September 15, 2009
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
MEMBERS ABSENT: |
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Mr. Daniel D. “Dan” Edwards, Chairman Ms. Rita S. Bellitto, Vice Chairman Mr. William J. Brunke, IV Mr. Todd C. Davidson Ms. Emma L. “Em” Davis Ms. Patricia G. Edmonson |
Mr. Dan R. Lowe Mr. Brent N. Mckenzie Mr. Patrick S. Salyer Ms. Sandra Smith-Jones (7:38 p.m.
departure) Ms. Carolyn D. Weems |
None |
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Dr. James G. Merrill, Superintendent |
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1.
Convene School Board Informal Meeting: The Board convened in
the School Board Room at 6:00 p.m.
2.
Hearing of Citizens and Delegations on Non-Agenda Items: The Board heard comments from Leslie Law,
Gifted Resource Teacher at John B. Dey Elementary School, in support of the
Destination ImagiNation Creative Problem Solving (CPS) program, and requested
the Board consider offering a stipend comparable to that which is already being
offered at the high school level to motivate faculty and staff to manage teams
at the elementary level.
3.
Formal Meeting Call to Order and Electronic Roll Call: Chairman Edwards called the formal meeting to
order at 6:13 p.m. All Board members
were present.
4.
Student, Employee and Public Awards and Recognition:
A.
Governor’s CTE Exemplary Standards Award: The Board recognized staff from the
Automotive Technology Program at the Technical and Career Education Center as
recipients of the Virginia Governor’s Career and Technical Education (CTE)
Exemplary Standards Award honoring programs in the Commonwealth that meet
“rigorous standards” for exemplary CTE programs in Virginia.
B.
National Network of Partnership Schools Partnership
District Award: The Board recognized Virginia Beach City
Public Schools for having earned for the third year in a row the prestigious
Partnership District Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools at
Johns Hopkins University reflecting the division’s strong commitment to
developing meaningful partnerships which link schools, families, and the larger
community in order to support student achievement. Virginia Beach was selected based on the
quality of the division’s teamwork, action plans, activities, and demonstrated progress
over time. Additionally, it was noted
seven Virginia Beach outstanding parent involvement practices were selected for
publication representing best practices in engaging parents.
5.
Invocation by Pastor Rick Leineweber of Virginia Beach
Community Chapel followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
6.
Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent
Merrill provided a progress report on the division’s new strategic plan, Compass
to 2015. He recognized teachers, administrators and
members of the community for fully embracing the innovative approach to
educating students in the city and thanked the Board for their support. He proceeded to report Year 1
implementation included unveiling the plan at the Administrators’ Conference on
August 20 with presentations from co-chairs of the five strategic objective
committees providing an overview of professional learning communities (PLC),
and planning time for school-based teams to begin working on individual Plans
for Continuous Improvement with the primary objective to be to ensure each of
the eighty five Plans were directly aligned to the division’s mission, vision,
and outcomes for student success as identified in the Compass to 2015. He then
reported on the opening of school for the 2009-10 school year and shared
examples of activities gathered from Cabinet members who visited each and every
school on opening day to wish all a “happy new year.” Additionally, Superintendent Merrill
recognized the many accolades of schools, students and staff throughout the
division, and highlighted activities including the Teacher Orientation and
Continuous Learning Institute (TOCLI), the start of the division’s new blog - On the Mark, and Parent Connection
workshops. Finally, he advised the
division received a federal Teacher American History Grant of nearly
one-million dollars to fund a multi-year initiative entitled SAIL – Shaping
America’s Identity and Legacy, which provides 100 fourth and fifth grade
teachers with training to cultivate teacher proficiency in historical investigation
and critical thinking analysis.
7.
Hearing of Citizens and Delegations on Agenda Items: None
8.
Approval of Minutes:
A.
September 1, 2009 Regular Meeting: Ms. Davis made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Davidson, that the Board approve the minutes of their September 1, 2009 regular
School Board meeting as presented. The
motion was approved (ayes 10, nays 0, 1 abstention – Edmonson who was absent
from the September 1 meeting).
9.
Adoption of the Agenda:
There
being no proposed changes to the published agenda, Ms. Edmonson made a motion,
seconded by Mr. Lowe, that the Board adopt the agenda as presented. The motion was unanimously approved.
10.
Consent Agenda: Mr. Davidson made a
motion, seconded by Ms. Edmonson, that the Board approve the Consent
Agenda. The motion was unanimously
approved and the following items adopted as part of the Consent Agenda:
A.
Renaming of Visual Language to Media Studies as recommended by
the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for implementation in the fall of
2010 to align with the state department course code and title as well as to
reflect current technological advances
B.
Appointments,
Resignations and Retirements as presented on the Personnel Report dated
September 15, 2009
11.
Action
A.
Budget Transfers:
Prior to a motion, Mr. Farrell E. Hanzaker, Chief Financial Officer,
presented an overview of the proposed budget transfers. He explained the zero net effect of the
proposed budget transfers were to realign funds for the Strategic Plan and
textbooks, and transfer funds to comply with state regulations and federal
reporting requirements for the $22.1 million federal stimulus funds received
from the federal government through the state.
Mr. Salyer made a motion, seconded by Ms. Edmonson, that the Board
approve the budget transfers as proposed.
The motion was unanimously approved and Budget Transfer Requests dated
September 4, 2009 approved as presented.
12.
Information
A.
2008-09 SAT Results:
Dr. Jared A. Cotton, Assistant Superintendent for Research, Evaluation
and Assessment, presented a brief overview of the SAT test results for the
2008-2009 college-bound seniors in comparison with state and national SAT
scores. In summary, it was reported the
mean SAT scores for Virginia Beach seniors increased in the critical reading,
mathematics, and writing sections for the second consecutive year. Additionally, Virginia Beach’s mean critical
reading score surpassed the mean reading score at the national level. Finally, the SAT performance of African
American seniors in Virginia Beach was summarized since it is in line with the
focus of the division’s third objective of the Compass to 2015, and since African-American students represent the
largest minority group in the division.
He noted progress and results for other minority groups would be
included in the full report to be provided to the Board later in the fall. He reported African-American seniors in
Virginia Beach continue to outperform their peers across the state and nation
on the SAT reading, mathematics, and writing sections.
B.
Financial Statements
1.
June 2009 Unaudited
2.
July 09 Interim
3.
August 09 Interim
Mr.
A. Samuel Cohen, Director of Business Services, summarized the June 2009
financial statements reporting although state sales tax ended the year $6.7 million
below budget and federal government $671,000 under budget, overall $14.9
million will be reverted back to the City.
He explained $5.4 million would be deducted from that figure as the
School’s portion of certain revenues shared with the City under the Revenue
Sharing Formula that came in under budget.
Additionally, $500,000 would be deducted as well for debt service actual
over budget leaving approximately $8.8 million for the Board to consider in a
subsequent meeting on how to spend the money and recommend to City Council for
re-appropriation. He advised July and
August interim statements are very preliminary with very little activity. In response to an inquiry about any current
fiscal year concerns, it was noted sales tax once again is expected to be
approximately $3 million less than budgeted.
Superintendent Merrill commented funds left over for 2008-09 were significantly
less than previous years and extremely small in comparison to the total budget. Mr. Farrell E. Hanzaker, Chief Financial
Officer, projected next fiscal year’s leftover funds will be even less. He explained 60-70 percent of federal
stimulus funds were appropriated in the first year of the biennium and the
remaining 40 percent or less appropriated in the second year which is now being
drawn from by the Governor to balance the state budget and cover current year
shortfalls. Further discussion ensued
regarding the impact on the second year of the biennium, FY2010-11.
13.
Committee Reports:
Ms.
Davis advised she attended the Special Education Community Advisory Committee
meeting held September 14 where Transportation Services presented a report on
the transportation of special education students and integration with regular education
students. She advised of a Virginia
Board of Education public forum to be held on September 30 at Joliff Middle
School in Chesapeake on budget cuts and caps for the next fiscal year.
On
behalf of the Legislative Committee which met on September 14, Ms. Weems
reported ongoing dialogue continues with senators and delegates, and advised
proposed legislation is being finalized and will be brought to the Board in the
next couple of weeks. She announced the
next committee meeting is scheduled for October 14 and reminded the Board of
the legislative breakfast scheduled for November 6 at the Tech Center. Finally, she noted Ms. Edmonson plans to
attend the September 30 Virginia Board of Education public forum mentioned by
Ms. Davis to express concerns over the proposed capping of support personnel
and the budget.
The Board recessed at
6:56 p.m. and reconvened in Workshop format in the einstein.lab at 7:15 p.m.
14.
Workshop: (einstein.lab)
A.
Internal Audit Annual Report Review: Mr. Ken Palmer, civilian member and Chair of
the Audit Committee, provided a quick overview of the Annual Report of the
Office of Internal Audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, noting 72
percent of audits were performance audits, 17 percent financial, and 11 percent
investigative. He explained the audit
report includes detail of audits conducted, audit recommendations, risk
analysis which determines the order of the program in future years, and
outlines the program of work for FY2011-10.
He commended the Audit Department stating it outperformed any other
entity he has audited in the past.
Ms.
Terrie L. Pyeatt, CPA, Director of Internal Audit, provided a summary of the
final report of the independent auditor contracted to audit the City/Schools
healthcare claims. She advised the
vendor, Healthcare Horizons Consulting Group, tested 100 percent of the healthcare
claims data using their propriety software system, and concluded the division
is above average showing strong performance of healthcare claims. Total errors found that could be recovered
was in the area of .15 percent or $35,000.
It was noted an audit would be completed annually and vendor compensated
based on the amount recovered.
Discussion concluded at 7:20 p.m.
B.
Revenue Discussion:
Relative to what was recently published in an editorial, Chairman Edwards
clarified the Revenue Sharing Formula and how it is applied when either elected
body requests a tax increase. Further
discussion ensued regarding stimulus funds and reporting requirements. Discussion concluded at 7:37 p.m. at which
time Ms. Smith-Jones left the meeting.
C.
Second Quarter Forecast -- Board Agenda Topics for
Discussion: Superintendent Merrill presented
Administration’s forecast of agenda topics to be presented to the Board either
in an upcoming workshop and/or as an information item in the months of October,
November and December 2009. Also
provided for the Board’s information was a list of items individual departments
are working on during the quarter.
Discussion concluded at 8:02 p.m.
15.
Closed Meeting: None
16.
Vote on Remaining Action Items: None
17.
Adjournment: There being no
further business before the Board, Chairman Edwards adjourned the meeting at
8:02 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Dianne P. Alexander,
Clerk of the Board
Approved: