December 14, 2009 Board Minutes

Proceedings of the

Bridgeport Public Schools

Morrill County School District #63

Board of Education

Monday, December 14, 2009 – 7:00 PM

Jr./Sr. High School Media Center

President Justin Corman called the regular meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.  Roll call was taken.  Members present: Kay Anderson, Justin Corman, Vickie Hall, George Chikos, and Ken Jacobson.  Dale Nichols was absent.  Also present were Superintendent Dave Miller, Recording Secretary Vonnie Brown, Secondary Principal Titus Staples, Elementary Principal Kevin Myers, and visitors. 

President Corman informed the public of the Open Meetings Act posted by the library door.

It was moved by Chikos and seconded by Anderson to approve the agenda. Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None. 

There was a thank you from the Yeager family for the plant sent in memory of Raymond Yeager.

Visitors Willis Beyer and Tom Borders were recognized. 

Business Meeting:

It was moved by Jacobson and seconded by Chikos to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of the Indirect Costs that will be discussed later in the meeting. The Consent Agenda includes the financial reports and payables ending November, 2009, and December General Fund payroll and withholding of $431,121.21, and Lunch Fund payroll and withholding of $7,758.45.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None. 

Bills paid were as listed:

Special Recognition:

The board recognized the One-Act team who took First Place at State competition.  Simonne Spurgeon, Kevin Hoxworth, and Nik Chizek earned Outstanding Actor Awards, and Simonne received the Outstanding Female Performer of Class C1.

Nicole Houston was recognized for being selected Senior of the Month for December.

Unfinished Business:

Willis Beyer reported on the status of the Air Quality Renovation Project.  The architects have not signed off on “substantial completion” yet.  However, the one year warranty on the project does not begin until they sign off.  The system is working well, although there are a few bugs being worked out.  The Energy Management System e-mails Willis when there is a problem and this saves a lot of monitoring time and effort.

New Business:

George Chikos received recognition as a Level 3 Board Member and was awarded a pin from NASB (Nebraska Association of School Boards).

Mr. Staples provided details regarding Student of the Month.  It is sponsored by the Lion’s Club and honors a different senior every month.  The voting is done by the High School staff and each month they try to select a student who displays good athletic, academic, and behavioral traits, and represents the school well with a good attitude and who try to be a positive part of the school community. 

Mr. Borders provided a summary of what has been happening with Activities.  Cross County had 8 students out this year, with two qualifying for state.  This was a significant increase in participation.  24 students went out for football and 26 for volleyball.  Volleyball became Conference champions and state qualifiers and showed very well in Lincoln.  Girl’s Golf were conference champs and district runner ups.  District Music was held in Bridgeport and it was successful.  One Acts were state champs.  There were 32 boys out for Junior High Football and 32 girls out for Junior High Volleyball.  33 girls went out for Girl’s basketball and 17 boys for Boy’s basketball.  Both teams are off to a good start.  Wrestling participation is up as well.

Mr. Borders also reviewed facilities needs for activities.  Items that are not as we would like them to be include the bleachers and the crows nest on the football field, the grass in the softball field that is planned to be used for football practice, the rollers on the bleachers in the gym are not working properly, locker rooms are inadequate and the gym floor is due for refinishing.

The school received notice that the application submission for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) State Stabilization Fund Grant would need to be resubmitted with provision for a required automatically calculated indirect cost fee for those responsible for reporting, accountability, training and knowledge to submit the proper grant request numbers and statements. The indirect cost is a percentage based on the total of the grant.  It was moved by Anderson and seconded by Chikos to approve the indirect costs per the ARRA grant requirements.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None. 

There was a presentation by Gary Moranville of Moranville & Associates, LLC, from Ault, Colorado.  They prepared a Project Proposal for a building to house Special Education Services and the District Office.  $136,845 in funds is available through ARRA for capital expenditures for Special Education.  Their proposal would allow for some physical separation from the school to promote privacy issues for special education security and filing.  The ARRA funds could be used to cover the square footage that would be used by Special Education.  This building would also be used for alternative education and district offices.  The cost of construction was estimated at $120/sq. ft.  This issue was tabled.

The Thompson Co. Foodservice Specialties brought a fruit juicer machine in to the lunchroom one day and provided samples for students.  One serving from this machine provides a 4 oz. serving of real fruit; however, the logistics of serving and charging for these drinks appears prohibitive at this time.

There was discussion of possible changes to the incentive pay for early notification of retirement.  Currently, certificated staff is paid $1,000 bonus for notification of intent to retire turned in by March 1.  It is advantageous to the administration to be notified as early as possible when certificated staff is retiring so that the search can begin for replacement personnel.  When the school is aware of openings earlier, they have a larger pool of candidates to interview as most have not accepted positions elsewhere.  No changes were made at this time.

The Activities account has been pursuing the attainment of a credit card for Activities travel and purchases.  Wells Fargo informed the school that their policy is to have a credit limit of $10,000 which would require board action.  Mr. Staples proposes a checkout sheet, e-req requirement, date and purpose for use of the card.  It was moved by Hall and seconded by Jacobson to authorize a $10,000 limit on a credit card for the Activities fund. Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None.

It was requested that board policy for school credit card usage be reviewed and potential amendments discussed at a later board meeting.

The board took a walk through the K-3/High School building to discuss building needs and potential for improvement and growth.

Mr. Miller received a request from Herb Karcher to relocate a collection of Small Mammal Study Skin Collection that was assembled over his years of teaching at Bridgeport High Schools to Chadron State College.  Contributions to the collection were made by Mr. Karcher and his students as part of their course work.  It was moved by Chikos and seconded by Anderson to allow the collection to be contributed to Chadron State College with recognition to the Bridgeport students and Herb Karcher, and to allow future Bridgeport Biology students access to the collection.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None.

Discussion and Reports:

Mr. Myers reported that the first semester ends December 18, and that it has been a good first semester.  Students have been working hard with very few disciplinary issues.

Mr. Staples agreed that his first semester here has been a good one, although he has had quite a few more disciplinary issues. Several have been attendance issues relating to students skipping Success for Learning.  The handbook contains a strict code of conduct, but the students are aware of it and understand it.  He is expecting next semester to be much better.

Both principals discussed the value of Success for Learning (SFL) program.  It was a good tool when it was implemented, but has not been meeting the purpose for which it was designed and actually has created attendance issues rather than relieving academic issues.  All three administrators have had discussions attempting to create a program to replace SFL to initiate in 2010.  It was moved by Chikos and seconded by Jacobson to remove the SFL days for the 2009-2010 calendar for the second semester.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None.

Mr. Miller talked about a “Memorandum of Understanding” received from Nebraska Department of Education.  States compete for a $120 million grant, with funds to be distributed to schools who sign and return the Memorandum of Understanding.  It will be distributed through Title I, but with less restrictions on how the money is spent. 

Mr. Miller also discussed some local advertising to let the public know more about what is going on at our school and the programs that are offered and their success.

It was moved by Hall and seconded by Chikos to adjourn to Executive Session for the purpose of personnel considerations at 9:55 p.m.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None. 

It was moved by Chikos to return to Regular Session at 11:06 p.m.

It was moved by Chikos and seconded by Jacobson to adjourn at 11:07 p.m.  Yes: Anderson, Hall, Jacobson, Chikos, and Corman.  No: None. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Vonnie Brown

Recording Secretary

Approved by:

Dave Miller, Superintendent

Public Notice is hereby given that the next regular meeting of the Bridgeport Board of Education will be at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 11, at the Bridgeport Public Schools Media Center.  Agenda will available upon request at the Superintendent’s Office at 800 Q Street after January 6.

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