Woodland Park School District Re-2
                        BOARD OF EDUCATION                           
Regular Board Meeting – February 10, 2010

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President Rick Wetzel at 7:03 p.m. with the following members present: Bill Blackburn, Rob Hunt, Archie Neil, Amy Nieman, and Mr. Wetzel.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION Blackburn, second Nieman, to approve the agenda as presented.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

NEW RE-2 SUPERINTENDENT CHOSEN
After conducting an extensive search, screening, and interviewing a strong group of candidates, the Board of Education for Woodland Park School District Re-2 has selected Dr. Jed Bowman as its Superintendent.

Dr. Bowman will commence his duties on July 1, 2010 but will work with outgoing Superintendent Guy Arseneau as schedules permit between now and July 1st.  His contract was formally approved at the February 10th regular Board Meeting.

The Board is excited and happy with Dr. Bowman’s selection and is looking forward to working with him.  The Board also wishes to thank the many parents, staff, and other community members that helped the Board in screening, interviewing and meeting with candidates during the process.

HIGH SCHOOL STUCO REPORT
STUCO Vice President announced they won the State of Colorado Drive Smart award for the 3rd consecutive year beating out 30 other schools for the award; Spirit Week will be held the week of March 8th with a dance on Saturday; Global Awareness Week will be held in April.

ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR REPORT
Activities Director Brian Gustafson reported WPHS Athletics – Wrestling Regionals 2/12 – 2/13; Wrestling State 2/18 – 2/20; Boys Basketball wraps up their season 2/19; Girls Basketball wraps up on 2/19 – Playoffs?; Kelsey Seibel who swims for Manitou School District is headed to state this weekend in two swimming relays (200 free and 200 medley backstroke); Spring Sports start 2/22.  WPHS Activities – Madrigals are on their way to the Northern Arizona University Vocal Jazz and Madrigal Festival in Flagstaff, AZ; Winter Guard Club – 2 first place finishes in their last two competitions; Drama – Recently competed in the Pikes Peak Invitational One-Act Play Contest; placed 2nd out of 10 schools; Best Actor at the contest was awarded to James Miller.  WPMS Athletics – Girls Basketball finished this week.  8th grade did not make the playoffs but posted some wins and showed great improvement.  A strong 7th grade team competed throughout the season and finished with a 5-5 record; Wrestling began February 8th and the annual Middle School Invitational will be held at the High School on Saturday, February 27th.

The Tri-County League that the Middle School participates in has realigned the competitive divisions based on the size of the 7th and 8th grade classes.  Because of this Woodland Park will be moving from the large Mountain Division to the middle Foothills Division.  This move should allow our student athletes to be more competitive since we will be competing against schools similar in enrollment size. 

FOUNDATION GRANT PRESENTATIONS
Woodland Park Re-2 School District Foundation Vice-President Chris Cosgriff thanked those who turned in their requests for grants with the WPSD Foundation.  This year the Foundation received twelve applications and was able to fund eight.

Congratulations to the following:  Gateway – “Seeing Clearly” document cameras $979.00 – Lori Lays; Summit – “Action Based Learning Lab “ $1,000.00 – Sue Wright; Summit – “Resource Support Materials for At-Risk Readers” $436.00 – Val Brown; WPMS “SPARKS Book Clubs” $985.00 – Jeannie Walter; WPMS “Video Production Studio” $1,000.00 – Elizabeth Barry; WPHS – “Healthy Forest Monitoring Project” $874.00 – Kendall Hovel; WPHS – “WPHS Presents Math TV: $356.00 – Ashley Lawson & Michele Burke; WPHS – “Literature Circles” $492.00 – Sara Olson & Laura-Lee Barron; the following were funded by a directed donation for the high school:  “Vex Robotics” $1,000.00 – Gary Adamson; “Advisory Period – Pathways” $4,000.00 – Del Garrick.

Funds supporting these and other foundation projects come from people in our community interested in enhancing educational opportunities for our students.  To date the Foundation has raised and dispersed $22,041 to our schools!

Mrs. Cosgriff announced the next fundraising activity will be the annual dinner at the Swiss Chalet Restaurant on Sunday, March 7th.  For more information, contact Chris Cosgriff at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CONVERSATION ON REDUCE COST & INCREASE REVENUE
Board President Rick Wetzel opened the conversation with the upcoming budget cuts the district needs to come up with ideas on how to reduce costs and increase revenue during these difficult economic times. 

Comments/Questions/Suggestions:  We need to work smarter, not harder; pay attention to what other districts are doing – not reinvent the wheel; collaboration of sharing services; easier to reduce cost than increase revenue; find a way to promote our district better; we have a really good school system; perhaps we can create a brochure with the last 5 years accomplishments and have available at the Chamber of Commerce; school newsletters are better than ever, but we need to get that information to a new audience; perhaps video classrooms and get on YouTube or somewhere where there is 24/7 access to what is happening in our classrooms; local newspaper is only weekly we need to do more; local newspaper may come out once a week, but online stories are posted daily and getting about 4,000 hits per day; create a marketing DVD to give to local realtors.

The board thanked everyone for their participation in the conversation.

CONSENT CALENDAR/Blanket Motion
MOTION Blackburn, second Nieman, to accept administrative recommendation and approve action on the following items:
 
 VII.a. Minutes – Board Meetings January 13, 24, 27 and February 1, 2010.

 VII.b. Bills & Financial Reports – December 2009

                                                                        December 09
          Beginning Cash                                       5,701,252 
 
          State Equalization & Misc. Deposits         1,392,352  
 
          Property, S.O. & other tax deposits             261,479  
 
          Invest Interest/Earnings                                  1,355   

          Expenditures                                          -1,934,299
 
          Ending Cash Available                              5,422,139
 
          No material unexpected revenues were received in December 2009

VII.c.1. Personnel – New Contracts – Classified:  Cheryl Conklin, MS Accompanist, effective 1/13/10; Co-Curricular:  Lisa Alexander, National Honor Society (Shared Stipend); Jennifer Kane, 10th Grade Class Sponsor; Bryan McMahill, MS Wrestling Co-Coach; Jim Meins, MS Asst. Track Coach; Julianne Payton, HS Asst. Track Coach (Shared Stipend); Stephanie Rucker, MS Boys & Girls Head Track Coach; Steve Smith, MS Wrestling Co-Coach; Leave of Absence – Certified:  Anna Flanagan, GES 3rd Grade, Maternity Leave of Absence for the 2010-2011 school year; Leave of Absence – Classified:  Eleissa Gillette, CES Paraeducator, Medical Leave of Absence from February 9 through March 18, 2010; Guest Teacher List:  As Presented.

VII.c.2. Personnel – Resignations – Certified:  John Fulks, MS Industrial Technology, resignation effective February 28, 2010 (Placed on paid administrative leave January 21 – February 28, 2010); Leslie Conrad, GES 2nd Grade, .5 FTE resignation effective 2010-11 school year (Leslie has done Option 4 of the retirement options for 2010-11 which will be her last year here – Her intent is to do a “One Year Only” Job Share with the .5 FTE she is resigning); Resignations – Co-Curricular:  Denise Cohen, Head Golf Coach; Sara Kaka, HS Student Council Sponsor; Carl Reif, Asst. HS Varsity Football Coach; Terminations – Classified:   Jesus Davila, CES Head Custodian, termination effective February 5, 2010; Retirements – Certified:  Kathleen Lisi, HS Spanish, Medical Leave of Absence effective January 31, 2010 (Disability Retirement pending effective end of current school year contract).

VII.d. Policy Governance Monitoring Report – EL-9, Communication and Counsel to the Board

MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS
Superintendent Arseneau distributed copies of the projected enrollments for the 2010-2011 school year.  The current projection is 2642 down from 2792.  This along with the state budget shortfalls will affect our budget for the 2010-2011 school year.

STATE FUNDING SHORTFALLS
Superintendent Arseneau updated the Board of Education on the anticipated impact of the predicted state funding shortfalls.  This year’s district rescission is currently projected to be $446,520.27 (2.31%), but could go higher.  Along with our declining enrollment and the projected minimum decrease for the state of 6.12% we are currently looking at an approximate loss of 7.75% which = $1.2 million.  However, there are no set dollar figures and we are hearing it could go as high as $2.4 million.  In March, the state will begin looking at the budget and real numbers will not be known until May when the State Legislature approves the final state budget.

In preparation of the state funding shortfalls, budget workgroups are being formed and the seven workgroups are:  Transportation, Staff Contract Adjustments, Finance, Activities, Special Education/Ute Pass BOCES, Maintenance & Custodial, and Technology.  Each workgroup will create an ala carte list of items to cut and the financial impact.  Each item on the list will be prioritized by High – can live with this reduction, Medium – not the best, but do-able; Low – only as a last resort.  The workgroups will present their itemized ala carte lists to the District Accountability Committee on April 6, 2010.

SPECIFIC BUDGET RESOLUTION #1
Supervisor of Finance Ron Billings presented the Specific Budget Resolution # 1 (Addendum A) to the Board of Education.  MOTION Blackburn, second Hunt, to approve the resolution as presented.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye - Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

WPEA REPORT
WPEA representative Lois DeVaux welcomed the new superintendent and informed the board even though budget reduction is not a fun topic; WPEA appreciates the process and the open communication.

ADMINISTRATION REPORT
Supervisor of Finance Ron Billings presented the 12/31/2009 Quarterly Financial Report to the Board of Education (Addendum B).

Mr. Billings highlighted Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 & 61 and the potential economic impact on schools and the state if they pass. 

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Superintendent Arseneau recognized Middle School Band Teacher Bryan Critchlow and the Middle School Jazz Band.  They were the only middle school in the state invited to perform at this year’s Colorado Music Association’s conference.
 
Superintendent Arseneau reviewed dates for the board to mark on their calendars:  School Board and HS STUCO dinner on Wednesday, February 24, 5:00 p.m. in the Board room; School Board Meeting on Wednesday, March 10, 7:00 p.m. in the Board room; City, County, and School Board Breakfast Meeting on Wednesday, March 17, 7:00 a.m. in the Board room.

Superintendent Arseneau informed the board he has received one bid from a local company for the school district lighting upgrades.  Hopefully within the next few weeks other bids will be available for board review.

Superintendent Arseneau distributed a copy of a letter he received from Justin Walker of Nexant, Inc. – Energy and Carbon Management who responded to questions regarding the 10% over head and 10% mark up proposed by Honeywell.  The percentage of over head and mark up proposed by Honeywell is within acceptable percentages and on the lower side of other companies.

Superintendent Arseneau distributed a printout from CDE showing our High School’s graduation rate for the past two years and the Colorado ACT composite scores for the past three years.  There was a considerable jump in the graduation rate and our ACT scores also remain above the state average.

Superintendent Arseneau informed the board he has been working with IREA to get reimbursement for taxes and fees that should not have been charged to the district.  The total amount we are requesting is $57,339 and will keep the board updated on the progress of these negotiations.

Superintendent Arseneau distributed a schedule from the High School Art Department showing upcoming dates and times shows for our students and urged the board and audience to check out the great artwork our students produce.

Superintendent Arseneau reported to the Board of Education that a total of 112 students are enrolled in Home-Based Education Programs. 
 
BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT
No reports.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
MOTION Hunt, second Nieman, to adjourn to executive session at 8:44 p.m. for a personnel matter C.R.S. §24-6-402(4)(h).  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

MOTION Neil, second Hunt, to come out of Executive Session at 9:30 p.m.

ADJOURN
MOTION Neil, second Hunt, to adjourn the meeting at 9:31 p.m.  MOTION CARRIED; Voting Aye – Blackburn, Hunt, Neil, Nieman, Wetzel.

    Attest:
 
    
    Secretary, Board of Education

    President, Board of Education
 
ADDENDUM A
 
ADDENDUM B