Business Meeting 05/14/2020

Alison has been writing “Need to Know” business meeting summaries since the fall of 2018. These summaries include bookmarks and links to documentation to help all residents stay more easily informed and form their own opinions.

1) District COVID-19 Update:
Lots of important information shared pertaining to district activities and readiness as well as updated guidance from the state.

https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=2818

Grading protocols for the current semester:
https://stillwaterschools.org/sites/default/files/public/downloads/news/covid_grading_protocols.pdf

2) Staff Hiring Freeze:
The board voted 5-2 to extend the hiring freeze until June 1st for all positions except for teachers and legally mandated paraprofessionals and a single accounting position. This will bring the duration of the hiring freeze to five weeks. Director Burns and Pelletier did not support the extension. There was a lot of discussion around the district not hiring a replacement assistant superintendent.  A district the size of ISD 834 would have at least one if not two assistant superintendents. Without this critical position during COVID-19 planning, the superintendent expressed concern about the district’s readiness for the start of school in August. The current Assistant Superintendent’s last day is June 5th. I understand the cautiousness, but these positions are re hires and some are extremely critical in the district’s ability to plan for what the school year looks like in the fall. There seems to be two different philosophies concerning the role of the school board related to district hiring. One is that the board controls the budget and then it is up to the discretion of the superintendent to manage district operations to the budget set by the board. The other that the board should have control over personnel decisions including what positions can be filled and when.

I am including a bookmark to an exchange that starts with Director Burns and includes comments from Director Riehle and ends with Superintendent Pontrelli that summarizes these differences. Everyone should be very concerned about the district functioning in these uncertain times without an assistant superintendent.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=17056

Role of the school board:
http://www.mnmsba.org/Portals/0/PDFs/RoleSchoolBoard.pdf

Full board discussion on hiring freeze:
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=16245

3) Student Transportation Contract Decision:
The board voted to switch student transportation providers. MN Central will be replaced by Metropolitan Transportation Network (MTN) at the end of July when the district’s contract with MN Central ends. The decision to switch vendors was 4-3 (Directors Ptacek, Stivland, Riehle, and Weisberg voted in favor of switching providers). This action went against the professional recommendation of the transportation consultant the board hired to facilitate the RFP review process. The prices were extremely competitive between MN Central (the incumbent) and MTN. There will be cost savings in the switch to MTN ($107k over 4 years), but there were significant concerns about switching providers especially during a pandemic. For example, the workload on staff facilitating a vendor transition within a three-month period, the natural challenges for students, families, and staff in starting with a new transportation vendor (this happens in the most ideal conditions) and the concern over losing busing drivers (hopefully our current drivers will switch over to MTN). For the sake of students, families, and district staff we should all hope the transportation vendor transition goes smoothly this fall.

Transportation Consultant Recommendation:
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=13195

Board Discussion and Vote:
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=13794

4) General Fund Preliminary Budget Update:
The preliminary budget will need to be approved at the end of June. The budget can be changed and is updated throughout the year.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=4992

5) Technology:
This is quite an interesting and comprehensive technology update. The board will be asked to approve the purchase of 1,400 chrome books for the next three years at a cost of $400k each year. These purchases will help stave off major testing issues which require devices. There is some interest in investing in a device for every student. That structure would cost the district $600k annually in perpetuity. The district’s technology costs currently come from the general fund. Interestingly, ISD 834 is one of only a couple metro districts that do not have a technology levy. ISD 834 spends about $1.60 on technology per student while most districts average $3-$4.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=7084

6) Student Information System Platform:
This is a need identified to create a more complete and seamless experience for students and families between Skyward, Illuminate and Schoology. It will also ideally save money. The project specifics will be discussed in a future Finance and Operations Working Group meeting.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=8439

7) Consent Agenda:
There were disbursements pulled around legal fees. One item I found of interest was that an unidentified Board Director filed a claim of harassment against a faculty member. The cost for the investigation of the complaint was just under $11k. Also, some details were shared by Director Weisberg over an employee complaint.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=1131

8) Open Forum:
There were three speakers speaking mostly to recent legal action taken against the district and Chair Stivland.
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg?t=324

9) District Meeting Materials:
District Summary -
https://stillwaterschools.org/sites/default/files/public/downloads/pages/notes_5.14.20.pdf

Complete Meeting Video -
https://youtu.be/Q6c7AS4lztg

Board Agenda and Packet -
https://stillwaterschools.org/sites/default/files/public/downloads/pages/_5.14.20_final_board_pkt_revised.pdf