OFFICIAL MINUTES FROM
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING OF THE
ARKANSAS SCHOOL
FOR THE BLIND
The Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School
for the Blind met for their monthly meeting on April 15, 2008.
Present: Henrietta
Williams, Chairperson; Beth Gray, Secretary; Andrew Tolbert, Board Member; Jim
Hill, A.S.B. Superintendent; Dr. Marcella Dalla Rosa, A.S.D. Superintendent;
Katie Becker, Zania Musteen, Interpreters; Amy Ford, Office of the Attorney
General; Members of the Deaf Community; Members of the Blind Community
Absent: Dr. Doug
Watson, Pam Hyneman
04-B-007 Motion to Approve Consent Items
Ms. Williams asked for a motion to approve the Minutes from
the February and March board meetings, the Financial Statements for February
and March, and the Personnel Items. Mr. Tolbert made the motion to approve and
Ms. Gray seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Action Items
None
Discussion Items
None
Superintendent’s Report
Mr. Hill said that all A.S.B. employees now wear name badges
and will also be provided with a car tag. The car tag will identify the person
as an employee of the school and will help eliminate problems with the guards
not knowing who someone is.
Mr. Hill pointed out the article given to each board member
that highlights the cooperative efforts with the school and the Wrightsville
Prison, which saves the state money and provides services for blind and
visually impaired students throughout the state. James Caton is director of the
program and Mr. Hill asked James to talk about the program. James said the
article and the picture shows the group of inmates who are presently working in
the Braille project. He said one of the prisoners recently received his
certification as a literary Braille transcriber. James said the program is under
the Instructional
Resource Center
for the Arkansas School for the Blind, and the mission is
to provide large print and Braille textbooks for visually impaired and blind
students in the state of Arkansas
in order that the students will have the same opportunities to learn as
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
April 15, 2008
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their sighted peers. He explained that the department acts
as a circulating book depository and the books are sent out during the summer
and returned the following summer. There have been 179 Braille textbooks
requested for the current school year and a request of 704 large print
textbooks. The funding comes from the school, the state textbook fund, Educational
Services for the Visually Impaired, and the Arkansas School
for the Blind federal quota account. James said the Wrightsville Braille
Project is really an asset when books are not available from vendors in Braille
or large print. He said there is no way the school can operate without their
services. James explained the program in detail.
Mr. Hill asked Sharon Berry to give a report on new
playground equipment at the school and ACTAAP. Mrs. Berry told the board that a tree that was
being trimmed accidentally fell on the slide on one of the playgrounds, and the
playground was not accessible to the students after that. One of the students
who plays on the playground went home and told his family that the playground
was broken and the students have to go across campus to another playground. The
student’s aunt and uncle, who are involved nationally with Lions Clubs, began
raising money and within two weeks they had raised $7500 to replace the entire
playground. The couple are also receiving offers of materials, supplies and
labor for rebuilding the playground at $26,851, which will be a top of the line
playground. The student, who is in the third grade, speaks to Lions Clubs and
lets them know how important the playground is to the children.
Mrs. Berry
said this is ACTAAP week and the children and teachers were geared up for the
tests until it was discovered that the Braille tests had not been delivered.
She said that the students at A.S.B. have to have certain accommodations and
mentioned some of the necessary accommodations. These accommodations are submitted
about two months prior to testing date and the accommodations are either
approved or rejected by the State Department.
The accommodations allow certain students to be tested together in very
small groups. Mrs. Berry gave the examples of Braille students can be tested in
one room and have to be tested by a certified teacher, read aloud to students
have to be tested in another room by a certified teacher. She said all of the
certified teachers were testing and there was a real problem because a number
of students had no teacher to test them because they would be testing later
because the Braille tests had not arrived. The tests arrived at 10:30 a.m. The students started
their third sessions with their normal groupings and they will make the missed
sessions next week. Mrs. Berry
pointed out some problems with the tests. The students must use the
manipulatives that the testing company supplies and they did provide regular
manipulatives that go with the regular print tests, but most of the students do
not use those. She said the Braille manipulatives and large print manipulatives
were shrink-wrapped in the tests, which cannot be opened. Charlotte Marvel, who
is with the State Department, came and opened the tests and opened the
manipulatives so the students would have a few days to use the manipulatives
and get accustomed to them. The protractors that were sent for the Braille
tests were not in Braille and Charlotte
agreed to allow the students to use the protractors they had been
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
April 15, 2008
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using in the classroom. Mrs. Berry mentioned other problems with the
tests and said that the State Department has worked hard with the school. She
said Mr. Hill has established a good rapport with Gayle Potter and Charlotte
Marvel and they are really trying to help the school.
Mr. Hill asked Ken Fowler to give a
report on the school’s technology report. He said after looking at the report,
he feels like the school stands up pretty well with the public schools. Mr.
Fowler said the report is in the beginning phases. He said the report asked the
Department of Information Systems, in conjunction with ADE, to collect
information on technology use in the schools in Arkansas, which is called the Education in
Arkansas Technology Assessment. Mr. Fowler discussed different areas and
questions included in the report. He
mentioned some of the strengths of the report which include that the school has
wireless connectivity and nationally only 45% of the school districts are
wireless; the number of students per computer on the elementary level is 1.2
students, whereas the state average is 3.21 and, in the high school, the number
of students per computer is 0.3 students per 1, as compared to 2.1 to 1 on the
state level. He said the board members will receive a copy of the report when
it is completed.
Mr. Hill said he has received a preliminary report from the
Standards Accreditation and several issues were listed that did not appear to
be correct. He said he, Mrs. Berry
and Mr. Fowler went through the report and the issues in question were
identified, corrected, and removed from the report. A copy of that report will
be given to the board.
Tom Sullivan, who is totally blind and a public speaker,
will be speak to the student body on May 18. One of the books he has written is
Adventure in Darkness. Mr. Hill said
he hopes Mr. Sullivan’s talk will be inspirational to the students and will
show the students that they can live a normal life and function in society without
vision. Mr. Hill invited the board members to attend the assembly.
Mr. Hill highlighted events and activities happening at the
school, which include Black History Assembly April 28, Special Olympics April
29, Big Trucks May 1, and Prom May 1, Jr. High track meet May 5, End of Course
tests, AER, and State Track meet May 13. Mr. Hill asked James Caton to discuss
Eric Weinhmayer. Mr. Caton said it is possible that Mr. Weinhmayer will come to
A.S.B. and that a group will be going to Ft. Smith
to visit with him. Mr. Hill explained that Mr. Weinhmayer is a totally blind
man and has climbed Mount Everest and has
accomplished other fetes that are not normally done by blind or visually
impaired individuals. Mr. Hill said that
Steve Sullivan will be the speaker at the Extra Curricular Banquet, which will
be May 15. Semester tests will be May 21 and May 22; 6th Graduation
will be at 1 p.m. May 29,
and Senior Graduation will be May 30 at 1
p.m.
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
April 15, 2008
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Mr. Hill said budget cuts were given to each state agency
and the school will be able to absorb the issues given to the school. He said
he is optimistic for the future, but everything depends on the national and
state economy if there will be additional cuts.
Bids have been completed for renovation to Woolly
Auditorium, which was built in the 1970s. Mr. Hill said exterior and interior
repairs will be made and will include repainting the inside, replacing the
carpet and a handicap bathroom will be added.
Mr. Hill said that the school’s state emergency plan has
been rated 34 out of a possible 36. Mr. Hill said he is pleased with the rating
and more importantly it shows that the school has a plan in place that will
take care of a wide variety of emergencies. He said the students were sent to
the tunnel during the recent severe weather and tornado activity n the state. .
There being no further business for the Arkansas School for
the Blind, the meeting moved to the Agenda for the Arkansas School for the
Deaf.
___________________________________
Henrietta
Williams, Chairperson
____________________________________
Beth
Gray, Secretary
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
April 15, 2008
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