SPARTANBURG COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SIX

Transcription

1 SPARTANBURG COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SIX Roebuck, South Carolina The District Six Board of Trustees met on, at 6:45 p.m. in the executive board room of the District Six administration building for an executive session and continued at 7:30 p.m. in the board room for the regular session. Board members present were: Mr. Charles I. Boyd, Mr. Michael B. Crook, Mr. G. Michael Forrester, Mr. Lynn R. Harris, Rev. Kevin D. Harrison, Dr. Mary Lou Hightower, Mrs. Christie B. Johnson, and Mr. Wendell J. Lee. Absent: Mr. Alex Meadows NOTICE TO THE MEDIA Policy BCBB In accordance with the South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, Section (d) as amended, the following have been notified of the time, place, and agenda of this meeting: GREENVILLE NEWS, SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL, SPARTANBURG JOURNAL, WHNS-TV, WSPA-TV, WSPA RADIO, and WYFF-TV. EXECUTIVE SESSION A. THE BOARD WILL DISCUSS CONTRACTUAL ISSUES. Mr. Michael Forrester made the motion to enter executive session to discuss contractual and legal issues and to return to open session at the conclusion of the discussion. Mr. Wendell Lee seconded the motion. The motion passed with a vote of 7-0. CALL TO ORDER Rev. Kevin Harrison, chairman, called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone in attendance. Mr. Michael Crook began the meeting with prayer. CHAIRMAN S REPORT A. THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER APPROVAL OF JANUARY 12, 2015, MINUTES. Rev. Harrison said the January 12, 2015, minutes were sent to the Board in advance. He asked if there were any corrections or additions. Hearing none, he declared the January 12, 2015, minutes approved by acclamation. B. THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER APPROVAL OF INVOICES. Rev. Harrison said the invoices for the month ending January 31, 2015, were sent to the Board in advance and were also posted on the District Six web site. He asked if there were any questions about the invoices. There were none. Mr. Michael

2 Page 2 Forrester made the motion to approve the invoices. Mr. Lynn Harris seconded the motion. The invoices were approved with a vote of 7-0. SUPERINTENDENT S REPORT Dr. Darryl Owings, superintendent, said there were several recognitions this evening. First, Dr. Owings asked Dorman student Dusty Hardee to step forward. Dr. Owings asked Dr. Alan Eggert, executive director of special services, to introduce Dusty and show a news clip from a local TV station who had interviewed Dusty. The video highlighted Dusty s Christmas wish to have his mom use the money she planned to spend on him to buy gifts for the Angel Tree students at the Charles Lea Center. All he asked was to receive cards for Christmas because he loves mail. At the end of the video Dr. Eggert introduced Mr. Jason McLeskey, Dusty s teacher of three years from Dorman, to say a few words about Dusty. Mr. McLeskey, spoke of Dusty s generous spirit and how he has shown us that it is truly more blessed to give than receive. Dr. Owings said Dusty had received over 12,000 cards from across the nation. He was even given an X-box from singer Michael Buble and in turn Dusty donated his current game system to a local afterschool program. Dr. Owings said he was very proud of Dusty and how he shows the true Cavalier spirit. Rev. Kevin Harrison, board chairman, read the inscription on the plaque as it was presented to Dusty. Second, Dr. Owings asked Dr. Cindy Pridgen, principal of Woodland Heights Elementary to introduce Mrs. Sally Dover, who is being recognized. Dr. Pridgen said Mrs. Dover had been named the Chapman Cultural Center Arts Teacher of the Year. Dr. Pridgen said Mrs. Dover was selected as this year s Teacher of the Year for her contributions in the area of the Arts in Spartanburg County. She has over 45 years of service to the students of Spartanburg School District Six. Dr. Pridgen said Mrs. Dover has modeled her modeled her life-long appreciation of and participation in the arts by working with our Arts Education Department to bring artists into District Six elementary school classrooms for many years. Dr. Owings thanked Mrs. Dover and said that she has a true passion for education. Rev. Harrison read the inscription on the plaque and presented it to Mrs. Dover. Next, Dr. Owings asked Dr. Sharon Doyle to step forward. Dr. Pridgen said Dr. Doyle had been named to the South Carolina Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. Dr. Pridgen said the hall of fame recognizes a member for exceptional service and for the advancement of music education in the schools of South Carolina. She also said that Dr. Doyle had demonstrated effectiveness in teaching young people through music. Dr. Owings said she is an amazing educator who continues to provide quality instruction and mentorship to the students of District Six in the field of music education and fine arts. Rev. Harrison read the inscription on the plaque and presented it to Dr. Doyle.

3 Page 3 At this time Dr. Owings introduced Ms. Rebecca Parrish, who is the Healthy Kids Coordinator with Partners for Active Living. Ms. Parrish asked Mr. Keith Burton, principal of Lone Oak Elementary, and Mrs. Kari Walker, physical education teacher at Lone Oak Elementary to step forward. Mrs. Parrish said that October s International Walk to School Day was a huge success in Spartanburg County with 58 schools participating in the event, the highest participation rate for a county in the state of South Carolina. She said thirteen schools submitted applications for the Golden Shoe award and she was proud to award Lone Oak Elementary School the third place award. Lone Oak s application showed their ability to use an event as a catalyst to establish sustainable physical activity programs in the school. Lone Oak received a check for $200 for their creative use of activities through partners such as USC Upstate s freshman class, U101. BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS A. THE ADMINISTRATION WILL GIVE AN UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN THE DISTRICT. Dr. Gregory Cantrell, associate superintendent for operations and personnel, presented an update on the Fairforest Middle School project. He said district administrators had met with the faculty at Fairforest Middle school to seek input from them on instructional spaces and curriculum. Dr. Cantrell also said the district administrators along with several members of the Fairforest Middle School staff had made site visits to two schools. One school was a STEAM school in Greenville and the other school was Meadow Glenn in Lexington. Dr. Cantrell said Mr. Michael Chewning, architect with McMillan Pazdan Smith, had worked on several designs that incorporate the STEAM/STEM learning spaces. Dr. Cantrell indicated the faculty from Fairforest Middle was very excited about the new facilities. He said there would be a work session in the near future with the Board as the district moves forward with this project. If all goes as planned, Dr. Cantrell said he foresees the project to begin around late summer. Mr. Lynn Harris asked how we determined which schools to visit? Dr. Cantrell said the Greenville school was a STEAM concept school and the Lexington school was geared more toward collaborative space. He said the district looked at award winning schools and have moved back to the middle grade concept. INSTRUCTION A. THE ADMINISTRATION WILL PRESENT NEW COURSES FOR APPROVAL FOR THE DORMAN CURRICULUM GUIDE AND INFORMATION RELATED TO DUAL ENROLLMENT OFFERINGS AND CREDITS. Dr. Donna Gutshall, assistant superintendent for instruction, gave introductory remarks regarding the instructional presentation. She said the administration will present information related to new state-approved courses offered for the school year in the Dorman Curriculum Guide. Dr. Gutshall introduced Mrs. Renee Lane, Academic

4 Page 4 Administrator at Dorman High School, to present the information. Mrs. Lane said she was very proud of the team effort that went into producing the Dorman Curriculum Guide. She indicated there were several new courses which the faculty and administration at Dorman High School and Dorman Freshman Campus felt were needed to prepare and challenge our students to be College, Career, and Citizenship ready. First, Mrs. Lane indicated the Five Schools of Study for Dorman High School are as follows: School of Arts, Humanities, and Communication School of Business, Management, and Information Systems School of Engineering, Manufacturing, and Industrial Technology School of Law and Public Service School of Medicine and Human Services Then, Mrs. Lane gave a list of the new courses which will be included in the Curriculum Guide for and they are as follows: Project Lead the Way Biomedical Innovation (11-12) Computer Science and Software engineering (10-12) Civil Engineering and Architecture (11-12) Computer Integrated Manufacturing (11-12) Digital Electronics (11-12) Consumer Science Human Development (10-12) Sports and Entertaining Marketing (10-12) Food Science and Dietetics I (11-12) Sports Nutrition II (10-12) Art AP Studio Art 3-D Design (11-12) Theatre Technical Theatre (10-12) RDA Skills to Pay the Bills (9-12) Mrs. Lane gave a quick overview of each of the courses which will be offered. Also, her PowerPoint slides showed the dual credit offerings for next year at the high school. She said currently Dorman has awarded over 828 dual credits to students. The information she presented indicates a substantial growth in the amount of dual credits

5 Page 5 awarded over the last six years. The next PowerPoint slide indicated that the Advanced Placement courses taken by students had remained fairly close to last year s numbers with over 400 AP courses awarding credit to students. Next she indicated that over 100 students had earned college credit under Project Lead the Way. Mrs. Lane said we have over 1400 total college credits awarded during this school year. Mrs. Lane asked if there were any questions from the board. Hearing none she concluded her presentation by saying how proud she was to be a part of School District Six. FINANCE A. THE ADMINISTRATION WILL PRESENT PRELIMINARY STATE BUDGET INFORMATION. Mr. Omar Daniels, District Six Chief Financial Officer, gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding school funding and current legislative proposals. He began with a review of federal budget challenges and the government s plan to reduce the federal deficit. Mr. Daniels explained the original plan for sequestration was a $1.27 trillion spending cut divided evenly between 2013 and The amount of cuts would be divided evenly between defense and non-defense spending. He said there were two ways to reduce the deficit: Caps on discretionary spending and cut spending, raise revenue, or a combination. The Bipartisan Budget Act was passed in December 2013 and provided a two year reprieve from sequestration for fiscal years 2014 and The bill provided $63 billion in sequester relief. Mr. Daniels explained the expiration of the Bipartisan Budget Act could create additional budgetary challenges for special education and Title I programs. He stated the lack of federal funding sources combined with the growth in special needs services leaves many special education positions unfunded with federal dollars creating budget pressures on the General Fund. Mr. Daniels indicated one of the National School Board priorities for 2015 is to increase the federal share of funding for special education in order to relieve school districts of local funding pressures created by the rising cost of special education services. Mr. Daniels presented information on Governor Haley s Budget for He presented the proposed increases by Agency and the sources of revenue for the upcoming state budget. He stated the lack of funding for state agencies in previous years has created a demand for additional dollars especially roads and bridges. He outlined the five areas proposed in the governor s budget for creating success in South Carolina public schools. Those five areas are: Fairer and Simpler Education Funding Formula, Focus on Reading, Access to Educational Technology, High Quality Public School Choice, and Teacher Quality and Recruitment. He discussed the funding swap between Lottery and the state s general fund and the proposed increases by program within the education budget.

6 Page 6 Mr. Daniels next outlined a legislative update focusing on education bills. He said the House has created an Education Task Force subcommittee to study education reform with a report due to the House in January He noted the S.C. Jobs Education and Tax Act is being proposed again this year and the basis is to equalize millage to 100 mills across the state to provide business property tax relief and to equalize base student funding with local dollars across the state. Mr. Daniels indicated the school district has begun conducting meetings with principals and instructional support staff to develop the budget. He stated school support budget meeting with athletics, fine arts, maintenance, transportation, and technology would be in February. He stated that until the House Ways and Means approves their budget, we want have solid revenue numbers for next year. He stated we would provide more information in the March budget meeting on revenues and expenditures of the school district. Mr. Daniels concluded his report. Rev. Harrison thanked Mr. Daniels for his report. POLICY A. THE ADMINISTRATION WILL PRESENT FOR SECOND READING AND APPROVAL POLICY ADC-TOBACCO USE. Mr. Jerry Wyatt, assistant superintendent for administration and transportation, presented policy ADC-Tobacco Use for second reading and approval. Policy ADC was presented at the January meeting for first reading. Mr. Wyatt said there had been no changes to the proposed revision since the first reading. He asked if there were any questions. Hearing none, Mr. Wyatt said the administration recommends revised policy ADC Tobacco Use for adoption. Rev. Harrison asked if there was a motion on the recommendation. Mr. Wendell Lee made the motion to approve policy ADC-Tobacco Use as presented. Dr. Mary Lou Hightower seconded. There was no discussion. The motion passed with a 7-0 vote. ADJOURNMENT Policy BCBF Adjournment: There was no other business. The meeting was adjourned. Mr. Michael Forrester, Secretary