HARTFORD UNION HIGH SCHOOL

                                                                        BOARD MINUTES

                                                                        October 16, 2006

 

Board President, William T. Priegel, in the Library, at Hartford Union High School, called a regular meeting of the Hartford Union High School Board of Education to order at 7:01 PM on October 16, 2006.

 

                                           CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, ADOPTION OF AGENDA

                                                              AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

PRESENT:        Crystal A. Berg, Tracie L. Black, David A. Kling, William T. Priegel, Shirley A. Reis, Mary Koehl, Principal/Director of Curriculum and Michael L. Kremer, Ph.D. District Administrator.

           

EXCUSED:        None

 

Kling/Berg, to call the meeting to order and approve the agenda as presented.  Roll Call:  5  -  0.  Motion unanimously carried.

 

Mr. Priegel led the Board and Administration in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

                                                APPROVAL OF UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGENDA

 

Reis/Black, to approve the unanimous consent Agenda as presented as follows:

 

Minutes:  Regular meeting minutes of September 18, 2006 as printed.

 

Vouchers:  Payroll vouchers in the amount of $558,792.81 and Total Vouchers in the amount of $1,252,494.24 and Grand Total Vouchers of $1,811,287.05.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  None

 

Acceptance of Gifts:  As presented.

 

Acceptance of Budget Transfer Request:  None

 

Bid Acceptance: None

 

Personnel Recommendations:  Appointments: Patricia Christel, Social Worker, effective 10/16/06, FTE 80% 133 days; Vickie Klipstein, Substitute Student Supervisor effective 10/2/06; Jerome Keneally, Krystle Kumferman, Kyle Perrin, Jared Rodgers and Derek Severson, Student Workers TV, all effective 2006-07; Jesse Lovicott, Limited Term Employee Technology Staff, effective 9/1 through 11/13/06, 35 hrs/wk; Robin Pfotenhauer, Vocal Lesson Support Staff Aide, effective 9/1/06 2 day/wk during school year, 3.5 hr/day.  Other: Amanda Hoff, Techer-Special Ed, revised placement; Kateri Keller, Teacher Art, revised full time equivalency 83.33% to 91.67%; and Sarah Meyer, Teacher English revised placement.  Roll Call:  5 - 0.  Motion unanimously approved.

 

                                                  COMMITTEE AND BOARD MEMBER REPORTS

Legislative Report

Mrs. Berg reported that she attended a Legislative Meeting concerning the State School Aide Formula revision with eight districts who shared their interesting testimony on the Budget.  They mentioned a possible sales tax to help fund schools.  The common thread from all testimony was that the State Aid formula isn’t working to retain academic success.  The next scheduled meeting is October the 25 at 10:00 AM at the Capitol.  Invited testimony from Allan Odden of UW-Madison, WI Center for Education Research and Jack Norman, Research Director, Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, as well as the DPI proposed biennial budget initiatives.  She also shared information on the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Conference on School Safety conducted at the request of President Bush held last week.  U.S. Department of Education website for practical information regarding crisis planning for schools and communities, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/crisisplanning.pdf  - For emergency planning resources, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan or http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061010-1.html

 

Facility/Construction Update

Mr. Kling reported that there are only a few punch list items left.  A ventilation issues had to be addressed in the Science rooms that added some additional cost.  He reviewed change orders and the cost currently is at $972,000 with some smaller amounts for ventilation and a few other items.  The remodeling costs were $111,000 with $27,000 of those costs for the new wall in the courtyard that had to be replaced.  Mr. Kling will now turn all of it over to Jerry Dudzik, Business Manager for the final audit.  Mr. Kling was thanked for the many hours of time and his expertise spent on this project it is greatly appreciated by the Board and Administration.

 

2006-2007 Election Schedule

Mr. Priegel reported that two board members terms are up this spring, his term and that of Crystal Berg.  The election schedule is as follows:  December 1, 2006 nomination papers will be available and must be filed no later than January 2, 2007 by 5:00 PM.  Applications will be available in the District Administrator/Business Office at the high school starting December 1. 

 

Personnel Workshop

Dave Kling attended a Personnel Workshop having to pick and choose sessions to attend.  Sessions available were employee evaluation and the investigation of misconduct, the board’s role in evaluation policies, how staff assignments can affect upon student achievement, the public’s access to personnel files, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and recent legal developments in employment and collective bargaining at the state and federal level.  He found the workshop very informative and wished he could have attended more sections.

COMMUNICATIONS

 

1st Class Activities – Mr. Priegel shared First Class activities as presented.      

 

Announcement of Acceptance of Gifts – Mr. Kling presented the gifts as listed in the unanimous consent agenda. A thank you should be sent for all gifts by administration if it hasn’t already been done.

 

Calendar – Emergency situations - HEA

Ms. Dawn Maxwell, Director of Pupil Services/Special Education and Chad Ellefson, teacher, HEA representative, shared information on the school calendar, contract language, Wisconsin State Statute and DPI worksheet on Days and Hours of instruction for concerns about make up days.  At this point, there are 25 extra hours of instruction built into our school calendar.  This issue will be revisited if for any reason we loose additional days/hours due to weather or any other reason.  They were both thanked for their time spent on putting the information together and presenting it at the meeting.

 

Oriole Academy

Mrs. Black wanted to share information about a project that the Oriole Academy is involved in this year with Friends of Abused Families.  On October 28, they are sponsoring a Cake Walk and Build a Bear at the VFW Hall near Woodlawn Park from 1:00 – 4:00 PM. 

 

Community Night

Ms. Maxwell spoke about the Community Night for parents and community members concerning the past incidents at Hartford Union High School and other student incidents since the beginning of the school year.  It will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at Hartford Union High School.  The evening is being planned to dispel rumors and to educate the community.  The counseling department and Mr. Dobner are working together on this project.  The Major, Dr. Kremer, the Police Chief and or Police Liaison officer, Project Care and council will speak.  Information will be mailed to parents in the INVOLVE, K-8 schools will be contacted, staff will be informed and it will appear on our web site as well as local newspapers and radio.

 

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

None

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

 

Conversation Regarding Bomb Threats

Dr. Kremer and Mr. Priegel asked for feedback from the Board on our Friday, October 6th bomb threat.  Feedback included the following:  a job well done, students were well behaved, Police and Fire Department was very pleased on how everyone worked together to make sure students and staff were safe.  We have a Crisis Plan that is a work in progress and it was tested that day and adjustments will be made on information that comes in and will make the plan more workable.  The K-12 community wants to work together for a common plan.  Administrators worked together with the Police Department to assess the situation and what the next step would be throughout the events that happened that day.  Dr. Kremer explained the timeline of events that took place that day to clear up any rumors that may have existed.  Restitution for the additional costs surrounding this incident will be made public once they have become available.  Dr. Kremer met with each Class, seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshman, separately on Monday following the incident to dispel rumors and find out what students were thinking and feeling.  These meetings went very well and Dr. Kremer explained that after visiting classes today he felt calm among students and a return to a normal teaching and learning experience for students.

 

 

 

Update on Committee Sign up.

Dr. Kremer provided information to the Board on Committee sign ups to date.  We have been advertising on our web

for additional help on these committees.  It is now time to start the important work of these committees.  Administrators have been assigned areas identified from the Climate Study.  Committee chairs should set dates and announce the first meetings on our WEB site to encourage anyone who may still want to join in.  Once committees have started their work it will be difficult to add additional people. 

 

Dr. Kremer’s Goals & Objectives

Dr. Kremer shared his Work Goals and Objectives as the Interim Superintendent with tasks and timelines.  It is his objective that he will be evaluated on this framework. 

 

Third Friday Count

Dr. Kremer shared resident membership information from our Business Manager and it dropped by 34 FTE’s when compared to last year (1707 vs. 1741 in 05-06).  Comparing this loss in dollars to what the budget was formulated around, the loss appears to be approximately $134,000 at this point.  Mr. Dudzik will continue to keep you up to date as we receive more information from DPI.

                                                              CITIZENS AND DELEGATIONS

 

Dr. Kremer thanked Steve VanDien, Express News reporter, who was in the audience, for his reporting of school news and his continued searching for the truth.

 

(NO FURTHER AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION)

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Proposal #06-1571a. – Second Reading of Policies.  Black/Priegel, approved the Policies that were read as a second reading Policies:  #0170, #1241, #2416, #2700.01, #3131, #3132, #3143, #3170, #4131, #4132, #4170 and #5113.   These policies had an initial first reading at the September 18, 2006.  These policies will be sent to NEOLA for they’re final format and returned.  Motion unanimously approved.

 

Proposal #06-1574a – NSBA Convention Attendance.  Priegel/Berg, approved that Board member, Shirley Reis be nominated as the member to attend the NSBA Convention in San Francisco in April, 2007.  This proposal is passed at this time to allow for early registration and housing.  Roll Call:   5  -  0.  Motion unanimously approved. 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Proposal #06-1575 – NEOLA – Contract for Administrative Guidelines and Forms Development Service.  Kling/Reis, to approve NEOLA providing Administrative Guidelines and Forms in conjunction with the NEOLA Policy Service that HUHS uses.  The cost to keep these updates in the future is included with the regular Policy Update fee that we already pay.  This cost is a one-time fee of $6,600 that will be included in the 2006-07 budget and will need to be included in the 2007-08 budget.  20% is due at the time of signing of the contract and 20% or $1,320 due at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month intervals.  Roll Call:  5  -  0.  Motion unanimously approved.

 

                                                             ANNOUNCEMENT OF MEETINGS 

October 18, 2006                   5 – 7 PM – After Hours Chamber Event - HUHS

October 19, 2006                   6:00 PM Key Communicators Meeting – Rm 89

October 20, 2006                   WASB School Law Seminar – Madison

October 25, 2006                   7:00 – 9:00 PM Community Meeting

October 30, 2006                   7:00 PM – Regular School Board Meeting – Library

November 11, 2006                6:30 PM B.E.S.T. Dinner/Theater – Schauer Arts & Activities Center

Agenda items for next meeting: There were none.

 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF CLOSED SESSION

 

                        “Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility.”  WI Stats. 19.85(1)(c)

PERSONNEL ISSUES

 

 

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Berg/Black, to adjourn to closed session.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:42 PM.

 

Roll Call: 5  -  0.  Motion unanimously approved.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

William T. Priegel, President

Michael L. Kremer, Ph.D.

District Administrator

 

Approved:  October 30, 2006       

 

/s/ Crystal A. Berg                                                        

Crystal A. Berg, Clerk