Board Meeting Minutes - November 9, 2022

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR WAYNE SCHOOL DISTRICT ON WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 9th, 2022 AT 6:00 PM at WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL.

THOSE PRESENT:

Absent: Shawn Davis – President

Conducting: April Torgerson

ADMINISTRATION

April Torgerson called the meeting to order. 

Pledge of allegiance is recited.

April offers a reverence.

There was some confusion regarding which version of minutes is correct. Curtis makes a motion to table the minutes from 10/12/22. Cory seconds. All in favor.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Tyler reviews the food service program. He highlights the number of meals, which will be increasing this year to about 55,000 due to breakfast being served at Loa Elementary. The district typically transfers significant funds to the food service fund to cover a deficit but actually had a surplus last year and will likely have a smaller deficit this year. He thanks those involved in food service for the excellent work they are doing.

He mentions that there were no findings, material weaknesses, or significant deficiencies in the audit. He says it was also the first time we have experienced a federal single audit and he expected there to be issues needing to be addressed, but there were none. The audit will be reviewed with the audit committee.

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

CITIZEN COMMENTS

No comments

INFORMATION ITEMS

Superintendent Report

Randy reports on the CUES legislative meeting with our representatives. He talks about the legislative priorities, including a 10% increase on the WPU, moving the legislative adjustment above the line, changes to employment of retirees, funding full-day kindergarten, adding to transportation funding, and the economic stabilization fund, among other things. He said that we need to be cautious about transparency bills because they will cause more work and headache for our teachers. He mentions that the state is looking at changing the graduation requirements and is actively looking at various models, including awarding more credits for projects or internships. They talked about setting minimum requirements at the state level and then giving local control over additional requirements.

Randy met with the Children’s Justice Center and discussed what the center does for students—providing a safe environment for students when crimes have been committed. DCFS also attended the meeting and talked about what needs to be reported and the reporting process. He also spoke with the sheriff’s office and discussed having some reserve law enforcement members who could come through the schools on a rotating basis. DCFS is completely anonymous—they don’t share with the caseworkers who reported the information because of the fear of retaliation. Educators need to know their responsibilities after making the report. There will likely be some training in January as part of professional development.

Board Member Reports

Liz talks about looking at other district’s policies regarding salary schedules. The one she prefers is from North Sanpete District. She reads part of the policy that talks about reviewing the schedule with various groups of employees. Hopefully this helps so it isn’t vague and so that everyone is on the same page.  Randy says that North Sanpete has a policy regarding negotiations with the association. He cautions against that because participation in the association is small in our district. Liz asks if the board needs to use criteria for establishing committees as is done with hiring of administrators. She says the main purpose of the new policy is to make sure that feedback is received from all different professionals within the district. Randy says he would like to see representation from all schools and classes of employees. He could bring a list of employees each year. Liz likes the idea of showing transparency and bringing the budget into the conversation. Curtis suggests the Superintendent could bring recommendations to the board annually. Randy says that if we get the salary schedule where it feels comfortable when compared to other districts, we will likely just focus on a COLA each year. He says it might need to be reviewed each year to see how comparable we are.

Cory would like to change next month’s board meeting because he is unavailable. It will be held December 7^th.

Cory recommends that April be his replacement on the UHSAA board as his term goes through June, 2024. He asks about the timeline for bidding for school construction. Randy says that if awarded, we can’t formally move on it until the state school board approves it, which would happen in January.

Hadlee Taylor says there were about 60 kids involved in the play. Fall sports started Monday with practice. She asks about shot clocks. Cory says that UHSAA will likely not require it until the middle of the season because of delivery delays. David Chappell says that the clocks are installed but we are waiting for the company to correct an issue. There are a number of schools that don’t have shot clocks and they are now saying that schools can use an alternative or not use one at all. Heidi Woolsey says that she could use a portable clock if necessary. She mentions a number of other events that are coming up, including basketball games, dances, rodeos, pep and honor band, and a cheer competition. The high school added FBLA this year and Stephanie Williams is the advisor.

BUSINESS ITEMS

SHARP Survey

Superintendent Shelley says that as of now, there are 28 of the 41 districts that are supportive of the survey. Some of the small districts are saying that it takes too much time to administer and they don’t obtain enough information to be useful. The survey takes 30-45 minutes to get through. He says that he doesn’t think we implement anything in our district based on the results but there are organizations that occasionally ask for results. Liz and April don’t think we should do it. Curtis says it is interesting but it hasn’t driven anything in the district. Jamie Webb says we could use a shorter survey or screener that would give us the information we need.

Curtis makes a motion that we not do the SHARP survey. Cory seconds. All in favor.

Winter Sports Travel

April asks about some sports taking the same bus to the same location where the schedules overlap. Heidi responds that they stagger the games so they can watch each other. She asks about excusing some players for sleep purposes the day after returning from late travel. David Chappell says that they can work with the teams to accommodate. Heidi says that there is a Page, AZ tournament on there for wrestling. Randy explains the issue of limiting driver hours. Risk Management discourages travel outside the state because of the liability limits.

Cory makes a motion to approve winter sports travel. Liz seconds. All in favor.

TSSA Plans

Randy says the plans are similar to what we’ve been doing in past years.

Cory makes a motion to approve TSSA Plans. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Policies

Curtis makes a motion to approve first reading of policies DEA-Workers Compensation. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Curtis asks about the change in DHE, which removes the requirement to use PTO before sick leave. He asks why we would make the change. Randy agrees and says his interpretation of the discussion last month was that this needed to be changed. Liz asks if sick leave can be used for workers compensation. This will be the case with the changes in DEA, but is not currently the case. April explains that the board changed the policy in the past from 3 days of PTO and 10 days of sick leave to 13 days of PTO. Curtis says if an employee has accrued sick leave, that means they are not using their PTO. Curtis presents a few scenarios about employees who may have to use sick leave for surgeries or sickness and asks if that should be required from PTO or the sick leave bank. Cory suggests that we include something about a life event where you can apply to use the sick leave first in certain circumstances.

Randy brings up that the 120 days is meant to act as a short-term disability policy. April explains why the changes were made prior. Curtis says that process was designed to make it simpler. Randy has concerns about employees missing extra days. April asks if they could be combined (sick/PTO). Liz likes the idea of having an extenuating circumstance clause where the Superintendent could approve modifications to the policy.

Cory makes a motion to table DHE. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Liz asks about repetition in policy BKB regarding use of the board seal. Tyler references the state laws cited in the policy that determine the business administrator responsibilities.  The board takes no action on this policy.

Randy explains the changes to BBG. The location of one of the paragraphs was moved and a reference to policy CKB was added.

Curtis makes a motion to approve policy BBG. Cory seconds. All in favor.

Randy comments on CKB. He asks about the line regarding vehicles available. He suggests if there is a district vehicle available, we will reimburse them at the reduced rate, as is the case with out-of-district travel. There are questions about whether the “during the work day” clause should remain. Liz asks about the comment regarding using vehicles to transport non-school-employees. Randy says that if it is school related, it should be allowed.

Shawn Davis arrives at 7:44 pm.

Curtis makes a motion to table CKB-Travel. Liz seconds. All in favor.

Changes to policy FFC are discussed, including allowing the Superintendent and board to approve overnight travel, requiring transportation requests to be done a week in advance, and whether 75% of parental approval is needed for out-of-state travel plans.

Liz makes a motion to approve policy FFC-Student Travel. Shawn seconds. All in favor.

New Hires

Liz makes a motion to approve the new hires. April seconds. All in favor.

Kurt Taylor is approved as a substitute bus driver.

CLOSED SESSION

April makes a motion to go into closed session as permitted by Utah Code Annotated Section 52-4-205(1)(a) at 7:51 pm. Curtis seconds.

Open Meeting resumes at 9:01: pm

In Attendance:

April adjourns the meeting at 9:01 pm