May 13, 2024 Business Board Meeting Minutes

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

The Board Business Meeting was held May 13, 2024, 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 6:32 pm, the Board of Directors of McMinnville School District opened the board business meeting in Regular Session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Mr. Jason Bizon.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chair Mr. Jason Bizon
Vice-Chair Ms. Abbie Warmbier
Ms. Lu Ann Anderson
Mr. Carson Benner
Mr. Gerardo Partida
Ms. Doris Towery
Mr. Larry Vollmer

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
None

ADMINISTRATION:
Debbie Brockett, Superintendent
Cherice Bowden, Board Secretary

Pledge of Allegiance:
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Fire Chief Reed Godfrey and the Fire Department.

AUDIENCE:
Karina Smith, Kourtney Ferrua, Shelly Simonyi, Martha Biggs, Laurie Fry, Brian Crain, Steffanie Frost and Jason Hall.  See attached. 

• 1.4  Introductions and Communications
  Superintendent Brockett welcomed Principal Dave Furman, students, staff, and families.  She gave a special welcome to Jessica Gordon, Jen Gubrud, Kelsey LaMont, Julian Galvan and his parents Mayra & Juan.  She thanked Fire Chief Reed Godfrey, and his staff, Jorge Estrada, Hannah Eichler, Melissa Skipper and Brian Taylor for attending the meeting.

  1.4.1  Heroes in Action
  Chair Jason Bizon thanked Fire Chief Reed Godfrey and members of the McMinnville Fire Department.  He stated that we begin our meeting tonight by recognizing the bravery and actions of Coach Jen Gubrud, Coach Jessica Gordon and athletic trainer Kelsey LaMont who performed life-saving measures on Julian on February 26, 2024.  Your commitment, your courage at a critical moment saved Julian’s life.  This serves as a profound reminder of the importance of our emergency action plan.  He thanked them for being there and for what they did.  The McMinnville School Board extends our deepest gratitude to your heroic actions that night.  We are truly proud to celebrate your dedication and your spirit.  Thank you for being such an essential part of the community.  He thanked Dr. Brockett for her communication to the board surrounding the incident and for dropping everything to be there to support the students, parents, and staff.  He thanked Ryan McIrvin for following the student athlete to the hospital to make sure Julian’s care was continued throughout the night and he also thanked Chief Godfrey and all of the responders for who were there within minutes to support, transport, debrief and champion all those who were involved.

  Chief Godfrey welcomed Julian and his family.  He explained the importance of timeliness when a call comes in for cardiac arrest  and performing CPR.  He also shared statistics on survival rates of cardiac arrest when CPR is performed.   He stated that because of the actions of the McMinnville School District coaches, staff and everyone involved, Julian’s here today with us to live out his life and be a productive citizen within our society.  He also stated that Jen, Kelsey and Jessica did a phenomenal job.  On behalf of the school district and the Board of Directors, he presented them with an award for Life Saving and Challenge Points; those challenge points signify their efforts of saving  a life and allowing us to have many more days with Julian.  

  1.5  Review of Agenda
  Changes made to item 10.0 Important Dates:

  May 16, 2024 Instructional Improvement Subcommittee Meeting changed to Policy Subcommittee Meeting and May 23, 2024 Policy Subcommittee Meeting changed to Long Range Subcommittee Meeting.

  Item 4.1 Adoption of 2023-24 Superintendent Evaluation was removed (tabled) from the agenda to a future board meeting date.

  2.0 Consent Agenda
  2.1 Gifts to the District: The Board accepted with gratitude, gifts to the District: Knights of Pythias donated $500.00 to MHS for Mission Mac High, Talitha Consults, LLC donated $500.00 to MHS for the Latino Club, Dale S & James Johnson donated $100.00 to MHS for girls golf, Dean & Debbie Klaus donated $1000.00 to MHS for girls golf, McMinnville Music Booster donated $999.99 to Grandhaven ES for the music department, Lynn & Myrna Friese Trust donated $100.00 to MHS for Bear Hugs, and Sarah Hadfield & Erin Stanton donated $250.00 to Patton MS for the drama department.

  2.2 Approval of minutes of the April 8, 2024  Business Board Meeting, April 22, 2024 Work Session Meeting approved.

  2.3 Personnel Actions approved.

  On motion by Director Carson Benner, seconded by Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, the Consent Agenda was approved on a unanimous vote.

• 3.0 REPORTS
  The Board heard Monthly Reports.

  3.1 Student Report MHS
  Principal Dave Furman shared that there are three sections of AP Spanish at the high school. He explained that the way this happens is there are two pathways: heritage speaker’s side and there is the world language side.  At Mac High, these students stream to converge in the same room and work towards the same common goal.  Garrett Brittan Lack and Cecilia Casillas read and asked the students a question in Spanish and each student would give their answer to the question in Spanish.  The board was provided with a headset and an interpreter translated what the students were saying in Spanish.   See the business meeting packet for details from the presentation.

  3.2 Student Envoy’s Report
  Sam King, Otto Davies, Viviana Garibay and Oliver Voit, Student Envoys from MHS, presented the student report for MHS highlighting their activities, academics, athletics, and arts and pathways.  See board packet for details of the presentation or See attached presentation.  Chair Bizon stated that this class has been really special and you all have represented at a super high level, not just in the boardroom but throughout the community.  He thanked them for being here every month.  Director Partida thanked the ASB students for taking the role of leadership; that is the first sign that you are going to do great things in the future.  Vice-Chair Warmbier thanked them for always being prepared and professional.  We appreciate you being here.  She echoed what Director Partida said about what they are doing for the school and we expect that you will be doing great things in years to come.  

  3.3  McEA
  Polly Dunkley shared some exciting things happening in some of the schools.  Willamette ES had a big testing celebration, Duniway MS’s band will be playing and marching in the Alien Day Parade, Grandhaven ES did their Alice in Wonderland production – it was fabulous.  Memorial ES is celebrating their 75th year and Friday is their carnival celebration.  She gave an update on negotiations and their three big asks.  She thanked the teachers and staff for their amazing work they do each and every day.  

  3.4 Superintendent’s Report
  Superintendent Brockett shared that Kelly McMillan held a Community Resource Fair that brought together 32 different organizations to educate parents and students with disabilities on services available throughout Yamhill County.  She gave a shout-out to Reid Kimura and Tegan Johnson at Grandhaven ES for the incredible performance of Alice in Wonderland.  She gave an update on licensed contract negotiations.  There are two more meetings scheduled and they remain hopeful that they can complete the negotiations before the summer break.  She also gave an update on Sue Buel’s new  principal.  Erin Combs was hired as the new principal.  Erin served as a teaching and learning TOSA at Sue Buel for several years and did an exceptional job when serving as the acting principal.

  3.5  Director of Fiscal Services’ Report
  Jason Hall presented the monthly fiscal report to the School Board of Directors.  See the business meeting packet for details from the presentation.  The presentation covered student enrollment, General Fund revenue and expenses.  

   

• 4.0 Unfinished Business:

  4.1 Adoption of 2023-24 Superintendent Evaluation
  Chair Jason Bizon stated that the item would be removed (tabled) to a future board meeting date. See item 1.5 on the agenda.

  4.2  Policies 2nd Reading:
  Karina Smith presented the following policies for second reading:

  ➢ JFCF-AR: Hazing, Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, Menacing, Cyberbullying, or Teen Dating Violence Reporting Procedures-Students

  On motion by Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, seconded by Director Gerardo Partida, the motion passed unanimously to approve the policy for final adoption. 

  ➢ KL-AR: Complaint Procedures

  On motion by Director Lu Ann Anderson, seconded by Director Larry Vollmer, the motion passed unanimously to approve the policy for final adoption. 

  ➢ AC-AR: Discrimination Complaint Procedure

  On motion by Director Larry Vollmer, seconded by Director Gerardo Partida, the motion passed unanimously to approve the policy for final adoption. 

   ➢ BD/BDA: – Board Meetings 

  On motion by Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, seconded by Director Doris Towery, the motion passed unanimously to approve the policy for final adoption. 

  5.0  New Business

  5.1 National SkillsUSA Conference
  Teachers Krista  Carpino & Chip  Ford along with ProStart students Genevieve Greninger, Silas Hall and Seth Anderson shared with the board why they should be able to attend the National SkillsUSA Conference this year.  

  Genevieve stated that she is excited and this is her second time going to the national conference. She plans to do this in college, Seth stated that he has never been to a big city and this is an opportunity to prove himself against other people. Silas stated that he wants to challenge himself to cook for five hours and to compete against 40 other competitors.

  On motion by Director Carson Benner, seconded by Director Doris Towery, the motion passed unanimously to approve the overnight trip to the National SkillsUSA Conference. 

  5.2  Science Adoption
  Kourtney Ferrua and her team Lauren Berg, Melissa Parker, Brian Bixler, Suzanne Jensen, and Jessica Gordon shared the timeline of the work that has been done so far for the science adoption and which program they chose for each grade level.   ES they recommended  AmplifyScience, MS recommendation, twigScience and for HS the recommendation is Pattern Science For All.  See board packet for details of the presentation.

  6.0 Public Forum
  No public comment was received for the meeting.

  7.0  Board Directors Comments
  Director Partida stated that he was reading information shared by Superintendent Brockett about the state test participation rate.  We are in second place, there was great participation.  English 93.8%, and math 92.9%.  He had  some interaction with the newcomers; it is great to see how they learn.  It was a great experience and he would probably do it again.  It is difficult to learn another language and the students are doing great. Thank you for doing this for the students. 

  Director Anderson acknowledged that last week was Teacher Appreciation Week and she publicly thanked all of our fine teaching staff for the hard work they do every day.  She shared a new article on one of our special education teachers.  Melissa Hernandez was named the Educator of the Year for her work with Special Olympics.  She gave a shout-out to Melissa.  She joined Director Partida at the eighth grade welcome at MHS. It was a lot of fun.  She also attended the Community Transition Fair; it was very well done and put together by Kelly McMillan.  She was at Memorial ES in the kindergarten class doing art literacy, that was a blast and with the kindergarteners at Wascher ES at Miller Woods in the meadow helping them collect bugs.

  Director Towery stated for Teacher Appreciation Week she is deeply grateful for all of our teachers and the life changing experiences they give to our students.  She visited Grandhaven ES where the principal invited her to see the theater kids performance and they were amazing. The costumes were phenomenal.  She visited the high school where they were having a plant sale and welding different products that were on display. The work was incredible.   She gave a huge thank you to all the work that’s happening in our district for the great programs for our kids. 

  Vice-Chair Warmbier stated that the eighth grade transition day is so important.    It is important that we get the kids there and the staff is doing the work, and also to have the clubs and leaders.  ASB welcoming and involving the eighth graders is so wonderful to see.  For Teacher Appreciation Week she is so grateful for all of the daily work that everyone is doing for curriculum to teach kids to read, to do math, and to have those wow moments with their science.  On top of that all of the social-emotional and everything we ask of teachers.  Thank you to all of the teachers.

  Chair Bizon thanked everyone in the room and those attending the meeting online.

  8.0  Future Agenda Items
  None

   9.0  ANNOUNCEMENTS
  There were no announcements.

  The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.