Superintendent\Parent Communication Council

Meeting Minutes, December 5, 2006

NEXT MEETING: March 6, 2007 (Agenda Items Due Feb. 15)

Sent electronically 02-08-07

 

Welcome – Dr. Gary Quinn

Superintendent Quinn called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.

 

Attendance:  (Parent Support Group Representatives)

Ms. Tina Autry, Richard Kane Elementary; Mr. Jody Burch, Will Rogers Early Childhood Center; Ms. Cheryl Cowles, Mid-High School; Ms. Vanessa Drummond, Richard Kane Elementary School; Ms. Kelli Fram, Central Middle School; Mr. Jeff Henry, Will Rogers Early Childhood Center; Ms. Patricia Mason, Wayside Elementary School; Ms. Sara Meszaros, Wayside Elementary School; Ms. P J Polk, Wayside Elementary School;  Ms. Danielle Wong, Central Middle School; (Central Office Staff) Mr. Fred Auschwitz, Safe & Drug Free Coordinator; Mr. David Austin, Community Relations Coordinator; Mr. Richard Dugger, MH\BHS Band Director; Ms. Gayle Fox, Superintendent’s Secretary; Mr. Tim Green, Executive Director Financial Services; Ms. Candi Price, Director of Child Nutrition Program, Ms. Debbie Moody, MH Child Nutrition, Dr. Richard Rosenberger, Executive Director of Human Resources; Ms. Linda Watson, Executive Director of Elementary Instruction; Ms. Freeda Wilcox, Federal Programs Coordinator and Dr. Gary Quinn, Superintendent.

 

Introduction of New Staff

Dr. Quinn introduced Mr. David Austin, Community Relations Coordinator. Mr. Austin joined the district a few weeks ago.  He has done a great job writing articles for the newspaper and updating the district web site in the short time he has been employed.  His background includes freelance work for Oklahoma Magazine, Golf Inc., Golf Week and ConocoPhillips.  He has also worked for the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise and Tulsa World as sports copy editor, sports editor, reporter, and managing editor.  Due to a conflict, Ms. Walker was not in attendance.  She will be introduced at an upcoming meeting.

 

Introduction of Other Staff

Mr. Fred Auschwitz, Safe & Drug Free Coordinator, was introduced to the Council.  Mr. Auschwitz is in his third year with our district.  He has taught secondary level social studies in the public schools for seven years and is currently teaching part-time at Rogers State University, Bartlesville campus.

 

Superintendent’s Presentation

School Safety  (Mr. Fred Auschwitz)

Mr. Auschwitz gave a brief update on school safety and what the district has done to assure the students are safe.  He began by stating school safety is a concern that continues to be on the minds of a lot of people in light of a number of school tragedies throughout nation.  At the same time, schools are still one of the safest places today.  He spoke briefly about a series of meetings district staff, community police, fire and emergency management representatives have had to talk about safety procedures.  These meetings have been important.  It allowed them to get to know each other, to exchange ideas & solutions, to help in developing a common response plan, and to assure they are not meeting for the first time at an incident.  Just this week the group met to talk about safety procedures at Bartlesville Mid-High.  Building custodians have also been included in meetings at their site.  They have a different perspective to add. 

 

Mr. Auschwitz stated each site has a School Safety Committee of which the site principal is a member.  The site plan is reviewed at the beginning of each school year with a copy distributed to school employees and a copy sent to him.  One time each semester (or as needed) each site has a fire, tornado or lock down drill.  Copies have also been sent to the Bartlesville Police and Fire Departments.  Asked about what the greatest at-risk scenario threatening school’s today, he answered most definitely the intruder.  Are we prepared?  Yes, most definitely, was his reply.  Principals, teachers and custodians know their facilities the best of anyone.  This alone is a great strength as they combine to work together. 

 

There was a concern expressed about an incident which occurred at an elementary site, which was reported to a secondary site.  The information then was disseminated to students at the secondary site and the information was inaccurate.  Mr. Auschwitz was unaware of the situation and said he would follow up on it.  It was also suggested there should be a central point to report all incidents to assure accurate information would be disseminated throughout the district as needed. 

 

A question was asked if there was a plan to deal with hazardous spills.  Mr. Auschwitz answered that the district would rely on city and county officials to lead the way in advising the district what they should do in the event a hazardous spill occurred.  This was something that could also be discussed.

 

Truancy (Mr. Fred Auschwitz)

Mr. Auschwitz spoke to the council about truancy in the district and the truancy committee formed a few years ago. He handed out a copy of the district truancy plan which briefly explained the plan and how the committee put the plan into action to deal with truancy.  He said the district is fortunate to have an excellent working relationship with local agencies and the court system.  (Att.)

 

Questions Submitted:

 

  1. With recent lockdowns in Oklahoma and surrounding states, what is the school district doing to ensure our schools are safe and secure?   

 

·        Who is responsible for the development of site security plans?

·        Are security plans available for each site?

·        How current are they?

·        How often are they tested?

·        How often are they updated?

·        What type of review process is available for the plans?

·        How are the Emergency personnel & support (police, fire, ambulance) brought into the picture?

·        Are district funds available for site upgrades for security measures?

·        What are the greatest at-risk scenarios which threaten the district’s schools

(This material was covered by Mr. Auschwitz in the Superintendent’s Presentation.)

 

 

  1. Why don’t we have better food at the schools?  (Candi Price, Child Nutrition Department)

 

The goals of the Child Nutrition Department are to provide the best school meal possible (while meeting USDA daily requirements according to age, and nutritional values) taking into consideration what kids like.  We provide a variety of selections and quality food.  If there is a problem at a particular site, we would encourage you to call us.  We value your input.  We would also invite you to eat lunch at any of our sites.  Don’t hesitate to give me a call and we will have lunch in any of the cafeterias.  The lunch provided today came from the Mid-High School cafeteria and is a Chili recipe we use throughout the district.

 

  1. Why is there only one band instrument vendor allowed on campus to sell/rent instruments at beginning of school year?  Same thing seems to be with vendor for senior pictures in the yearbook. 

 

Dr. Quinn provided the answer about the vendor used for the senior pictures in the yearbook. Craig’s will do the pictures for the yearbook (according to our specifications) at no charge for any senior who does not have his or her pictures made at Craig’s studio.  Students can still choose and purchase their pictures from a vendor of their choice.

 

          (Dr. Richard Dugger, BHS Band Director provided answers related to Band Questions) 

The district has a long established relationship with an “all service” vendor, meaning they sell music, sell or rent instruments, do repairs and will even arrange to pick up instruments for repair.  There are only about 3 music vendors in close proximity, but not all of them are “all service” vendors.  By all means, students can still purchase or rent their instruments from any vendor of their choice. 

 

A question was asked about a change in music books two weeks prior to the school year. 

It is true there was a change in music books at the middle school level prior to the new year.  This was due to a new band director being hired and their recommendation.  The charge for this change was minimal ($5.00) and we did not think this would be a hardship on the student.  If this is a hardship we would encourage the student to talk to us about this. 

 

  1. MH\HS Band Program took away option of a fall concert-band, making all students enroll in marching band.  Many students are interested in continuing their music, but are too challenged by the marching schedule, so they choose not to participate.  Is there a way for students to choose concert band only as in previous years.  Who makes this decision?

 

About 4 years ago a decision was made to experiment with a fall concert band.  This was offered to 9th graders and athletes or other students who had not been afforded an opportunity to participate in band due to other school commitments.  At the end of my second year here, we had to evaluate this offering and its benefits to the program.  (By the way, there are only two districts in our area that I am aware of who offer fall bands, Broken Arrow and Owasso).  Based on the number of band directors and student ratio we found this offering was taking away from marching band.  We feel at the 9th and 10th grade level, it is imperative students make those choices as to where they want to spend their time.  It is true marching band is a big time commitment and highly competitive. 

 

  1. Why doesn’t our band travel to away games?

 

This issue has to do with lack of funds, number of bands, number of away games and contests, busing between schools, costs of drivers, mileage and a $13,000. budget.  The staff made a decision to travel to closer events.   

 

  1. What kinds of funds have our schools seen from the “Education Lottery”?  (how much and when funds came
    • If we have not received funds, when can we expect to?
    • If we have received funds, has our regular funding been cut so that we actually break even or fall behind?
    • If we have received Lottery funds, why is our district still falling behind when we talk about funding projects, staff, etc?

 

(Mr. Tim Green provided the response to this question.)  State aid for Bartlesville is $15.2 M.  The district’s allocation is deposited in monthly allocations.  The lottery funds are funneled through the state aid formula, therefore it makes it very difficult to know exactly how much we are receiving from the state lottery.  In addition, income taxes and real estate taxes are also a part of that formula.  Of the total 1.7 billion dollars allocated to public education via state aid, 124 million was budgeted to come from lottery proceeds.  For Bartlesville, just an educated estimation of the lottery proceeds would be just over 100,000.

 

  1. What is the dress code at games and other school related functions and why can’t gate attendants and school administrators enforce dress code?  (Reported inappropriate attire at Homecoming) 

 

District administrators are looking more at safety issues and inappropriate advertising on clothing.  When school is in session, students can be approached in a more timely manner.  When activities are held after school, we rely on parents to help with this issue.

 

  1. How do all athletes in the district know EXACTLY the day they are going to be drug tested?   

 

We contract with an outside firm and even district administrators do not know when or who will be tested.  This selection is purely random.   

 

  1. Could you give an overview of the GT Task Force Committee, it’s plans and recommendations.  I received a permission slip asking if I would consider sending my G\T child to a Magnet School.  

 

The GT Task Force Committee is made up of board members, administrators, teachers and parents.  The committee has been meeting twice a month for about three months.  It has been charged with looking at the current program, ways to improve the program and developing a plan to best meet the needs of our students.  The GT Task Force has formed three sub-committees (which have been meeting in the off weeks) to develop recommendations.  Those sub-committees include GT Academy Magnet, Evaluation of GT Plan, and Resources & Training.  Upon the recommendation of a new plan, the committee will also be charged with how they propose the district fund that program.  At this time, there are a lot of rumors, in fact more rumors than recommendations.  It is true a survey was sent to test the waters on what the community would favor.  In addition, we have included a link on the district web-site to solicit input from the community.  We are still a few months from making a recommendation to the board of education.  We welcome all comments and suggestions.  We are also investigating at the 6th, 7th and 8th grade levels to do more in our Pre-AP Programs and what can be done to make the program available to more students.

 

  1. Could you give us an update on Kaleidoscope in our schools? 

See answer nine.

 

 

Meeting Dates:  (Agenda items due to Gayle 2 weeks prior to meeting)

 

All meetings will be held at the Education Service Center, Upstairs Conf Rm

          March 6, 2007                  May 1, 2007

 

Next Meeting Date: March 6, 2007 items due February 15

 

06Meetings\Supt Par Council\06-1205 M

 

 

cc: Principals

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