TEMPLE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES March 21, 2016 Minutes The Board of Trustees met in regular session on Monday, March 21, 2016 in the Joe Everton Conference Room of the TISD Central Administration Offices, 200 North 23rd Street, Temple, Texas in accordance with Chapter 551 of the Government Code. President Wright called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. and declared a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mr. Wright. Members Present
Mr. Steve Wright, President; Mr. Dan Posey, Vice President; Mrs. Jennifer Davis, Secretary; Mrs. Linell Davis; Mr. Ronnie Gaines; Mrs. Shannon Gowan; and Ms. Virginia Suarez, Members.
Members Absent
None.
Others Present
Dr. Robin Battershell, Superintendent; Mrs. Marilyn Krumnow, Secretary to the Superintendent; representative of the news media; and various staff members and citizens.
Public Forum
No one addressed the Board of Trustees during the Open Forum section of the meeting.
Board President’s
A motion was made by Mr. Posey and seconded by Mrs. Gowan to approve a resolution to nominate Dr. Robin Battershell as a Texas Association of School Boards Superintendent of the Year. The application form is currently in process and is due to ESC Region 12 on May 16, 2016. The motion was approved by a 7-0 vote. ESC Region 12 Board of Directors currently has two places up for election, Place 4 and Place 5. The TISD Board of Trustees is requested to vote on candidates at a regular or special board meeting in March. Ballots are due by April 5th. There were no future items of discussion.
Superintendent’s Report
March is National Athletic Trainer Month. This year’s theme is: A safer approach to work, life and sport. Staff Athletic Trainers are Coach Windee Skrabanek, Coach Steve Prentiss, Coach Mike Lefner and Coach Hodges. The 2015-2016 Athletic Training Students are: Presilda Martinez,
Amy Mendez, Carolina Rodriguez, Katelynn Eckenrode, Carla Garcia, Alex Santana, Karla Yanez, Ciondra Howard, Clarissa Luna, Eva DeLaGarza, Dulse Luviano, Wendy, Munoz, Katie Richmond, Alyssa Sykes, Yovana Perez, Danica Salinas. Mrs. Lisa Adams, Executive Director of Secondary Education recognized the following students from the Mathcounts regional competition at Baylor on February 13, 2016. Team Results: 1st place—TSA (Kahlan Henderson, Kimbal Horsak, Rayhaan Ahmed, Elliot Abel)—this team will advance to the state round in Dallas on March 18-19. 3rd place—BMS (Jeb Tanaka, Micah Ball, Adolfo Martinez, Malina Patel) Individual Results: 1st place—TSA Kimble Horsak 3rd place—TSA Kahlan Henderson 5th place—TSA Colton Rankin 6th place—BMS Jeb Tanaka 8th place—LMS Emily DeGraaff 9th place—TSA Erika Fernandez 10th place—LMS Juan Juarez Attendance, Behavior, Academics Goals’ Update: Curriculum & Instruction 75 TISD students, 26 more than last year, will be attending the State Skills USA (or career and technology) competition this Spring. Temple High School is sponsoring a Spring Student Technology Showcase that features TISD student-created products. Professional Datasolutions, Inc., (PDI) is providing the judges and the prizes! They are also sponsoring a summer camp for 20 students at PDI. PDI is a great partner. If you see Greg Gilkerson, please thank him. The P20 CCRS conference is scheduled for next October 7 or 14, and will probably be hosted at WilsonArt. We have received a $1M dollar EEIP, Educator Excellence Innovation Program, grant extension for the next two years. We are applying for a Cycle 9 21st Century grant to fund afterschool ACE programs at Lamar MS, Travis SA, Western Hills Elem and Kennedy-Powell Elem. We cannot request grant funds for a campus previously having an ACE program. March 21, 2016 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 2
A Middle School Dance parent information session is scheduled for March 22. This will be for the Spring and they will practice two days a week for one hour. Mariachi uniforms have been ordered and we hope that these are in by Cinco de mayo. We have 8 students who participate every week and are working on recruitment efforts for next year. Mr. Ed Luna would be proud. Student Services Temple ISD will be a host for the Trust Based Response to Intervention (TBRI) workshop on April 8 & 9. The fee to attend is $15 which covers snacks, food, and duplication. Please call Marilyn if you are interested in attending. TBRI is a method that we are using with our severe behaviorally challenged students. We attended in Salado last year, thanks to Burt Smith @ Salado. Nancy Preston is in charge of this program. If you are interested, please contact Nancy at
[email protected]. Temple High School is one of six-hundred schools in 25 states who have been chosen for the Chick-fil-A National High School Leadership program focused on impact through action. This $4,000 program is 100% paid for by partnerships between Steve Joy, Coca-Cola and Chick-fil-A, Inc. We are working on instructional times for the 2016-2017 school year. Our biggest issue is that UIL has obviously realigned and we have longer travel times on Fridays in the Fall. We are still in fact finding mode. April 2 - United Way Carnival: Last year's staff donations $18,562, this year's $17,500. We are basically on track. You will need to set up your booths at 10:00 on April 2 with the event beginning at 11 AM. Employee Easter Egg Roll is slated for Wednesday, March 23, 5:00 PM at Temple High School Wildcat Stadium. All staff, their children and grandchildren are invited. The Easter Bunny will be in attendance! Temple Police Dept., including TISD SRO’s, are now wearing body cameras which record both video and audio any time they receive a call for service. Per Temple ISD legal counsel, police records (including video and audio) are not educational records with one exception, police records can be used if it is a matter of determining discipline. Thus school staff is generally not March 21, 2016 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 3
allowed to view video or audio taken by a SRO or Temple police officer. Unlike the school, parents do have a right to view footage concerning their own child. Temple PD has requested further clarification by the Attorney General's office on this matter. Wildcat Mentors are seeking Mentors for the 2016-2017 school year. Their goal is 165 active mentors. We are beginning to look at middle school rezoning for the 2017-18 school year. Community hearings will begin next Fall. Human Resources TISD is developing a teacher retention plan for the 2016-2017 school year. We are conducting a thorough analysis of the reasons why teachers leave and will address these accordingly. Wheatley, with its more challenging students, has the highest retention rate...the power of a good leader. More to come on this one. TISD is developing an Employee Wellness Plan for the 20162017 school year. Mr. Palmer, Asst. Supt. of HR and Dr. Scott Moger, Asst. Supt. of Student Services, met with the SHAC (School Health Advisory Council) last week on the wellness policy and will continue to work on our plan for next year. The TISD Job Fair is scheduled for April 16 at Temple High School from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 am. Finance & Operations Vandiver has been sold to Tina Ortiz for a day-hab facility for mentally challenged adults, many of who were TISD students before. Congratulations to Mrs. Ortiz! This will enhance all of us. We looked at our quarterly finance projections with Kallen Vaden, Executive Director of Finance. Kallen brought us fund balance projections for this current school year. These are subject to change. She is projecting that we will add $1.5M to this year's fund balance. We do not use fund balance for expenditures that must be sustained year-to-year. We use this for one time expenditures related to crisis situations or capital items. As of February 29, 2016, we would anticipate that 64% of budgeted expenditures have been fully expended. We do not March 21, 2016 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 4
worry if this is lower, but we do worry if it is higher. We currently have 61.29% expended. Tax Increment Zone payment by TISD alone is $12,545,075, excluding Interest & Sinking and final tax collections as of April 1, 2016. We also reviewed our long-range TRE plan. We are on track with what we promised taxpayers, except for a $5,000 difference in additional library materials. Everything else has been spent to the penny. We have begun building our 2016-2017 budget. We projected additional revenue for the 2016-2017 school year at $3M with $1.2M of this designating for paying more toward health care premiums and $1.3 designated to once again increasing salaries. Thus $500,000 remains for all other things including additional FTE's, full-time equivalent. Electronic Recycling is tentatively set for the exterior at Jefferson on April 23 from 9am – 2pm. Keep Temple Beautiful will not do the telephone book recycling beginning next year. School Board Election Shannon Gowan and Zachary Towell: Place 6 Virginia Suarez: Place 1. Running unopposed. You will have a resolution on the Board agenda that this position is unopposed. The TISD auction is set for June 25. We will have buses and 13 pianos in various states of disrepair, some are quite good. The Go2Work East Temple Redevelopment Project is seeking adult mentors for unemployed or underemployed adults seeking to reenter the workforce. Please call me if you or someone you know is interested. This would be a 1 year commitment with once a week in-person or phone visits required for the first 2 months and monthly visits required for the remainder of the year. Human Resource
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Mrs. Jennifer Davis made a motion to approve the 2015-2016 personnel plus addendum hiring two individuals. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Linell Davis and approved by a 7-0 vote.
Student Services
Curriculum and Instruction
Finance and Operations
Mrs. Gowan made a motion to approve board support of the application process for the Cycle 9-21st Century Grant application. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Linell Davis and approved unanimously. (7-0) The K-2 Technology initiative is the final installment of TISD’s PK-12 technology initiative made possible through the TRE. This district-wide initiative provides a technology rich environment for all students that allows for a transformation in the teaching and learning process to meet the needs of the 21st century student. Mrs. Luann Hughes, Director of Technology, and Mrs. Christine Parks, Executive Director of Elementary Education presented a power point presentation of the final phase of installment. Mr. Kent Boyd, Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations, stated the district is working with the City of Temple and the Texas Department of Transportation to make sidewalk improvements along North 31st Street, from Adams Avenue to Temple High School. The purpose of this project is to improve accessibility and safety on this busy corridor, particularly for students and visitors to the high school. In order to make improvements on the east side of North 31st Street from West Barton Avenue to Temple High School, the City is interested in acquiring various sidewalk and temporary construction easements from Temple ISD. A motion was made by Mr. Posey and seconded by Mr. Gaines to authorize the superintendent to approve the Memorandum of Understanding for donation of sidewalk easements and temporary construction easements to the City of Temple, for sidewalk construction along North 31st Street. The motion carried. (6-0-1) with Mrs. Gowan abstaining. Mr. Posey made a motion which was seconded by Mrs. Gowan to approve the bond pricing delegation authority to the Superintendent or designee to approve bond sales up to $100M upon the advice of the TISD bonding attorneys, Bart Fowler and Financial Advisor, Jennifer Douglas. Due to the large amount of the bond and bond projects transpiring over the next 3 years, bonds will be sold upon need and best interest rates available. The motion was approved by a 7-0 vote. This allows the District some flexibility in the event there are last minute changes or unforeseen circumstances. For example, if interest rates make a dramatic drop just prior to pricing Mr. Fowler or Ms. Douglas may recommend borrowing a larger amount to lock in the lower rate. These are unlikely circumstances but since Dr. Battershell and Kent would be designated as pricing agents they would still have oversight. The
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Board will always be informed of any sales. Instead of $70M Mr. Fowler and Ms. Douglas recommend a higher "not to exceed amount" of $100M to give TISD administration greater flexibility with a maximum term of 30 years instead of 25 should rates increase and it is needed to tax manage the I&S tax rate. Again, the intent is to borrow $70M for 25 years but this would just give added cushion if needed per legal counsel. Mrs. Suarez stepped out of the meeting at 7:04 p.m. and returned at 7:06 p.m. A motion was made by Mrs. Jennifer Davis to approve the Certification of Unopposed Candidate District 1. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gaines and approved by a 6-0 vote. This certification states Virginia Suarez, Candidate for District 1 is unopposed. Ms. Suarez was absent for the vote. Mrs. Linell Davis made a motion to approve the Order of Cancellation for Trustee Election for District1. Administration recommends in accordance with Section 2.053(a) of the Texas Education Code that the Temple Independent School District cancel the Trustee Election for District 1 scheduled for May 7, 2016. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Gowan and carried. (70) Board Committee Reports Facilities Committee Update
Policy Committee Update
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Mr. Steve Wright, Chairman of the Facilities Committee, provided an update on the special committee meeting held on February 4, 2016. The meeting interviewed the Vandiver bidders asking identical questions concerning education services planned for the facility, clients served, funding and anticipated benefits to Temple ISD and the community. The committee decided they will make a formal recommendation at the February 8, regular board meeting. The regular Facilities Committee meeting was held on Thursday, February 25. Items discussed included the following: Downtown Building Update and Discussion; 2015 Bond Construction and Timeline-delivery methods, quality control-Bert Pope, timelines, CMAR selection process for the downtown facility, competitive sealed proposals; Update and Discussion on the Sale of Vandiver; Staff Housing Options; Lamar Middle School Road; Vacant Buildings; RWYC Settle-Up Costs; 31st Street Sidewalk Improvements; TDA Audit Results, and IB Signage at Temple High School. The next meeting will be held Thursday, March 31, 2016 – 7:30 a.m. Ms. Virginia Suarez, Chairman of the Policy Committee, stated the last meeting held was Wednesday, February 24, 2016 and
provided an update of the meeting. Items discussed included the following: Review and Discuss Board Policy DEC (LOCAL) – Compensation and Benefits – Leaves and Absences; and Review and Discuss Board Policy DH (LOCAL) – Employee Standards of Conduct. The next meeting will be held Wednesday, March 30, 2016 – 4:00 p.m. A motion was made by Mrs. Gowan and seconded by Mrs. Linell Davis to approve Board Policy DEC (Local) – Compensation and Benefits – Leaves and Absences. The motion carried. (7-0) During a review of DEC (LOCAL) by the Temple ISD Human Resources Department, revisions were made on page 6 of 9 in regards to the “Attendance Incentive” section of the policy. In policy DEC (LOCAL), Temple ISD provides an attendance incentive to employees with ten or more years of services to be paid out upon retirement. Revisions to this policy include clarification that the incentive is for retirees who retire under the “Normal-age Retirement eligibility qualifications with the” Texas Teacher Retirement System. The clarification was made as there are other types of retirement such as early retirements. The language clarifies the intent of the Temple ISD employee attendance incentive program and closes potential loopholes. Ms. Suarez made a motion to approve Board Policy DH (Local) – Employee Standards of Conduct. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gaines and approved by a 7-0 vote. Changes in state law from HB 910, effective January 1, 2016, allow open carry of firearms by license holders in limited circumstances. Districts that wish to pursue criminal trespass charges against license holders for open carry in certain locations must post appropriate signage. Changes in state law from SB 273 prohibit a School District from posting signs that bar a handgun license holder from having a concealed handgun where the license holder is not otherwise prohibited by law from having a concealed handgun. A District may post signs at the entrances to its buildings prohibiting a license holder from carrying a firearm into District buildings. Based on the employment relationship, TASB Legal Services believes that a District can continue to prohibit employees from possessing firearms on District property. Therefore, TASB moved without revision provisions from GKA (LOCAL) to this local policy. These provisions prohibit employees from using, possessing, or displaying weapons, including firearms, on district property except at certain districtapproved activities. See the “WEAPONS PROHIBITED” section of the policy. Revisions at “TOBACCO AND EMarch 21, 2016 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 8
CIGARETTES” are based on SB 97, which requires a school district to prohibit employees from smoking or using e-cigarettes at a school-related or school-sanctioned activity on or off school property. Lastly, SB 339 prohibits a District from enacting, adopting, or enforcing a rule or regulation that prohibits the possession of low-THC cannabis as authorized by Chapter 487 of the Health and Safety Code, which permits prescriptions for low-THC (non-intoxicating) cannabis in limited circumstances. In accordance with this bill, TASB added an “EXCEPTION” to the District's prohibition against possession of controlled substances and drugs if an employee possesses low-THC cannabis or any other controlled substance or drug that a licensed physician has prescribed for the employee's child or another individual for whom the employee is a legal guardian. And the District's existing exception for an employee's use of a drug pre-scribed by a licensed physician has been expanded to apply to use "or possession" of a "controlled substance" or drug. Consent Agenda
A motion was made by Mr. Posey for approval of the consent agenda items VII, Item A through E, 1-3. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Linell Davis and unanimously approved. (7-0) The consent agenda items included: Student Overnight Trip for Skills USA State Competition in Corpus Christi, March 31, 2016 to April 3, 2016; Student Overnight Trip for Temple High School FCCLA Career Preparation in Dallas, April 6-9, 2016; Budget Amendment #08; Instructional Materials Allotment and TEKS Certification, 2016-2017; and February Board Meeting minutes.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:19 p.m.
Steve Wright, President
Jennifer Davis, Secretary
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