January 25, 2011

GOOCHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MONTHLY WORKSHOP
January 25, 2011
Annex Building Training Room

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER
Ivan O. Mattox, Sr., Chairman, called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m.

Present were:
Ivan O. Mattox, Sr., Chairman
James L. Haskell, Vice Chairman
Mr. Maxwell G. Cisne
Mr. Raymond A. Miller
Mr. Andrew A. Meng, III
Dr. Linda A. Underwood, Superintendent

Also attending were:
Peter M. Gretz, Assistant Superintendent
Thomas DeWeerd, Director of Secondary Education
Ernie McLeod, Director of Finance and Operations
Betty Thurston, Supervisor of Transportation
Sonny Turner, Supervisor of Maintenance
Diane Bennett, School Board Clerk

The Media was represented by:
Ken Odor, The Goochland Gazette

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

• John Wright suggested that all School Board members speak during the presentation to the Board of Supervisors.  He feels it strengthens the proposal.  He said there will probably be more revenues coming in and suggested those revenues go to the classroom.

• Jane Christie questions what the School Board didn’t do.  She said that last year they voted to reduce funding for textbooks by over $100,000, and yet last fall when Dr. Underwood proposed spending $45,000 on an outside consulting firm, no one questioned it.  Last week the School Board asked for approximately a 1% pay increase to teachers and bemoaned the fact that they are not as well paid as those in surrounding counties.  She asked why the School Board would now approve a budget that includes another approximately $100,000 administrative level position versus putting that amount toward the teacher increase.  She feels those funds could fund the two teaching positions at the middle school that will be lost in this budget.  Last year the budget for the school system was cut from $7,300 to $1,000 and the budget they are about to approve cuts it to $500.  During the same period funding for art supplies for the entire school system was cut from $15,500 to $4,500.  Yet, when the Superintendent proposed adding $15,000 to fund legal fees for special education, not one Board member questioned it.  Nor did the School Board question why no cuts could be made to the $1.5 million budget of high-level administrative personnel funded out of the instruction budget, or question $23,000 in travel/convention/association memberships, or $3,000 in refreshments.  She feels the School Board actions speak louder than words.  She feels administration has been rewarded handsomely and students and teacher have been targeted for disproportionate funding cuts.  In two budget cycles she has not seen any of the School Board members stand up to protect them.

• Michael McDermott stated he owes the School Board an apology in that he has chastised the School Board for trying to make things more difficult regarding the check registers that are distributed with the packets.  He noticed on the Goochland County website the School Board check registers are linked there to do data manipulation.  On one hand he wants to apologize, but on the other hand in the spirit of trying to give constructive criticism, he can’t believe that when he put forth that criticism that no one in a position of authority responded that the information is on the county website.  He has taken the time to download the check register, but finds there are accounting codes used on the check register that do not match.  There are some extra zeros added to the sub account.  He wants to know why they can’t have that data, why it can’t be inferable and be linked to the School Board site.  He wants to know where the money is going.  He said that if the School Board wants to the community to stand behind them in front of the Board of Supervisors, he feels they need to give everyone the tools to do that.

CONSENT ITEMS
PERSONNEL ACTIONS

The following Personnel Action item was presented for approval:

Appointment:

Dennis Jackson, Bus Driver

Supplemental Appointments:

Head Baseball:  Wes Farkas
Assistant Baseball:  Dan Summitt
Assistant Baseball:  Patrick Gordon
Head Softball:  Amy Henneberger
Assistant Softball:  Sarah Voyack
Assistant Softball:  Bonnie Spencer
Assistant Softball:  Krystal Battistelli
Head Boys Soccer:  Patrick Brook and Eric Albright (split)
Assistant Boys Soccer:  Patrick Brook and Eric Albright (split)
Assistant Girls Soccer:  David Tual
Girls Tennis:  Teresa Hood
Boys Tennis:  Margie Yurick
Head Track:  Henry Jones

Retirement:

Linda Jasper, GMS, Secretary/Bookkeeper

Leave of Absence:

Suzanne Taylor, BES, Instructional Assistant

Resignation:

Brenda Martin, GMS, Instructional Assistant

Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Mattox, to approve Personnel Action as presented.  The motion was approved unanimously.

COMPREHENSIVE/STRATEGIC PLAN
Jim Popp presented information regarding the comprehensive plan/strategic plan.  He stated he has a goal of 50 volunteers for the subcommittees.  There are presently over 30.  Mr. Popp gave a brief review of each committee and its purpose.

Dr. Underwood and Mr. Mattox further explained the process.  Mr. Mattox took questions and comments from the audience.

TITLE III/IMMIGRANT YOUTH APPLICATION
Dr. Underwood presented the Title III/Immigrant Youth Application and explained that the Virginia Department of Education asked that Goochland County Public Schools act as the fiscal agent for the consortium.  In order to be able to do this, the School Board would have to approve the LEP amount, the grant and the request for supplemental appropriation.  GCPS will be the flow-through fiscal agent for all of the participating divisions.  Dr. Underwood asked that the School Board approve the grant, GCPS acting as the fiscal agent, and request for supplemental appropriation.

Mr. Miller made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Meng, to approve the Title III/Immigrant Youth application, GCPS acting as the fiscal agent for the consortium and the request for supplemental appropriation.  The motion was approved unanimously.

APPROVAL OF FY 2011-2012 BUDGET
Dr. Underwood presented information on the FY 2011-2012 budget.  The School Board discussed possible additions/deletions to proposed budget such as addition of a math specialist, a 1% salary increase, or return of furlough days.  Mr. Mattox asked for each Board member’s requests/changes to the budget.  The requests were as follows:

• Mr. Cisne-none
• Mr. Miller-addition of math specialist and 4 furlough days
• Mr. Meng-math specialist and at least 2 furlough days
• Mr. Haskell-math specialist, 4 furlough days, get carryover from this year and apply it to the furlough, try to get teachers back to where they were 3 years ago
• Mr. Mattox-math specialist, minimum of 2 furlough days

Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Meng, to add a math specialist and the return of 2 furlough days to the budget.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Miller, to approve a budget in the amount of $23,696,456 and to request that the Superintendent allocate the budget to the appropriate categories based upon the wished expressed by the School Board and the discussion this evening.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Dr. Underwood announced that Goochland Elementary School and Randolph Elementary School received the 2011 Board of Education Excellence Award.  This award is given to schools that have met all state and federal accountability benchmarks for at least two consecutive years and have made significant progress toward goals for increased student achievement and expanded educational opportunities set by the Board of Education.

• Dr. Underwood announced that Byrd Elementary School received the 2011 Board of Education Competence to Excellence Award.  This award is given to schools that have met all state and federal benchmarks for at least two consecutive years and are making progress toward the goals of the governor and the Board of Education.

• Dr. Underwood announced that Byrd Elementary School received a $15,000 anonymous donation. 

• School Nutrition received one grant and one donation to support the Farm to School program.

• Goochland Middle School is eligible for the Governor’s incentive program.  GMS has been labeled a hard to staff school.  The state did a press release, but did not notify any of the schools or the Superintendent.

• Graduation this year will be on June 3, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at the Arthur Ashe Center.  That is a change.

• Peter Martin and Bill Cleveland have been working at Randolph Elementary School and have transferred services from Verizon to Comcast giving us bandwidth 10 times the amount of Verizon at a lower cost.

CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Meng made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Cisne, to go into closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711(A)(19) for the discussion of plans related to the security of school buildings and facilities or structures, as well as the safety of persons using such school buildings facilities, and/or structures.

END CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Meng, for the Board to come out of Closed Meeting.  The motion was approved unanimously.

CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Meng made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the Board.  The motion was approved unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned by the Chairman.