October 30, 2014 Board Meeting

As always, these are my opinions only and not the opinions of the Pendleton County School Board or any other individual Board members.

 Bus Purchases

 Bus purchasing was postponed from our last meeting.  After talking with several reliable sources about transportation costs, I came to the conclusion that replacing approximately 5% of your fleet is probably a good idea.  This avoids larger leases or purchases down the road that can become “budget busters”.  My issue with this is timing.  These leases can be dealt with in June, when the health of our annual budget is more measurable.  I made an amendment to only lease a special needs bus at this time.  This amendment failed due to lack of a second from my fellow Board members.  The lease of two new buses and the new bond debt that goes with it passed 4-1.

School Calendar

There was a great deal of discussion about the school calendar at this meeting.  I am extremely concerned about taking a full week for fall break plus the additional day for the Woolfest.  If the focus is kept on student success, I believe it would be better for our students to cut the fall break down to the Friday of Woolfest plus an additional two days on another week.  This past year, our district missed a great deal of school for snow days, and our Board excused some of those missed days to prevent the students from being in the classroom past June 3^rd.  Our teachers still had to come in and attend professional development.  My concern is the lost days of instruction.  This is a major setback for our students and reduces opportunities for our students.  It also puts our schools at a competitive disadvantage relative to other school districts.  Until all of the schools are proficient, I don’t see how this is best for our students.  I have received input from several parents expressing their concern about such a long fall break.  However, I welcome input from all stakeholders.  Please feel free to contact me at SMNordheim@aol.com before November 20^th, which is the date of our next board meeting.

Staffing Allocation Formula

There was a discussion on our staffing allocation formula.  I am still researching this topic and will comment on this important topic in the future.

October 16, 2014 Board Meeting

As always, these are my opinions only and not the opinions of the Pendleton County School Board or any other individual Board members.

 

Unbridled Learning Test Results

Pendleton County Schools have been given the label of “Needs Improvement/Progressing” by the state.  Our improvement came from the growth scores on standardized testing and the program reviews.  The program reviews were added last fall and are the district’s self-assessment of how well the educational programs are working.  This counts for nearly a quarter of a school’s overall grade.  Northern Elementary joined PCHS this year and are considered “Proficient” schools.  Overall scores at both schools were 71.9.  Southern Elementary’s overall score was 63.8 and earned a “Needs Improvement/Progressing.”  Sharp Middle School earned a 60.7 and is now classified as “Needs Improvement/Focus School.”  This is a step in the wrong direction for Sharp Middle School.  However, I know that our district administration already has steps in place to address this issue.  I would like to thank all the employees in our district for their hard work and dedication to the education of our students.  We can still see growth in the coming years if we stay focused on what is working in the classroom and continue initiatives that will build capacity in our teachers and students.  Additionally, our district spending needs to be centered on instruction.

 Treasurer Report  

After last month’s report from our District “outside” Auditor, I think you would agree that district spending and revenue are worthy of Board discussion on a more regular basis.  Ms. Denise Keene stated last month that our spending was not sustainable.  In fact, Ms. Keene writes in her report “It will be impossible to maintain current programs past 2017 without increasing revenue or reducing expenses.”  (p. 12).  I will also mention again that Ms. Keene reported that we had a decrease in “Ending Net Position” of $1.511 million.  Despite what you may read in our esteemed local press, any questions I had at this meeting were not accusations directed at our Director of Finance.  These concerns were also not about hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  They were concerns about several hundred thousand dollars.  Comments made in a recent news article are simply meant to confuse the reader and deflect attention from the larger issue, which is district administration spending.  I need to stress to the public that as Board members we do not have to submit questions ahead of a meeting.  It is the public meeting of your School Board, and the public has every right to know what is going on and not have the discussion take place behind closed doors.  I also need to stress that budget priorities are not decided by our finance officer, but by the Board (who gives direction to the Superintendent).  There may be false arguments made that try to place budget problem blame on the bookkeeper.  I do not shift my budget oversight and budget direction responsibilities to others.