There were lots of community members in attendance at the board meeting this evening. Here's a summary of the most important items dealt with and voted on:
1. Lots of awards and lots of recognition given to students for lots of different reasons. John Ciani snapped a lot of pictures. Also Superintendent Olney presented a certificate of appreciation to John Ciani. Ciani will be retiring in the near future.
2. Sixth Grade Presentation - Ms. Tsubota and several sixth grade students presented a summary of their environmental awareness project. They explained how it related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) criteria and displayed lots of pictures of the garden they developed as part of their project.
3. Superintendent's Report - Olney presented a check for $39k to the board which was donated by the now defunct VFW. The money will be used to fund annual scholarships to be awarded to graduating seniors.
4. IPAD Initiative / Tech Plan - Alan Tsubota gave a presentation of a plan to use iPads in the classroom. He talked about developing a wireless network and purchasing iPads (somewhere between 150-180 of them for staff and students at $450 each) as well as a subscription to a service called eSpark ($32k per year for three years). Alan also talked about the growing number of educational apps which are becoming available for the iPad. A half million such apps are expected to be available by June. The eSpark service curates apps so that teachers don't have to hunt down useful apps on their own and eSpark also provides a system to keep track of student progress and use of the iPads. Although eSpark will provide access to a large library of apps (covered by the subscription fee), it is possible that teachers may want to use some apps that are not part of the eSpark program and that this would become an additional cost.
5. Fall Coaching Assignments - The board voted 5-0 to approve Jeff Tuckness (7/8 volleyball), Jayana Ledbetter (HS Volleyball), and Curtis Boutte (football) as coaches for the 2013-2014 fall season.
6. Management Employees - The board voted to approve up to five additional work days for management employees (Alan Tsubota and Ruth Soto). The approximate cost to the district for these extra days will be up to $4,285.
7. Nursing Contract - The board voted to approve a nursing contract for 2013-2014 at a cost not to exceed $16,050.
8. Tier III Categorical Funds - The board voted to approve a plan which allows the district to use Tier III Categorical Funds as it sees fit instead of specifically for items the funds had been designated for in the past. Basically, these were restricted funds in the past which were designated to fund specific programs. Now the district can use the funds at its discretion. A couple board members asked if this meant that certain programs were being cut. Olney explained that the district may choose to keep any programs that it wishes to keep, but that by adopting the proposed resolution, the district is given the freedom to spend the funds as it sees fit.
Future Meetings: Thursday, June 13, 2013