April 11, 2022 Business Board Meeting Minutes

• MINUTES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD OF DISTRICT NO. 40,
  YAMHILL COUNTY, McMINNVILLE, OREGON

  The Board Business Meeting was held April 11, 2022,both in person and via zoom at the
  McMinnville School District Office, 800 NE Lafayette Ave., McMinnville OR 97128 

  The link was https://msd40.zoom.us/j/215496199

  At 7:30 p.m., April 11, 2022.  The Board of Directors of McMinnville School District opened the board business meeting in Regular Session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Carson Benner.

  BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
  Chair Carson Benner
  Dr. Paul Haddeland
  Ms. Abbie Warmbier
  Mr. Larry Vollmer
  Mr. Gerardo Partida
  Ms. Janis Braich
  Mr. Jason Bizon

  BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

  ADMINISTRATION:
  Debbie Brockett, Superintendent
  Cherice Bowden, Board Secretary

  STUDENT ENVOYS:
  Laney Hyder
  Kaia Brantner

  Pledge of Allegiance
  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Lily Shapiro.

  AUDIENCE:  
  Steffanie Frost, Samantha Nelson, Kevin Carroll, Brian Crain, Luke Neff, Kourtney Ferrua, Kimberly Anthony, Lily Shapiro, Joci Clark, Sofia Diaz, Zander Park, Kristen Park, Courtney Walsh, Laney Hyder, Michelle Formway, Michael Firestone, Daphne Schelb, Savanna Joy-Benn, Ginger Hoover, Debby O’Kelley, Adam Gray, Christi McKee, Scott McKee, Erik Svec, Nan Cramer, John Cramer, Jeremy Schelb, Korin Aradt, Emma McFarland, Rose Etherington, Isaac Etherington, Sal Peralta, Kaia Branner, and Ellen Dong.

• 1.4 Introductions and Communications
  1.4.1 Proclamation 2022 School Volunteer Week
  1.4.2 Proclamation 2022 Teacher Appreciation Week

  Superintendent Brockett introduced principal Amy Fast, Speech and Debate Advisor Courtney Walsh, student envoys Kaia Branter, Laney Hyder, teachers Erick Svec and Michelle Formway, students Sofia Diaz, Lily Shapiro, Zander Park, and principal Kathi Fowler.

  Superintendent Brockett read two proclamations; the 2022 Public School Volunteer Week Proclamation and the 2022 Teacher Appreciation Week Proclamation.  

  PROCLAMATION
  2022 School Volunteer Week
  WHEREAS public school volunteers contribute unselfishly to the success of Oregon’s students, teaching and support staff and the goals of American public education; 
  
  WHEREAS school volunteers ensure that every student gets help and encouragement according to need;
  
  WHEREAS school volunteers support students and teachers inside and beyond the classroom in myriad ways regardless of the hour and without monetary gain;
  
  WHEREAS school volunteers act dependably, creatively and collaboratively to accomplish whatever tasks they are assigned or commit themselves to;
  
  WHEREAS school volunteers stretch school-district resources to ensure that all students achieve a complete and well-rounded education;
  
  WHEREAS, school volunteer exhibit care, model the best in citizenship and create a climate that fosters learning and a love of education; 
  
  We declare our everlasting appreciation to public-school volunteers of the McMinnville School District, who, regardless of situation, age, race, or creed, step forward to help, thus widening horizons for others as well as themselves. 
  
  THEREFORE, the School Board of McMinnville School District proclaims April 18 to 22, 2022 School Volunteer Recognition Week, and we urge all citizens to join us in recognizing the dedication and hard work of local volunteers in preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s world.

  PROCLAMATION
  2022 Teacher Appreciation Week

  WHEREAS, today’s teachers mold our future citizens through their guidance and education, and

  WHEREAS, today’s teachers encounter students of widely differing backgrounds and abilities, and

  WHEREAS, our society expects public education to provide quality education services to all children, no matter what their backgrounds or abilities, and

  WHEREAS, our country’s future depends, in large measure, upon the education our youth receive today, and

  WHEREAS, our community recognizes that its teachers are providing quality education services to our children,

  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED THAT the School Board of McMinnville School District No. 40 designates the week of May 2-6, 2022, as Teacher Appreciation Week in this community, and

  BE IT FURTHER PROCLAIMED THAT the McMinnville School Board calls on the community to join with it in personally expressing appreciation to our teachers for a job well done.

  1.5  Review of Agenda
  There were no changes to the agenda.

  1.6 Budget Committee Applicant Interview
  Sal Peralta shared the reason why he is interested in the Budget Committee.  He states that he noticed there were two openings on the Budget Committee, he has decades of experience; government budgeting, volunteering in the community, and he has a daughter that is a junior at MHS.  He thought that with the budget cycle just getting ready to start, this would be a good time to offer to support the committee.  Sal thinks the Budget Committee meeting the first week of May might conflict with the City Council meeting.  

  Janis Braich said we could give him a private lesson or a tutorial, and she appreciates his willingness to do this and his experience will be valuable to this process.

• 2.0 Consent Agenda

  2.1 Gifts to the District

  The Board accepted with gratitude, gifts to the District: Scott’s Automotive donated $250.00 to MHS for FTC robotics, MAC D-Bros Corp donated $850.00 to MHS for the resource room for needed items, MAC D-Bros Corp donated $1450.00 to MHS for the resource room for needed items, MAC D-Bros Corp donated $990.00 to MHS for the resource room for needed items, V Environmental, LLC donated $150.00 to purchase athletic massager training equipment, Karleen and Jonathan Booth donated a HP Deskjet 4155E color printer to Newby ES for ELD worth $100.00, Shauna Henry donated benches to MHS worth $2580.56, United Steelworkers donated $500.00 to MHS for Cheer Nationals, Jack Maxwell donated a bicycle and bike lock to MHS worth $150.00 for the resource room, Dawanna Willis donated $500.00  in cash to MHS for Cheer Nationals, David Ayala donated $250.00 in cash to MHS for Cheer Nationals, Kenneth B Moore donated $200.00 to MHS for Rotary Interact Club, Scott Phoenix donated 45 track cones to MHS for the Track Team worth $101.25,  Intel Benevity Community Impact Fund donated $4400.00 to Wascher ES to be used for students, Mary Ann Potter donated fabric, notions, cleaning supplies, misc costumes pieces to MHS for the Drama Club worth $500.00, and K A Kraemer donated $333.00 to MHS for Girls Golf.

  2.2 Approval of minutes of the March 14, 2022 Business Board Meeting, March 28, 2022 Work Session approved.

  2.3 Personnel Actions  approved.

  On motion by Dr. Paul Haddeland, seconded by Abbie Warmbier, the Consent Agenda was approved on a unanimous vote.

• 3.0 REPORTS
  The Board heard Monthly Reports.

  3.1 Student Envoy Report
  Laney Hyder and Kaia Brantner reported on spring break spirit week.  The week included dress-up days.  Other activities were tie dying, field day, which had a dunk tank. They gave an update on athletics.  Various pathway internships for the semester include site visits to local businesses, creating metal signs for a winery, building a deck, collecting data on their environmental projects and creating their EASA projects for display in May.  For the first time in three years they were able to see the return of the annual Student Showcase.  They reported that 781 students made the honor roll for the first semester; 326 of those students earned a 4.0 GPA.  They also reported on all of the ongoing events and activities at the high school.

  3.2 Student Reports 
  The students at Columbus ES reported that they give back by working in the flower garden, mentoring younger students, and gathering bottles and cans for fundraising.

  Zander Park said they planted 500 bulbs; the mission was to show the beauty of nature; life can bloom anywhere; all life needs to be respected and cared for.  He also said they picked up trash bags in the courtyard, pulled weeds and then replanted them with the flowers to show that out of the dead there will be new.  They are planning to do a trash pickup around the school campus and at Discovery Meadows in the future.

  Daphne Schelb and Sofia Diaz said they collected bottles and cans for two months.  They separated the bottles and cans in bags of 144.  They are going to use the $500.00 for Juliet House and the ABC House to help keep kids safe.  Juliet House and ABC House will receive $250.00 each.

  Lilly Shapiro spoke about mentoring and tutoring.  She said that they do this to spread their community out beyond the school.  They help the kids feel more like they have someone to help them through the tough times.  They started helping the PreK because they wanted to be able to help them and to meet new people.  She enjoys seeing them and is hoping other students will have this opportunity. 

  3.3 Principal’s Report
  Kathi Fowler said  there are two they are focusing on: intervention and acceleration in reading and math, and PBIS and social-emotional learning.  To measure if they were making growth in social-emotional learning, they came up with a survey.  They administered it in the fall to grades two through five, focusing on getting all students to take the survey in second grade so they could track the growth through their third, fourth, and fifth grade years. She reported on the results of the survey.  Some of the social-emotional learning curriculum they are using is Second Step, Growing Early Mindsets, Ruler, and positive intervention support systems.

  3.4 Superintendent’s Report 
  Superintendent Brockett reported that the Equity Director position flew a little after spring break, it flew both locally and nationally.  Interviews will start next week. The person hired will start July 1.  

  She held multiple meetings for Dual Language with teachers at Newby ES and Columbus ES to have discussion about next steps for emerging bilingual education and for bilingual  students in general.  We have a lot of partnerships reaching out including Lindfield University so we can continue to look for ways to provide strong research based language support for all students and use the excellent bilingual staff we already have.  

  She gave a shout out to Kevin Carroll and his department. His department as well as herself met with a group of teachers, both individually and as a whole, to start talking about what we can do to ensure we are providing every student with special education services the least restrictive environment and ensure they are all included.  They have had conversations with all principals around the  budget so they could give their input and provide what they believe is important for their schools.

  The piece to get the boardroom up and going to have live comments and Zoom comments without an echo was installed last week, they have not tested it yet, but we are hopeful that in the May business meeting we will once again be able to pull people in from Zoom to begin commenting there.  The work has been done, we just have to go through the testing to get the room functioning at 100% for all of our wonderful guests.

  Chair Carson Benner explained that the Oregon legislature passed a rule that said we could not take public testimony unless we could also take it via Zoom.  Right now we could do one or the other but we can not do both because of the microphone setup.  We are really apologetic that we have been working on it for four months, but we are heading for the finish line.  

  3.5 Director of Fiscal Services’ Report 
  Samantha Nelson presented the monthly enrollment report as of April 1.  She says we are monitoring and will compare enrollment from October 1 to April 1. She shared individual grade level information and summarized the general fund.  She gave a reminder of the upcoming Budget Committee meeting dates and time.

  3.6 Director of Operations
  Brian Crain gave Seismic updates on Patton MS. He presented pictures of the work being done to help stabilize the building.

• 4.0 Unfinished Business:

  4.1  2022-2023 School Year Calendar – 2nd Reading
  Steffanie Frost summarized the data from the ThoughtExchange for the 22-23 school year calendar.  The committee recommends the traditional calendar for the 22-23 school year.  They are looking to meet in November to come up with a new calendar format, with a two year calendar adoption cycle.

  On motion by Jason Bizon, seconded by Dr. Paul Haddeland, the motion passed unanimously to approve and adopt the  2022-2023 School Year Calendar.

  4.2 Brian Crain presented the following policies for second reading. 

  ➢ IGBHA – Alternative Education Programs
  Revisions to model policy IGBHA – Alternative Education Programs are made to better align and update with ODE’s rule governing alternative education programs.
  ➢ JFC – Student Conduct
  Districts have multiple procedures to handle various types of complaints. These procedures
  prohibit retaliation for good faith reports, however, districts can also prohibit knowingly making
  false reports, or knowingly providing false information as part of an investigation.

   On motion by Larry Vollmer, seconded by Janis Braich, the motion passed unanimously to approve the policies for final adoption. 

• 5.0 New Business 

  5.1 Student Overnight Travel – 1st Reading
  Columbus ES 5th Grade Team Outdoor Trip

  On motion by Larry Vollmer, seconded by Abbie Warmbier, the motion passed unanimously for a tentative approval of the Columbus ES 5th Grade Team Outdoor Trip.

   5.2 Out of State Student Travel – 1st Reading
  MHS Speech and Debate Team

  On motion by Jason Bizon, seconded by Gerardo Partida, the motion passed unanimously for a tentative approval for out of state travel for the MHS Speech and Debate Team.

  5.3 Recommendation on Inter District Transfers
  Kourtney Ferrua requested non-resident students for the fall be reduced to 175 for the 22-23 school year.

  On motion by Larry Vollmer, seconded by Janis Braich, the motion passed unanimously for approval of the Recommendation on Inter District Transfers.

  5.4 Budget Committee Vacancy
  The Board has reviewed the application for Mr. Andrew Davies and Sal Peralta.

  On motion by Larry Vollmer, seconded by Janis Braich, the motion passed unanimously to appoint Mr. Andrew Davies and Mr. Sal Peralta as members of the Budget Committee.

  5.5 Brian Crain presented the following policies for first reading. 

  ➢ JHFE/GBNAB – Suspected Abuse of a Child Reporting Requirements
  ➢ JHFE/GBNAB-AR– Reporting of Suspected Abuse of a Child
  ➢ JHFF/GBNAA – Suspected Sexual Conduct with Students and Reporting
  Requirements
  ➢ JHFF/GBNAA-AR – Suspected Sexual Conduct Report Procedures and Form
  Recent revisions to ORS 339 affecting reporting of child abuse and sexual conduct were adopted
  by the 2021 Legislature. The passing of these bills revised the definition of ‘sexual conduct’ and
  ‘licensed administrator’ as it relates to reporting and helps define the persons who can be
  designated to receive and respond to these reports. Additionally, a new definition was added for
  ‘commission licensee’ to distinguish between district employees suspected of sexual conduct that
  shall be reported to and investigated by TSPC and those that shall be reported to and investigated
  by ODE. The effective date of these changes are immediate.
  These policies will return for second reading at the next Board Business meeting.

• 6.0 Adam Gray 
  Adam Gray spoke about the Dual Language Program.  Adam informed the Board that he will be resigning as president of McEA and Polly Dunkley will be his replacement.

  7.0 Public Testimony:
  We received two Public Testimony

  Debby O’Kelley states: In response to the arrest of Andrew Hammond, she feels that the first priority and responsibility as a School Board member is to protect the children. The principal at Newby ES, Ms. Nesvig assured parents that Mr. Hammond passed all background checks prior to employment verification before being hired. What kind of background checks were we conducting? Will the School Board accept responsibility and be in closer communication with parents? It is imperative these changes be implemented.

  Isaac Etherington has a question about the current policy or lack thereof with regards to past board meeting minutes and agendas not being made available to the public, and he has concerns about the district’s lack of transparency regarding curriculum and library content and how that relates to recent troubling events.

• Board Directors Comments

  Jason Bizon said values, vision, mission and the community relationship that we learned about are of importance; the parent community outreach and partnership was a key driving factor for his time at the NSBA Conference in San Diego.  He shared that at the conference it is actually Boards and Superintendents that are presenting to you and talking the same language, feeling and going through the same things you are going through.  He states how fortunate we are in McMinnville School District to have the Superintendent and staff, all the leaders of this district; we should be proud.

  Larry Vollmer shared an anecdotal highlight from the NSBA Conference that really hit him.  He thinks it important to look at this through the lens of a district.  Data is used as a flashlight and not a hammer, knowing what we do with our students and how we help them and support them, we need to learn what they have learned so we can help them continue.  The second thing is to consider the value or greatness of a society by how they treat their most vulnerable citizens; so the greatness of a school district is based on how it treats its most vulnerable students. 

  Abbie Warmbier said she was looking at the Covid dashboard and we are not seeing a spike in Covid cases.  She is hearing from teachers and principals; that they are getting to see kids’ whole faces and hear their annunciation has been really rewarding for them. She feels that teachers are refreshed after spring break and behaviors have leveled out.

  Janis Braich said she is excited to see outdoor school coming back and the Debate Team going to nationals.  She says the NSBA conference was really good and she came away being very glad she lives in Oregon. She is grateful for the leadership we have and we are a lot better off than a lot of districts.

  Dr. Paul J. Haddeland is pleased the high school had an assembly together.  He thinks the report on the calendar is a perfect way to make sure we get to hear from all stakeholders.  He appreciates that Superintendent Brockett has brought that form of communication. He says we need to get kids to learn how to read and write and do math and feel safe and connected. 

  Gerardo Partida spoke about the conference they attended last week.  He says there’s a lot of things you learn and he’s happy he attended.  He would like to see Superintendent Brockett attend next year.  The district is doing a lot of different things, but it is all dependent on the resource too.  He would like to share some of the ideas that they got from there.

  Chair Carson Benner did not have a comment.

  The meeting adjourned at 9:08 p.m.