Jet lag-

On the off chance you've been wondering where I've been, that's Eyjafjallajökull ( pronounced "Eh! Ya forgot my yogurt"!) erupting in the background.   Its a lovely place, when the weather clears up.  I got back early Wednesday- and was a bit jet lagged at the meeting, but I think this is what happened:

In the public comments section several teachers spoke regarding the contract negotiations, generally requesting that the board remove the modifications to the retirement benefits from the contract proposal.  On a related topic we received written notification that several teachers would no longer be participating in some activities viewed to be beyond the terms of the contract.

Other items of note: 
In unfinished business the board heard a discussion of, and approved, adoption of new biology text books necessary for the changes to the high school science curriculum.

The board approved administrative salaries with no increase for the coming contract year. 

The board discussed the location of the Alt. High School for next year and agreed to move ahead with moving the program to the Nichols building. At the last meeting there had been some discussion of moving this program to Winnequah, but there simply had not been time to thoroughly examine how that option would work or to inform and recieve feedback from the public.

Susan Fox announced committee appointments.  Appointment of board members are made by the board president, with the citizen membership made in consultation with the committee chairs.  The committees will be:
Business Services

Chair: Susan Manning
Susan Fox, Lionel Norton, Kathy Thomas (MN), Jeff Simpson (CG)

Policy:  Chair: Lionel Norton
Jessica Ace, Susan Manning, Beth Bingham (MN), Sharon Henes (CG)

Curriculum :  Chair: Peter Sobol
Jason McCutchin, Jill List, Andrew Bridell (MN), Jim Foley (CG)

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of continuous improvement activities in the district.  This detailed presentation examined efforts and results related to instructional facilitation in the High School, school climate at Glacial Drumlin, reading interventions in Winnequah, and math instruction at Cottage Grove Elementary.  We have seen significant positive results with these efforts, but mostly it is good to see that a continuous improvement model of operation is taking hold in the district - and it shows the importance of the resources necessary to support and develop these activities.  Although many staff members have made significant contributions, I don't think we would be where we are without the leadership of Ed O'Connor and John Faust, both of whom are leaving the district at the end of the year.

The board also received notice that Mary Ellen Van Valin, Business Services director is leaving the district.  The Herald-Independent has coverage here.  As Treasurer I have worked closely with Mary Ellen and can't say enough about her talents and how much this district relies on her expertise and experience to keep things running smoothly.

So what's been going on?

At Wednesday's board meeting we received a report from several Maywood staff members who detailed the implementation, management and results of the RtI programming in the school. I thought the presentation was an excellent illustration of how leadership, support services, professional development and science of education all need to come together to deliver a quality education.

Other items of note:
The board approved final notices of layoff for 11 teachers; 5 of the notices are only reductions in hours, and 2 of those eliminated were part time- the total reduction is 6.44FTE.

Some of these reductions are not related to budget cuts, but are the usual changes we see each spring due to things like leave of absence returns and adjustments for changing numbers of students.


We also spent some time discussing committee responsibilities. I have proposed that the board take some action to either expand committee roles or create special committees to address specific issues. I think we have a lot of public interest in helping the district this year and I don't think the traditional committee structures will be able to take full advantage of that support. The areas that I am concerned about are the budget and performance. We have very difficult budget problems before us, and we are really in need of innovative ideas if we are to avoid a death by a thousand cuts in the coming years. I also believe the board should create or adapt a structure to formalize its attention to issues of performance in the district. The idea is to institutionalize a focus on educational performance at the board level so that these issues get the recognition and attention that they need.

The board also discussed the location of the Alt. High School. Currently we are leasing space in a separate building, the idea is to bring the program into a district owned building to both provide more space (needed for expansion and enhanced programming) and save a bit of money. We had been considering moving the program into Nichols, but last night we also considered utilizing space in Winnequah School. The board needs to make this decision by the end of the month. In the end the board asked for the administration to provide additional information associated with the costs and issues of both options.