May 10, 2011

GOOCHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
MAY 10, 2011
GOOCHLAND HIGH SCHOOL

MINUTES

CALL TO ORDER
Ivan O. Mattox, Sr., Chairman, called the meeting to order at 5:30 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

CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to go into closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code Section Section 2.2-3711(A)(3) for the discussion or consideration of a student disciplinary matter because discussion in open meeting would disclose information from a student scholastic record.  The motion was approved unanimously.

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

CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Miller made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Cisne, 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.

ACTION ITEM
Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to continue the matter involving student no. 14-10 until the May 24, 2011 meeting of the School Board.  The motion was approved unanimously.

ACTION ITEM
Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to long-term suspend student no. 15-10 through the end of the first semester of the 2011-2012 school year, to permit student no. 15-10 to attend Project Return during the long term suspension and to authorize the Superintendent in her discretion to allow student no. 15-10 to request to return to school prior to the end of the first semester of the 2011-2012 year.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Ivan O. Mattox, Sr., Chairman, called the meeting back to order at 7:01 p.m.

Also attending were:
Peter M. Gretz, Assistant Superintendent
Thomas DeWeerd, Director of Secondary Education
Debra Beasley, Director of Special Education and Student Services
Ernie McLeod, Director of Finance
Betty Thurston, Supervisor of Transportation
Stacey Austin, Principal, Goochland Elementary School
James Hopkins, Principal, Byrd Elementary School
Dianna Gordon, Principal, Randolph Elementary School
Francie Ball, Principal, Goochland High School
Johnette Burdette, Principal, Goochland Middle School
Connie Foreman, Enrichment and Interim Elementary Instruction Specialist
Andrea Erard, Legal Counsel
Diane Bennett, School Board Clerk

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

MOMENT OF SILENCE

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ADDITIONS/DELETIONS/CHANGES TO AGENDA
None.

RECOGNITIONS
Tom DeWeerd presented the Board with copies of an excerpt from Are You Ready? magazine, in which a former Goochland High School graduate was featured.

Dr. Underwood and Mr. Mattox presented certificates of recognition to the following students:

• Science Fair Winners:  Elizabeth Cullinan, Mason McCray, Tyler Ott,
  Peter Trevor, Keshawn Brooks, Megan Perkins, and Geoffrey Staunton

• VSBA Art Contest Winner:  Campbell Ferguson

• Goochland Elementary School and Randolph Elementary School were both awarded the Governor’s Award of Excellence

• Byrd Elementary School received two awards: the Governor’s Competence to Excellence Award and Title I Distinguished School Award.

• Teachers of the Year:  RES-Dianna Gordon introduced Darlene Martin; GMS-Johnette Burdette introduced Diane O’Connell; BES-James Hopkins introduced Julia Harper; GHS-Francie Ball introduced Carol Washburn; and GES-Stacey Austin introduced Jodi Chewning.  Dr. Underwood presented an award to Darlene Martin who was the GCPS Teacher of the Year.

Mr. Mattox made the following statement:

A question was posed to the Board in our last meeting in reference to who participated in the meal at the Virginia School Board Association which we attend every year for getting insight of what other school divisions are doing and what they are doing successfully and we also participate as a school division in the workshops that are presented to share the things that we are doing successfully here in Goochland County.  So, I won’t give names, but I will tell you what we have done over the years is that we as Board members, our Superintendent, our Clerk and any presenters who are presenting on behalf of Goochland County Schools, we invite them all to dinner so that we can socialize.  It is the only time that we as Board members have an opportunity to meet the spouses of other Board members as well as the spouse of our Clerk or our Superintendent, as well as our presenters.  So that is who comes to our dinner every year.  It is one dinner that we participate in with those individuals.  Again, without elaborating on names, but those are the individuals that always participate in those dinners.

FIRST PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

• Sarah Mitchell, a senior at Maggie Walker, thanked the School Board for funding their attendance at Maggie Walker.  She said Maggie Walker is a great school that provides them with opportunities they would otherwise have.

• Tariq Hamzey, a sophomore at Maggie Walker, said Maggie Walker is one of the top 20 high schools in the country and is a great opportunity for the students.

• Christopher Ashley, a sophomore at Maggie Walker, said he was appreciative of the School Board’s funding attendance at Maggie Walker.

• Jo D. Hosken said she spent a lot of time after November talking to a lot of parents and talking parents down from concerns and conspiracy theories over targets on gifted education.  She said it would be really hard to talk them down if enrichment and ERT teachers are eliminated.  It comes across poorly like enrichment doesn’t matter.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS

A. Regular Monthly Workshop:  Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at Goochland High School

B. SOL testing began today and will continue through June 3.  As soon as
testing started, the internet went down.  Everyone did what they needed to do and when the internet came back up testing continued as planned.

CONSENT ITEMS
MINUTES
BILLS/PAYROLL

The following Consent Agenda items were presented for approval:
April 12, 2011 regular meeting minutes and April 26, 2011 workshop minutes and Bills and Payroll for April.

Supplemental Appointment:

Erin Yearout-Patton, Senior Class Sponsor

Retirement:

Marie Daniels, GES, Cafeteria

Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to approve the Consent Items as presented.  The motion was approved unanimously.

ACTION ITEMS:
POLICY GCBD UPDATE
Dr. Underwood presented updates to Policy GCBD for approval. 

Mr. Haskell made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Miller, to approve Policy GCBD as presented.  The motion was approved unanimously.

PEARL RANDOLPH RESOLUTION
Dr. Underwood presented a Resolution honoring Pearl Randolph.  The resolution is as follows:

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Pearl Elizabeth Parish Randolph ("Pearl Randolph") was appointed to the Goochland County School Board on July 1, 1971;
WHEREAS, Pearl Randolph served on the Goochland County School Board until June 30, 1979;
WHEREAS, Pearl Randolph was the first African-American member of the Goochland County School Board;
WHEREAS, in 1973, a new, safer design of school bus construction called the Lifeguard was introduced by the manufacturer Wayne Corporation;
WHEREAS, the manufacturer held a nationwide contest to gain ideas to improve school bus safety wherein the grand prize would be a new Lifeguard school bus;
WHEREAS, Pearl Randolph entered the contest with the idea of installing sound baffles in the ceilings of school bus bodies to help reduce driver distraction;
WHEREAS, Pearl Randolph created the winning entry;
WHEREAS, as a result Pearl Randolph’s winning entry, Goochland County Public Schools received the new Lifeguard school bus;
WHEREAS, the new school bus was assigned to the driver who transported Pearl Randolph’s children;
WHEREAS, Pearl Randolph was committed to providing all Goochland County children an education and access to a successful future;
WHEREAS, Pearl Elizabeth Parrish Randolph passed away on February 22, 2011 at the age of 86.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Goochland County School Board hereby celebrates the life of Pearl Elizabeth Parrish Randolph and acknowledges its appreciation for her years of service to Goochland County Public Schools.

Mr. Miller made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Meng, to approve the resolution as presented.  The motion was approved unanimously.

MISSION STATEMENT
Dr. Underwood presented the following Mission statement explaining that once the Board hears back from the Comprehensive Plan Subcommittees they may want to revisit the Mission statement and make some changes.  The Mission statement is as follows:

Our efforts will focus on meeting the intellectual, personal, social, and career preparation needs of all students.

INFORMATION ITEMS:
SPECIAL EDUCATION COUNT REPORT
Debra Beasley, Director of Special Education and Student Services, presented the Special Education Count Report.  The report shows that the number of students has decreased. 

AUDIT REPORT USING COUNTY CAFR
Ernie McLeod reviewed a copy of the County Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) with the School Board pointing out where in the CAFR the Schools are mentioned.  Mr. Mattox asked that Dr. Underwood bring back at the next workshop a recommendation to the School Board as to whether or not to go with the county CAFR or to have a separate CAFR for the schools.

FY 2011-2012 BUDGET UPDATE
Dr. Underwood presented an update on the FY 2011-2012 budget.  An error in calculations by the County was discovered which resulted in a $199,452 revenue deficit.  The County Administrator assured Dr. Underwood that the error would be corrected at the June 13, 2011 Board of Supervisor’s meeting.  The revised budget will go to the School Board for approval on May 24, 2011. 

OLD BUSINESS
None.

NEW BUSINESS
None.

SECOND PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

• Michael McDermott reiterated his feelings about the meeting location and said he knows the county has offered the use of the boardroom in the old high school.  He said the facility, setting, audiovisual are all are superior, as well as recording facility being available.  He doesn’t know why the School Board doesn’t take advantage of it.  He said that in going through the agenda, he understands the difference between announcements, action items, and information items, but he heard a board member ask if there would be a vote on an action item, and then heard the chair try to move an information item onto the agenda for a vote, which can’t be done. He said the School Board doesn’t care about the public understanding, in that the overhead was not used during the explanation of the county CAFR.  He asked “who works for who here?” He said the Board is supposed to run the schools, but feels it’s backwards here.  He mentioned dual bus runs, stating they are a political hot potato in that splitting children up with times for school and family dynamics will be a problem.  He also has a problem with participation fees being tied to free and reduced lunch.  He asked why are we taking federal guidelines and using it to decide whether or not to charge a participation fee.  He feels that we should use that guideline to determine whether or not to pay for AP tests, or J. Sarge courses.  He said it’s a public education and if the federal government wants to give money for that purpose then it’s okay.  He feels that public schools should be a level playing field.  He said he asked a simple question about the dinner in Williamsburg.  He said he knows where and where it was, but he asked who was there.  He said if the School Board can’t tell who was at the dinner, then how can they be trusted to handle a $25 million budget.

• John Wright said there’s a lot to digest and still there was a significant amount of information missing in the budget presentation.  One thing he wanted to comment on was, under the strategy, a statement that said “but it is necessary to use federal funding to maintain instructional programs and critical services in 2011-2012.” He said that seems somewhat in contrast due to the fact that the instructional budget was increased by $100,000 by the Board of Supervisors over and above what was requested by the School Board.  He said it seems strange that we would need those funds given the fact that the funding was increased.  He said that trying to follow where the numbers go is difficult in that the budget presentation was not made available until after 5:00 p.m. today.  He said it appears personnel is being moved into grants and some out of grants.  He said it’s a fair amount of shell games and while it is legal, it seems contradictory to what both the Board of Supervisors and the public have asked for.  He said some of the dollars of how numbers were derived are missing.  He said Transportation was well defined.  He said he was surprised that given calendar presentation at the last meeting and noting we have almost 28 days in extra time in school over mandated time, we quickly took off consideration of the reduction number of school days.  He said there could be a great deal of savings there.  He thinks everything was done in probably the best possible manner.  He doesn’t think intention was far off of center, but he said he thinks it would have been more helpful to present information sooner.  He said he asked Ernie McLeod about some of the numbers and he had never seen the information before tonight.  He said it was confusing and he wished it had been presented as a budget with the associated numbers.  He said he knows everyone is well intended and he appreciates that jobs are trying to be saved, but when you look at what was shifted and not cut it was out of instruction and he said that is disturbing.

CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Cisne made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Meng, to go into closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code Section Section 2.2-3711(A)(3) for the discussion or consideration of three student disciplinary matters because discussion in open meeting would disclose information from a student scholastic record.  The motion was approved unanimously.

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

CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED MEETING
Mr. Haskell made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Miller, 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.

ACTION ITEM
Mr. Meng made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Haskell, to long term suspend student no. 16-10 until the end of the 2010-11 school year and to permit student
no. 16-10 to take the SOLs.  The motion was approved unanimously.

ACTION ITEM
Mr. Miller made a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Cisne, to long term suspend student no. 18-10 until the end of the 2010-11 school year and to permit student
no. 18-10 to take the SOLs.  The motion was approved unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned by the Chairman.