| January 12, 2011 |
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MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE Governing Board of Education Regular Meeting Minutes January 12, 2011 A regular meeting of the Mountain Institute Governing Board of Education was held on January 12, 2011at the Mountain Institute District Office, 3003 Centerpointe East Drive, Prescott, AZand convened at 6:00 pm 6:00 P.M. REGULAR SESSION
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/FLAG CEREMONY: The pledge was led by Roger Harlow. 3. ROLL CALL: Present were Board members Heidi Baker, Tony Carroll, Roger Harlow, Thomas Liuzzo, Casey Samsill, and Michael Taylor. A quorum was established. Also present were; Ray Polvani, Mountain Institute Superintendent; Jeramy Plumb, Program Director; Howard Moody, ESA consultant and Finance Director; Sandy Somsen, Career Education Coordinator; and Karen Leja, Board Secretary. Guests from the community were: Paula Rhoden, Prescott Daily Courier; Jesse Eller, Yavapai County Health Department; Ronnie Hawley, Chemical Lime Company. 4. PRESENTATION: Dr. Polvani thanked Ronnie Hawley for his service as Governing Board member representing Seligman for the past two years. Mr. Harlow presented him with a commemorative clock. 5. BOARD ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING: A. Swearing-in of Governing Board Members. Mr. Harlow gave the Oath of Office to Governing Board Members: Heidi Baker representing Ash Fork; Tony Carroll representing Bagdad; Thomas Liuzzo representing Humboldt; Casey Samsill representing Mayer; and Michael Taylor representing Prescott. B. Discussion/Action Item: Election of Governing Board Chair/Term of Office. Dr. Polvani explained by law each year there are certain organizational tasks the Governing Board acts on and one is election of a Chair. A Vice Chair may also be selected if the board members choose to do so. At the last meeting, board members were asked to indicate their interest in the Chair position and one member came forward, Roger Harlow. Dr. Polvani asked for any additional nominations. Hearing none, he asked for a motion. Mr. Samsill moved to approve Roger Harlow as Mountain Institute Governing Board Chair for a two-year term. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 6-0. C. Discussion/Action Item: Election of Governing Board Vice Chair/Term of Office. Mr. Harlow said one person had indicated interest in becoming Vice Chair: Tony Carroll. Mr. Harlow asked for any additional nominations. Hearing none, he asked for a motion to approve the Vice Chair. Mr. Liuzzo moved to approve Tony Carroll as Mountain Institute Governing Board Vice Chair for a term of two years. Ms. Baker seconded the motion. Mr. Moody questioned whether the vice chair position can be elected as a two-year term. The Administration did not have clear policy clarification. The motion carried 6-0. The Administration will clarify MI policy on election of the Chair and Vice Chair positions and terms of office. D. Discussion/Action Item: Establish regular Board Meeting Dates, Times and Location. Dr. Polvani explained each year the board votes to establish board meeting dates, time and location. The MI policy states the meetings are the first and third Wednesdays of the month. The 2010-11 revised meeting schedule was distributed in a transmittal to board members and discussed. Mr. Liuzzo said he has a conflict with the third Wednesday. Mr. Samsill said he and Mr. Carroll have a conflict with the second Wednesday. Further discussion continued on the revised dates previously approved by the board that are not the first or third Wednesdays. Mr. Samsill moved to leave the scheduled meeting dates, time and location as previously set. Mr. Carroll seconded and the motion carried 6-0. E. Discussion/Action Item: Establish official location for posting of Board agenda/minutes. Dr. Polvani explained the official location for posting is outside the front door of the district office. The agenda and minutes are also emailed to the satellite districts and posted on the MI website. Mr. Taylor moved to maintain the existing location for posting of board agenda/minutes. Mr. Liuzzo seconded and the motion carried 6-0. 6. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: There was no public participation. 7. CONSENT AGENDA: There were five items on the consent agenda: Approval of the minutes of the December 8, 2010 meeting; Approval of the January 12, 2011 agenda; Approval of Payroll Voucher 533 totaling $9,787.14; Approval of Expense Vouchers 8110 totaling $10,561.85; 8111 totaling $105,736.75; and 8112 totaling $17,466.51; and Approval of acceptance of a furnishings and equipment donation. Mr. Samsill questioned the payment to NJ Builders for $68,418. Mr. Moody and Mr. Plumb explained that was part of the Growth and Sustainability Grant to Ash Fork Unified School District. Mr. Liuzzo requested that capital expenses be separated or explanations be given for large payments in the future. Mr. Carroll moved to approve the consent agenda. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 6-0. 8. REPORTS: A. Governing Board Mr. Harlow thanked the students from the Bradshaw Mountain High School culinary program for this evening’s refreshments. He distributed the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) 2011 Political Agenda Priorities for members’ information. He announced the ASBA Spring Legal Conference to be held in Flagstaff on March 11 and said he planned to attend. As Michael Taylor was in attendance at his first board meeting, board member introduced themselves. B. Superintendent Dr. Polvani reported on several items:
Mountain Institute staff members introduced themselves. 9. OLD BUSINESS: A. Discussion Item: Curriculum/Instruction/Program Status. Ms. Somsen reviewed a chart of parent orientation meetings on central programs scheduled at Chino Valley High School, Prescott High School, Bradshaw Mountain High School, Mayer High School, Yavapai College Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) and at the District Office. Mr. Samsill questioned the reason for the parent meetings to be mandatory. Ms. Somsen and Mr. Plumb explained MI is trying to hold parents and students accountable for understanding the rules and policies of the JTED. Dr. Polvani said there will be exceptions to this rule but we are emphasizing the importance of parent knowledge and involvement. The new central programs recruitment video made by the Audio Video program students at Bradshaw Mountain High School was shown. Board members pointed out some possible safety issues in the video such as students not wearing goggles, hair nets and gloves in certain program shots. The MI Administration will work with the Audio Video program students to improve this. Ms. Somsen said the video has been shown at a few of the satellite schools and a large number of student interest cards have been received. Ms. Somsen reviewed central and satellite enrollment number charts distributed to board members. Current central program enrollment is 63 students. Current satellite enrollment is 2297 students. Preliminary numbers for 2011-12 central programs is at 88 students. The central programs have a high attrition rate. It is hoped by starting registration early and holding the parent meetings the attrition rate will be lowered. Mr. Samsill asked how enrollment can be increased at Ash Fork and Seligman. Mr. Plumb said their enrollments are actually at approximately 50% due to the small sizes of the schools. Ms. Baker said there are still transportation issues for students to attend Central programs. The administration is researching distance learning and clustering of programs as potential solutions to the outlying satellite school enrollments. Mr. Plumb gave a construction progress report on the Growth and Sustainability remodel sites at Ash Fork, Bagdad, Chino Valley, Mayer and Seligman. He also showed a power point of photos from each site. Ash Fork is 95% complete and students are building their own welding booths. It is lacking gas piping which is being arranged. The contractor has gone to the County building department to request a temporary certificate of occupancy to get students back in the facility. The Bagdad site is in the same condition waiting for gas piping. The Chino Valley culinary remodel is moving forward very well and may be the first one completely done. Mr. Plumb said he has been very impressed with the work of MacMillan Construction Company. The Mayer remodel is the least expensive but big changes can be seen and the students there have built their own welding booths. The Seligman remodel is 98% complete. It was decided to go with a different welding exhaust system at a late date which they are waiting on. Mr. Plumb said overall there are dramatic changes at each site and the administration looks forward to holding open houses to share the upgraded facilities with the public. Mr. Liuzzo suggested open houses be done at Bradshaw and Prescott High Schools as well and MI administration agreed. Mr. Samsill asked if students in Williams could take part in classes at Seligman High School. Mr. Plumb said Williams has some career and technical classes but are underserved in some areas. Some preliminary discussions have been held with the Coconino JTED as Williams is located in their district. B. Discussion Item: Finance Report – Program Costing. Mr. Moody reviewed the Fund Balances Report, Revenue Report and Expenditure Budget Balance Report provided to board members in their packets. Detailed account line item reports of revenue and expenses were provided to the board for their reference as well. He reminded board members the cash shown at $1,662,022.75 is based on the original ADM estimate of 550. The Arizona Department of Education is starting to correct the cash level by holding payments as was expected. The year-to-date revenue is $678,447.15. The revenue in the classroom site fund has been incorrectly allocated to us and will be taken away at some point. The two revenue funds of CTE Basic Grant and CTE Priority Grant relate to MI serving as fiscal agent for three of our smaller satellite districts. The satellite districts will spend the money and we will record it for the state. Mr. Plumb said monies have been encumbered at the districts and will be spent by the end of the year. Mr. Moody summarized a new report required by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC)—the Program Costing Report. The first page is an accumulation of 2009-10 costs per CTE/JTED programs. The additional eight pages break out the costs by district including the last page covering central programs. Mr. Samsill asked if a report is available on cost per student ratio and Mr. Moody said he will bring that data to the board at a later date. Mr. Samsill asked if additional comparison reporting can be made on costs per program, i.e. Automotive versus Business Management versus Drafting. Mr. Moody said additional reporting can be made on this. Dr. Polvani said the administration is quite aware that some programs will be more costly due to needed equipment and materials. Mr. Carroll asked what was categorized as “Other”? CTSO funds, CNA clinical site staff costs and transportation didn’t fall into categories listed so they were placed in “Other.” C. Discussion Item: Update on 2010-11 Governing Board Goals/Action Plan. Dr. Polvani said board members were provided in their packets a progress report on the 2010-11 Action Plan as this can be a lengthy item, Dr. Polvani said he could go through the highlights of the chart or board members could review on their own. Mr. Carroll suggested a summary be prepared and sent to the board electronically. 10. NEW BUSINESS:
2 Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of nominee for Forest Fee Management Board. . Dr. Polvani reviewed the transmittal in the board packet on this item. The Forest Fee Management Board is being seated to administer the various fees collected annually from the National Forests. Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter has devised a selection process that divides the County into five clusters by size. Mountain Institute is included in Group Three. Dr. Polvani said he nominated Howard Moody. A second candidate, Becky O’Banion, has also been nominated. Background information on both candidates was provided for board member review. Mr. Samsill moved to approve Howard Moody for the Forest Fee Management Board. Mr. Taylor seconded and the motion carried 6-0.
3. Discussion/Possible Action Item: Governing Board Agenda reformat. Dr. Polvani said the administration is recommending modification of the Governing Board Agenda format to eliminate the “Old Business” and “New Business” categories. They would be replaced with the category of “Business Items.” He explained this would simplify the planning and conduct of the Board agenda. Additionally, it would better comply with the Governing Board Policy BEDB-Agenda that has no reference to “Old” or “New” Business. Board members voiced concern that they like the old format and they didn’t know if historical items would be shown clearly. Dr. Polvani said the history of the item will be addressed in the transmittal. Lengthy discussion continued on the agenda format and it was suggested at the next meeting the current format be used but a sample agenda in the suggested new format be shown as well. Dr. Polvani thanked board members for their comments.
11. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Feb. 16, 2011 @ 6pm Regular Meeting MI District Office March 23, 2011 @ 6pm Regular Meeting MI District Office April 6, 2011 @ 6pm Regular Meeting MI District Office (tentative)
Over the next couple of months planning will be done for the June retreat and board members were asked to send their topic suggestions to Dr. Polvani or Mr. Harlow. 12. ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Samsill moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:39 p.m. by Chairman Harlow.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Leja Board Secretary |
Governing Board & MIJTED Staff
2012 Program Catalog
Click the image above to open a PDF program catalog.