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.