OFFICIAL MINUTES FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING OF THE
The Board of Trustees for the
Present: Henrietta Williams, Chairperson; Pam Hyneman, Vice-Chairperson; Andrew Tolbert, Board Member; Dr. Doug Watson, Board Member; Johnny McGehee, A.S.B. Parent Representative; 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: Beth Gray
08-B-008 Motion to Approve Consent Items
Ms. Williams asked for a motion to approve the Consent Items, which include the April minutes, the Financial Statement for April, and the Personnel Items. Mr. Tolbert made the motion to approve and Mrs. Hyneman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Action Items
None
Discussion Items
Evaluation Form
Mr. Hill told the board that there are some minor changes in the Personnel Evaluation form that he would like the board to review. Mr. Hill gave the board copies of the form with the changes noted and discussed the changes. On the original form, an employee receiving an Unsatisfactory received 1 point and that would be changed to zero points; Needs Improvement was removed from the grading scale; Satisfactory received 2 points; Above Average received 3 points; and Exceeds Standards received 4 points. The points received would be divided by the number of duty areas. Mr. Tolbert asked what the rationale was for the changes. Mr. Hill said if an employee received an Unsatisfactory, they should not receive a point for that rating and it could skew the actual intent of the rating. Mr. Tolbert and Ms. Williams agreed with this.
Continuing with the explanation of the changes, another change was that the Signature page for the Official Reviewing was moved to the same section and page as the Employee’s Signature.
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The last change was the rating page. The points given are divided by the number of duty areas. Mr. Hill asked Amy Ford if she has reviewed the changes and she said she looked at the form briefly and that the changes in the numeric value will require OPM approval, after the board has approved it. She said the form will be different from the A.S.D. evaluation and therefore each school will have a different rating system. Mr. Tolbert asked if this rating system was currently for both schools and the answer was yes. Dr. Dalla Rosa said this is the first she had seen the changes. Mr. Tolbert said rather than making a decision on the changes at this meeting, the decision could be made at the next meeting on June 10. This was agreeable to everyone.
08-B-009 Motion to Approve the 2008-2009 School Calendar
Mr. Hill said that he and Marcella worked very closely on the calendar for the next school year. The calendars will be identical, meet all of the required dates of attendance, and provide adequate opportunities for professional development hours. Mr. Tolbert made a motion to approve the calendar and Dr. Watson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Superintendent’s Report
Mr. Hill gave the board members a copy of the A.S.B. Code of Ethics for their review. He said this code does not vary much from the proposed education code of ethics. He said A.S.B. will welcome the Code of Ethics for the educators when it is put into place.
The A.S.B. 5th grade class produced a newsletter at the end of the school year and the class asked Mr. Hill to give each board member a copy. The newsletter had pictures of activities the students were involved in and comments from the students.
Mr. Hill gave each board member an A.S.B. annual and said he hopes they enjoy looking at it.
Mr. Hill said that the board will probably be reading that the Department of Finance and Administration has released the budget cuts for each agency. He said that the School for the Blind and also the School for the Deaf will be highlighted in an article in the newspaper that shows the agencies’ names and some of the budget cuts that the schools were required to take in order to make their requirements. Mr. Hill gave each board member a copy of the report and said that the information states that the school eliminated the purchase of equipment and travel. He did not know why it was put into the report but said he wanted the board to know because they might get some feed back from the report of elimination of Braille and large print textbook purchases. He said these were not eliminated, but the school cut about $7000 out of a $170,000 budget and he said he knows he will be receiving some calls on this issue. Mr. Tolbert asked who crafted the
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statements and Mr. Hill said that someone at DF&A. He said he contacted the department and was told they were sorry but the ink had already been put to it by the newspaper and
they could not change it. In answer to Mr. Tolbert’s question, Mr. Hill said the word elimination should be reduction of equipment purchase and travel. Dr. Watson asked if this could be a problem later because of the wording. Mr. Hill said this is not a binding document, but an informational document. The total reduction will be $265,000 for the blind school. Mr. Hill said the reason for A.S.B. having a larger cut is because it was based on percentage and the school had received additional money for the textbook program. Mr. Tolbert asked if these are permanent cuts. Mr. Hill said the cuts are not for sure cuts. He said this is the way the state says they might not have the money, so it can’t be spent. If the money is there at the end of the year, the school might receive some of it back. Mr. Hill again said this will not cause the school to cut the program.
Regarding the Easter Seals property, Mr. Hill said he recently visited with an architect and Scott Smith, who is the school’s architect and a friend of the architect, to discuss the Easter Seals property and the sale of the 10 acres behind the school. The architect brought a plan that involved the use of the 10 acres. Mr. Hill said he asked the architect who said the land was for sale, and he stated Easter Seals had said it. Mr. Hill said he told the architect the decision is up to the board and that he was not sure the board was ready to sell it. He also told him if the school does sell the property, the money would not go to Easter Seals. Mr. Hill said he is not personally interested in selling the property because he thinks the land is worth much more than is being offered and it also provides more security. He said what the architect had in mind was building a street behind the Learning Center and putting in nine, single family units, which would cost $200,000-$300,000 each and do the same thing on the other side of the ridge including the land where the old Easter Seals building is. Closer to the end of the 10 acres, four houses would be built on larger lots that would cost about $700,000 each. The architect also said he might be interested in buying the north side of the ridge and, starting at the Easter Seals building, build going down the north side of the ridge. They are also going to the talk with the Hillcrest neighbors to get their ideas. Ms. Williams said the board will wait until they receive a proposal and she said her feelings have not changed from previous discussion of the sale. She also said the board would want to get good, positive feedback from the superintendents. Dr. Watson asked if it can be suggested to Easter Seals that they stop misrepresenting and Mr. Hill said he has suggested that in the past. Mr. Tolbert said putting it in writing might mean a little more and there would be more documentation of what the school wants.
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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.
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Henrietta Williams, Chairperson
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Beth
Gray, Secretary
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