February 10, 2025 Business Board Meeting Minutes
MINUTES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD OF DISTRICT NO. 40, YAMHILL COUNTY, McMINNVILLE, OREGON
The Board Business Meeting was held February 10, 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/215496199
Provisional Minutes-Not Board Approved
At 6:30 p.m., the Board of Directors of McMinnville School District opened the board business meeting in Regular Session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Jason Bizon.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chair Jason Bizon
Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier
Ms. Lu Ann Anderson
Ms. Christine Bader
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 Hayden Missildine, Piper Missildine, Max Missildine and Weston Missildine.
AUDIENCE:
Kourtney Ferrua, Shelly Simonyi, Martha Biggs, Laurie Fry, Erin Caldwell, Jason Hall, Hiran Amerasinghe, Scott Murphy, Kim Price, Lauren Berg, Vicky Brown, Kathi Fowler, Dave Furman, Allison Eitzen, Lisa Jordan-Zornow, Cielo Tahmaseb, Polly Dunkley, Hilary Brittan Lack and Chris Starr. See attached
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1.4 Introductions and Communications
Superintendent Brockett introduced Principal Erin Caldwell, teachers Erin Bracken, Mattie Bunch, Sandra Mix and coordinator Linda Jones. She stated that the staff would introduce their students. She welcomed their families and friends.1.5 Classified Employee Appreciation Week
1.5.1 Proclamation
The Classified Appreciation Week Proclamation was read by Chair Jason Bizon:Classified Appreciation Week Proclamation, March 3-7, 2025
WHEREAS the education of our youth is imperative to our school district, to
Oregon, to our nation, our world;
WHEREAS classified school employees in our school districts, education service
districts and community colleges are the “backbone” of our public school
system;
WHEREAS classified employees work directly with our children, staff, parents,
volunteers, business partners and community members and are responsible for
the transportation, nutrition and general well-being of our children as well as
assisting certified staff in direct instruction;
WHEREAS classified employees ensure the smooth operation of our offices, the
maintenance of buildings and property, and the safety of our staff and students
and the community trusts them as important messengers about our schools;
WHEREAS our community depends on classified employees to serve students
and other staff, often in challenging circumstances and classified employees,
with their diverse talents and true dedication, nurture our youth throughout their
K-12 years;
WE MEMBERS OF THE McMINNVILLE SCHOOL BOARD join Governor Tina Kotek in
proclaiming March 3, 2025 through March 7, 2025 to be CLASSIFIED SCHOOL
EMPLOYEE WEEK in McMinnville, Oregon, and encourage all members of our
community to join in this observance recognizing the dedication and hard work
of these individuals.1.6 Review of Agenda:
There were no changes to the agenda.2.0 Consent Agenda:
2.1 Gifts to the District: The Board accepted with gratitude, gifts to the District:.
Carlton Farms donated $2,000.00 to the Family Resource Center for student needs, McMinnville Lions Club donated $500.00 to MHS for the Twilighters, an anonymous donor donated to Grandhaven ES two iPads with cases worth 1,000.00, Roy Venson Crabtree donated $100.00 to MHS for the wrestling team, Edible Landscapes of Yamhill County donated $1,500.00 to MHS for catering/horticulture/welding, DMS Real Estates, Inc. donated $200.00 to MHS for the Equestrian Club, HelloCare, LLC donated $250.00 to MHS for EASA, Mule Skinner Club, Inc. donated $660.00 to MHS for the Equestrian Club, Nathan & Brandy Huffman donated $100.00 to MHS for the resource room, Joseph Siefert donated $2,500.00 to MHS for student help with athletic fees, The Giving Tree International donated $2,000.00 to Duniway MS for external equipment, Suzanne & Matt Jensen donated $800.00 to Duniway MS for DMS Leadership, Nash & Nichol donated $250.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, The Vortex donated $225.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, Andrew Physical Therapy donated $450.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, JADA Ventures, LLC donated $225.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, Big Box Returns donated $100.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, Citizens Bank donated $1,000.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, Hagen Hamilton donated $900.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, S&S Electrical Contractors, LLC donated $1,000.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, First Federal donated $250.00 MHS for Mac Madness, Express Employment Professionals donated $225.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, Wark Dental Group donated $1,350.00 to MHS for Mac Madness, McMinnville Volunteer Fire Dept donated $250.00 to MHS for Cheer Nationals, Your Space Public Storage donated $6,000.00 to MHS for the wrestling team, Christine Walker donated $105.00 to MHS for the wrestling team, Joe Miglioretto donated $125.00 to MHS for various clubs, Northwest Christian Church donated $1,500.00 to Wascher ES for PTA equipment, Christy & Michael McCoy donated $200.00 to Wascher ES for the food pantry and Northwest Christian Church donated $1,500.00 to Newby ES for PTA equipment.2.2 Approval of minutes of the January 13, 2025 Business Board Meeting and January 27, 2025 Work Session Meeting approved.
The board would like to have a discussion regarding the minutes at the next work session meeting, February 24, 2025. They would like to determine if more detailed minutes are needed to be sure we are in compliance with the public meetings law.2.3 Personnel Actions approved.
On motion by Director Lu Ann Anderson, seconded by Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, the Consent Agenda was approved on a unanimous vote with 7 ayes from Directors – Larry Vollmer, Gerardo Partida, Lu Ann Anderson, Christine Bader, Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, Chair Jason Bizon and Doris Towery, with 0 nays.
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3.0 REPORTS:
The Board heard Monthly Reports.3.1 Student Reports:
Principal Erin Caldwell states that they are excited to share about the Buel community and what makes it special. At Buel this year they have a motto that is committed to relentless belief in the success of each student. The staff goes above and beyond to meet the unique individual needs of their students to help them attend regularly to engage in their learning. This year they are focusing on fostering inclusion, welcoming one of the district programs into the buildings, and increasing engagement and learning for all of their students. Linda Jones shared that the elementary EGC joined Buel this year and she wanted to point out the access the kids have. The first year was PE, last year was music. They have all of the specials and the students get to go to lunch, have music, PE, Spanish STEM, and go on field trips. Mattie Bunch highlighted Bunch 0’ Coffee. Bunch O’ Coffee is a working coffee cart. The teachers place their order at the end of each month. They talk about budgeting, buying material to replace what they have made and sold. The students prepared a strawberry Italian soda and a trail mix snack delivered it to each board member. Erin Bracken shared a video of a first grade student that is now verbally counting numbers. This same student attended the board meeting in June and needed to use a talker to identify numbers. He is communicating with his peers and other adults in the building. She shared that the skill building team focuses on teaching teaching skills that are needed to make academic learning available to the students. They have a bin they use as a resource for their students who are angry and frustrated. They also played a video of a student sharing why she likes coming to school. Director Anderson said “Congratulations, this is really exciting to see”. She states that she witnessed the morphology of the program and kudos everybody.Director Partida asked, “How long have you had the program? Did it start this year? “.
Erin Caldwell answered, “We’ve had skill builders. The last few years we’ve shifted our program to really focus more on the thinking skills to help us better identify the lagging skills that we need to build up for students.”
Vice-Chair Warmbier said, “We have never gotten drinks at a board meeting. Thank you for these”. She states that it sounds like a great school culture in a great building, the staff wants to be there, and students as well. Good job. She said, “Thank you”.
Chair Jason Bizon thanked Erin Caldwell and her team for presenting tonight. He said, “We really appreciate the video and hearing the story. Thanks for all your work and for all you do every day for our kids”. See presentation.
3.2 Student Envoy Report:
Student Envoys from MHS presented the student report for MHS. They gave an update on activities recognizing the members of the ASB Leadership Team. Academics: Sources of Strength was officially launched. There are roughly 30 peer leaders participating in the inaugural section of the course. They also gave an update for athletics, and arts/pathways. See presentation.3.3 Superintendent Report:
Superintendent provided the board members with a printed copy of additional information. She gave an overview of the National Issues Impacting Education. She shared the five topics on the national legislative agenda:- Supporting formula finding and equitable distribution of dollars
- Alleviating teacher and staff shortages
- Enhance district technology infrastructure and student data privacy
- Increasing access to school- based mental health services
- Reduce federal data collection requests
You can go to the AASA website under advocacy to learn more.
She also gave an overview of the State Legislative Focus for Education:
- Secure new $11.36 billion current service level
- Increase the SPED cap for funding from 11% to 15%
- Fully fund high-cost disability back 100%
She explained the funding for the high-cost disability. She states they are called high service needs, they have a big pot of money set aside. They are supposed to reimburse you at 100% for the high cost disability but they run out of money because there’s too many now at the high cost, and the pot is not big enough. So when the pot runs out statewide, they fund you less.
Updates and clarification on executive orders and the Sanctuary Promise Act was shared. She met with Mayor Kim Morris and the joint work session meeting date is looking like March 31st as the most popular date. She asked the board to keep March 17th and March 31st on the table.
Director Anderson shared that she was at the legislature meeting today and additional details were added. These are some of the things she took away from the meeting. The 11.3 6 proposal is going to probably come up at the March Ways and Means Committee, and that there is a strong possibility that they will consider increasing it, they are not saying no. The 700 million ask for the 5 things related to special education they’re talking about that would be either 700 million potentially or increase the cap, but it’s likely not to have all of the things. Regarding the metrics for state assessments, it is also correct, it is also affecting the budget. One of the things they’re trying to address with the legislature is the opt out law. They don’t see that changing, but that does affect how our students’ data gets collected. Currently for the high cost, they were saying that districts were going to getting reimbursed at about 25 to 30 cents on the dollar, and they’re hoping to get that increased See the meeting video for additional details
3.4 Director of Fiscal Services’ Report :
Director Hall shared the current student enrollment as of February 1, 2025. Our enrollment is under projection at 6,222 (a 2.2% decrease). He gave a breakdown by grade. Director Partida asked a question about the enrollment numbers. The enrollment went down to 184 but they were seeing 142? The numbers were not matching. It was determined that the incorrect information was provided and included in the packet. The information has been corrected in the packet. He also gave an update on student withdrawals and some of the reasons why students may have withdrawn. He gave a quick finance update as of December 31, 2024. See the board packet for more details.3.4.1 Audit Report:
Mr. David Bledsoe is the audit supervisor with Polly Rogers and Company gave an overview of the audit results. He is happy to report that the district received a clean audit. He commended the district for receiving both the GFOA and the ASBO awards of excellence for financial reporting. Ensure that requires you to get a gold star to put about 25 pages of additional tables that Jason prepares. They also look at a single audit, which is over our federal grant awards. They looked at ESSER as well as the child nutrition program. The third review is over the Oregon minimum standards; this adheres to the budge laws as well as purchasing guidelines.Chair Bizon asked David Bledsoe to explain that part again. He didn’t quite understand about the 20 extra things that Director Hall does to get the gold star. David Bledsoe explained that it is broken down to basic financial statements, required supplementary information; this is our budget for actuals for our general fund and major special revenue fund, as well as disclosure tables about pension obligations. Other information that ODE requires down to function and object level and how they reconcile the state school funds. See the board meeting video as David Bledsoe gave a detailed explanation of all of the requirements needed to receive the gold star.
3.4.2 2025-2026 Budget Forecast:
Director Hall gave an overview of three bienniums. We are in the second year of the 23-25 biennium, we have the final numbers for 2023-24 that shows the ending fund balance as of June. A presentation was shared on the two year forecast for the 25-27 biennium based on the Governor’s recommended budget of $11.3 billion for the state school fund. For additional discussion, explanations and details on the budget, see the board meeting video. -
4.0 New Business
4.1 Student Out of State/Overnight Travel – 2nd Reading:
Principal David Furman asked the board for approval for the band and choir students to travel to Washington and then to Moscow, Idaho. Vice-Chair Warmbier states that there are 40 kids and two adults going on the trip. She gave kudos to the two adults and states that we have not had any reports.On motion by Director Lu Ann Anderson, seconded by Director Doris Towery, the motion passed unanimously to approve the Out of State/Overnight Travel for the band and choir students with 7 ayes from Directors – Larry Vollmer, Gerardo Partida, Lu Ann Anderson, Christine Bader, Vice-Chair Abbie Warmbier, Chair Jason Bizon and Doris Towery, with 0 nays.
4.2 New School Year Calendar 1st Reading:
Director Frost gave an overview of the 2024-25 committee members. She reviewed the process for the committee.- Meetings on 11/25/24, 12/11/24 and 1/21/25
- Staff survey results reviewed
- Parent/Student survey results reviewed
- Final committee meeting will be scheduled prior to the March board meeting to review the survey results and to finalize the recommendations
MSD staff calendar survey results, MSD family calendar survey results were reviewed. An overview for option 1 and option 2 were also reviewed. 2025-26 School Year Calendar Options
4.3 Integrated Plan: Engagement & Needs Summary:
Director Ferrua gave an overview of the Integrated Plan. There are now nine programs and common goals.Overview of the timeline:
- February: Summary of needs and engagement
- April: Approval from the board and apply with the state
The required planning process, lens for decision making, community engagement, insights from engagement, ideas from engagement, needs assessment highlights, identified themes: proposed outcomes and next steps we reviewed. See presentation.
5.0 Public Forum
We did not receive any public comments.6.0 Board Directors Comments:
Director Bader states it was not her intention to make comments or ask questions as calling out schools. She apologizes if it was received that way. Our role as a board is to notice and ask questions to see how we can help. She states that she will not stop asking questions, but will do so in a way that accurately conveys her deep respect for everybody in the community. At the high school, she ran into Director Frost and the Edustaff Team presenting the Substitute of the Year Award. It was an honor to witness it. She thanked the counselors for the critical work they do everyday. She mentioned that HB 3012 is being introduced that will give 16 & 17 year olds the right to vote in school board elections in 2027. The combined Patton and Duniway MS girls basketball team had their third game. They were having fun and they even scored.Director Partida thanked Buel ES for all of the great work they are doing. He thanked Director Frost and Ferrua for all of the great work they are doing. He stated that the exercise the kids are doing was amazing. He also states that attendance is one of his priorities and if kids are having fun, they will want to come to school.
Directory Anderson gave a shout out to the Resilience. It was well attended and had wonderful conversations. She kudoed everyone for making it happen. She stated that she took a lot of information from OSBA training on public meetings and is looking forward to the conversation. She gave a shout out to the counselors and said, “We can not do it without you, you are the intrical part of making our students successful everyday.”
Director Towery gave a huge shout out to the Buel ES team. She states that It is impressive to see how far the little guy has come in such a short period of time. That speaks volumes of the inclusive environment they have created. She thanked the team of directors, counselors, teachers and staff. She said, “I am proud of the incredible work you are putting in. We see you and we have our hands at your back.”
Vice-Chair Warmbier recognized the many donations that we receive each month that are approved on the Consent Agenda agenda. She thanked those that donated. The Education Foundation dinner that was held last weekend highlighted all of the donations that were collected there, going to our science field trips and teacher mini grants. She states that she, as a parent, takes for granted that kids have learned to read and multiply, that is so amazing. We try to do all the extra but the core academic skills are happening everyday in all of our schools.
Chair Bizon asked the board to email questions or concerns on OSBA’s do’s and don’ts to him or to the superintendent so that they can draft conversations around them.
The board discussed whether or not to attend the upcoming NSBA conference. Chair Bizon will report to the board secretary by the deadline of February 20, 2025 if they plan to attend.
8.0 Announcements:
There were no announcements.The meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m.