School Board Meeting - Thursday, February 14, 2008

1. Call to Order, Regular Meeting 7 pm – President, Ellen Dodson called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm and led the Pledge to the Flag.  The meeting was held in the District Office.

Attendance:            Board Members – Ellen Dodson; Jim Freeman; Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt; David Smith.

                              [                                   

Certificated Administrators – Jim Frey; Trina Hall

                                                                  Dr Gantman was absent & excused.

                                                               i.      Oath of Office for Re-elected Board Members – Ellen Dodson   Mr. Frey read the oath for Ms Dodson to recite.  Ms Dodson was congratulated on her re-election.

                                                             ii.      Good of the Order

2.       Approval of Minutes – January 10 regular meeting & January 24 special meeting and worksession.   Mr. Smith moved and Mr. Pfeiffer-Hoyt seconded the motion to approve the Minutes.  Motion passed

3.       Consent Agenda – Mr. Smith moved and Mr. Freeman seconded the motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion passed. 

a.       Personnel Actions

b.       Overnight Trips –

                                                               i.      State Basketball Tournament – March 4 – 7 @ Tacoma

                                                             ii.      Floral Team –

1.       March 14 @ Warden, WA

2.       April 4 @ Spokane for State Competition

                                                            iii.      State Ag Mechanics – April 22 – 23 @ Walla Walla

                                                           iv.      Wake Robin Forestry Contest – March 7 @ Longview

                                                             v.      Livestock Judging Contest – March 28 – 29 @ Moses Lake

                                                           vi.      Forestry Contest – April 24 – 25 @ Wenatchee

                                                          vii.      State FFA Forestry – May 1 & 2

                                                        viii.      State FFA Convention – May 13 – 18 @ Pullman

                                                           ix.      Puget Sound Jr. Livestock Show & Sale – June 5 – 7

                                                             x.      NW Washington Fair – August 10 – 17

                                                           xi.      State Math Team Competition – April 25 – 26 @ Yakima

c.       Approval of Accounts Payable for February 08 and Payroll for January 08

Vouchers audited and certified by the auditing officer as required by RCW 42.24.080, and those expense claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090, have been recorded on a listing, which has been made available to the Board.  As of this day, February 14, 2008 the Board by a unanimous vote does approve the payment of those vouchers included in the above list and further described as follows:  ASB Fund vouchers #190 - 206 in the total amount of $9,639.25; Capital Projects Fund voucher #1212 in the total amount of $2,257.50; and General Fund vouchers #18775 – 18929 in the total amount of $220,802.54.

4.       Information from Board Members

Report on School Board Goals – School Board Portfolio – The portfolio provides accountability for progress the board is making in achieving its goals.  School Board members attended and/or took part in:

o        Visited with Kent Rogers, Academic Academy at Acme

o        Met with Acme Principal, Ellyn Erickson

o        WSSDA Math Standards Conference with Terry Bergeson

o        Leadership WSSDA

o        WSSDA Legislative Conference

o        Scholarship Foundation

o        Senior Citizens’ Dinner

o        Rome Grange Breakfast

5.       Information from the Audience – Trina Hall reported that Author Chris Crutcher would be presenting readings to junior and senior high students on Friday, February 29.  Ms Hall invited board members to the readings.

6.       Action Items –

a.       Curriculum Review Schedule – Trina Hall provided handouts and described the review schedule.  This information was also discussed in the January 24 worksession.  Information at this meeting satisfies the requirement for a formal presentation to the board.   Mr. Freeman moved and Mr. Smith seconded the motion to approve the schedule as presented.  Motion passed.

b.       Acceptance of Donation to Kendall Elementary School – Acceptance of a donation of $50,000.00 to Kendall Elementary School to be used for materials & supplies from the estate of Catherine Snider.  Ms. Hart moved and Mr. Smith seconded the motion to gratefully accept the donation.  Motion passed.

c.       Acceptance of Donation from BP Refinery – Acceptance of a donation of $500.00 to Kendall Elementary School to be used to fund a fieldtrip for Kendall students to Olympia was considered.  A Kendall parent, Steve Barton, applied for the contribution from BP refinery.  Mr. Freeman moved and Ms. Hart seconded the motion to gratefully accept the donation.  Motion passed

7.       Policy –

a.       Policy #2410 – Graduation Requirements; special education modifications – This version was introduced in the January 10 meeting.  Mr. Pfeiffer Hoyt moved and Mr. Freeman seconded the motion to approve for 1^st reading.  Motion passed.

b.       Policy #2161 – Special Education; compliance modifications – This version was introduced in the January 10 meeting.  Mr. Frey said Special Education Director, Pat Bieber-Holmes suggested a minor change in wording before final adoption.  Mr. Pfeiffer Hoyt moved and Mr. Freeman seconded the motion to approve for 1^st reading, with the proviso that Ms Holmes suggestions would be incorporated before 2^nd reading and adoption.  Motion passed.

8.       Reports –

a.       Superintendent’s Report – Mr. Frey presented the Superintendent’s Report; items include:

o        Retirement of Pat Bieber-Holmes & Ellyn Erickson; difficult employees to replace two long-time employees

o        Deming Diking District Work

o        Harmony Elementary Principal One-Candidate Process

o        Acme Elementary Principal Candidate Process

o        School Improvement Plan (SIP) Process

o        M & O Levy Brochure

b.       Business Manager’s Report –

§         Denise Ellis provided back reports from September – December 2007.  Ms Ellis said that work is continuing on conversion to the new accounting system.

9.       Meeting(s) Schedule – All meetings begin at 7 pm in the District Office unless otherwise noted

a.       Work sessions & Special Meetings –

§         Thursday, February 28 – SIP, Grades 7 – 12

b.       Regular Meetings

§         Thursday, March 13 @ Acme Elementary School

10.   Executive Session – There was no Executive Session.  At 8:55 pm Ms Dodson adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully Submitted:

                                                                  ATTEST:                                              

Ellen Dodson, President                                          Jim Frey, Assistant Superintendent

CERTIFICATED EMPLOYMENT

CLASSIFIED EMPLOYMENT

LEAVES OF ABSENCE

RESIGNATIONS

Attachment “A”

Good of the Order

February 14, 2008

Washington Aerospace Scholars, a distance learning and summer residency program for high school juniors, announces four junior from Mt Baker High school have been selected as Washington Aerospace Scholars for 2007-2008.  The Mt Baker scholars named are Alexander Cutler, Geliza Hoese, Jacob Larson and Kaman Lee.  The students are among 225 talented juniors from across the state accepted into the first phase of Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS).

These 225 students are currently participating in Phase One of WAS: distance learning with a NASA-designed curriculum covering the history of space exploration, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, the Moon, and Mars.  From January through May, the Scholars will complete ten lessons – submitting quizzes, math solutions, essays, and graphics concerning these topics every other week.  Scholars will independently select a topic of interest for a final project combining an essay with a graphic.  Scholars are also competing for a space in one of our four summer residency sessions. 

Phase Two of WAS is a six-day summer residency experience for 160 students.  Selection is competitive and centers around performance in Phase One of WAS.  In each residency session, 40 Scholars are selected to work cooperatively to plan a human mission to Mars with support from professional engineers/scientists, university students, and certificated educators.  Each session also includes briefings from aerospace professionals, tours of engineering facilities, and hands-on engineering challenges involving model rocketry, robotics, landing devices, and payload lofting.  The daily schedule is quite full, and the students lodge in double rooms at a local hotel under the supervision of certificated teachers. Summer residency sessions for 2008 are scheduled for June 22-27, July 6-11, July 13-18, and July 20-25.  Travel, lodging, and meal expenses are provided to participating students and teachers thanks to the WAS Foundation and many generous donors.

March 10-14 is Classified Employees Week in Washington State.  In a proclamation, Governor Gregoire continues a 30-year tradition, started in 1975 by Public School Employees of Washington, to recognize the contributions of classified education support professionals in education.  Classified personnel in the Mt Baker School District will be formally recognized in the March 13 School Board meeting which will be held at Acme Elementary School; other celebrations will be held throughout the month of March in school district buildings.

Our girls wrestling team has won the 2007-08 Wrestling Academic State Championship for our classification. Congratulations to the girls for this outstanding accomplishment!!  They will be competing this weekend (Feb. 15 & 16) at the wrestling state tournament in the Tacoma Dome and receiving their award for the Academic Championship on Saturday morning.

Girls Varsity Wrestling Team – Kristen Fogg, Chloe Grafwallner, Alexandria Lepper, Samantha Mount, Katie Newgard, Angelica Ortiz, Ahslee Phy, Rosy Rosas

In other sports news:

The following coaches were voted as Regional Coach of the year –  

Clyde Blockley - Girls Wrestling Regional Coach of the Year

Scott Smith - Junior High Regional Coach of the Year

Attachment “B”

Board Meeting Summary Page

MBSD Administration
MBSD Home Page