The September 18, 2017 meeting of the Whitehall Board of Education was held at Whitehall Memorial Conference Room. President, George Everson called the meeting to order at
6:59 pm. Roll was called and a quorum established. Other Board members present: Byron Fields, Jason Molis, Kristen Carroll, Julie Dokkestul and Dan Koxlien. Absent: Leah Johnson. Others present: Superintendent/9-12 Principal, Mike Beighley; Elementary Principal, Damon Lisowski; MS Principal/Improvement of Instruction Director, Beth Lisowski; Assistant HS Principal/Athletic Director, Jamie Youngbauer; Finance Manager, Cheryl Maug.
Molis moved to approve vouchers as presented. Fields seconded. Aye – All members. Motion carried.
Dokkestul moved to approve the following items of the Motion Calendar:
- Approve minutes of August 216 2017 Executive Meeting
- Approve minutes of August 31, 2017 Special Meeting
- Approve minutes of August 31, 2017 Combined Session
- Approve Extra-Curricular Contracts – see list
- Approve Volunteer Contracts – see list
Koxlien seconded. Aye – All Members. Motion carried.
All is going well with the first few weeks of the co-op classes. There have been some adjustments in transportation. Meeting at Fagernes took too long so we now have 2 vans transporting in the morning, 1 to Blair-Taylor and 1 to Arcadia. All of the students from Independence drive. Jeff Eide, Blair-Taylor Superintendent, will be working on the Joint Powers for the Co-op.
Ashley Furniture has approved both money and the use of their automation lab to get a First Robotics Team started. The initial goal will be to start a regional team with members from multiple schools and then move forward to having teams within each school. This will be an after-school activity and we will most likely not participate in regional competitions the first year.
2017-18 Pupil Count data is not available at this time. Open Enrollment numbers look good so.
Work continues on the College and Career Ready definition. Staff (and students) is working on the school core values and these will be a big part of the definition.
Discussion regarding the potential creation of Jr. High Baseball and Softball programs. Currently, 7th & 8th-grade Baseball and Softball is operated by WAYA. Problems with who to play and it interfering with JH Track and Golf were discussed. The Board consented to “not” proceed with the creation of these two programs at this time.
Beighley presented plans for the State Superintendent’s Advisory Council on Rural Schools, Libraries, and Communities meeting that will held at Whitehall on October 11, 2017. The Council will have their meeting in the morning in the Elementary Balcony. The Culinary Arts students will be preparing a Continental breakfast and the lunch. Music students will also perform. Beighley will give Board members the meeting agenda link once it is available and invited them to attend in the afternoon.
Administrative Reports:
D. Lisowski –
A mentor program is being created for the Elementary and will focus on Families and Family Atmosphere. Each staff person will have a group of about 8 students. The program will focus on kids having an adult in a small group situation to go to for support and/or just to talk to.
B. Lisowski –
Due to the large number of 8th-grade students this year, there will have to be some adjustments as to the number of parents and/or grandparents that will be able to go on the D.C. trip. This issue will be discussed at the 1st D.C. trip meeting on Monday, September 25th.
Youngbauer –
ACP time is the 3rd period of the day. This time will be used for speakers, group activities in the auditorium, and club meetings. The Thursday before last was the first meeting with community partners.
The Football Scrimmage raised funds to donate to Western Dairyland and New Horizon’s. These groups will be coming in to talk to the students and John Kleinhans will present the checks.
Everson recessed to Executive session pursuant to S.S. 19.85 1(c) to discuss wage increases for school staff and begin to review staffing models for 2018-19. Time: 7:51 pm.
Cheryl Maug
Recording Secretary