Board of Education Meeting

• Mrs. Young shared district's philosophy of instructional technology and the process of how it evolved, wich has been shared among all staff and is on our website. A link has been added to the website concerning College and Career Readiness. She announced that preschool and kindergarten enrollment this year will be online and will begin Jan 21st and end March 17. Parents will now register online and schedule to bring documents to the central office. We still have move-up day so parents can bring students in to see school and teachers. If parents do not have internet access at home, parents can come to central office or the library.

• Mrs. Pollock shared Eagle Examiner with the board, they will be mailed this week to the community. A questionnaire to obtain community input will be available on our website starting February 20. There will also be a structured survey. The board will be hosting a coffee 30 minutes prior to the March and April board meetings to discuss growth and facilities. If you have specific questions regarding growth and facility concerns email facilitymatters@bwls.net - we encourage the community to reach out to provide input.

Mr. Cooper shared what options look like for elementaries that are at or over capacity:

• Trailers - research from reaching out to other district shows the cost for a 15-20-year-old used trailer is in the range of $80-100K, after adding delivery, freight, foundation, etc - price doubles. A new trailer runs between $120-125K. We can save some money by doing some of the work in-house. Units would house approximately two classrooms. Could have plumbing but would probably elect not to due to the increased cost.
• Shuttling -  one option is creating a new route for all students that will be transferred to SOU - the cost would be approximately $54K (staff and fuel). It would also mean the students would have a longer route than normal  - 50-60 minutes bus ride. The second option is to have a separate bus pick-up students from their home building and take them to Souders. Associated cost approximately $3K; however, there would be a loss of academic time at the start and end of the day. Serious concerns instructionally along with deciding which students would be selected to make this move daily. This is only a short-term fix, Sounders will soon be full.
• Renting Space - looking at churches and facilities within the district that might be able to accommodate 2-4 classrooms. At this time so many variables we can not put a dollar amount but we are starting to look at spaces.
• Increasing Class Sizes - this option weighs very heavy on our 20/20 vision. Instructionally it would be very difficult to provide the personalized education with the larger class sizes. If we increased class sizes to 29, especially in the kindergarten and 1st grade classes where students are learning to read, we would need to add more staff to accommodate the reading groups.
• We have enrolled a great deal more students at SOU in the past five years and soon will be at capacity there as well. We need to add another preschool unit next year. By law, we are required to offer this program to all special needs students between the ages of 3 and entering kindergarten. The cap in a class is sixteen and as the growth continues so do the enrollment numbers of these students. Currently, at SOU we will need to add another 3rd grade class and possibly 4th. If we shuttle students to SOU it will only give us a year.
• All rooms at GRE are being used and services such as therapy and tutoring use the halls.
• We will be adding one section at BWE next year and will need to increase class sizes at BWE due to the building in Sunbury Ridge.
• HSE is full, may need to add another class there waiting on final numbers.
• Currently, we have 2 preschool units at HSE, one at BWE and one at SOU plus a Head Start program.
• Mrs. Pollock stated that the administration wanted to get information out there as soon as possible so the community knows this is where we are. We really need to make a decision by May. She wants everyone to be informed that the purchase of trailers will come out of the operating budget, which is the same budget that teacher salaries and benefits come from. The cost of a trailer is a little more than adding a teacher with benefits.As we continue to pay for space, it becomes a hardship to hire teachers to keep class sizes where we need to be.

The board brought up some points and questions:

• How would we control security with the trailers? We have had trailers in our district before and students walked in and out daily, obviously not secured like a building but we would need to take those measures as we move forward.
• Placement of trailers? There is space at SOU, BWE and possibly HSE but not a "great" place at GRE that wouldn't involve costly measures running electric - the parking and traffic there also is a concern. Vendors said they would come out and look at properties to discuss the best location.
• When getting data from other districts how do they secure trailers? There is no rule of thumb or recommended way. We have looked into covered walkways, some type of closed off area - depends on the location of the trailer.
• Have we looked at available space in IS and MS?  All rooms at both buildings will be full next year. We knew this would happen because of the larger classes coming up. The specials that we have added obviously takes up rooms. We vacated 7 classrooms and they will be full next year. The MS will be going 1 to 1 next year, we will be dismantling computer labs and will be utilizing those spaces as classrooms. 
• Mr. Schneider shared some concerns with rental spaces. While he was researching space for a 2-year college he was surprised at state requirements and cost associated. Transportation cost would need to be added into the numbers as well
• Dr. Fagan wants recommendations as what is best for students. We can not put a cost on a child's education.

The Board worked through the following items:

• Governance - how we manage as an administration
• Communication - with each other and community
• Continuous Improvement - assure that the work that is being done in the district is carried over into work the work we are doing
• Important for the community to see what the board does, their role and how they function together.

Dr. Fagan noted an error in item 6 and requested format be modified prior to putting on the website.

• Dr. Fagan motioned, Mrs. Hess seconded to consent items 12.2-12.5.

• consent in item 12.1 motion 17-036

• consent in item 12.1 motion 17-036

• consent in item 12.1 motion 17-036

• consent in item 12.1 motion 17-036