OFFICIAL MINUTES FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING OF THE
The Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School for the Blind met for their monthly meeting on March 17, 2009.
Present: Pam Hyneman, Chairperson; Beth Gray, Vice-Chairperson; Andrew Tolbert, Secretary (via telephone conference); Dr. Doug Watson, Board Member; Henrietta Williams, Board Member; Khayyam Eddings, A.S.B. Parent Representative; Janice Vaughn, A.S.D. Parent Representative; Jim Hill, A.S.B. Superintendent; Dr. Marcella Dalla Rosa, A.S.D. Superintendent; Katie Becker, Zania Musteen, Interpreters; Amanda Abernethy, Office of Attorney General; Members of the Deaf Community; Members of the Blind Community
09-B-005 Motion to Approve Consent Items
Mrs. Hyneman asked for a motion to approve the Consent
Items. Mr. Tolbert made the motion and Dr. Watson seconded the motion. The
motion passed unanimously.
Action Items
None
Discussion Items
None
Superintendent’s Report
Mr. Hill said the reception at A.S.B. for Mr. Eddings and Mrs. Vaughn, which was held prior to the board meeting, was very nice and it gave the students the opportunity to meet the parent representatives.
Mr. Hill said Lions Clubs have made significant donations for a new playground and the school is very excited about the playground. He said that A.S.B. has also made monetary contributions to the project and thanked Stan Bryant for his help in finding funds for the playground.
The school Talent Show will be Thursday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. and board member Beth Gray will be a guest singer at the show.
Students took the Literacy test this week and the testing went well. Several adaptations were given for the students.
Teachers and students will be gone next week for Spring Break.
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
March 17, 2009
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The Highway Department is conducting a study of the accessibility needs of the facilities at the highway department. Mr. Hill said Teresa Doan is on the committee, representing the School for the Blind and blind and visually impaired individuals throughout the state, making sure accessibility needs are met.
Mr. Hill said he is very excited about the 3 year-Kindergarten program at A.S.B. He said there will possibly be ten new students entering the program next fall, which will bring the total number of students to twenty-two. Classrooms are being added for the program. The classrooms will be located in the East Wing of the Administration Building.
The Department of General Education will be at A.S.B. on April 2 to monitor the school’s program. Mr. Hill said he thinks results from the monitoring will be fine. The school has already been monitored by Department of Special Education. Ms. Williams asked when Special Education visited and when will the board receive a report on their findings. Mr. Hill asked Sharon Berry to report on the findings from the Special Education monitoring. Mrs. Berry said the department visited in January and the school is given 90 days to correct the problems that were found and that most of the problems have already been corrected. Mrs. Berry said Teresa Doan gave an in-service last Friday on correcting the problems that were found. The information given at the in-service will help correct the problems that cannot actually be changed in the binders at this time, but will have to be changed when the IEPs are done in the spring. Mrs. Berry said the department will return in 90 days, recheck the problems, and then the school will receive a report.
Mr. Hill said the elementary students recently participated in pee wee wrestling. Several schools participated and Mr. Hill said this indicates that wrestling has become popular in Arkansas as an athletic event.
A representative from the Louisiana State Department of Education for the Louisiana School for the Blind and the Deaf, and representatives from the Louisiana School for the Blind and Deaf visited A.S.B. and A.S.D. They were interested in the educational programs at A.S.B. and A.S.D. and they also visited with Stan Bryant.
There being no further business for the Arkansas School for the Blind, discussion of the Action Items from the Joint Agenda resumed. This discussion can be found in the minutes of the Joint Meeting.
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Pam Hyneman, Chairperson
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Andrew Tolbert, Secretary
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
March 17, 2009
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