Board of Trustees Meeting
The Board of Trustees from Rockwell High School held a meeting on:
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Time: 8:00 pm.
Place: The Ranches Academy
7789 Tawny Owl Circle
Board Meeting April 24, 2008
WELCOME & CALL TO ORDER 8:08
Pledge of Allegiance
April 10th minutes accepted
Redge and Virginia will take notes on behalf of Julie McNair being absent.
Public comment (based on the public comment sign in available):
Mrs. Jen Rawlings—Jen stated that she wanted to be taken seriously. Mrs. Rawlings felt that she did not receive adequate notice of the board meeting therefore this prevented her and others from attending the board meeting on March 22nd. She believes that the board has not taken the student’s requests and opinions seriously. She also stated that she did not come to cause problems and her request to allow striped shirts is reasonable.
Mrs. Branden Shunn—Mrs. Shunn talked about short notice of the board meeting (date) and that because it was April that the dress code could and should be revisited.
Ms. Summer Milton—Stated that she thought dress code is for modesty and that she does not see how strips are not modest. She also stated that it didn’t feel like that they (her and other students on the dress code committee) were informed on how the process was going to be handled.
Ms. Kylee Blacka—Stripes are cool and that they should be allowed.
Follow-up comments and questions from the Board Chair and other Board members -
March meeting on the 22nd was not e-mailed in an adequate time for people to be in attendance. However, the agenda was posted by 12 noon at The Ranches Academy.
Suzanne asked who would withdraw from Rockwell if no change to the dress code were made—was expressed that no one would.
Did students understand that the final decision was up to the board?
Reply from Ms. Milton—She believed that was not something that students on the committee would have to worry about because they were told that stripes would be ok.
Mr. Redge Hudson stated that he has had a hard time with addressing dress code again so soon but, he was thankful that parents and students would take the time to sign the petition and come to the board meeting to follow up. As far as April the plans were to revisit the policy on a yearly basis. April was decided so that the board can make appropriate changes and inform parents and students early enough before the start of a new year. It will be up to the board to vote and decide how to proceed from this point.
A motion was called for and made to reopen and readdress dress code -
Roll call vote: Suzanne Burdick aye, Jenn Maroney aye, Julie McNair (by proxy: Jenn Maroney) aye, Redge Hudson nay, Jenny Foss nay, and Mary Lifferth nay. The decision was made to address this issue during the intervening weeks until the next Board meeting; time needed to inform the new Board member fully of the circumstances surrounding the dress code. Based on the tie vote, the dress code was tabled until the next meeting.
Director Report –Mr. Beck submitted a draft Teacher Pay scale; Virginia Bowser and Mr. Beck will work on these based on the budget. Crucial to get these finalized so hiring can begin.
Draft calendar presented – Start date can be made up with a day or two here and there, but with starting potentially two weeks after Ranches Academy and Alpine School District, we run the risk of students missing days anyway. This is only a VERY rough draft being submitted.
Employment Agreement – 3 attorneys have reviewed wording. It is an excellent agreement based on those at Pinnacle Canyon and John Hancock. Kay Balmforth, one of Utah’s premiere employment law attorneys, has reviewed it. A more finalized agreement will be emailed to the Board with obvious and not-so-obvious changes to address Rockwell needs. Darren wanted to get this in the boards hands.
School Land Trust committee needs to be started. Director, three parents, and one teacher will make up this committee. This is essentially a school improvement plan and will require ratifying by the Board—committees have no legislative authority, but do make recommendations to the Board. Committee will meet three or four times total. These meetings will take place prior to due dates for report submissions to go to the school Board and then on to the state. E-mail needs to be sent out to parents asking for volunteers and any interested parents in attendance were encouraged to apply.
Touched on hiring procedure as sent out via email and briefly discussed in the closed meeting. This is crucial in order to move forward with hiring. Emily Harrison is the speech/language for Ranches Academy—Mr. Beck and Mrs. Harrison have written up an agreement for her to provide these contract services for the students. Mr. Beck will review the budget and go from there. She will maintain her contract with Ranches.
Linda Tuttle has acted as the internal financial auditor for Ranches and could possibly do so for Ranches. Mr. Beck offered clarification that this is a contract service, not an employee. He understood the concerns expressed with regards to Mr. Michael Smith—Mr. Beck’s wife’s brother-in-law—but also expressed the need for a licensed and valid CPA for this position. Under the circumstances, Mr. Beck has expressed the potential conflict of interest, but has asked that the Board weigh the availability of personnel and the huge need of the school.
The Things to Accomplish list was just handed to him and in a quick glance most items are in process with some completed. A spreadsheet will be sent to the Board—he invited Board input. The Board chair asked all to respond to e-mails as a basic board member duty. Any other questions from the Board? No comments were offered.
Board opening – Two qualified individuals have expressed interest: Mrs. (?) Lovellette and Mr. Greg Driggs. As they had an opportunity to express their qualifications and so forth at the April 10th meeting, a paper ballot vote was conducted. Julie McNair in her absence gave her proxy to Jenn Maroney. The voting was as follows: Suzanne Burdick—Mr. Driggs; Jenn Foss—Mr. Driggs; Redge Hudson—Mr. Driggs; Mary Lifferth—Mr. Driggs; Jenn Maroney—Mr. Driggs; Julie McNair—Mr. Driggs; Darren Beck – shared opinion only, felt Mr. Driggs had some much needed non-profit background that gave him the edge over Mrs. Lovellette.
Committee Reports:
Jenn Maroney discussed Enrollment; presently at 507 students. Mentioned Nolan Park or the Amphitheater as a potential site for activities as the Ranches Academy will be undergoing a number of renovation and other projects this summer. A dance at Rockwell will be outside in the parking lot—date to be announced. Moved spirit week due to liability and Bobby Colson or someone from Hogan needing to be onsite at all times during this sort of activity. Mrs. Maroney is working to build a relationship with managers at Maverick. She will be gone until the 10th of May on vacation – Julie Bell will take care of enrollment packets. She requested the agenda be e-mailed to her and that she will call in to cast her vote as to the Dress Code. Mrs. Maroney acknowledged that IEPs/504s are extremely confidential. Presently, enrollment packets/files are locked in a cabinet in the cold storage section of her home.
Committee reports that were not done or ready this time will be given time at the next meeting.
Board Member Announcement:
Mr. Gregg Driggs was announced as the new Board member. The Board Chair said he appreciated both candidates and that both were qualified. This was a hard decision to make. He further encouraged Mrs. Lovellette to volunteer on a committee of her choice. At this point, Mrs. Lovellette left abruptly and Mr. Lovellette made preparations to do so.
Mr. Lovellette stated that he was not happy with the decision and when asked by the Board Chair if they would like to comment, he said “You would not like to hear my public comment.” Both Mr. and Mrs. Lovelet left the meeting at this time.
Mrs. Jenny Foss asked to be recognized by the Board Chair to inform the Board and Mr. Beck that by June 30th the school needed to draw down funds from the implementation grant.
ADJOURNED by unanimous vote at 9:11. Board Chair asked for a motion to adjourn, Suzanne Burdick made the motion to adjourn and Jenn Maroney offered the second at the same time Jenny Foss did.