February 24, 2025 Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD OF DISTRICT NO. 40,
YAMHILL COUNTY, McMINNVILLE, OREGON
The Work Session was held February 24, 2025 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/97721628814
At 6:31 p.m. the Board of Directors of McMinnville School District opened the work session meeting. The meeting was called to order by Chair Jason Bizon. Roll call indicated the following:
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chair Mr. Jason Bizon
Vice-Chair Ms. Abbie Warmbier
Ms. Christine Bader
Mr. Gerardo Partida
Ms. Doris Towery
Mr. Larry Vollmer
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
Ms. Lu Ann Anderson
ADMINISTRATION:
Steffanie Frost, Director
Cherice Bowden, Board Secretary
AUDIENCE:
Kourtney Ferrua, Jason Hall, Shelly Simonyi, Brian Crain, and Hiran Amerasinghe. See attached.
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Budget Committee Applicants:
We received three applications for the two vacancies on the Budget Committee. Applications were received from:- Susan Escure
- Adam Stone
- Tony Lai
Susan Escure shared background information with the board. She retired two years ago. She worked for McMinnville School District for 13 years in the Finance Department. She also worked for the Rainier School District. She states that this is an easy gig for her, she wants to give back to the community and she understands the budget. She has information in her head for future bonds and she would like to serve in that capacity.
Vice-Chair Warmbier asked Susan if she had a role like this in the past?
Susan answered. She worked with a large non-profit in Portland and was on the City of Rainier’s Budget Committee.
Director Vollmer commented that the entire time he has been on the board, they worked through budget, insurance and bonds. He has no doubt that she is overqualified for the position.
Adam Stone: We will do a follow-up.
Tony Lai: Was unable to serve in this position due to eligibility requirements.
Director Bader asked what we do if an applicant isn’t here?
Director Frost answered. We will follow-up with the applicant to find out what happened; we will let the board know what the next steps will be.
Cell Phone Update:
Principal Furman shared a slide presentation with the board. Mr. Furman states that the cell phone rules date back to Dr. Kris Olsen. The presentation showed information for background for 2016-17, background for last spring for April 29th and May 13, 2024. Mr. Furman shared the end of school year information as well. He gave an overview of the fall cell phone & electronic devices, violations 1 – 3 with information for the first, second and third offenses. How it is going: Overview for August & September, October 2024, November & December and January & February was shared as well as the numbers for electronic device incidents processed. Next step is to continue collaborating with staff, students and administrators in other districts and he recommends continuing with the class time= phone free time.Assistant Principal Jeremy Vernon presented other perspectives. There were three MHS students, ELA teacher Rachel Klenz and Sara Tucholsky who is a regular and long term substitute.
MHS students answered the following questions:
- Do you think the cell phone rule at MHS is fair? Why or why not?
- Is the enforcement of the rule consistent across different teachers and classrooms?
- How do cell phones help or take away from your learning experience?
MHS teachers answered the following questions:
- Do you think the cell phone rule at MHS is fair? Why or why not?
- What improvements have you seen since the rule was reintroduced?
- What has been challenging about the reintroduction of the rule? See presentation.
Science Curriculum Implementation:
Director Ferrua shared a slide presentation with the board with the science data for 2023-24 by the student group. She explained that the pink represents the district and the green represents the State. The data shows that MSD is outperforming the state. Science is tested in 5th, 8th and 11th grade; we are well about the state average. Historical perspective data shows that we are consistently above state average. There were test changes in 2018-2019 that impacted the results statewide and pandemic impacts on instructional minutes for science at elementary. Obstacles to opportunities and Patterns at MHS were reviewed. An overview of the new curriculum adaptation timeline was shared. Twig science is at the middle schools and Amplify science is at the elementary schools. Dates for the Amplify training for elementary and Twig training for the middle schools were reviewed. See presentation.Public Meeting Laws:
Questions on the topics below were submitted by the board and discussed. Chair Bizon states that he worked with the board secretary who reached out to OSBA to get the answers to the board’s questions. The questions and answers were reviewed and discussed.- Meeting minutes – Chair Bizon states that we are covered with our video and audio by recording our meetings. Director Bader asked about the retention requirements
Director Frost answered that we have to print out and keep hard copies. The board secretary has board books and all of the board materials are kept in them as a permanent record. The videos are on a drive and they are archived.
- Subcommittees – We will seek legal clarification for the subcommittee meetings.
- Superintendent compensation – The information is found in the Public Meetings Law, Board Meeting and Executive Session booklet. It states: Salary and benefits must be discussed in open session (42 Op Atty 362 (1982).
- Consent Agenda – Chair Bizon read the response we received from OSBA.
- Agenda additions – Chair Bizon read a statement from OSBA. It is possible, it is not recommended. It is used for more of an emergency situation. It is strongly advised against this unless it is absolutely necessary.
- Agenda timeframe – The MSD policy was read for clarification by Vice-Chair Warmbier. She states that if this is something we want to change, that is a school district policy that we could change to make sure it is complying with the state policy.
Other discussions:
- Board voting process – Chair Bizon states that we will start to do roll call votes for all voting. Director Towery commented that in her notes from the training specifically says to vote by name, record it and vote for each in the minutes.
- Options if the meeting video recording goes out during the meeting – Chair Bizon states that a possible discussion is to have a phone number on the agenda to call if the meeting goes down.
- Future agenda Google document that the board has access to add items – Direct Bader states that she did not want to speak for Director Anderson but she thinks it was about whether the way we currently compile the future agenda items documents, whether that is a good way or right way. Director Bader read an advisory opinion from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in regard to Google docs.
Director Vollmer commented that folks have been to other trainings and he wants clarification that what we are doing is correct. If Superintendent Brockett and others are going to training, the things that are being presented are not coming to us differently. He wants to make sure that everybody’s on the same page and working from the same set of rules.
Joint Work Session Agenda Discussion:
Possible Joint Work Session topics for discussion:- After school programming (update on YMCA)
- City bonds, school bonds and bond measures
- Budget overview, PERS impact on the district
- Buel ES long range comprehensive plan updates
- Immigration update (what the impact is in the community)
Subcommittee Reports:
Subcommittee reports:- Fiscal Subcommittee: On hold until further notice.
- Instructional Improvement Subcommittee: On hold until further notice.
- Policy Subcommittee: On hold until further notice.
- Long Range Planning Subcommittee: On hold until further notice.
Directors’ Comments:
Director Partida states that he is getting excited about the National School Lunch. It is one of his favorite things to do through the year and he is excited again to go sit with the little ones.Director Bader mentioned that in our October 28th meeting, “We agreed to revisit the virtual participation of board members. Since it is reflected in the minutes that we were going to talk about it again today, I assume we will kind of push that out until we have something to talk about.”
Vice-Chair Warmbier stated, “Yesterday some of us went to Duniway MS and we are at Senator Markley’s Town Hall. It just showed us how schools are the cornerstone of the community and we welcomed so many people into our building that don’t normally come, and the conversation wasn’t really about education but it was great to see so many people welcomed into our space; that wasn’t the point but to show off our facilities and be able to provide that service to the community.” She thanked whoever made that happen. She also attended the legislative policy updates. She shared some exciting news. A while ago there was a law passed that schools could not use fluorescent light bulbs. There is going to be a correction that schools are still able to use fluorescent light bulbs for a few more years.
Chair Bizon announced that the girls will play Century tomorrow for the league championship. He thanked everybody for hanging with us tonight. At 8:51 pm a five minute break was taken. At 8:55 pm the board returned and the work session meeting was adjourned. Chair Bizon announced that we will open the executive session and read the following statement:
Pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(i), Personnel Matters
Statement for the Press: Under the provisions of ORS 192.660(4) no information from the executive session may be reported.
The board adjourned the executive session at 9:29 pm, returned to the boardroom and the work session was reopened and closed at 9:30 pm..
Upcoming dates:
- Board Business meeting: March 10, 2025 and April 14, 2025
- Work Session meeting: March 31, 2025 and April 28, 2025
- Budget Orientation Work Session: April 23, 2025
The Session adjourned at 9:30 p.m.