| July 13, 2011 |
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MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE Governing Board of Education Meeting Minutes July 13, 2011
A special meeting followed by a regular meeting of the Mountain Institute Governing Board of Education was held on July 13, 2011at the Mountain Institute District Office, 3003 Centerpointe East Dr., Prescott, AZand convened at 5:30 p.m. 5:30 P.M. SPECIAL HEARING TO REVIEW THE 2011-12 BUDGET
Chairman Roger Harlow called the meeting to order at 5:32 P.M. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/FLAG CEREMONY: The pledge was led by Roger Harlow. 3. ROLL CALL: Present were Board members Roger Harlow, Thomas Liuzzo, Maxine Howington 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; and Karen Leja, Board Secretary. 4. BUDGET HEARING: Dr. Polvani explained by law we must hold a public hearing to review the 2011-12 budget. Mr. Moody reminded board members they voted on the proposed budget at the June 29 meeting. After that meeting an error was found and board members were emailed that a difference of $17,000 was corrected. Mr. Moody reviewed budget documents presented this evening with that correction:
Tony Carroll arrived at 5:35 p.m.
Mr. Moody said the $89,862 in capital outlay could be moved to M&O before May of next year if needed. Ms. Howington asked about carryover funds. Mr. Moody confirmed MI can carryover 4% of M&O.
Casey Samsill arrived at 5:40 p.m. Heidi Baker arrived at 5:43 p.m. Mr. Moody said he and Yavapai County Education Service Agency Deputy Chief Rita Leyva have spent many hours reviewing the budget line items.
Mr. Harlow asked for any further discussion; hearing none, he asked for a motion to adjourn. Mr. Liuzzo moved to adjourn the public hearing to review the 2011-12 budget. Mr. Taylor seconded and the motion carried 7-0. The hearing was adjourned at 5:49 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION
1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr. Harlow called the regular meeting to order at 5:49 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL: Present were Board members Roger Harlow, Tony Carroll, Thomas Liuzzo, Maxine Howington, Heidi Baker, 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; and Karen Leja, Board Secretary. 3. ADOPTION OF THE JULY 13, 2011 AGENDA: Mr. Harlow said the Administration is waiting on final documents of the Pima Curriculum IGA and recommend removing item 7B. Mr. Liuzzo moved to adopt the July 13, 2011 agenda as modified with removal of Item 7B – Pima Curriculum IGA. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 7-0. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: There was no public participation.
5. SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS: A. Superintendent Dr. Polvani distributed the agenda for the statewide JTED Superintendents Retreat to be held in Tucson July 20 and 21. Major discussion items include: communication and marketing; loss of 9th grade funding and how to deal with it; federal monitoring procedures and Perkins priority grants. He said the Association for Career and Technical Education of Arizona (ACTEAZ) conference in Tucson has a special break-out session for JTEDs and he and Mr. Harlow plan to attend. Dr. Polvani reminded board members the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) summer leadership conference is being held the last week of July in Flagstaff. If any board member is interested in attending, contact Karen to make reservations. Also, he said the ASBA School Law Conference is being held Sept. 7-10 in Scottsdale. Again if board members are interested in attending, contact Karen to make reservations. Dr. Polvani said he and Mr. Plumb are visiting Ash Fork and Seligman school districts tomorrow (July 14) and have a meeting with the new Seligman Superintendent, Dr. Kristin Rex.
B. Governing Board Members Ms. Howington reported she attended a Meet & Greet for the new Seligman Superintendent Dr. Kristin Rex. Ms. Howington plans to set up a meeting with her in the near future to discuss the JTED. Mr. Liuzzo reported NextEra Energy Resources has been advertising in the local newspaper for hiring for their new wind farm near Seligman.
Mr. Harlow reported services for Mr. Bob Kaecker will be held on July 28 in the high school auditorium. Mr. Kaecker had been a very active and supportive member of the CV school board since 2000. He also reported the ASBA Executive Director Panfilo Contreras has resigned. 6. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. Discussion Item: Curriculum/Instruction/Program Status. Mr. Plumb reported the first MI instructor orientation and training will be held July 27th at the District Office. He distributed a draft agenda that included items on: welcome and overview of JTED; Moodle platform training; WIKI training; Schoolmaster training; attendance and grading procedures; and purchasing procedures. Mr. Samsill asked if board members may attend and Mr. Plumb said absolutely board members are welcome. Mr. Plumb reported there are 148 central campus enrollments. There are an additional 20 students who have attended parent meeting/orientation but have not returned their registration packet. Follow-up is being done with these students. The two new counselors are planning to recruit the first week of school and administration hopes to have 175 central campus enrollees total. Mr. Plumb reported we have students from Williams that will be attending Welding at Yavapai College CTEC campus. Williams High School is actually in the jurisdiction of the Coconino JTED but due to icy road conditions transporting students to our sites is easier. Originally it had been planned to hold the class at Ash Fork but an instructor was not available. Mr. Samsill asked if there is a transportation liability issue. Mr. Plumb confirmed Ash Fork Joint USD is transporting students and liability would first fall to AFJUSD. Ms. Howington said Williams would be a good location to transport students from Seligman. Dr. Polvani said this is a pilot and the door is open to expanding options for Seligman students.
Mr. Plumb reported MI Administration has been working with the transportation directors at Humboldt USD, Prescott USD, Chino Valley USD and Mayer USD to develop JTED transportation routes. He expects to get final routes and bus stop information by July 25. Ash Fork bought a new mini bus and will drive students to CTEC with a pick up and drop at Chino Valley High School along the way. Mayer and Bradshaw Transportation Directors are having discussions how to share rider ships.
Reporting on the Growth & Sustainability Grant remodel projects, Mr. Plumb said Ash Fork and Seligman passed medical gas testing today and Mayer passed two weeks ago. The Bagdad site finished construction and should have gas testing in a couple of weeks. Final inspections of all sites will be very soon.
B. Discussion item: Policies review – bullying, sexual harassment, chair rotation. Mr. Harlow reminded board members at the start of the JTED the board spent many hours developing policies for the district to follow. Several items have come up recently that need to be reviewed and researched: bullying, sexual harassment, medical marijuana and chair rotation. Dr. Polvani began the discussion by reviewing the transmittal in the board packet. Currently, the MI Policy Manual does not specifically address Student to Student bullying. A copy of ASBA Policy Advisory 404 on Student Violence/Harassment/Intimidation/Bullying was included in the board packet. Dr. Polvani said the Advisory defines what bullying is, gives examples of bullying, procedures on how to record, and complaint forms. Dr. Polvani said in most cases student situations will be handled by the home school however it would be a good idea for MI to have a policy in place. Ms. Howington pointed out an article from today’s Prescott Daily Courier on bullying and said she thinks it is important to adopt such a policy as bullying is a societal issue. She said MI is preparing students for the workplace and bullying, harassment and intimidation can unfortunately happen in the workplace. Mr. Samsill asked if other school districts have a bullying policy in place. Dr. Polvani said most districts adopt policies pretty close to what ASBA recommends. Mr. Moody said Humboldt USD has many policies on harassment. Mr. Samsill recommended counseling and intervention need to be part of the policy. Mr. Liuzzo said he is in favor of a policy and MI should look at the satellite districts and be in alignment with them. Mr. Carroll agreed a policy should be added and recommends cyber bullying be included. With distance learning, board members agreed cyber bullying will be a concern. Mr. Samsill suggested MI discuss the bullying policy with the satellite district superintendents. Dr. Polvani thanked the board members for their comments and said staff will take their direction to research the satellite districts and formulate a policy.
Dr. Polvani said MI has a policy on sexual harassment, Policy ACA, which is included in the board packet. Board members asked Dr. Polvani to make sure policy regulations were up-to-date. Mr. Taylor asked if the policy had been exercised in our district. Dr. Polvani said no reports have been made to date. Dr. Polvani said he will confirm Policy ACA is up-to-date.
Dr. Polvani reported ASBA is working on a policy on medical marijuana and he recommends waiting on this topic for their recommendations. Mr. Carroll asked if MI has a policy on prescription drugs. Dr. Polvani said he believed yes but he would bring policy details back to the board at a future meeting. Dr. Polvani said the final policy review item is Governing Board Chair rotation. He reviewed the chronology of actions taken in the past for the board chair position. Bagdad has been represented as chair and Chino Valley has been represented twice. In the board packet is a copy of Policy BDA on the organizational meeting and chair election and a copy of Arizona statute 15-393J which covers the annual chair election process on a rotational basis. Last January through omission, we elected the same person for a subsequent position as chair. It was realized this was against policy and checked with Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter and Deputy County Attorney Randy Schurr. It was clear to the County representatives that MI needed to give each district an opportunity to be chair if they had not. In the course of seven years, each district representative needs to have a chance to be chair. This was done at another meeting and each district representative declined election. At the time, the Seligman seat was vacant. The rotation was started again and Mr. Harlow agreed to be chair and was elected. At the next organizational meeting in January the Seligman district should have the opportunity to be chair. At a past meeting, the Governing Board members asked Dr. Polvani to get clarification from the County Attorney if Seligman offered to be chair but was not elected what would happen. Dr. Polvani said he sent a letter to Mr. Schurr and received the response that he declined to review. He believes the rotation should be addressed by policy. Dr. Polvani said our rotation is currently wide open. We do not follow an alphabetical system, or other rotational system. Mr. Carroll suggested the Administration develop a policy with a rotation cycle. Mr. Moody said he had researched six or seven of the JTEDs and found only one JTED, EVIT, had a rotation policy. Mr. Carroll asked if the Administration could provide a list of roles and responsibilities of the chair. Mr. Samsill said he thinks any person on the board offering to be chair should be offered the chance. Mr. Taylor summarized that the board should have a policy, alphabetical or some other system that can be followed year to year. The person next in line would be nominated. If that person declines, it moves to the next person. If the person accepts, the board votes and if approved the person is chairman. If the person does not get voted in; the system takes us to the next person. Dr. Polvani thanked board members for their input. He said the Administration will do some further research and come back with a recommendation. He understands the consensus of the board is that some type of policy is in order. Mr. Harlow said there is nothing in the policy about vice chair. Board members agreed if we have a policy of a vice chair ascending to the chair it compounds the problem. Mr. Harlow suggested the legislation needs to be changed on the chair rotation. Mr. Liuzzo said the Governor’s Regulatory Review Committee (GRRC) is the committee you work with to change legislation but he understands due to budget constraints they are not looking at any new items. Dr. Polvani said the idea of a rotational chair was intentional to not have one district dominate the consortium. Mr. Carroll suggested that MI can submit a review of Statute 15-393J for the next ASBA legislative priorities. 7. ACTION ITEMS: A. Consent Agenda: The following items were on the consent agenda:
4. Approval to exceed M&O subsection budget.. Ms. Baker moved to approve the consent agenda items. Mr. Taylor seconded and the motion carried 7-0. B. Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of Pima Curriculum IGA. Agenda item removed. C Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of the 2011-12 Adopted Budget Mr. Moody asked if there were any additional questions on the 2011-12 Budget after the discussion in the Public Hearing. Ms. Howington moved to approve the 2011-12 Adopted Budget. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 7-0. D. Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of Allied Sports Medicine .6 FTE Instructor for 2011-12. Mr. Plumb reminded board members the Allied Sports Medicine .6 FTE instructor position had been approved at the last meeting. This position has been posted and MI Administration is requesting approval to hire Melissa Gustavson as the instructor. Mr. Carroll moved to approve Ms. Melissa Gustavson to fill the 0.6 FTE instructor position for Allied Health Sports Medicine. Mr. Taylor seconded and the motion carried 7-0.
E. Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of Administrative Assistant I candidate for 2011-12. Dr. Polvani reminded board members they had approved an Administrative Assistant I position a few months ago as part of the staff reorganization. The position was posted; 15 applicants were reviewed; 5 candidates were interviewed; and 3 candidates were brought back for final interviews. The Administration recommends hiring Ms. Rebecca Zimmer. Ms. Zimmer is an assertive, talented, organized person and the Administration feels she will fill the role very well. Mr. Taylor moved to approve hiring Rebecca Zimmer for the Administrative Assistant I position for 2011-12. Mr. Liuzzo seconded and the motion carried 7-0.
F. Discussion/Possible Action Item: Consider approval of Governing Board Goals for 2011-12 Dr. Polvani reminded board members the Vision, Mission and Values have not changed. There have been slight wording changes to Goal II. The Board Goals and Objectives for the year will be reviewed quarterly as the superintendent’s evaluation is tied to progress on the goals and objectives. Mr. Carroll moved to approve the Governing Board Goals for 2011-12 as presented. Ms. Baker seconded and the motion carried 7-0.
8. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mr. Harlow said the items planned for the August 3 tentative meeting will be moved to August 17 and the meeting for August 3 removed.
8/17/2011 Regular Meeting 6 p.m. MI District Office
Mr. Carroll said he will be on vacation next week and some time in August; he will be available for the August 17 meeting. Mr. Moody explained to board members that a number of vouchers will be processed in the next few weeks to close out the past fiscal year and start the new fiscal year. Dr. Polvani said staff is collecting information on Registration Days/Open Houses at satellite sites and information will be sent to board members as part of the Superintendent’s weekly update.
9. ADJOURNMENT: Ms. Baker moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Taylor seconded and the motion carried 7-0. The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Harlow at 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Leja Board Secretary |
Governing Board & MIJTED Staff
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