Moving into the 21st century...

Effective with the Nov. 22 meeting the board is away from paper copies of board agendas and documents to the  web based  "Board Docs" system.  Board Docs provides tiered access over the web to documents for the board, administrators and the public.  The public portal can be found here:  http://www.boarddocs.com/wi/mgsd/Board.nsf/Public.  A list of meeting agendas is found in the column on the right hand side of the screen, click through to see the item as well as additional information and attachments.
_________________________________________________________________
The next board meeting (and first electronic one) will be on Tuesday the 22nd.  Items of note:

J. Unfinished Business
1. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposals for Physics and Honors Physics
2. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for Introduction to College Writing
3. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for AP Music Theory  . 4. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for After School At-Risk Program

The board will be considering three new courses at the high school.  The Physics/Honors Physics class is a continuation of the Biology/Chemistry track for freshman and sophomores recently instituted.  The college writing course is for students who need to improve their writing skills to the college level, the course is aligned with a Madison College writing course and college credit is available upon successful completion.  The AP Music Theory course will be the only non-performance music course offered at the high school and is intended for students interested in a career in music or strongly interested in composition.   The After School At Risk proposal is for a program to provide additional instruction and mentoring for students in need.   This will be funded from dedicated Title 1 monies, not general funds.

5. Discussion and Possible Approval of MGHS Parking Lot Concepts  

The board will consider options for realignment of the driveway to the staff parking lot onto Monona Drive as part of the Monona Drive reconstruction project.

7. Discussion and Possible Approval of Concealed Carry Signage

Wait, what?  Under WI new concealed carry law the carrying of weapons in schools and on school grounds is still illegal, and constitutes a felony.  However those with CC permits may now carry a weapon up to the edge of the school property, where previously weapons were prohibited within 1000 ft of a school.  In addition weapons are now allowed in vehicles on school property provided they are unloaded and locked up.  The board will consider signage on school buildings to provide a reminder of the prohibition of weapons.

9. Budget Reduction Discussion

Sigh.  A proposed outline for this year's process can be found here.  A draft timeline here.

Meanwhile in the IMC...

State Superintendent of school Tony Evers held a press conference in the the MG High School IMC this morning to announce the results of the DPI's annual survey of Wisconsin School districts.  Craig, Sue Fox, Susan Howe and an Administrator, parent and student from across the state participated in the press conference  This year the survey highlights the impact of reductions to school budget across the state.  An interactive map of the results can be found here.

Most districts have reduced staff and/or increased class size and reduced programs. Although the complicated state funding formula means that the impact is different in each district, in general the savings from compensation reductions mandated by Act 10 do not fully offset  the reduction in funds.  In MG the budget deficit exceeded the savings by more 2.5x, resulting in various cuts.  2/3rds of school districts report they are expecting to make even deeper cuts next year.

I'll say it again: what concerns me most is the cumulative corrosive effect of the loss of time, resources and energy spent on the annual budget scramble that should be deployed in the quest for school improvement.  

Upcoming issues:

Wednesday's meeting is a "Committee of the Whole" - we will discuss but not act on any items.  Here are some significant ones:

E.  Discussion Items/Policy Review
1. Presentation of the Parking Lot Concepts for Monona Grove High School and Access Changes to
 Monona Drive – Tom Lynch, Strand Associates      

As the reconstruction for Monona drive goes past the high school the entrance to the parking lot on the south side of the building needs to be relocated to make room for a protected left turn feature in the center of the road.  The board is considering some of the options, which include moving the drive north so that it is opposite Lofty Ave, or moving it south so it is midway between Lofty and Springhaven.  This second option would likely result in the removal of some of the trees in the corner of the lot.  In either case we would need to reconfigure the parking, but it is possible to add several spaces.

3. Update on Employee Handbook  Process       (10 Min)

Our current contracts with employees will expire in July of 2012.  By that time the district has to have a "handbook" in place that replaces the current contract and codifies in policy the relationship between the school district and its employees.  I view this document as the most important project before the board as it will impact all aspects of operations for the foreseeable future.

7. High School Course Proposals: Paul Brost and High School Teachers
  Physics, Honors Physics , Introduction to College Writing , AP Music Theory, and After
  School At-Risk Program       (30 Min) 

Paul Brost and the High School staff will be presenting information on these proposed classes.

Looking for something to do this afternoon?

Playtime Productions Children's Theater starts their fall tour of http://www.playtimeproductions.org/schedule.htm this afternoon at 2pm in the Monona Library auditorium.  Other nearby shows on the schedule include the MG High School Auditorium Friday, Nov.11th at 7pm and the Barrymore Theatre Sunday, Nov. 20th at 6pm. 

Founded by Monona's Teddy Studt, Playtime Productions has been providing great children's entertainment as well as terrific opportunities for young performer for 32 years!

Here we go again...

This year's budget reduction process (for the 2012-13 school year) starts now. The familiar and seemingly endless cycle of budget reductions will start again this month as the board will consider the Superintendent's recommended process timeline.  We must be prepared to act by the Feb. 22 board meeting.

How big a deficit do we expect for next year?  We are estimating about $2 million.  Although this is a bit less than last year's, the last time around there were some easy savings: we took a million out of staff compensation and spent $800K from stimulus funds.  So if your kid isn't in high school Calculus or one of the other classes with increased size, or a patron of some of the other services we trimmed, you might not have noticed much difference

But this year there isn't any more low hanging fruit, and it doesn't look like there will be any more help from Washington.   That means the majority of the cuts are going to be noticeable reductions in services- and some of this will inevitably come out of the classroom, as that is where the great majority of money is spent.  $2 million represents the compensation of more than 30 teachers.

http://www.herald-independent.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=2949