2016 October Minutes

Faulkton Area School District 24-4 Board of Education

Monday, October 10, 2016

6:00 p.m.

The regular meeting of the Faulkton Area Schools 24-4 Board of Education was called to order by Chairman Kelly Aesoph at 6:00 p.m. in the Faulkton Elementary Library.

Roll call of members present were Kelly Aesoph, Todd Brand, Scott McCloud and Jerry Weyand. Absent: Grady Heitmann. Also present were Superintendent/Elementary Principal Derek Barrios, Secondary Principal/AD Craig Cassens, Business Official Lisa Raethz, Val Ramsdell from the Faulk Co. Record, and the following district patrons: Tim Bowar, Sarah Davidson, Melissa Geditz, Mike Grunewaldt, James & Kathy Otter, Clinton Rice, David Speck, Tom Strasburg, and Corrine Weyand. The pledge of allegiance was recited.

2016-17.38. Agenda Approval. Motion by Weyand, second by McCloud, to approve the proposed agenda. Unanimous.

Acknowledgements. Superintendent Barrios acknowledged all students and staff for a great start to the school year. Mr. Barrios stated our district report card displays our school is doing an excellent job academically and he wants this success to continue.

Conflict of Interest Waivers. No conflict of interest waivers were presented.

Open Forum Time. Tim Bowar spoke on the open forum section of the meeting. Bowar thought it needed to be at the end of the meeting in case district patrons do not understand something. Dave Speck stated the same thing. Speck said there are a lot of people in the county not happy and thought the more questions allowed to ask the better. Sarah Davidson agreed with both of the gentlemen before her. Davidson said there needs to be transparency between the school board and the public. Thought the quicker the board could answer these questions for the public the better. Mike Grunewaldt asked Mr. Barrios where Faulkton sits compared to other schools academically. Barrios stated this will be discussed later in the meeting. Grunewaldt then asked Barrios why he decided the open forum needed to be at the beginning of the meeting. Mr. Barrios stated he recommended this at the beginning of the meeting, not only because most districts place it there, but because it is before any decisions are made. Once the board has approved a motion it’s too late. Grunewaldt did not think this was a proactive approach. Both Chairman Aesoph and Barrios reminded everyone that these meetings are meetings that are held in public but are not public meetings. This topic will be discussed later in the meeting.

2016-17.39. Consensus Agenda Approval. Motion by Brand, second by McCloud, to approve the following consensus agenda: minutes of the September 12, 2016 meeting, September 2016 Financial Statement and September 2016 Trust and Agency Fund Report, the September 2016 Imprest Fund Report, and payment of the presented bills for October 10, 2016. Unanimous.

September 2016 Imprest Fund: Officials: Vern Bogue $100.00, Mike Esser $150.00, CJ Huber $100.00, Jordon Moench $100.00, Daren Lorenz $100.00, Dean Duxbury $80.00, Dan Thelen $155.00, Matthew Clark $100.00, Ryan Huizenga $100.00, Jeremy James $100.00, Doug Pietz $100.00, Wade Stobbs $175.00, Jo Auch $165.00, Dan Nikalas $130.00, Todd Sandal $125.00, Laura Snow $80.00, Roger Colestock $100.00, Scott Witlock $100.00, Marty Weismantel $167.00, Jay Kusler $100.00, Eric Donat $100.00, Dan Nikalas $80.00, Cal Nygaard $130.00, Carol Hoistad $130.00, Monica Pelton $180.00. Co.Curricular Fees: Gettysburg HS $50.00, Redfield School $30.00, NSU $36.00, Northwestern School $30.00, Wessington Springs School $50.00. Supplies: Melissa Hayes $137.55, Dacotah Bank $100.00, KBA $144.90, Faulkton Drug $26.28. Other: ASBSD $470.00 Convention Fees, Kathy Hogg $17.75 Lunch refund, Faulkton FB $435.00 Reimb. Equipment, Presentation College $100.00 Field Rent;

October 10, 2016 Bill Payment: Ace Refrigeration $1,252.56 Repairs, Allied 100 $1,414.00 Equipment, Apple Inc. $4,139.45 Ipads & Cases, Bantz, Gosch, Cremer, Peterson $320.00 Legal Fees, Bauer’s Super Valu $383.84 Supplies, Best Western $183.98 Travel, Brentwood Colony $1,412.12 Food Service Contract, Cardmember Services $1,312.73 Supplies & Fees, CWD $587.35 Equipment, CBM $19,817.04 Food Service Contract, Century Business $848.28 Services, City of Faulkton $211.01 Utilities, Cole Papers $113.37 Supplies, Custom Sheet Metal $17,953.00 Install Kitchen Hoods, Dakota Dust-Tex $103.90 Services, Daktronics $75.00 Repairs, Delta Dental $2,950.52 Insurance, ECOLAB $126.55 Services, Faulk County Record $233.65 Publishing, Faulkton School $4,474.48 Reimb. Imprest Fund, Hase Plumbing $2,109.76 Repairs, Hauff Mid-America Sports $286.30 Supplies, Homan Hardware $400.94 Supplies & Repairs, Homan Welding $78.25 Supplies, Houghton Mifflin $123.93 Supplies, K&D Busing $19,989.35 Busing Contract, King Insurance $26,045.00 Property/Liability Ins., Kohlman, Bierschbach & Anderson $8,280.00 Audit Services, Michele Latt $141.68 Mileage Reimb., Marc $232.67 Supplies, Master Lock Company $36.92 Supplies, McCrossan Boys Ranch $5,710.80 Tuition/Residential Fees, Menards $25.92 Equipment, Nardini Fire Equipment $147.00 Services, NCFE $304.32 Gas, NSU $144.18 Textbooks, Northwestern Energy $2,440.96 Utilities, Planbookedu $570.00 Supplies, Quilter’s Corner $2,694.00 Equipment, Reliastar Life Ins. $23.40 Insurance, Reuer Sanitation $585.00 Services, Riddell $1,379.44 Equipment, Schatz Electric $682.71 Improvements, Scholastic $39.90 Textbooks, School Specialty $117.12 Supplies, Schraeder Lawn Spraying $60.00 Services, Taylor Music $150.00 Repairs, Technology & Innovations $85.00 Fees, Thunderbird Colony $1,947.12 Food Service Contract, Time Management Systems $40.24 Services, Venture Communications $402.14 Phone/Fax/Internet, Wells Fargo $503.46 Copier Lease, Wellmark $26,154.00 Health Insurance; October 2016 Payroll: General Fund: $166,395.34 w/ benefits, Special Ed. $23,703.54 w/ benefits, Food Service $2,409.50 w/ benefits, Pre-K $753.55 w/ benefits.

2016-17.40. Junior High GBB Coach Resignation. Motion was made by Weyand, seconded by Brand, to accept the resignation from Phylicia Hoffmann as junior high girls’ basketball coach for the 2016-17 school year. Todd Brand abstained from the vote. Motion carried.

ASBSD-Health Insurance Pool Buyout. Raethz brought the new board members up to speed with the status of ASBSD’s financial status. Two years ago ASBSD, whom is a self-funded group in which our district is a member, decided to switch their health insurance partnership from Avera to Wellmark in order to save money and eliminate the debt accumulated. Since this group is a pool, every member has ownership in the pool. If a member chose to leave the pool their portion of the debt would be assessed to them as well as the tail (any claims not paid as of the termination date) would be the responsibility of the member. Our district chose to stay a member of ASBSD. ASBSD’s Health Advisory Committee will now be recommending to the Board of Directors an assessment to the membership of $12,979,960; an amount that will bring the fund into a positive net position financially and solidify its future. If the request is accepted by the ASBSD’s board, they will mail out a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by 11/1/16 that will need to be signed and returned to ASBSD by 1/1/17. Our district would have 2 options: 1. One-time Lump sum payment of $128,940, due by 8/1/17, or 2. 4 payments totaling $133,800 (interest accrued on lump sum amount), due by 10/1, years 2017-2020. ASBSD’s reasoning for the assessment now: 1. Allows the health fund to start over with a clean slate and possibly attract new members. 2. Allows them the ability to keep premiums down and lessen the liability of the Cadillac Tax in 2020. 3. Would provide a one-time expenditure for districts impacted by SB 131. This would give school districts the opportunity to spend down their fund balance. Raethz is working on figures and will bring this information back to the board once ASBSD accepts the assessment option.

2016-17.41. Aide & Janitorial Substitute Wage. Raethz stated that we do not have an aide/janitorial substitute wage in writing and the auditor informed us that we need to state one in the minutes. Barrios and Raethz recommend $10/hour for general education substitute aides and janitors and $11/hour for special education substitute aides. Motion was made by Weyand, seconded by McCloud, to approve this. Unanimous.

Library Policy Updates/First Reading. Mr. Barrios stated Mrs. Demery, our librarian, informed him that our district’s library policy is outdated and needed to be updated. Demery voluntarily amended this policy for our district. Mr. Barrios read the new policy for a first reading. Second reading will be held at the November meeting.

Open Forum Discussion. Mr. Barrios stated the open forum agenda item was added by school member Jerry Weyand. Barrios stated his recommendation was still to keep this item at the beginning of the meeting. Barrios said he wants to keep the lines of communication open and invited anyone to stop in and ask questions with any administration or board member at any time outside of a meeting. Chairman Aesoph stated she visited with Randy Royer, director of ASBSD, and he also recommended open forum remain at the beginning of the meeting. Board member Brand could see both sides of it. Weyand stated some people want to address the board instead of visiting with them individually before or after the meeting. Barrios asked the board for direction on where they wanted it on the agenda. The board discussed having open forum at the beginning and end of the meeting. Brand wanted everyone to be aware of the fact that if someone waits to give their opinion until the end of the meeting that a decision could already have been made. There was much discussion and the board decided to experiment with open forum at the beginning and end of the meeting with a time limit per person. Barrios will make a list of guidelines as to what is acceptable during this time.

Board’s Future Goals Review/Update (Staff Development Section). Barrios provided the board with a copy of the Education section that was updated at October’s meeting. The board then reviewed the Staff Development section of the board goals. The board would like the staff’s professional development committee to look at this section and provide recommendations for the board to review. Barrios will have them do that and bring it back to the board at the November meeting.

District Report. Mr. Barrios reviewed and discussed the academic district report. He explained that all these numbers were very confusing and said if anyone had more questions after he was done to come visit with him on this. He stated Faulkton Elementary is in the top 5% of the state, Faulkton Junior High is in the top 10%, Faulkton High School, Blumengard Colony and Thunderbird Colony are considered small school and are labeled as progressing which means the state average, and Brentwood Colony is also considered small school but doesn’t have enough students to determine a rating. Barrios said administration and staff have already began looking at the data to determine strengths and weaknesses. The September 26^th in-service was focused on reviewing and analyzing said data.

Building & Grounds Report. Mr. Barrios read Janet Reed’s (Head Janitor) building and grounds report. The report stated the following items: the new pipe and fittings in the boiler room have now been insulted, three hoods were installed in the FACS room kitchen but we are still waiting on some wiring, an oven had to be moved and we may need additional countertops purchased, there is a hole in the drain trap in the elementary boy’s restroom due to corrosion. Reed stated the plumber temporarily repaired it but is unsure how long that will last and when it fails we will need to get the urinals up to code. Reed also stated the 8 elementary sinks do not have shut off valves and any time repairs are needed it requires water to the entire building be shut off. Reed informed the board the tennis court entrance gate is no longer attached and the entire fencing is in very poor condition and not safe. Reed wanted board direction. The board directed the maintenance department to eliminate the unsafe gate and to stop using the boy’s urinal that has problems.

Superintendent’s Report. Superintendent Evaluation/Goals. Barrios discussed his first year goals with the board and what specific items he would like to be evaluated on. Of those included a community survey. Barrios informed the board of what questions were asked in the survey. The board thought they sounded good. Barrios also asked the patrons present what they thought and no comment was made. Barrios will continue with the survey and provide the board with updates monthly. Barrios stated he is okay with the current superintendent evaluation form but would like a community survey piece added to it the following year. Strategic Planning. Barrios would like to look at strategic planning in the future. This would take the place of our board goals and would be the driving force of board’s decisions. This would include input from several different sectors of our district. Barrios will provide more information on this later. Barrios provided a quote to assist with strategic planning from Dakota Education Consulting for $9,875 but he recommends not doing this right now. He said he has already started a portion of this with the community survey and stated a lot of information should be obtained from that. Mentoring Program. Barrios said our school is participating in a state sponsored mentoring program. The state will provide a stipend to the mentor and they will be required to miss one day of school in which the state will reimburse all expenses associated with that. The state requires a minimum of 34 contract hours during the year and we have 8 teachers participating.

Secondary Principal/AD Report. ACT Report. Mr. Cassens displayed the ACT Profile Report. Cassens explained how this test is taken mostly by juniors and that many of them take it several times to improve their score. He stated how a student’s individual results of this report can be used to qualify a student for dual credit courses. Our district’s ACT’s scores were comparable to the state average or higher, and our district’s scores were higher than our scores last year.

Open Forum. Corrine Weyand commended our district for participating in the mentor program, stating it was a very good program. She also stated our testing scores looked great and to keep up the good work!

2016-17.42. Adjournment. Motion by Weyand, second by Brand, to adjourn at 8:19 p.m. All in favor, motion carried.

_______________________________________ _________________________________________

Board Chairman, Kelly Aesoph Business Official, Lisa Raethz