Matagorda Independent School District
MATAGORDA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
REGULAR CALLED MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
The meeting was called to order at 12:37 P.M., by President Ed Derrich.
The role was taken.
Board members present were: Ed Derrich, Rik Stanley, Melba Snedecor, Tina Keen, and Donald Simons. Buddy Treybig and Gina Treybig were absent. A quorum of Trustees was present.
School officials present were: Susan Phillips, Tara Simons, Diane Barnes and Laura Shay.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Melba Snedecor.
There were no signatures for the Open Forum.
Rik Stanley made the motion to approve the Consent Agenda for the following items:
o Minutes of the Regular called meeting May 12, 2016 (June Meeting Cancelled)
o Payment of itemized bills
o Approval of Laura Shay and Susan Phillips as the T-Tess Certified Appraisers for the 2016-17 school year
o Approve Chapter 41 Early Cost of Options Agreement
o Approval of the 2016-2017 Region III Shared Services Arrangement
o Approval of the 2016-17 Model TASB Student Code of Conduct Handbook.
Melba Snedecor seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
Student Health Advisory Committee Chairman Tracey Hernandez presented the Annual Board Report with a Power Point Presentation which will be posted to the District website. She recommended the Board approve The Great Body Shop, and PBS in the Mix for coordinated health curriculums, 36 hours of health instruction for K-8th grades, and Human Sexuality to be taught in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. A list of committee members were also recommended for the 2016-17 school year.
Melba Snedecor made a motion to approve the requests as presented.
Tina Keen seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
Property insurance provider bids were reviewed and discussed for the 2016-17 school year.
Melba Snedecor made a motion to approve Victory Insurance.
Tina Keen seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
President Ed Derrich gave each Board member a copy of the “Effective Board Practices: An Inventory for School Boards” and asked each member to read and respond to the self-evaluation included in the copy. The members will bring the evaluation back and discuss the outcome of their board evaluations at the next regular meeting.
The 2015 Board Operating Procedures were reviewed as a whole group on the big screen and read aloud by Ms. Keen. After discussing the procedures,
Tina Keen made a motion to approve the procedures as presented for the 2016-17 school year.
Rik Stanley seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
Agenda item 7 discussed the current election calendar and the Notice to file for a position on the ballot for 2016 November Uniform Election. MISD Board of Trustee Positions 3,4, & 5 are up for election.
Ms. Phillips gave a report on the 2016 Spring STAAR scores. She was pleased to announce that the Junior High areas of testing were outstanding, including our targeted area of Social Studies which improved from a 20% passing rate to a 72% passing rate. ESL student and our Special Ed population performed equally well. Middle School rates were also ranked at state levels of passing or better, except for Math. This will be our targeted area for 2016-17.
Members discussed Policy BE (LOCAL) for how many signatures to use for minutes to the meetings and BDAA (LOCAL) for clarifications concerning how many consecutive terms officers will serve. Current policy is fine but may need revision in wording to compliment the procedures. Mrs. Shay will continue to speak with TASB facilitators for accurate content. The revisions to Local Policy DEC concerning Leave compensation was not discussed at this meeting. It will be followed through at the next regular meeting.
Ms. Simons presented the new MISD website for the Board to see and demonstrated the difference usages and content areas that were being built. The website should be ready for use for the 2016-17 school year.
Discussion concerning needs assessment in preparation for 2016 budget included enrollment projections that were predicted as plateaued with numbers in Jr. High possibly dropping and the mobility rate increasing. However the middle school and primary school numbers are strong. The large second grade class was promoted and is returning to third grade. The Budget will reflect preparations for two teachers but other ideas for this large class are being discussed with the middle school team. Preliminary discussions with our independent auditor also suggested that our long term subs should be hired as full time employees if they are working the full year. The budget will include this change. Food service will continue the positive change of offer versus serve and hopefully increase revenue opportunities. We will discuss more about this at the next meeting. Fortunately at this time, no major maintenance repair is needed.
Mrs. Shay presented a letter of resignation from certified teacher Patti Steed.
Donald Simons made a motion to approve her resignation.
Melba Snedecor seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
No sanctions will be held against her contract even though it is within the 45 days before the first day of instruction.
The Board did not convene in to Executive Session.
The Board discussed the preliminary Budget. The State Aid Template was reviewed using the Estimated Certified Property Values. Most of the functions would remain similar to the 2015 budget with small adjustments made based on historical data from the year. Mrs. Shay emphasized that this was just an estimate and the actual budget could not be determined with any credibility until the Certified Property Values were available from the Matagorda County Appraisal District.
Mrs. Shay did feel that the new budget should support raises for the employees and requested that the Board consider a new Local Salary Scale for Teachers that reflected a raise that would be more competitive with other County Districts and 3% Cost of Living for all of the remaining staff.
Budget cuts will be made in materials and supplies, and travel costs by utilizing online professional development to help support the raises. Other areas are being looked at as well.
Tina Keen made a motion to approve the Local Teacher Salary Scale as presented and a 3% Cost of Living raise for all other personnel.
Melba Snedecor seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
The next meeting will have the actual Certified Values needed to finalize the Budget figures and propose a preliminary tax rate to support our Budget. A review of the process to approve a Budget and adopt a tax rate was discussed.
Discussion on other informational items included:
· Correspondence
1. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
· PEIMS Attendance Report for last six weeks
· Review of the July & August Calendars
· Next meeting: ______
Melba Snedecor made a motion to reschedule the August meeting to 8.8.16 at 12:30 p.m. in order to have enough time to post the Budget Hearing Notice in the paper.
Tina Keen seconded the motion
Motion passed 5-0.
Rik Stanley made a motion to adjourn.
Tina Keen seconded the motion
Motion passed 5-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:21 p.m.
Approved:______
Signed:______
President Secretary