MINUTES OF SPECIAL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

HERINGTON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 487

CITY/SCHOOL OFFICES

19 NORTH BROADWAY

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

David Powell called to order the special meeting of the Board of Education of U.S.D. 487 at 4:00 p.m., February 27, 2008.  Board members and other staff present were: Stacey Berndt, Rod Erickson, Alan Stuart, Diana Floyd, Phil Brockmeier, James Carnes, Deb Geissert, Patty Kahle, Barb Kurtenbach, Julie Albrecht, Superintendent John Thissen, and Clerk of the Board, Robyn Heitfield.  Bret Beye was absent.  Alan Stuart left the meeting at 5:30 p.m.    

1.         ADOPT AGENDA                                                                                                                 Stacy Berndt moved (Floyd) to adopt the agenda.  Motion carried 6-0.                                

2.         IBB MEETING                                                                                                                     John Doern with the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service facilitated the meeting.  He asked that any questions and/or concerns from the previous 5 years’ IBB meetings be addressed upfront.  The consensus of the committee was that it has worked very well and no issues needed to be addressed.  There was agreement that a new list be outlined with past issues not to be included.

            Last year’s ground rules were distributed and reviewed.  Changes were made to size and make-up of the team.  Meeting dates and a completion goal was confirmed.  The previous year’s standards were discussed, revised and adopted as follows:   

            STANDARDS

Ø  Workable

Ø  Ratifiable – Is this ratifiable by the teachers and Board?

Ø  Cost – Is there a cost associated with each issue?                                             

Once cost has been determined within each issue, the question of affordability

will be asked of the group. 

            Issues were discussed, clarified and categorized as follows:

ISSUE 1 – LEAVE                                                                 DEFINITION

Ø  Granting leave approval                                Identifiable areas BOE must

approve for leave

Ø  Jury Duty Leave                                            Not listed in Negotiated Agreement

Ø  Professional Leave                                        Look at setting days for certified    

staff

ISSUE 2 – STAFF RETENTION

Ø  Retain qualified/certified staff                      No ability to match an offer to

compete w/ surrounding Districts

Ø  New teacher mentoring/orientation              Better help for new teachers

Ø  Extended mentoring program                        Review beyond first year

Ø  Tuition cost/share                                          Revisit amount paid out

ISSUE 3 – SUPPLEMENTALS

Ø  Hiring of additional coaches              Hire immediately or wait two

weeks when additional coaches are needed due to numbers

Ø  New groups                                                    Review list at High School/new

positions

Ø  Extended contracts                                        Review extra hours for counselors

ISSUE 4 – INCENTIVES/BONUSES

Ø  AYP Bonus                                                     Incentive plan

Ø  Standard of Excellence                                  Incentive plan

Ø  Encouraging/Rewarding Initiative                Incentive on initiative/creativity

Ø  Staff enrichment                                             Additional items for staff

ISSUE 5 – PLAN TIME

Ø  Plan time                                                         Elementary staff not enough plan

time

Ø  In-Service Days                                             Additional day on training

Ø  Collaboration                                                  Extra time allowed to work

together

Ø  NCA/QPA                                                       Adequate time/resources to

complete

ISSUE 6 – SALARY/BENEFITS

Ø  Salary Schedule                                             Committee report

Ø  Insurance                                                        Needed coverage

Ø  Extra duty pay                                                Too low/more competitive

Ø  Incentive package                                          Set amount for staff to use for

outside memberships

Ø  Reading specialist                                          Need qualified person for MS/HS

reading

Ø  Traveling staff                                                Look at prices and change

Ø  Competitive pay                                             Competitive with other Districts?

ISSUE 7 – TERMINATION/RETIREMENT

Ø  Liquidated Damages                                      Too low for late resignations -

notification date & dollars

Ø  Early Retirement Bonus                                Better incentive pay for earlier

notifications

Ø  Early Retirement/Benefit Pkg                      Retiring too soon because benefit

package too good?    

ISSUE 8 – STAFF EVALUATION

Ø  Evaluation process                                         Look at process as improvement

and encouragement

ISSUE 9 – PARENT/FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

Ø  Involvement                                                   How to get/keep parents more

involved

ISSUE 10 – PROFESSIONALISM

Ø  Professionalism                                              Dress code

Public interaction

Guidelines

Expectations

            Current issues will be distributed to all members prior to and discussed at the next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 from 5:30 pm. – 9:00 p.m., at the District Office.

3.         ADJOURNMENT                                                                                                                 At 6:20 p.m., Rod Erickson moved (Floyd) to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried 6-0.

________________________________________

Robyn Heitfield, Clerk of Board of Education

Attest: ____________________________________

            David Powell, President

Date:  _____________________________________