The
meeting convened at 5:00 PM at Ramay Jr. High School, with President Malcolm
McNair presiding. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by students from Woodland
Jr. High School.
The
roll was called, and all board members were present.
Members
of the Woodland Pom Squads were presented a Recognition of Outstanding
Achievement certificate for their performance at the Universal Dance
Association summer camp.
FHS
teacher Laura Marsh was also presented with a Recognition of Outstanding
Achievement certificate for being selected for the Fulbright Memorial Fund
Teacher Exchange Program. Marsh was able to visit Japan during the summer, and
she shared slides of her trip.
Consent Agenda
Reed
Greenwood made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. The motion
was seconded by Laura Underwood. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.
Financial
Audit Contract
The Board
voted to contract with the accounting firm of Baird, Kurtz & Dobson to
conduct the financial audit of the 1998-99 school year as presented by chief
financial officer Lisa Morstad with one change. The Board asked that the audit
report be completed and filed with the Legislative Audit and the Department of
Education within six months of December 31, 1999. The original contract had
called for the report to be filed within eighteen months of June 30, 1999.
Howard Hamilton made the motion the approve the contract, and Pam Grondin
seconded the motion. The motion passed by a 6-0 vote.
Financial
Report
Lisa Morstad,
chief financial officer, made the year-end financial report to the Board. In
the report she noted that the district finished the 1998-99 school year with
$140,730.77 in uncommitted revenue. Morstad said the amount was due to
conservative budgeting on the part of the district. She added that the amount
would be carried over into the 1999-2000 budget.
Migrant
Education Contract
The Board
agreed to ratify a contract with the Boston Mountain Educational Cooperative to
provide migrant education services for the district. The district has
contracted with the Boston Mt. Coop to provide these services for the last
several years. Pam Grondin made the motion to ratify the contract, which was
seconded by Howard Hamilton. The motion passed 6-0.
1999-2000
Board Meeting Dates
The Board
approved a schedule of meeting dates for the 1999-2000 school year. Steve
Percival made the motion to approve the proposed dates, and Reed Greenwood
seconded the motion. It passed by a 5-0 vote. The Board will meet on the fourth
Thursday of each month at 5 PM. The exceptions to this are November and
December, when the board will meet on the third Thursday of the month, and
March of 2000, when the Board will meet on either the third or fifth Thursday
of the month.
Board
Review
The Board
agreed to contract with Baird Kurtz & Dobson to have their firm provide
reviews of the bond transactions and perform arbitrage calculations on the
bonds. Lisa Morstad noted that school district attorney Rudy Moore had not have
the opportunity to view but that he would review the document before signatures
were obtained. Morstad also agreed to research the fees BKD will charge for
their services to see if they are competitive, which was requested by Howard
Hamilton. Hamilton made the motion to approve the contract, which was seconded
by Laura Underwood. The motion passed 6-0.
Special
Services Contract
The Board
approved an agreement between the district and the Washington/Madison Community
Partnership and Ozark Guidance Center to provide social work services at
Jefferson and Bates Elementary Schools. Steve Percival made the motion, which
was seconded by Pam Grondin. The motion passed 6-0.
T2K Report
Gail Quillen,
director of district technology programs, briefed the Board on the T2K program
at East Campus. The program is financed by a $100,000 grant, which provides
technology instructors for five labs, as well as hardware & software for
the labs. Quillen added that at least one lab opens early before school, stays
open through lunch, and is open until 4:30 PM each day.
Gifted
& Talented Program Report
Barbara
Prichard, director of gifted & talented education, gave the annual report
on the GT program. Prichard noted that scores received on the recent Advanced
Placement exams indicate that FHS students continue to excel in the program.
She noted that there were 308 AP Scholars in Arkansas, and 19% of them were
from Fayetteville. Prichard added that 83% of the students who took an AP exam
received a score of three or better (on a scale of one to five), which entitles
them to some form of college credit.
Attendance
Policy
The Board
received a proposed change in the Absences Policy, which will deal with
excessive absences. The change in the policy is proposed as follows:
If a student is absent twelve (12) times
from any class during a semester, the student may be denied credit, even though
those absences were excused. However, the principal may grant credit if the
principal determines that the absences were due to illness, accident, or other
unavoidable reasons.
The Board
agreed to consider the policy revision at its September 1999 meeting.
Executive
Session
The Board
voted to go into executive session to consider a resignation matter. Steve
Percival made the motion, which was seconded by Laura Underwood. The motion
passed 6-0, and the Board went into executive session at 6:15 PM.
Return to
Open Session
At 6:58 PM
the Board voted to return to open session. Pam Grondin made the motion, which
was seconded by Steve Percival. The motion passed 6-0.
The Board was asked to hear a grievance filed by
district employees. The grievants presented three issues, and the Board voted
to hear only the issue involving salary. Laura Underwood made the motion to
hear the salary grievance, and Steve Percival seconded the motion. The motion
passed 5-1. The grievants then asked for a closed session. Steve Percival made
the motion to go into closed session, which was seconded by Laura Underwood.
The motion passed 6-0. The Board went into closed session at 7:10 PM.
At 8:26 PM, Steve Percival made a motion to return
to open session, which was seconded by Laura Underwood. The motion passed 6-0.
Board president Malcolm McNair said that the Board had heard the grievance and
would respond to the grievants in writing in a timely manner as provided by
district policy. Regarding the two other issues, The Board agreed not to hear
the second grievance, which dealt with CPEP. McNair asked for a motion on
grievance #3, which dealt with the improvement of CPEP, and no motion was made.
With no further business, Steve Percival made a
motion to adjourn, which was seconded by Howard Hamilton. The motion passed
6-0, and the meeting adjourned at 8:28 PM.