BOARD MEETING SUMMARY
March 12, 2007
The
Board heard the following reports:
1. Mr.
Zuber reported seventh month enrollments for all schools. District enrollment
was 2985, an increase of 41 over the same period last year but a decrease of 2
from the previous month. Enrollment by school was: Ripon Elementary – 445;
Ripona – 482; Weston – 483; Colony Oak – 461; Park View – 198; High School –
916. Mr. Zuber pointed out that the high school enrollment is continuing to
decline. The school’s current enrollment is 9 below the enrollment at the same
time last year. This is the second month in a row that high school enrollment
has been below the enrollment for the same period last year.
2. Mr.
Zuber reported there were 48 suspensions at the elementary schools and 73
suspensions at the high school in the last month. This represents a decrease of
5 at the elementary schools from the same time last year and an increase of 17
at the high school. At the high school the main problem continues to be acts of
defiance of school rules. Fifty-one of the 73 high school cases fall into this
category, mainly due to repeated tardies to class and refusal to serve an
assigned detention.
3. Mr.
Zuber reported that work had begun on the high school book room. He said plans
called for completion in time to store the high school’s textbooks in the room
at the end of the current school year.
4. Mr.
Zuber reported that plans for the new marquee at the high school had been completed.
The marquee will be ordered this week and there will be a 15% savings by
ordering it before March 15. The installation plans have to be approved by the
State. It is hoped the marquee will be in place before the start of the 2007-08
school year.
5. Jessica
Coleman gave a presentation on the 2007 Color the Skies Hot Air Balloon Festival
planned for September 1-2, 2007. This will be the second year of the festival
and she is working to develop some science-related activities to get the
schools involved. More information will be forthcoming.
6. Mr.
Zuber reported on legal requirements for ensuring that registered sex offenders
are not serving as volunteers in the schools. He stated that the law says
registered sex offenders cannot serve as volunteers and leaves it to districts
to determine how they will monitor this. There are three options: (a) use the Megan’s
Law website; (b) fingerprint volunteers and (c) have volunteers sign an affidavit
declaring they are not a registered sex offender. The Megan’s Law website is
not always accurate and fingerprinting every volunteer would be very expensive.
Mr. Zuber is looking at using the affidavit. He is getting a sample from the
district’s legal firm and will work with administrators to get it finalized. He
is also reviewing the policy on volunteers to make sure it is current.
7. Mr.
Zuber reported that Ripon Elementary had qualified for an after school program
funded out of Proposition 49 funds. The district is contracting with Give Every
Child a Chance to operate the program. Because there is not room for the program
at Ripon Elementary, the program will be housed a Park View and qualifying students
will use the district bus system to get to the site. The program will be open
to all district students as long as all qualifying Ripon Elementary students are
being served and there is room left. Mr. Zuber said the program should be
operational by the end of the month.
8. Mr.
Zuber gave an overview of issues that will have to be addressed in the
development of the 2007-08 budget. Comments included:
• the projected ending balance for 2006-07
is$1.76 million. This is down about $500,000 from last year’s ending balance. The
second interim report, in projections for the next two years, shows an ending
balance of about $1.53 million for 2007-08 and $1.52 million for 2008-09. These
projections assume no growth in the district’s enrollment over those two years,
use of estimated COLAs for the next two years, funding all movement on the
employee salary schedules, no adjustments to those salary schedules, an
additional $50,000 in utility costs each year, no additional employees for the next
two years and no change in the cost of Special Education for the next two years.
• requests submitted for the nonsalary
budget for next year totaled $4.41 million. Expenditures for this year in this
area were $2.94 million. There will be some cutting in the next three months.
• if we assume no additional students next
year and the same number of kindergartners for next year as this year, when we
move all of the current grades forward one grade level, elementary enrollment
declines by 18 and high school enrollment grows by 38. There is a net increase
of 20 students for next year. This would represent an increase of $110,000 to the
district’s income.
• this “growth” pattern will also require a
redistribution of existing staff. There will be growth at Park View as grades
move forward. There will need to be two additional primary positions at the
school and a fifth grade teacher. These will have to come from existing staff. The
number of primary grade teachers at Weston will be reduced by one and the
number of primary grade teachers at Ripona will be reduced by one. The third
kindergarten position at Park View will be moved to one of the other grades and
there will be two kindergarten classes at Park View next year. If a third
kindergarten has to be added to a school, it will be added at Ripon Elementary
and a teacher hired. This is being done to make sure primary students are
evenly disbursed around the district.
• under this staffing scenario, fourth
grade classes at Weston will be over 30. However, existing transfer requests
and attrition should address the problem somewhat. Also, sixth, seventh and eighth
grade classes will continue to be large. However, it does not make sense to
move students in these grades to other schools since they are so class to graduation.
Finally, staffing at the high school will remain at the same level as this year.
Current average class size at the high school is 26.6 and the added 38 students
will increase this to 27.5.
• there are two staffing issues that will
have to be addressed. Park View will need at least a .5 Readers Workshop
teacher next year. The school will also need a .5 Library Clerk. Readers
Workshop teachers are working with Ms. Bojé and Mrs. Taylor to finalize the
assessment tools to be used to qualify students for the program. Once that is finished
and there is good data on the needs at each school a final decision on staffing
the Readers Workshop program at each school will be made.
• Mrs. Schaper is recommending that meal prices
at the high school be increased to offset increasing costs. The increase would
be in the range of 50¢. A final recommendation will be made in the spring.
• Mr. Zuber also reported that developer
fee income had dropped 50% from what it was two years ago. He said this was
reflecting the marked slowdown in home building that was occurring. The
district has ample facilities so this was not a problem.
9. Mr.
Zuber reported on some discussions he has had with parents about offering
elective courses to 7th and 8th graders outside the school day. He
said there were parents who wanted to offer foreign language courses to those
grades. He said there were issues of credentialing and accessibility to all students
that would have to be addressed. He also said that if this were done there
would not be high school credit for the courses, something the parents wanted. He
said the district did not do that even if a student took a high school course.
All it did was allow the student to start at a higher level when he/she
enrolled at the high school.
10. Mr.
Zuber also reported that Cynthia Linker-hall, Mindy Genasci and Susan Taylor
had recently been certified in the use of Explicit Direct Instruction
techniques. This is a training program intended to improve the effectiveness in
teaching strategies to maximize student mastery of standards.
11. Mr.
Zuber reported that electrical work had begun to support the installation of
the security camera system at the schools. He said that the plan was to have
the system up and running before schools opened in August.
The
Board took the following action:
1.
Approved
a three-year agreement for explosive detection canine services. This will give the
district immediate access to a trained explosives detection dog in the event of
a bomb scare.
2. Approved
a General Waiver Request to extend the time the district has to use some
principal training funds it has secured.
3. Approved
Resolution 06-06 approving the dissolution of the San Joaquin County Health
Care Authority. This is the old JPA the district used to secure health coverage
for employees. There is no further need for this organization.
4. Approved
the revised Social Studies Level 3s. Trustees thanked Ms. Bojé for her efforts
and the efforts of her committee. They commented that the Level 3s gave a clear
picture of the social studies curriculum in the district.
5. Approved
the Second Interim Report. This report is a review of the district’s budget.
Mr. Zuber reported that the district was fiscally sound.
6. Approved
revisions to BP/AR 3290 – Gifts, Grants and Bequests. The changes more clearly
define the processes to be used when donating goods or services to the district
or its personnel.
7. Renewed
the district’s membership in the Coalition for Adequate School Housing. For a
$314 annual membership fee the district has supported statewide efforts to
maximize funding for facilities.
8. Declared
a 3600 square foot agriculture storage space exempt from commercial developer
fees. This exemption is mandated by law.
9. Approved
a request for an unpaid child rearing leave for Margaret Flores, Ripon Elementary
third grade.
10. Accepted
the following donations: $50 to the Weston library from Mr. and Mrs. Caetano;
$2,565.33 to the Park View library from the Park View PFC; $2,486.00 to high
school baseball from the Ripon Quarterback Club; $2,056.00 to high school track
from the Ripon Quarterback Club; $500 to high school ASB from Brocchini Farms;
$250 to high school ASB from Fredriks Nursery; $50 to high school boys
basketball from an anonymous donor; $800 to high school track form Mr. and Mrs.
Tyhurst; $500 to high school performing arts from Mr. and Mrs. Dodson.
11. Approved
the disposal of surplus and obsolete equipment.
12. Approved
several Interdistrict Attendance Agreements.