The Ad-hoc committee had a pretty good night last night as we were able to come up with some recommendations to forward to the board. The recommendations come in 2 parts. One is a narrative and one is a flow chart type diagram.
The Narrative is:
1. Add modular units to Cottage Grove elementary schools to accommodate enrollment growth as a temporary solution to a potential long-term problem.
2. Research 4K-8 programming in both communities. Report findings at a School Board Meeting by the end of the 2009-2010 school year.
3. Research 6th grade programming/curriculum. Report findings at a School Board Meeting by the end of the 2009-2010 school year. Temporarily keep 6th grade Monona students at Winnequah.
4. Research 4k-4 grade school at Taylor Prairie and Cottage Grove Elementary. Report findings at a School Board Meeting by the end of the 2009-2010 school year.
5. Maintain Winnequah and Maywood schools until 4K-8 program in each community is determined, or until it is fiscally not feasible to operate both buildings.
6. Research real estate option districtwide.
Flow Chart Style:
A. Add Modular Units for the Short-Term
1. Move Monona 7th & 8th grade students to Winnequah and move Cottage Grove 4th grade students to Glacial Drumlin.
2. Build a new permanent structure in Cottage Grove (either an addition or a new building). Possibly reconfigure the buildings in a 4K-4 or 4K-5
Analysis/Comments:
I will start with the Flow Chart Style 1st because that is harder to demonstrate here on this blog. My understanding is that we add modular units to provide a short-term solution to ease the crowding. Then once the administration has studied the viability of a 4K-8 split the district will go 1 of 2 ways.
If the district is split then each community would have 4K-8 in their buildings. If this 4K-8 scenario is not viable then a permanent structure, either an addition or a new building, will potentially be needed in Cottage Grove. At the same time a study will be done to determine the configurations for the buildings in Cottage Grove if they become 4K-4, 4K-5 or if they do something like 4K-2 in one and 3-5 in the other.
The reason for the narrative is that a potential 4K-8 split is beyond the area of expertise of this committee, but one that the committee felt needs to be looked at more closely. It has it's pros and cons, but what are the true impacts and costs to students and district finances. It was just something that this committee felt needed more time to study and a different group of people to research it, i.e. the administration because they have expertise in the educational viability of it.
The research of potentially changing the Cottage Grove elementary schools to 4K-4 or 4K-5 is one that also needs more of an educators expertise. This potential change can happen regardless of the 4K-8 viability.
Based on these different recommendations Maywood will stay open for next year. However, after that it will depend on the 4K-8 viability option and/or the fiscal implications that the district faces. The committee was in agreement that it does not make sense to close a school for only a year or even two if it is just going to re-open after that. Which is why part of the Maywood/Winnequah consolidation is tied to the 4K-8 viability.
Lastly, the committee would like to see the curriculum/programming for the 6th grade reviewed by the School Board. There was some talk of a 5th/6th intermediate system. Some talk of moving the Monona 6th grade to Glacial Drumlin to be part of the district middle school. Again, because this is more of a programming/curriculum issue the committee did not feel comfortable making a final decision on this.
My Thoughts:
From my perspective it appears that we have a short-term solution to overcrowding by adding the modular units. This buys us some time to work thru the programming/curriculum issues that the district faces. By recommending these issues be reported to the School Board by the end of the 2009/10 school year the committee has asked that these issues be decided sooner than later. The viability of these 3 programming/curriculum issues all impact what the next step is for our facilities.
This issue is not over, but these recommendations do provide a path for dealing with the facilities usage. I would like to see the timeline for making these decisions sped up just a bit, so that we can move on from facilities and on to other more pressing issues. If the administration does not present their reports until the end of the 2009/10 school year then the earliest any changes could be implemented is probably for the 2011/12 school year.
I agree with others on the committee that stated the administration needs time to research each of the 3 programming issues, so that we don't rush into a bad decision. However, pushing this off an additional year is going to cost the district extra money also, so the sooner these issues can be resolved the better. The outcome of each of these programming decisions could have a significant impact on our future budget deficit. This is why I would like to see a decision made sooner than later.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 26th Ad-Hoc Meeting
Just a reminder to all that tonight the Ad-Hoc committee gets a chance to review and discuss the options and hopefully forward a recommendation to the board. This meeting is @ 6:00 in the District Office at Nichols. While there is no Public Appearances on the agenda your presence is still noticed by the committee, so I would encourage you to attend if you are able.
I got my packet that had all of the e-mails sent in to the committee. In addition the board has received numerous e-mails directly on this issue. THANK YOU to all that got up and spoke your opinions at the Public Forum and to all that have followed up with e-mails. While I am unable to respond to each of you individually, even though I would like to, I want to assure you that your comments are read and heard by me. As a general rule it is my understanding that the School Board President is responsible for responding to e-mails and not the individual members.
Now because these e-mails have been printed and sent to us this is all my perception of them, because we all know how e-mails can be taken out of context or misunderstood. Generally, all of the e-mails had a good tone to them, as I don't recall any "hate mail" type of e-mail. Thank you for being thoughtful and respectful in your comments. The comments at the Public Forum where generally the same as those e-mailed to the committee. Many in favor of modular units in Cottage Grove and opposed to bussing students in general. Some liked the idea of a K-8 community based style, while others wanted to try in merge the students in 6th grade. Many looked at consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah as a viable option to help with the budget deficit we face as a School District.
All of these comments are very much like those that the committee has had at it's meetings over the past 6 months. Tonight will be an interesting meeting as we as a committee try to balance all of the differing view points into a solid recommendation to the committee. It will not be an easy process, but one that I think this group can accomplish.
I will try to post the results of the meeting either tonight or tomorrow morning.
Have a great 4 day work week.
I got my packet that had all of the e-mails sent in to the committee. In addition the board has received numerous e-mails directly on this issue. THANK YOU to all that got up and spoke your opinions at the Public Forum and to all that have followed up with e-mails. While I am unable to respond to each of you individually, even though I would like to, I want to assure you that your comments are read and heard by me. As a general rule it is my understanding that the School Board President is responsible for responding to e-mails and not the individual members.
Now because these e-mails have been printed and sent to us this is all my perception of them, because we all know how e-mails can be taken out of context or misunderstood. Generally, all of the e-mails had a good tone to them, as I don't recall any "hate mail" type of e-mail. Thank you for being thoughtful and respectful in your comments. The comments at the Public Forum where generally the same as those e-mailed to the committee. Many in favor of modular units in Cottage Grove and opposed to bussing students in general. Some liked the idea of a K-8 community based style, while others wanted to try in merge the students in 6th grade. Many looked at consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah as a viable option to help with the budget deficit we face as a School District.
All of these comments are very much like those that the committee has had at it's meetings over the past 6 months. Tonight will be an interesting meeting as we as a committee try to balance all of the differing view points into a solid recommendation to the committee. It will not be an easy process, but one that I think this group can accomplish.
I will try to post the results of the meeting either tonight or tomorrow morning.
Have a great 4 day work week.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ad-Hoc Public Forum
Last night was the public forum for the Ad-Hoc Committee on Grade Configuration. By most estimations about 100 individuals attended the event at Glacial Drumlin. Mr. Gerlach conducted an overview of the slide show presentation and then moderated a Q & A session. The slide show and details about the committees work can be found at:
http://www.mononagrove.org/4k8grade.cfm
There were many questions centered around open enrollment, T4K program questions, modular unit options and consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah. Comments were both for and against many of the solutions presented from the committee. Many individuals questioned the economics of bussing in this economy.
The one theme that I could sense from the night is that everyone would like to see a sound and just decision made that can work both short-term and long enough to not be revisiting this issue every year or two. As a committee member I really cannot agree more. This issue needs to be put to bed, so that the district and the board can move onto more pressing issues.
Please continue to send comments to the committee thru the district website until this Friday, the 22nd. Also, send all comments to the board as they will take this issue up at the next meeting in June.
http://www.mononagrove.org/4k8grade.cfm
There were many questions centered around open enrollment, T4K program questions, modular unit options and consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah. Comments were both for and against many of the solutions presented from the committee. Many individuals questioned the economics of bussing in this economy.
The one theme that I could sense from the night is that everyone would like to see a sound and just decision made that can work both short-term and long enough to not be revisiting this issue every year or two. As a committee member I really cannot agree more. This issue needs to be put to bed, so that the district and the board can move onto more pressing issues.
Please continue to send comments to the committee thru the district website until this Friday, the 22nd. Also, send all comments to the board as they will take this issue up at the next meeting in June.
Reorganization Meeting
Last Wednesday the school board held our reorganization meeting as part of our normal monthly meeting. It made for a long night, but we got thru it. The results were as follows:
President - Nominated by board vote were Susan Fox, Susan Manning and Peter Sobel. Ms. Manning declined to be included on the ballot. Ms. Fox defeated Mr. Sobel by a 4-3 vote.
Vice-President - Nominated by board vote were Susan Manning, Jason McCutchin, Lionel Norton and Peter Sobel. Ms. Manning declined to be included on the ballot. Mr. Sobel won on a 5-2 vote.
Treasurer - Nominated by board vote were Jill List, Susan Manning, Jason McCutchin, Peter Sobel. Mr. Sobel stated if elected Treasurer he would resign as Vice-President. Ms. Manning won with 4 votes.
Clerk - Nominated by board vote were Jill List and Lionel Norton. Mr. Norton won on a 4-3 vote.
After this reorganization the board got down to normal business. Mr. Gerlach indicated that he had a meeting with Kid's Safari regarding the district and the decision not to provide transportation to Kid's Safari for the upcoming school year. Mr. Gerlach stated that they will be working on this issue and provide an update at a later date.
Mr. Gerlach stated that the Ad-Hoc Committee would be holding a public presentation on Sunday the 17th. Mr. Gerlach further provided an update on the budget, but prefaced his comments by stating "that things are changing daily at the Capital". Therefore, we are still facing a budget deficit in excess of $650k and it may creep closer to $800k depending on the final State Budget.
Next the board heard from the Curriculum Committee regarding the potential purchase of English materials for grades 6-8. The final amount of $105,838 was approximately $25k more than presented to the Curriculum Committee on 4/15. This increase was due to a change in the final materials ordered to add additional web based programming and more texts. The motion to approve this adoption passed.
The Personnel & Policy Committee gave a brief update on their bullying/harassment policy and noted that it would have to be condensed from the current 13 pages down to 2 or 3. Additionally, the Student Handbooks for each building were approved with the minor revisions noted at the committee meeting.
The Business Service Committee presented an overview of some fees for the 2009/10 year. Bill Herman presented bids to the committee at their meeting for new computers to replace aging ones in the district. Finally the board reviewed the proposal to issue general obligation notes instead of lease purchase financing for the McKinstry contract. The reason for the change in financing is due to better interest rates on the bonds vs. lease purchase. This change could result in over $100k in interest savings over the life of the notes. All items above were approved by the board.
Finally the board and the district had a very special "THANK YOU" recognition for Bev Kalish. Bev is retiring after 37 years with the district, including working for 10 superintendents. Bev's experience will be missed by all. However, her replacement Joyce Hamm brings in many years of experience in her own right and will join the learning process with all of the rest of us.
All in all for my 1st board meeting it was quite an eventful night. I am cautiously optimistic that this board will be able to do some good things over the next year. There are many issues facing the district, so it should be an interesting ride......Hang on everyone!!!
President - Nominated by board vote were Susan Fox, Susan Manning and Peter Sobel. Ms. Manning declined to be included on the ballot. Ms. Fox defeated Mr. Sobel by a 4-3 vote.
Vice-President - Nominated by board vote were Susan Manning, Jason McCutchin, Lionel Norton and Peter Sobel. Ms. Manning declined to be included on the ballot. Mr. Sobel won on a 5-2 vote.
Treasurer - Nominated by board vote were Jill List, Susan Manning, Jason McCutchin, Peter Sobel. Mr. Sobel stated if elected Treasurer he would resign as Vice-President. Ms. Manning won with 4 votes.
Clerk - Nominated by board vote were Jill List and Lionel Norton. Mr. Norton won on a 4-3 vote.
After this reorganization the board got down to normal business. Mr. Gerlach indicated that he had a meeting with Kid's Safari regarding the district and the decision not to provide transportation to Kid's Safari for the upcoming school year. Mr. Gerlach stated that they will be working on this issue and provide an update at a later date.
Mr. Gerlach stated that the Ad-Hoc Committee would be holding a public presentation on Sunday the 17th. Mr. Gerlach further provided an update on the budget, but prefaced his comments by stating "that things are changing daily at the Capital". Therefore, we are still facing a budget deficit in excess of $650k and it may creep closer to $800k depending on the final State Budget.
Next the board heard from the Curriculum Committee regarding the potential purchase of English materials for grades 6-8. The final amount of $105,838 was approximately $25k more than presented to the Curriculum Committee on 4/15. This increase was due to a change in the final materials ordered to add additional web based programming and more texts. The motion to approve this adoption passed.
The Personnel & Policy Committee gave a brief update on their bullying/harassment policy and noted that it would have to be condensed from the current 13 pages down to 2 or 3. Additionally, the Student Handbooks for each building were approved with the minor revisions noted at the committee meeting.
The Business Service Committee presented an overview of some fees for the 2009/10 year. Bill Herman presented bids to the committee at their meeting for new computers to replace aging ones in the district. Finally the board reviewed the proposal to issue general obligation notes instead of lease purchase financing for the McKinstry contract. The reason for the change in financing is due to better interest rates on the bonds vs. lease purchase. This change could result in over $100k in interest savings over the life of the notes. All items above were approved by the board.
Finally the board and the district had a very special "THANK YOU" recognition for Bev Kalish. Bev is retiring after 37 years with the district, including working for 10 superintendents. Bev's experience will be missed by all. However, her replacement Joyce Hamm brings in many years of experience in her own right and will join the learning process with all of the rest of us.
All in all for my 1st board meeting it was quite an eventful night. I am cautiously optimistic that this board will be able to do some good things over the next year. There are many issues facing the district, so it should be an interesting ride......Hang on everyone!!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
May 13th School Board Meeting
The School Board has quite the agenda this week for the 1st board meeting with the new members. The reorganization of the board is the first item up for business. This will be done by secret ballot nomination for each office. Then those receiving nominations will be given the chance to accept or decline the nomination. Another vote is then taken to elect the officer from those accepting the nomination. If there is no majority after this vote the top 2 candidates will "face-off" in one more vote.
The board will elect the President first, followed by the Vice-President, Treasurer and Clerk.
This election will be very interesting with such a young board. We only have one 1 member who is has ever been an officer or even chaired a committee for the district. This will require a quick learning curve for those who chair the committees and the president as that individual learns on the job about overseeing a district.
Following the election the board will get an update on Stimulus money and the budget from Mr. Gerlach. He will also provide more details about the upcoming public meeting on the Grade Configuration being held this coming Sunday.
The board will also be discussing possible approval of the 6th - 8th grade textbook purchase. We will also be reviewing the changes for the individual school handbooks. Lastly we will review the potential issuance of $1.46 million in bonds to fund the McKinstry Energy Savings Contract.
Peter Sobol has a very good summary of the reasons behind the bonds vs. lease purchase on his blog.
http://petersobol.blogspot.com/
As always I encourage the public to attend and make comments during the public appearances portion of the meeting. You can also contact the full board with comments and concerns thru the district website.
The board will elect the President first, followed by the Vice-President, Treasurer and Clerk.
This election will be very interesting with such a young board. We only have one 1 member who is has ever been an officer or even chaired a committee for the district. This will require a quick learning curve for those who chair the committees and the president as that individual learns on the job about overseeing a district.
Following the election the board will get an update on Stimulus money and the budget from Mr. Gerlach. He will also provide more details about the upcoming public meeting on the Grade Configuration being held this coming Sunday.
The board will also be discussing possible approval of the 6th - 8th grade textbook purchase. We will also be reviewing the changes for the individual school handbooks. Lastly we will review the potential issuance of $1.46 million in bonds to fund the McKinstry Energy Savings Contract.
Peter Sobol has a very good summary of the reasons behind the bonds vs. lease purchase on his blog.
http://petersobol.blogspot.com/
As always I encourage the public to attend and make comments during the public appearances portion of the meeting. You can also contact the full board with comments and concerns thru the district website.
Public Hearing on Grade Configuration
On Sunday May 17th @ 6:00 pm, at Glacial Drumlin, the Ad-Hoc Committee on Grade Configuration will present the remaining options to the public. They will be looking for feedback and input on the various options. Following this meeting they will have one last meeting to review the comments from the public and then make a recommendation to the School Board.
I would encourage everyone to attend this meeting if able, so you can hear the presentation from Mr. Gerlach on behalf of the committee. It would also be beneficial for the committee to hear what the citizens of this district think about the various options remaining.
If you would prefer not to speak during the presentation please forward your comments regarding the options directly to Mr. Gerlach and he will forward them onto the Ad-Hoc Committee.
I would encourage everyone to attend this meeting if able, so you can hear the presentation from Mr. Gerlach on behalf of the committee. It would also be beneficial for the committee to hear what the citizens of this district think about the various options remaining.
If you would prefer not to speak during the presentation please forward your comments regarding the options directly to Mr. Gerlach and he will forward them onto the Ad-Hoc Committee.
The link is directly to the Ad-Hoc Committee page on the district website.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
End of the Marathon
Well the campaign marathon is over. Thankfully it ended as I had hoped.
Thank you to all of you who put your faith in me and voted me onto the board. I will begin working in earnest on solutions to the issues that are in the best interest of this district.
Congratulations to Lionel Norton and Jessica Ace for winning seats on the board.
Mike Duplayee deserves a HUGE THANK YOU from the residents of this district for his past service.
Thanks again to all who helped and supported my campaign.
Thank you to all of you who put your faith in me and voted me onto the board. I will begin working in earnest on solutions to the issues that are in the best interest of this district.
Congratulations to Lionel Norton and Jessica Ace for winning seats on the board.
Mike Duplayee deserves a HUGE THANK YOU from the residents of this district for his past service.
Thanks again to all who helped and supported my campaign.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Random Thoughts
Hello All,
Sorry for taking so long to update the site. The past month has been a whirlwind for me both personally and professionally. Work has been very hectic do to some tragic events, so that has taken up any free time that I had. Now with the election only 7 days away it has consumed what little time was left.
I have been out on the streets knocking on doors and meeting many people. It has been an eye opening experience to hear the different view points about our schools, the teachers, the administration and the district as a whole. Most opinions are that the district as a whole is in pretty good shape.
I have been encouraging everyone to get out and vote...even if they are not going to vote for me. Voting is such an important process in our society to determine who the decision makers are that it is a shame that the spring elections usually have such low turnouts. Hopefully, you will help me spread the word to vote on April 7th.
This Thursday the Monona PTO is hosting a forum to meet the candidates for school board. The event will be held at the Winnequah Cafeteria at 7:00. Please stop by and here what each of us has to say during our last public appearance before the election.
If anyone has any questions regarding the election please do not hesitate to post a question here or shoot me an e-mail. I will respond as quickly as possible.
VOTE McCUTCHIN ON APRIL 7th (shameless plug)
Sorry for taking so long to update the site. The past month has been a whirlwind for me both personally and professionally. Work has been very hectic do to some tragic events, so that has taken up any free time that I had. Now with the election only 7 days away it has consumed what little time was left.
I have been out on the streets knocking on doors and meeting many people. It has been an eye opening experience to hear the different view points about our schools, the teachers, the administration and the district as a whole. Most opinions are that the district as a whole is in pretty good shape.
I have been encouraging everyone to get out and vote...even if they are not going to vote for me. Voting is such an important process in our society to determine who the decision makers are that it is a shame that the spring elections usually have such low turnouts. Hopefully, you will help me spread the word to vote on April 7th.
This Thursday the Monona PTO is hosting a forum to meet the candidates for school board. The event will be held at the Winnequah Cafeteria at 7:00. Please stop by and here what each of us has to say during our last public appearance before the election.
If anyone has any questions regarding the election please do not hesitate to post a question here or shoot me an e-mail. I will respond as quickly as possible.
VOTE McCUTCHIN ON APRIL 7th (shameless plug)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Endorsement Announcement
I was notified on 3/9 by the candidate review committee that the Monona Grove Education Association will be endorsing my candidacy for the School Board. I appreciate the support of MGEA as I continue this campaign. Additionally, if elected to the school board I look forward to the opportunity to work with MGEA in a partnership for the benefit of the district.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
March 3rd Ad Hoc Grade Config. Meeting
This week the Ad Hoc meeting focused on the rubric design that we will be using to score the remaining options. Ideally this rubric would have been designed prior to the elimination of options, but that was not done in this scenario and that is ok. The hard part is that it makes it very easy to try and adapt the rubric scoring and weighting to match a desired scenario. I did not get the feeling that was being done, however some of the discussions did focus on how the scoring would be applied to the remaining options. I think that for the most part Craig and the committee tried to stay away from that thought process, but it is hard to do.
I was late for the meeting due to a work issue, so I missed the 45 minute discussion on transitions. Thankfully, I picked a good meeting to be late for. Some of the other items being discussed are busing, costs, neighborhood schools and programming in addition to 3 or 4 others.
Each of these items will have a scale from 1-5 that we will use to rate how we think they apply to a given scenario.
At the March 17th meeting, yes we are meeting on St. Patrick's Day, we will be making final tweaks to the rubric and then running some of the dismissed options thru the scoring system to show the committee how it works. I excited to see this in action and to use an objective scoring system.
If you have any questions about this process please direct your inquires to me or any other committee member. We can provide you with most of the answers to your questions or can get them most likely.
Lastly, the discussion of when would we be ready to go to the public came up. Based on the conversation it appears that we will be scheduling the public forums for late April or early May. This would allow us time to go thru our process of narrowing the choices for the public forums as well as allow us to discuss the feedback from the forums before we go to the school board with our recommendations.
Just a reminder that no matter what recommendations this committee makes or does not make the ultimate decision is going to be made at the board level. Therefore, once the committee make it's recommendation to the board please contact all board members with your thoughts and concerns. The more district residents that provide feedback at both the forums and directly to the committe and board the better in my opinion.
I was late for the meeting due to a work issue, so I missed the 45 minute discussion on transitions. Thankfully, I picked a good meeting to be late for. Some of the other items being discussed are busing, costs, neighborhood schools and programming in addition to 3 or 4 others.
Each of these items will have a scale from 1-5 that we will use to rate how we think they apply to a given scenario.
At the March 17th meeting, yes we are meeting on St. Patrick's Day, we will be making final tweaks to the rubric and then running some of the dismissed options thru the scoring system to show the committee how it works. I excited to see this in action and to use an objective scoring system.
If you have any questions about this process please direct your inquires to me or any other committee member. We can provide you with most of the answers to your questions or can get them most likely.
Lastly, the discussion of when would we be ready to go to the public came up. Based on the conversation it appears that we will be scheduling the public forums for late April or early May. This would allow us time to go thru our process of narrowing the choices for the public forums as well as allow us to discuss the feedback from the forums before we go to the school board with our recommendations.
Just a reminder that no matter what recommendations this committee makes or does not make the ultimate decision is going to be made at the board level. Therefore, once the committee make it's recommendation to the board please contact all board members with your thoughts and concerns. The more district residents that provide feedback at both the forums and directly to the committe and board the better in my opinion.
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