Board Meeting Agenda/Minutes 4-18-16

 

Watch video of the meeting through CNET1.org

 

D. A motion to eliminate Curriculum Policies 106 - Guides for Planned Instruction and 107 - Adoption of Planned Instruction.

(attachment V-D)

         District-Wide Facility Master Plan Process (attachment VI-A2) (presentation)

                  CRA DWFMP Proposal (attachment VI-A2a)

                  Massaro Proposal (attachment VI-A2b)

         Capital Financing Update (attachment VI-A3)    

Minutes
April 18, 2016 Regular Board Meeting Minutes
Panorama Village Building - Meeting Room A
240 Villa Crest Drive
State College, PA 16801

I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Ms. Concepcion called the State College Area School District Board of School Directors meeting to order at
7:08 p.m. She welcomed all in attendance and those viewing from home. Ms. Concepcion announced the
Board had an executive session on March 28, 2016 on personnel, a legal matter, and negotiations. With the
agenda before them, she asked board members if there were any changes. A board member requested to
pull Item K under Routine Approvals to be voted on separately due to having questions on this item. Ms.
Concepcion noted the Routine Approvals would be voted on minus Item K and this item would be the first
item under action.

A copy of all materials distributed to board members for discussion and/or action is included with the official minutes, unless otherwise indicated.
Board members present: Amy Bader, Gretchen Brandt, Amber Concepcion, Dan Duffy, Penni Fishbaine, Scott Fozard, David Hutchinson, Jim Leous, Laurel Zydney
Board members absent:
Board Secretary: Mary Jenn Dorman
Student Representative: Jaia Clingham-David, James Graef
Solicitor: Scott Etter
Superintendent: Robert O’Donnell
District Personnel: Randy Brown, Elaine Burn, Mike Hardy, Jeanne Knouse, Patricia Moyer, Linda Pierce, Chris Rosenblum, Eugene Ruocchio, Donna Watson
Guests: Harry Hamilton, Lance Hamilton, Stan Hamilton, Becky Misangyi

II. COMMUNICATIONS
Ms. Concepcion welcomed James Graef as the student representative to the table and asked Jaia to introduce him. Jaia Clingham-David introduced James to board members and then noted that she had great admiration for the board members and the hours they devote to this position. Jaia will graduate this June and will be attending Cornell and majoring in government. All wished her well and welcomed James.

Dr. O’Donnell noted that State High garnered the 2016 Top Global Learning School Award from AFS-USA and the National Society of High School Scholars - one of 74 schools nationwide honored. AFS-USA is a non-profit organization that promotes international student exchange and intercultural learning experiences. He read a quote that was provided regarding our High School.

Congratulations were offered to State High Teacher, Melanie Lynch, for being named the National Health Education Teacher of the Year by SHAPE America, the Society of Health and Physical Educators.

Mr. Leous reported that he attended the FFA Banquet last week and we have many young people involved in agriculture. He thanked Paul Heasley for all he does with his program.

III. PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Concepcion noted that each individual would be limited to comments of five (5) minutes as time permits for items on this agenda or related to Board business and asked if any audience members wished to address the Board. The following audience members addressed the Board:
--Lance Hamilton noted that he attends St. Joseph’s. He wanted to be in the same classes with his brother but it was not permitted.
--Stan Hamilton mentioned that several meetings ago, he had a story about profiling. He feels he is singled out when his dad is speaking against injustice and race. He and his brother were not allowed to be in the same class together.
--Harry Hamilton spoke on feeling censored here today. He explained he was here again about profiling because it is mental injury. He received a letter stating, “He had general concerns about profiling,” mentioned Dr. Richards, and here in 2016, we are still talking about race when something ought to be done. There are Policies on the website for hazing and bullying, but not profiling. Forget about the policy, he is just asking for a sign to be put up with a number for someone to call. No specific wording, just do something.

IV. ROUTINE APPROVALS
A motion to approve the Routine Approval Listing as presented.
--Out-of-State/Overnight Student Travel
--Accept Board Communications Committee 3-24-16 Meeting Notes
--Board Regular Meeting Minutes 3-28-16
--Accept Board Policy Committee 3-31-16 Meeting Notes
--Accept Board Facilities and Grounds Committee 4-6-16 Meeting Notes
--District Bills for March 2016
                                          2015-2016           Grand Total
General Fund                    $13,580,210.54    $13,580,210.54
(checks 1022029 to 1022579, V103368 to V103398)
Food Service Fund            150,220.83           150,220.83
(checks 62388 to 62442)
Athletics Fund                     31,991.62            31,991.62
(checks 49717 to 49790)
Activities Fund                     59,420.87            59,420.87
(checks 91289 to 91328)
Purchasing Cards                 91,671.23            91,671.23
(for March checks 208, 442, 7377, 835)
Total All Funds                $13,913,515.09     $13,913,515.09
--Financial Reports for February 2016
--Bid Award for printer cartridges to low bidder, Office Pal, in the amount of $19,939.
--Bid Award for chromebook replacement parts to low bidder, AssetGenie, in the amount of $36,858.25
--Approve one-year contract extension for Internet, Telephone, and Wide Area Network Services with Comcast and Windstream
--Spring Interscholastic Athletics Booster Clubs for the 2015-2016 school year
--Human Resources Recommendations (refer to attachment IV-M)
Mr. Fozard moved and Ms. Fishbaine seconded to approve the Routine Approvals listing minus Item K. There was no discussion. With the motion moved and seconded, all board members present voted aye on a roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously.

V. ITEM IV-K from ROUTINE APPROVALS - NURSE CONTRACT for FIELD TRIPS
A motion to approve the contract to provide nurses to accompany students for District field trips. Ms. Zydney moved and Mr. Fozard seconded to approve the motion. Board member asked how there is no additional cost, has a concern and is hesitant about outsourcing this, and inquired about efforts made within the current system to cover. Mr. Brown explained how this works like a substitute and the contract amount of $40/hr. Ms. Pierce added that she has done some surveying for substitutes around the area and there is not an abundance of LPN or RN substitutes. With the motion moved and seconded to approve the contract to provide nurses to accompany students for District field trips, and with all board members present, eight voted aye, one nay (Ms. Zydney) on a roll call vote. The motion passed 8 to 1.

VI. BID AWARDS for MOUNT NITTANY MIDDLE SCHOOL ROOF REPLACEMENT
A motion to approve bid award for Mount Nittany Middle School building Roof Replacement as presented. Mr. Leous moved and Dr. Bader seconded to approve the motion. There was no discussion. With the motion moved and seconded, all board members present voted aye on a roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously.

VII. POLICY 819 - SUICIDE AWARENESS, PREVENTION and RESPONSE
A motion to approve Policy 819 - Suicide Awareness, Prevention and Response as presented. Dr. Bader moved and Mr. Leous seconded to approve the motion. There was no discussion. With the motion moved and seconded, all board members present voted aye on a roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously.

VIII. APPROVE POLICY 105 - CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
A motion to approve Policy 105 - Curriculum Development as presented. Mr. Fozard moved and Dr. Bader seconded to approve the motion. Board members discussed: This policy went through the Culture, Climate and Learning Committee, the current policy was OK, problem under the Superintendent shall have stakeholder input, and it being the role of the Board to approve curriculum but not tie the hands of teachers. There is not enough here for a board member to approve. Dr. O’Donnell responded that the Board never approved curriculum in this District, there has been no specificity, and he wanted the Board to be involved and have curriculum alignment in Chapter 4. Further discussion: Did discuss how much was enough, the Scope and Sequence gave particulars, that being a sense of the majority of the Committee, documents received back in January or February, the curriculum cycle being a new cycle process, eliminating lesson plan details, aligning with state standards, this being a step forward, and the scope of terms in the policy are completely appropriate. The guidelines could change but the Policy would not change, allows flexibility, and Dr. O’Donnell added that by the word “monitoring” he means to keep the Board aware of where they are with the cycle and the state changes to Chapter 4. He does not want curriculum to get stale in our District and thanked all that worked on this. After instruction, curriculum is the most important part of learning.

With the motion to approve Policy 105 - Curriculum Development as presented moved and seconded above, all board members present voted aye on a roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously.

IX. ELIMINATE POLICY 106 and POLICY 107
A motion to eliminate Curriculum Policies 106 - Guides for Planned Instruction and 107 - Adoption of Planned Instruction. Dr. Bader moved and Mr. Fozard seconded to approve the motion. Dr. O’Donnell noted there is a shift in standards here and now this aligns and follows the state with being in Policy 105 and not here. With the motion moved and seconded, and with all board members present, eight voted aye and one nay (Ms. Zydney) on a roll call vote. The motion passed 8 to 1.

X. APPROVE POLICY 108 - TEXTBOOKS/ELECTRONIC EQUIVALENTS
A motion to approve Policy 108 - Textbooks/Electronic Equivalents as presented. Mr. Fozard moved and Dr. Bader seconded to approve the motion. Discussion occurred regarding the two third membership vote; Dr. Etter referred to School Code sections 508 and 803 providing some clarification; the second and third sentences not being consistent, the majority of the full Board is five votes and two thirds is six votes. Mr. Fozard withdrew the motion and Dr. Bader withdrew her seconding the motion. Mr. Leous moved and Dr. Duffy seconded to refer this back to the Policy Committee for further review. All board members present voted aye with a voice vote. The motion passed unanimously. Board member noted he appreciated Dr. Etter’s discussion. Another member asked if we could make the vote higher than the majority and Dr. Etter responded that yes, we could if we wanted to make the bar higher.

XI. APPROVE THE CIU #10 2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR BUDGET
A motion to approve the CIU #10 2016-2017 School Year Budget. Ms. Fishbaine moved and Dr. Duffy seconded to approve the motion. There was no discussion. With the motion moved and seconded, all board members present voted aye on a roll call vote. The motion passed unanimously.

XII. RENEW ORIGINAL MOTION to ACCEPT CHANGE ORDER #GC-05
A motion to renew the original motion to accept Change Order #GC-05 as a credit of at least $69,550 to Lobar, Inc. (Veneer substitute-South Building Westerly side). Ms. Fishbaine moved and Mr. Fozard seconded to renew the original motion as presented. There was no discussion. With the motion moved and seconded above, and with all board members present, seven board members voted aye and two board members voted nay (Ms. Brandt and Ms. Zydney) on a roll call vote. The motion passed 7 to 2.

XIII. ACCEPT CHANGE ORDER #GC-05
A motion to accept Change Order #GC-05 as a credit of at least $69,550 to Lobar, Inc. (Veneer substitute-South Building Westerly side). Ms. Fishbaine moved and Mr. Fozard seconded the motion. Clarification was given that ground-face CMU is only on the North building and the South building will be all stone, but if it passes, then both buildings will have ground-face CMU. A Yes vote accepts the ground-face CMU. With all board members present, five board members voted aye and four board members voted nay (Ms. Brandt, Ms. Concepcion, Dr. Duffy and Ms. Zydney) on a roll call vote. The motion passed 5 to 4.

Board members took a break from 7:57 - 8:05 p.m.

XIV. DISTRICT GOAL CATEGORY: FACILITIES and GROUNDS
High School Project: PlanCon Part I
Mr. Brown explained this is a required document when change orders are over $300,000 and we currently have more than $300,000 in deductions. This will be brought back to the next meeting as an Action Item. There could be several PlanCon Part I submissions due to the number of deductions we have. He asked if there were any questions; there were no questions. This will be on April 25 meeting agenda.

District-Wide Facility Master Plan Process
Dr. O’Donnell noted that Mr. Brown would be presenting two options, the first one was presented in February. There was a District-Wide Facilities Master Plan (DWFMP) update in 2009 that included two elementary projects and the information was used for the High School project. We have four old elementary schools and need to focus on where the need lies. He introduced Mr. Brown to continue with the presentation.

Mr. Brown spoke on Option 1 that was to begin Master Planning in May of 2017 and Option 2 that is an accelerated plan that would begin in May 2016 with a decision in October 2016. Why do this? The DCED Grants could provide up to $4 million, 10% of  construction cost capped at $2 million each project. With a PowerPoint presentation, he reviewed: Prior DWFMP Processes, the High School Design Team Recommendation, Original DWFMP Timeline, the Accelerated DWFMP Timeline, Due to Grants - Required for 2018 Completion, DCED Grant Financial Impact, PlanCon Funding, Administration Recommendations, District History with Design Teams, the Current Design Teams, Concerns, and Advantages With the CRA/Massaro Design Team. Mr. Poprik has been with the District for 20 years and all is working well with them. Dr. O’Donnell added that he wants Mr. Poprik involved with our projects, and explained what it would be to bring in another team. We are doing this to pursue the Grant Funds. The CAC provided good input and is in support of the recommendation. This is the design piece, not construction, want quality facilities for every student, the best possible to provide quality programs. CRA can also help with redistricting, planning and demographics, etc. Does the Board want to pursue the accelerated timeline? This item would come back for discussion, the with possible action for May 9.

Board members discussed: Facilities and Grounds Committee discussed bringing forth the proposal and decided the full Board should see it. The CAC for Facilities supported the proposal coming to the Board and doing a critical assessment of schools done recently. Seeing a proposal does not obligate us, in support of this, the compression of the timeline being up front, the design and construction safely compressed, already have a good working relationship with these people and would be better to keep moving forward. The accelerated timeline does not overlap with Memorial Field like the original one does. The Grants being for LEED Gold, this plan reduces strain on staff and has some efficiencies, would have the same firm and the same team, pay attention to allow appropriate time to community, community is already thinking about this and really need to be committed to communication to community, and this accelerated process is a benefit to students. The RFP process and seeing other possibilities, appreciated the presentation, rushing the process but can see the benefit of firm already working with, feeling positive with moving forward with timeline, would like to spell out community engagement, surveys or focus groups would be critical, CRA track record is positive, and being in support of moving it up and the involvement of previous projects is critical. This can be a transparent process, there is time to do community input, just need update to 2012 Stewman report and 2011 redistricting report, we have been talking about elementary schools since 1999, it is time to move forward, and the proposal is the first step. The proposal is not a contract and there will be one from CRA and one from Massaro. All were in agreement to move forward with the process.

Capital Financing Update
Mr. Brown explained there were refinements but not much new information. He took projections out to 2050 and all current debt, Referendum debt and High School issued debt, the two elementary projects and a middle school project would be paid for. He noted money would continue to be put in Capital Reserve and review the amounts over the next 34 years. Board members discussed: the 9.5 million does not allow for the projects, the structure and when debt falls off, there being a lot of assumptions here, this being provided to show there is capacity to do the accelerated timeline, and questioned the $3 million for downtown.

XV. DISTRICT GOAL CATEGORY: FISCAL STEWARDSHIP
2016-2017 Fiscal Year Budget Update
Mr. Brown noted he reviewed information at the last meeting based on last week’s approval of the State budget and the impact for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 overall. Do not know what we can use Ready to Learn on, and the votes now in the House and Senate are veto proof. The Governor has not signed yet nor tried to veto. With a PowerPoint presentation, he discussed the State Budget Impasse, the impact on the District, 2016-2017 revenue source, the expense history, salary expense, 2016-2017 proposed new positions, benefit expense, PSERS expense and percentage of total salary and benefits, purchased services, charter school students/cost per student/charter school expense, and capital related costs. At next week’s meeting, there will be more information and the two meetings following with other districts and cohorts. Board members discussed: the footnote on page 3, very easy to follow with graphs, great detail, PSERS pay forward fund and uses, the pay forward being part of the annual process, Charter Schools and the community understanding what goes to them, 25.8% this year and 30.03% for the 2016-2017 budget year, and SCASD not being in a catch mode for PSERS.

Proposed Policy 211 - Student Accident Insurance
Mr. Brown explained this policy went to the Policy Committee. The District does not have this policy and he decided it was necessary to mandate now and provided an explanation of the student accident insurance policy.

He would like to supply a waiver to be signed by parents for certain activities and when they do not have health insurance for their student(s). This is no additional expense to the District. Parents can purchase the accident insurance for $40/year. Board members discussed: the purpose being for attendance at school or for certain activities, proof of insurance for those in activities, also being available for attendance at school, questioned field trips, gave clarification of types of coverage, the statement not being tied to the first requirement, who do we want to sign the waiver, the meaning of extra-curricular/co-curricular/outside of school day, and suggested this needed to go back to the committee for refinement and a clearer message.

Charter Renewal Request Process
Dr. Perrin provided a memo for the process for the two charter schools requesting a five-year renewal, Centre Learning Community and Nittany Valley Charter Schools. Both reports will come to the Board next week and the vote will take place the May 9 meeting if no further information is required. Board members discussed: a request for five-years is standard, interviewing parents and students, the mission for why the charter started, does not layout what for renewal or not renew, any physical visits unannounced, and classroom walkthroughs.

Dr. Perrin noted that they do not talk to students during the visit as to not disrupt their day, and Dr. O’Donnell added with what the state requires, does not let districts do much. The full report will be brought back for information April 25 meeting.

XVI. DISTRICT GOAL CATEGORY: STUDENT LEARNING
Proposed Revisions to District Level Job Descriptions
Dr. O’Donnell noted he brought forward two draft job descriptions to restructure the Assistant Superintendent roles in the District for Elementary and Secondary. He provided background information and noted these would also change direct reports. Dr. O’Donnell noted that Dr. Perrin would oversee the secondary world and due to the certification requirements in the state, the other position would be the Supervisor of Elementary Education. He is in the process of reviewing the organizational chart. At this time, he asked for any questions. There were no questions and Dr. O’Donnell added that the elementary has a little more focus to it due to curriculum. These will be brought back for action on the April 25 meeting agenda.

XVII. REPORTS
Board Committee Reports
   ● Communications Committee - Mr. Leous is the chairperson of this committee. They reviewed the District Annual Report, provided feedback for Mr. Rosenblum for the report that is in good shape and assigned a few tasks.
   ● Facilities and Grounds Committee - Ms. Fishbaine is now the new chairperson since Mr. Fozard was appointed the chairperson of Finance Committee. The minutes were approved tonight; they discussed the DWFMP accelerated timeline.
   ● Finance and Audit Committee - There is nothing new for the meeting coming up this Thursday. Mr. Brown asked if members would like to cancel; the meeting is cancelled.
   ● Policy Development Committee - Ms. Brandt is the chairperson and she noted they looked at the Suicide Awareness, Prevention and Response Policy 819,and the Student Accident Policy 211. Ms. Pierce provided a presentation on PSBA Boarddocs and the transition for PSBA Services. Future Agenda Items are Refine Policy 108 (coming back to Committee), and the 000 Group. Dr. O’Donnell added he would like to review groups so no policy goes many years without updating.

XVIII. FUTURE AGENDA PLANNING
Ms. Concepcion noted items on the agenda next week and added the proposals of CRA and Massaro. She explained that since there was only a week between meetings, the agenda would be to all by Friday this week. Any requests could be sent to Board Leadership for future agenda items. Ms Zydney asked about an update on Learning Enrichment and Dr. O'Donnell responded it was being addressed at the next CCL meeting, April 27.

IX. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Fozard moved and Ms. Fishbaine seconded to adjourn the meeting. All board members present voted aye with a voice vote. The motion passed unanimously. Ms Concepcion adjourned the meeting at 9:59 p.m. to an executive session.

Submitted by,
Mary Jenn Dorman
Board Secretary