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Eatonville School Board Meeting - August 12, 2002
by Penny Chambers
A scant handful of
citizens attended a special meeting of the Eatonville School Board Monday, Aug. 12,
during which three executive sessions were held. The first order of business
was the budget hearing and discussion for school year 2002-2003. District 404
is coping with state and federal budget cuts of approximately $200,000, while
teachers’ salaries have increased across the board.
Superintendent Ray Arment also pointed out that revenue from
state lottery and gambling, initiative I-728, did not reach original
projections and there has been a “breach in faith” as schools have not seen
the expected funding.
Among the district’s programs for which funding was
eliminated are: the school safety allocation, truancy petition funding,
traffic safety, the class size reduction grant, and the Eisenhower grant. The
Mentor Teacher Assistance Program and Leadership Internship Program have been
reduced by fifty percent. Learning Improvement Days were reduced from three
to two, equating to a $9,000 decrease in funding for salaries.
The state-funded kindergarten through fourth grade
teacher/student ratio has been reduced from 55.4/1000 to 54/1000, meaning a
reduction $35,931.99 in teacher salary funding next year. Local Effort
Assistance allocations, revenue from the state meant to lessen the impact of
high property tax rates due to low property valuations, have been reduced by
$3,500 (Districts who have successfully passed maintenance and operations
levies are eligible for this funding.)
The new Flexible Education Grant replaces the Local
Education Program Enhancement allocation (block grant). While the amount per
pupil increased from $18.48 to $21.55, the increase doesn’t compensate for
reductions in funding. Student Achievement funding has been increased from
$190.29 last year to $219.84 in 2002-2003. As reported to the board in April,
these funds are dedicated to extended learning opportunities (career
transition, technology, tutoring, summer enrichment), teachers and assistants
in reading, language arts, math and staff training).
The proposed ending balance, $532,299, is based on the
assumption that all program budgets and all levy allocations will be
expended. Consistently, the district ending balance is higher than
conservatively budgeted. The district is estimating a beginning balance for
2002-2003 of $1,700,000. Of this amount, $980,000 is special levy collections
allocated for specific purposes and budgeted for expenditures in the upcoming
year. This money was collected in the current or previous fiscal year. (the
above information taken from the district’s “2002-2003 Budget Notes”)
The board ended the budget hearing by unanimously passing
Resolution 467 – fixing and adopting the budget of the district for the
ensuing fiscal year.
As first order of
business
during the second portion of the meeting, the board unanimously approved the
Consent Agenda, “the purpose of which is to reduce time going through motion,
second and voting on issues of common consent.
“Every board member can ask for any item to be removed from
the Consent Agenda. There is no discussion of items on the Consent Agenda. By
motion of the board of directors, remaining Consent Agenda items are approved
without discussion. Discussion of items removed from the Consent Agenda
occurs immediately following action of the Consent Agenda.”
Two items on the Consent Agenda were to accept the
resignation of Shirley Bass, counselor to all three elementary schools in the
district, effective August 1. Superintendent Arment said that this position
is a “high priority fill.”
The second item was to employ John Trent as Weyerhaeuser
Elementary special education teacher, effective August 26.
Next on the agenda was unfinished business. The board discussed the
“Communication Plan,” improving communication between the schools and the
community. Some of the board members suggested hiring “outside help.”
Several persons in the audience suggested the school purchase
a “reader board” or scrolling, lighted sign, such as the one used at Bethel
High School. An employee of the Bethel School District said their reader
board was sponsored and paid for by Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Manager of Support
Services Dan Dawkins stated that a reader board has already been purchased
and is to be installed at the high school.
Superintendent Arment said he is a member of many local area
organizations such as the Ohop Grange and Eatonville Lions Club, and that if
he can’t get the public to get involved and come to the school, he can bring
the school to the public.
Last year, with Arment’s prompting, members of the Ohop
Grange went to Eatonville Elementary and did volunteer work, an experience
found to be rewarding by the Grange members as well as the students.
New business discussed by the school board was
the superintendent contract. The issues being considered: 1) term of
contract, 2) salary and benefits, 3) performance awards and 4) goals (used to
evaluate the superintendent’s job performance). Board member Donna Mettler
made a motion, which was unanimously passed, that if the State grants a
salary increase, the school board will pass the increase on to the
superintendent.
Mettler next made a motion that the superintendent be given a two
percent performance award based on an evaluation for school year 2001-2002.
This motion also passed unanimously. The third item on the agenda, term of
contract, was deferred until the board’s second meeting in Dec. The motion
brought by board member Mark Ashcraft to defer the decision, passed three
unanimously. The board felt they had insufficient information to make a
decision regarding contract renewal at this time.
According to the Washington State School Director’s Association
(WSSDA) a two- to -year contract is common, but the state has no real
standard. Board Chairman Robert Bass explained, “Mr. Arment currently has a
three-year contract that is renewable annually for one year. So if it were to
be renewed today it would be renewed from July 1, 2003 through July 1, 2004
[the last year of his existing contract] to June 30, 2005.”
Superintendent Arment still has two years left to serve under
his current contract. The final component of the superintendent contract -
superintendent goals for school year 2002-2003 - was given the most attention
and discussion.
Board members felt that last year’s goals
were too broad and
difficult to define in order to effectively evaluate Arment’s performance.
Donna Mettler made a motion for the board to convene into an executive
session to discuss the superintendent evaluation.
Upon reconvening Bass expressed his regret that all members
of the audience left the meeting during the closed session. He stated the
board had voted on three specific issues, two of which were tied to last
year’s goals, the pass-through salary increase from the state and the two
percent performance bonus.
Next was the contract extension. Bass further clarified,
“Right now Mr. Arment has a contract that is good until June 30, 2004. The
contract would be from July 1, 2004 until June 30, 2005; that’s what we voted
on. If anybody’s under the impression that we changed superintendents, we
have not done anything of that nature. Ray [Arment] has a contract currently
that’s good until June 30, 2004.
“We will make a decision
the second meeting in Dec. if we should extend it through June 30, 2005. The
reason we are delaying that decision is first the 2001-2002 goals, although
the board felt comfortable, or okay, with granting the performance bonus and
salary pass-through based on the evaluation, we are not okay granting the
year extension based on that evaluation.
“We felt that the goals lack some of the framing, some of the
detail that the current board desires. The second thing is, we felt the board
hasn’t had long enough of an evaluation period to be able to make that
decision tonight. Based on some outside resources, well respected, we’re
encouraged to take additional time to make that decision through an
independent, mutual party.”
Commonly the board sets goals for the school district
and for the school board. The school district’s goals are passed on to the
superintendent, who passes them on to his administrators. This way everyone
is tied into the same goals.
Last year’s school district/superintendent goals were:
The Eatonville School Board goals for 2002-2003 are:
1.
Develop a district-wide (students, staff, community, board)
communications plan and reconcile staff concerns.
2.
Conduct a district-wide review and update of the strategic plan.
3.
Establish protocol for
administrative/board operations (team operating principles and board
chair/superintendent relationships).
4.
Establish an annual professional development calendar for board
members.
5.
Conduct an independent management review of the district’s
operations.
6.
Develop job descriptions for all board positions and committees.
7.
Review the staff evaluation process.
“So we have a couple sets [of goals] here and it doesn’t mean we’re
limited to these. For each one we would certainly want to put additional
framework around it for the board’s benefit and for Ray’s [Arment] benefit
and for the school district’s benefit,” declared chairman Bass.
Board member Ron Springer suggested that “enhance student
achievement” should be added to the school board’s goals; Bass said that
would be done. Board member Rick
Thompson said the board must develop “measurable goals.” The board attempted
to go over each goal one by one, went into another executive session,
determined there was not enough time to accomplish their task during that
particular meeting and called another special board meeting held Friday, Aug.
16, in order to “firm up” the district/superintendent goals.
The board approved the purchase of two new school buses
proposed by Dan Dawkins. The first, Dawkins called a full size, Thomas “Trip”
bus, costing $81,125.60. It holds 78 passengers, has extra storage space with
the engine being located in the rear rather than in the front, as is common
with most school buses. This bus will be used to transport students to
sporting events, etc.
The second is a standard school bus costing
$68,168.05. These two new buses are not an addition to the bus fleet, but
will replace two buses used in the past. Dawkins also provided these
interesting statistics - 1,150 students are transported by bus in the
Eatonville school district daily, and each school bus travels the equivalent
of 303 trips from Seattle to New York every year.
The district has allocated $225,500
for the upcoming year in the Transportation Vehicle Fund. Revenue in this
fund is from the state and may only be used to purchase new school
buses.
The meeting ended with Superintendent Arment expressing his
thanks to the board for the bonus award and salary increase and mentioned
interviews were going to be held in the upcoming week for an athletic
director. Arment also made a plea to the public to contact local elected
representatives regarding I-728 not enhancing school funding.
The board once again went into a scheduled executive session
to discuss “property” (as listed on their agenda). The next scheduled school board meeting is set for Wed., Aug. 28, at 7 p.m., at the district office 208 Lynch Street, in the conference room.
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"Be kind, for
everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." |
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