WISD Summer Board Bits – June 17, 2008
Call to Order
Citizens Comments
Lloyd Shoppa spoke to the Board about naming the new fine arts building at the high school after Horton Foote. He presented a petition supporting this to Board President Marc Aaronson and asked the Board to give consideration to this idea.
Wayne Allen expressed concern to the board that the Wharton County Texas A&M Club gave out scholarships at the Aggie Muster and no one from Wharton had applied. Allen said that information about the scholarships had been emailed to all of the high schools in the county, and a telephone call confirmed that the districts had received the emails. He asked that the Board to make sure scholarship information was given to high school seniors so they would not miss the opportunity to have some financial help if they wanted to attend Texas A&M.
Commendations
A commendation was given to Alanna Huggins and ten choir students who earned medals at the State Choir Competition.
Marc Aaronson read
a commendation on Kay Bollom and the
Dawson Choir from the Alamo Showcase
in
PBK Report
Wharton Jr. High – the new cafeteria is up. Glass should be installed next week. Plumbing and interior walls are being worked on in the science labs. The library is coming along with shelving and carpet. Restrooms are being redone and canopies being put up. The new elevator is presenting some challenges.
Stadium – Specialists are working on it. The stadium is being power washed and the concrete stands are being inspected and repaired. The sewer repair was always included in the stadium package.
WHS – Foundation for the new fine arts building is being poured. The seats in the auditorium are being removed; restrooms being demolished, the science rooms and the new gym are being worked on. The tennis courts and the parking lots are in the same package as the repairs.
Sivells – the new entry materials have been delivered. The restroom renovation has been started. The windows in the back of the building are being replaced.
The re-roofing project in the high school cafeteria is almost done. The chiller replacement at WJHS is in the warranty phase.
The Board requested a walk-through with PBK representatives in the next few weeks.
CSCOPE Discussion
Dr. Wade Labay from Region 13 introduced CSCOPE to the Board of Trustees. He told the Board that CSCOPE is a curriculum management instrument and a dynamic web-based system. Over 300 districts in the state are currently using CSCOPE. New features can be uploaded automatically; and because it is completely web-based, teachers can work with it from home. Dr. Labay said that everyday CSCOPE is constantly being improved and “it just gets better and better.” When asked about installation, he said that most school district’s hardware is compliant with the system. Sheri Ganske assured the Board that WISD’s equipment could handle CSCOPE. Dr. Bartosh told the Board that there would be universal use of this curriculum throughout the district. CSCOPE has a one time set-up fee and a yearly update fee. The total annual cost is around $19,000. The consensus of the Board was that CSCOPE would be a good investment for the district.
Action Items
Ö Approved the consent agenda
Ö Approved the budget amendments
Ö Approved one payment to the Wharton CAD for equipment purchases in the amount of $22,028 to avoid any interest accrued if the amount were separated into 5 annual payments
Ö Approved Texas Kids First Co as the student/athletic insurance provider
Ö Approved the revised 2008-09 school calendar as recommended by DEIC to request a 5 day waiver for students and have a student started date of September 2nd
Ö
Approved the removal of lockers from
Reports
Dr. Kay Shoppa gave a 2007 Preliminary TAKS report. Dr. Shoppa presented the data on three charts. Each one showed how our accountability is affected by the way we report our data to TEA. The first chart showed scores reported under our current configuration with 5 schools. There were 6 unacceptable scores at the junior high school and 2 unacceptable scores at the high school. The next chart showed the same data with our new configuration of campuses into 4 schools. There were 5 unacceptable scores at WJHS and 2 at the high school. The third chart showed Dr. Bartosh’s philosophy of creating two learning communities in Wharton I.S.D., one an elementary learning community (pairing Sivells and Wharton Elementary) and one a secondary (pairing the Junior High with the High School). This configuration reflected only 1 unacceptable score when these grade levels were combined. Dr. Shoppa will have a meeting of the site-based committees and the DEIC committee to discuss this new way of reporting before making a recommendation to the Board.
Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Bartosh gave the board the priority list for facilities created when the community was preparing for the bond package. He asked the board to look at those jobs, not covered in the bond package, and prioritize them.
The Board will have a training on Vision and Goals (Team of 8) in July.
Resignations: Shauna Eller
Anthony Ford
Kenneth Hewett
Ann Soderstrom
Adjourn to Closed Session
Reconvene Open Session
Hired: Michelle Potts
Michelle Trotter
Kathylee Barbee
Ruth Jiminez
Cindy Mahalitc
Tiffany Petrusek-Lopez
Adjournment