8/12 Board meeting

Hey All,

Last night we had our 1st board meeting of the month. We had a relatively light agenda and got thru it in a reasonable amount of time. We reviewed many upcoming WASB meetings and sessions that board members may attend.

We reviewed and approved a request from Dr. Brost on setting up an after school education program. It is designed to provide extra help for those seeking it and for those that will be required to attend. Dr. Brost requested that the program be approved pending funding for it. He is actively searching for ways to fund the salaries needed to run this program. Dr. Brost is expecting to have both voluntary participation and mandatory attendance.

Next we approved the amount for transportation to and from parochial schools and the fee paid by those requesting transportation who would not receive it normally. We also approved the use of a Hearing Officer for expulsions. This practice has been in place for the recent past. It allows an independent review of the expulsion hearing prior to final board review of the Hearing Officer's report.

Additionally, we passed an agreement with Kid's Safari to bus students to their facility and for Kid's Safari to reimburse the district for this cost. Due to my daughter attending Kid's Safari, I abstained from the vote.

Lastly, we tabled motions regarding the Policy on Fund Balance and a discussion on District Goals. Both items will be on the August 26th agenda.

We heard a report from Susan Fox, Susan Manning and Jessica Ace on the WASB conference they recently attended. Again it was pointed out that board members who blog need to make sure that it is clear the postings represent their own thoughts and are not in any way intended to speak for the board as a whole. I feel that I do this in a pretty clear manner, but it is always open for interpretation.

As I stated it was a relatively light agenda and we got thru it relatively quickly. This coming Monday the board will meet to conduct it's review of Superintendent Gerlach. This meeting is a closed session meeting. Our next regular meeting is August 26th in the district office.

I would like to commend Dr. Brost and any other staff members instrumental in the organization of the after school education program. I hope that the funds can be found to get this program off the ground. It sounds like this can be a very beneficial program for all students. Any program that provides students either requesting or needing additional study time is a plus in my opinion.