was talk about bussing one student per the parent request, but the overall feeling is that we need to grow the school, not bus the kids up here. It would be cheaper to bus kids but he isn’t comfortable putting young kids on a bus for 2-3 hours a day. Curtis says it is preferred to grow by bringing kids back. 

Shawn reminds the board about their training program through USBA. He also suggests that the gym use in the winter time should be dedicated for pre-high-school basketball. David Chappell says he is willing to sit down with anyone to work through a solution to be able to use the gym as needed.

CLOSED SESSION

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

Open Meeting resumes at 8:35 pm

Shawn adjourns the meeting at 8:35 pm