President’s Report
Bob Ogle, President
March 26, 2012 Regular Meeting
The meeting opened at 6:30 PM with all board members present, with exception of Richard Elkins. Five students from Boerne Middle School North’s student council led the Pledge of Allegiance and Pledge to the Texas Flag. As is a Board custom, students are invited to ask the Board questions; their first question was in regard to the bleachers at their school. They are concerned about what will happen to them since the bond did not pass. Bob Ogle responded that they would continue to be repaired to make them safe, and that the issue will be addressed again. Vice President Erin wanted to know whether or not a more accelerated curriculum would be added to the Middle Schools. Right now only math is an option, and she said a number of students had expressed interest in a more rigorous curriculum being offered. Bob deferred to Mr. Stelmazewski who said that right now that no other courses are being planned. The final question was in regard to the large 8th grade class and how that would affect BHS remaining 3A. Don Tillis addressed this question by explaining that the new 6A classification might affect BHS growth. The possibility is there for CHS to become 5A and BHS to become 4A or that both high schools may very well be 4A. As Bob explained, you can try to plan for everything, but who knew that the UIL would come up with another classification! The girls finished up by telling the Board about some of their activities – Red Ribbon Week, Pennies for Patients, School Supply Drive for Bastrop and the talent show raised enough money to replace some of the panels in the marquis.
The agenda was approved as presented.
Commendations began with recognition for the BISD Support Staff of the Year, James Valderas, a KES custodian. That was followed by recognition of BHS All State Band and All State Jazz Band students. Shawn Hampton was among the top French horns in the All State Band and Austin Roseman was 10th overall in the state for trumpet in the All State Jazz Band. Ten students also received commendations for their All State Solo/Ensemble performances which qualified them for State. Coach McClure and Coach Gillette came up with the swim team from both high schools. They were recognized for their performances and Coach McClure was recognized for her Boys Swimming Coach of the Year recognition.
The final presentations during commendations were from the VFW. VFW Commander David Judson and Herman Floyd presented the winners of the Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy certificates and savings bonds. The Patriot’s Pen award is for 6th-8th graders. They write a 300-400 word essay and the topice this year was, “Are you proud of your country?” The 1st place winner, Hannah Dickerson actually placed 2nd in our VFW district and the student who won 1st actually won 1st place at the state level – this to say that Hannah had written an excellent essay! She was invited to read her essay at the Memorial Service later in May. The Voice of Democracy essay is not only written, but also recorded. Unfortunately, a number of the students receiving awards for the Voice of Democracy essay could not be present. Commander David Judson advised that arrangements for their distribution would be made at the campus level.
Maryanna Pearson and other parents came forward to share with the Board what AMIGOS was. It is a parent group Advocating for Mutlilingual Interests and Growth of Students. They provided the Board with a handout explaining their mission, goals, and objectives for next school year. There were no comments from teacher groups.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance Bruce Revell reported that we were still on target for this time of year. He pointed out that the securities and monitoring services was up, but that was due to the WiFi installation which the Board had approved in February. Bruce corrected the number on the tax collection report from an increase of 3.07% to an increase of 1.5% from last year. He is still very happy about the fact that we continue to be ahead in tax collections! Bruce and the Board noted the lower ADA percentage during Period 4, but Bruce still felt confident that we would end the year still above the approved budget. Nothing in particular has been determined to have caused the dip in attendance, but they continue to look into it. During the Consent Agenda, Board members expressed gratitude again for donations amounting to an incredible $148,542.51!
Superintendent David Stelmazewski highlighted the updates on his goals. He mentioned that STAAR testing started this week and he felt that teachers and students were prepared! He mentioned that there were some action items related to the Hispanic Advisory Committee that he felt were very manageable and would help address goals 4-6 on Student Achievement (closing the gap, building bridges to college/global workforce, support and nurturing of vulnerable students). April 5, 2012 is the next date for the budget committee to meet based on previous discussion from that committee. A phone survey would be starting this week to determine what factors specifically were involved with the results of the bond. Hopefully this will eliminate a bunch of speculation. Results would be presented to the Board by the next meeting. Finally, Mr. Stelmazewski noted that he continues to make connections and give presentations to various organizations, civic groups, other committees, and through TASA.
Jennifer Christianson gave an update on the final meeting of the Hispanic Advisory Committee Meeting for this school year. The committee expressed a wish to continue meeting next year, and hopefully, some of the action items referenced by Mr. Stelmazewski would be implemented so that there would be even greater input and awareness of the work of the committee by both the employees of the district and the Latino population that the district serves! Bob Ogle asked how many members were on the committee. Jennifer explained that there was representation from every campus and the community, and the average attendance was between 12-15 members.
The Consent Agenda was approved as presented. The Consent Agenda included donations/budget amendments, approval of a contract extension for Third Party Plan Administration to First Finanical Services, approval of new TEA instructional materials EMAT/EVI certification form, and approval of the PDAS teacher evaluation list of appraisers for the remainder of the school year. Susan Hulett asked for clarification on the instructional materials certification form, and Sandra Radtke explained that it was a formality that was not required last year. It simply was to assure the state that the materials chosen and paid for with the money allocated meet the TEKS for any particular subject. Both Mr. Stelmazewski and Mrs. Radtke assured the Board that all materials used address the TEKS. Bruce Revell also pointed out that this would be the last year to do a contract extension with First Financial Services and the third party plan administrator would be rebid next year. He did point out that there would not be any changes to medical insurance providers – once you’re with TRS, there’s no switching to someone else.
Under Unfinished/New Business, Steve Stewart updated the Board that all campuses were WiFi compatible. They were still working through a few glitches, but he felt sure that those would be worked out in the very near future. There was also a brief update on the upcoming elections. Jennifer Christianson asked about possible increase of cost of the election because of the city council elections being postponed. Marica Leach explained that joint costs in the election were shared among City of Boerne, Kendall County, the Water District and the BISD. The City was cancelling their council election but there would still be an election related to re-districting.
Included in the election update were schedules and polling sites for early voting and election day.
The most discussed item of the evening surrounded the resolution to grant Freeport goods a tax exemption. There are currently 4 businesses in Boerne that qualify for receiving this tax exemption. It relates to interstate transport of goods that are manufactured here and held here less than 175 days. All local municipalities must decide to allow the exemption or not. Mr. Gary Eldridge, Kendall County’s Chief Appraiser was on hand to answer any questions. He clarified the constitutional law and provisions for qualification. He pointed out that the county had already voted to allow the exemption that morning and the city would be addressing it the following evening. Discussion amongst board members encompassed the idea that the district would collect $250,000 only to keep a little more than $16,000 because of Robin Hood and the funding formulas. Susan Hulett and Jennifer Christianson expressed concern of passing up any income in light of the budget committee meeting and the need to find money to help alleviate the $1.5 million in cuts. Lydia Beaver also expressed concern about the fact that this would be in perpetuity (unless the Texas lawmakers changed the law), since this decision could not be reversed. In other words, should the funding formulas ever change, as Susan put it, “future Boards’ hands would be tied.” Alan Rich, Ron McBee and Bob Ogle pointed out that these businesses already contribute quite a bit to the tax base and they provide a number of jobs to people who would live in Boerne and also contribute to the community. All agreed that it’s less than desirable to collect the tax and have to send the majority back to the State, as Bob Ogle put it, the district serving as a clearing house for the State. Susan Hulett requested another month to deliberate before voting on the resolution. Other board members were willing to honor the request, so it was moved to delay approval of the resolution until April.
Board members requested the addition of the Freeport Tax exemption and a report from the phone community survey to be included on the April agenda. Jennifer Christianson questioned when the Board would address the homeschool items, previously tabled for discussion until the new supertintendent was seated. The Board has agreed to put that item for discussion on the June agenda.
The Board adjourned into Closed Session at 8:30 PM. We reconvened in Open Session at 9:08 PM with several motions. Resignations were approved for:
Elizbeth Coleman, Sp. Ed. Teacher at KES;
Richard Davis, Academy Teacher;
Zachary Grigsby, CHS Teacher/coach;
Gloria Hallberg, 4th Gr. Teacher at CES;
Melvin Hallberg, 5th Gr. Teacher at CES;
Paul Harris, Science Teacher/coach at BHS;
Rhonda Loth, Teacher of students with visual impairments;
Trista Luciano, 5th Gr. Dual Language at CES;
Will Moore, 6th Gr. Teacher at KES;
Tanya Tate, Dyslexia Teacher at KES and;
Nancy Winchester, 1st Gr. Teacher at KES.
The Board approved a one year probationary dual contract for Kristopher Price as teacher/coach at BHS for the remainder of the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 school years.
He replaces Scott Campbell’s position.
The Board also approved probationary and term contracts of teachers as they appeared on the attached list.
The meeting ended at 9:12 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
April 3, 2012
Board Secretary
