The board secretary or recorder will call roll of board members.
Presenter:
Denny Waters
Superintendent
Background:
Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.
We congratulate Ela Hancock for winning top prize in Battle Ground High School's Poetry Out Loud competition. Miss Hancock will be reciting "The End of the World" by Dana Gioia.
Language Arts Teacher & Poetry Out Loud Advisor Heather Smithline will also be in attendance.
Presenter:
Cindy Arnold
Director of Career and Technical Education
Background:
Prairie High School horticulture teacher Annette Weeks was recognized in November 2021 as the Region I "Ideas Unlimited" award winner at the 2021 National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) conference. Ms. Weeks earned the award for her work with water beads. These tiny beads grow to more than 150 times their original volume when soaked in water. Ms. Weeks first used the beads to hold flowers arranged in a vase, and is now using the beads to teach experimental designs around topics including effects of temperature and pH, bacterial growth, sunlight and UV rays, and arranged flower freshness.
Presenter:
ASB Representatives
Battle Ground High School
Prairie High School
Summit View High School
CAM Academy
River HomeLink
Background:
Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors welcomes representatives from the district's high school Associated Student Body (ASB) organizations. The students will present an update to board members on current and recent school events and activities. At times, the board president may ask the representative to bring information such as student opinions back to the Board.
Presenter:
Board Members
Background:
Legislative Committee:
Rob Henrikson serves as the Board's Legislative Representative for the 2021 calendar year. He will give a report to the Board on current legislative news and events.
Audit Committee Report
Audit Committee members are Jackie Maddux and Mary Snitily. The audit committee will meet with Business Office staff prior to the first scheduled board meeting each month to review vouchers, the superintendent's and board of directors' budgets, payroll and the superintendent's time sheet. The committee will report back to the Board on the first board meeting of the month.
Battle Ground Education Foundation
Jackie Maddux serves as the Board representative on the Battle Ground Education Foundation.
WIAA Committee
Ted Champine serves as the Board representative on WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association).
Washington State School Directors' Association Updates
Board members who serve on various Washington State School Directors' Association (WSSDA) committees will have an opportunity to provide an update to the Board.
Tours Committee
The Board tours every school in the district by splitting up into three separate groups and visiting classrooms and offices. The tours were suspended for January due to the significant spread of the Omicron virus.
| Pleasant Valley Middle School | 1 | January 11, 2022 | Suspended |
| Pleasant Valley Primary School | 2 | January 14, 2022 | Suspended |
| Summit View High School & CASEE | 3 | January 14, 2022 | Suspended |
| Prairie High School | 1, 2, 3 | February 4, 2022 | Upcoming |
| Maple Grove Primary School & Facilities | 1 | March 1, 2022 | Upcoming |
| Captain Strong Primary School & Warehouse | 2 | March 4, 2022 | Upcoming |
| Chief Umtuch Middle School & Lewisville | 3 | March 4, 2022 | Upcoming |
| Group 1 Members | Ted Champine, Jackie Maddux, Ricardo Martin Del Campo, Shelly Whitten |
| Group 2 Members | Rob Henrikson, Mary Snitily, Denny Waters |
| Group 3 Members | Mark Watrin, Sydney Cordon, A. Allen, or M. Michaud, or D. Kennedy |
Background:
An opportunity for board members to report out on their activities associated with their respective positions.
Presenter:
Denny Waters
Superintendent
Background:
Denny Waters will provide periodic updates on events and/or recognitions throughout the district.
Presenter:
Michelle Reinhardt
Executive Director of Human Resources
Background:
A human resources report will be provided to the Board by Michelle Reinhardt.
Presenter:
Shelly Whitten
Deputy Superintendent
Background:
Shelly Whitten will provide an update to the Board on the Teaching and Learning Department.
Presenter:
Michelle Scott
Chief Financial Officer
Background:
Michelle Scott will give an update to the Board on finances.
Presenter:
Kevin Jolma
Executive Director of Facilities
Background:
Kevin Jolma will give the Board an update on current projects.
Presenter:
Rita Sanders
Communications Officer
Background:
Rita Sanders will report on district events and promotions.
This is a meeting of the Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors, and it is open to the public to attend, view presentations, and hear the discussion between board members during open session.
The Board welcomes comments from citizens during Citizens' Comments and asks that those wishing to address the Board observe the following process:
Please follow the procedures for Citizens' Comments by stating your name, limiting your time to three (3) minutes, and refraining from discussing confidential matters. A digital timer will sound when the time limit is reached.
Board members do not normally respond to questions or petitions during Citizens' Comments. They will listen and give direction to the Administrative Team if action is deemed necessary.
Minutes become official after approval by the Board.
Background:
Contracts listed for Board ratification are enclosed in the attached spreadsheet. A cover page containing more detail may be attached for facilities' items. All amounts are no more than $75,000. Items over that amount will be listed as a separate item under the Consent Agenda or under New Business.
Background:
Personnel reports are prepared by the Certificated and Classified Specialists for Board approval. The reports, attached, may contain items such as New Hires, Terminations, Assignment Changes, Resignations, Retirements, and Recommendations for Permanent Employment. Coaching assignments are listed when appropriate. The specialists will list incumbent employees and reasons for changes or new hires if appropriate. Confidential information is not contained in this report.
Background:
Per Policy 2320, student travel requests require board approval if they are overnight trips. Advisors are required to submit all required paperwork at least two weeks in advance to Cheri Dailey, Director of Business Operations and Risk Management. Advisors must clear the trip with their building principal prior to submitting the request to Risk Management. Advisors are required to submit itineraries, budget information, transportation information and learning objectives along with the dates of travel and information on the group of students traveling with chaperones.
Exceptions to the rule are travel requests for state and national tournaments and competitions. The procedures for these types of trips is outlined in Procedure 2320P. Often the tournaments come up quickly and there is not enough time to present the trip to the board prior to the trip. In this case, advisors must submit all paperwork to the Risk Management Officer prior to the trip for approval. The trip is then ratified by board members at their next regularly scheduled board meeting.
Student travel requests are attached.
Background:
Maxim Healthcare Staffing has been providing contracted staffing for district RNs and LPNs. Our district has had difficulty hiring these positions due to RN and LPN shortages; COVID has been a contributing factor. The contracted staffing Maxim is providing would normally be district employees. We reached out to several contractors for nurses and this vendor was able to meet our needs in a timely manner. Lowest cost was not a factor in our decision because costs are comparable between staffing agencies.
We have had multiple contracts this year for Maxim. Needs are greater than originally anticipated. Direct hiring has not been possible as hoped, and there have been absences due to illness. This additional approval for $150,000, which will cover the period December 16, 2021 through June 2022. In addition, Apportionment does not cover our nursing needs.
Background:
The agreement between Battle Ground School District and the Battle Ground Education Association Extracurricular Employees, was negotiated during the fall of 2021. A tentative agreement was reached in December.
The changes in the contract include:
Providing event support for varsity home games
Additional employee protections through WA Coaches Association
Set salary schedules to reflect competitive salaries in comparison to surrounding districts.
Eliminated the 5 year step in salary schedule for both coaches and activity schedules and moved to a single year pay scale. Raises increasing each year consistent with Implicit Price Deflator (IPD)
Established middle school extra-curricular salary schedule and ratios
Established high school unified sports salary schedule and ratios
The agreement is effective September 2021 through August 2024.
Michelle Reinhardt will be available to answer questions.
Background:
The first day of school for students is Wednesday, August 31, 2022, prior to the Labor Day holiday. The surrounding school districts intend to begin the 2022-23 school year the week before the Labor Day holiday as well. This calendar proposal includes one (1) snow make-up day built into the school year, March 17, 2023, plus two (2) identified days at the end of the year. The scheduled last day of school is June 14, 2023, unless the final two snow make-up days must be implemented.
Graduations will be scheduled and finalized with specific high schools’ dates identified between June 8-14. These decisions will be made following feedback regarding the graduation changes implemented in June 2022. The feedback will include students, parents, staff, and School Board, as well as consideration given to the financial and staffing implications.
Executive Director of Human Resources Michelle Reinhardt will be available for questions.
Presenter:
Shelly Whitten
Deputy Superintendent
Background:
WSSDA recommends the implementation of Policy 5515 as an essential policy because of SHB 1363 signed into law on April 23, 2021. This legislation acknowledges the significant toll Secondary Traumatic Stress is causing to educators and staff and assures districts will adopt policies that take steps in supporting their staff’s health and well-being.
The first reading was approved on January 10, 2022.
Presenter:
Denny Waters
Superintendent
Background:
Policy 1112, Director Orientation was updated to reflect current practice. To help provide clarify, the list of resources that are available to newly-elected and appointed directors are categorized under WSSDA, the district's website and BoardDocs.
Presenter:
Denny Waters
Superintendent
Background:
The revision to Policy 1240, Committees reflects the added language, Current committee lists are always reflected on the board agenda under "Committee Reports."
Presenter:
Scott McDaniel
Director of Technology Services
Background:
The district would like to replace our existing CenturyLink wide area network with a dark fiber solution from Wave Business. Recently, we posted a form 470 (request for proposals) through E-Rate for dark and lit fiber connectivity as our existing CenturyLink agreement ends June 30, 2022. We received proposals from eight vendors with Wave Business being the lowest in cost. Current monthly fees for wide area networking connectivity with CenturyLink total $27,600 (after E-Rate discount of 50%). Wave’s proposal would cost the district $8,955 monthly (after E-Rate discount of 50%).
E-Rate is a program funded by the FCC which makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries. With funding from the Universal Service Fund (fcc.gov/general/universal-service-fund), E-Rate provides discounts for telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries. E-Rate funding is based on schools' free and reduced lunch participation. Based on current participation, the district receives a 50% discount on eligible services.
Total district costs for CenturyLink would be $3,312,000 over 10 years. CenturyLink would cost the district $1,656,000 after E-Rate discounts. Total district costs for Wave over 10 years would be $1,074,600. Our portion of that with E-Rate would come to $537,300 over the same 10 year period. This is an annual savings of $111,870.
We ask that the board authorize the superintendent to sign the necessary agreement once we have secured E-Rate funding. This agreement will save the district a considerable amount of money annually and provide for future bandwidth growth as needed. A sample agreement is attached to this agenda item. The attached Word document is what we send prior to submitting the info to ERate and precedes any contracting. Contracting would occur after we are awarded funding. We will need to get that completed sooner than later.
Presenter:
Kevin Jolma
Executive Director of Facilities
Background:
This $292,798 contract (excluding sales tax) is to furnish and install the new covered play structure that will be located at Amboy Middle School.
This play structure will be identical to the play structures recently constructed at Maple Grove and Yacolt primary schools, other than the color schemes. The play structure will be located in the courtyard behind the school.
The play structure has a 17-24 week fabrication time so the construction will occur this summer.
Bids for the Amboy Middle School play structure will be opened at 2:00 PM on January 24, 2022. Once the successful bidder has been determined, the updated contract will be attached as well as updating this page.
Background:
Board members will have an opportunity to add agenda items to upcoming board meetings.
Board members separately participate in many community and district events throughout each month as they are able. Each meeting they will review the calendar of upcoming events and discuss their participation.
Please note RCW 42.30.110, Executive sessions is attached.