Accountability Committee (AC) Meeting:April 2, 2012

[Next meeting: MondayMay 7, 2012, 5:30-6:30 pm. School business manager Susan Doudy will join us to present draft budget and answer questions]

Attending: Jeannette Allen, Brian Hanson, Danielle Desruisseaux, Gina Phillips, Mike Morelli, Tyra Hughes

Absent: Betsey Krill, Tara Wilburn, Katie Cahille-Volpe, Tanya Brown
Location: Principal’s office in high school. 5:30-6:30 pm

  1. Senate Bill 1338 Committee (Principal evaluation tool to be piloted this year):Not discussed during April’s meeting.
  2. Student and Parent/Community Survey: Since Katie just had her baby, Danielle will pick up the task of writing the summary of results.
  3. State Standards: The district has adopted them. Not further discussed.
  4. School Website: Not discussed during April’s meeting.
  5. Budget cuts and the Mil Levy. BH summarizes budget cuts: the District has cut everywhere it can and is now in the position of having to look at “Rift” = Reduction in Force. Not laying anyone off but:

a)Looking at not replacing retirees (working with smaller number of teachers per grade if one retires)

b)Not renewing 1-year positions that were hired last year

  1. The “extra” kindergarten teacher was a 1-yr position; next year will have only one kinder class of about 25 kids.
  2. One middle-school/elementary para-professional position will not be renewed.

c)“Early buy-out” of long-term staff approaching retirement. Two PE teachers will be retiring, to be replaced by one K-12 PE instructor/coach, at a lower salary. To ease the schedule on the PE teacher, high-school kids will be able to earn 0.5 credit for being on a sports team and will therefore not need to be in PE class as well (Grades 9-12 must have 2 PE credits + 1 Health class credit to graduate).

d)Campaign Committee. Meeting April 9, 7 pmin the high school science room (Ms. Cat Fox’s room). AC invited. To hear the pitch regarding mil levy, decide if we support it, look at the choices, and move forward with the campaign.

  1. Preschool Update: Brian announces that Mancos won $248,000 grant for the construction of the new preschool building! Thanks to Clara Martinez as grant-writer. Mancos was the #1 choice of the State; approval of this funding still has to come from the feds.The District is ready to build as soon as federal approval and the funds are received.

a)It’s a 50:50 matching grant ($450,000 total costs) so the District has to come up with $200k…some of this is “in-kind”, meaning it’s the value of the property we already own, the right-of-way (granted to us from the Town for free), the value of the architectural designs (already paid for), etc. So not $200k out-of-pocket. The District has money set aside for capital costs for this.

b)Discussion emphasized that legally, capital costs cannotbe used for staffing or programs. So building the preschool does not take away from the existing K-12 teachers or students, and the capital monies cannot be used to offset the State budget cuts.

c)Brian explained that the preschool will probably house the existing Mancos HeadStart program (which is maxed out and has a waiting list) as well as people who pay $25-$30/day for the preschool program.

d)Mike asked if next year, part of the school budget would have to go to the preschool? Brian says no: preschool revenues will come from 1) HeadStart program, 2)Colorado State preschool funding (gives a certain $ amount per child), and 3) private-pay tuition.

e)Brian says there will be opportunities for community volunteer labor during construction (for example, landscaping, concrete work, playground, etc. To be determined.)

  1. School Calendar: School Board approved calendar at March 19 mtg. Board decided not to worry about snow days until we have a problem. There is one “wiggle-room” day built in to the calendar as it is.
  2. Accountability – School Board Interface: Gina Phillips attended the March School Board meeting to represent the AC and said she learned a lot, and found it really interesting and would be going back for April 16 meeting as well. This is a great start to our new formal practice of having at least one member of Accountability at each School Board meeting, to strengthen the communication and relationship between the two groups.
  3. Community Concerns and Input:

a)Mike and Gina both say they have heard gross misconceptions in the community…especially regarding the budget and school funds. People have the idea that money for the new school bus or the preschool could go to pay teachers or coaches, which is not the case. The District is legally bound to distribute their budget monies to certain categories. Mike said he was glad to be getting the straight scoop in these AC meetings.

b)Brian says he has heard at both Town Bd mtgs and School Bd mtgs that “there is a drug problem in the schools that is being ignored.” He does not think so but is pulling together a team to examine this, including school nurse, Dean of Students, counselor, superintendent and principal, together with the new town Marshall and a drug task force.

  1. Brian says they “only rarely” see a kid under the influence at school.
  2. Tyra says teen problems are pot, alcohol, and prescription drugs, not meth. She says after-school programs are a protective factor. She asks about results of CO Healthy Kids Survey; JA says results are in but need to be interpreted.
  3. Tyra asks about service learning. JA says info is available but it is not required for graduation.
  4. BH says his impression is social media bullying/harassment and general inappropriateness are a bigger problem than drug education needs.
  1. Miscellaneous:Gina was successful in getting the notice of AC meetings in the local paper on a regular basis. Danielle reminds everyone that she will be ending her position as Chair of the committee in May and for everyone to think about if they would like to pick up those responsibilities. Also think about meeting over the summer months.
  2. Wish List: No further discussion in April.

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