San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services Meeting: San Juan BOCES Board Time: 5:30 p.m. Date: Monday, September 8, 2008 Location: Silverton School Library Minutes I. OPENING OF MEETING A. Call to Order, Establish Quorum-Barbara Wickman, President Meeting was called to order at 6:10 pm by Barbara Wickman, Board President Roll Call: Ken Fox Archuleta Board Member, present Barbara Wickman Bayfield Board Member, present Jeff Schell Durango Board Member, present Chris Ribera Ignacio Board Member, not present George Foster Silverton Board Member, present Also present: Mark DeVoti, Archuleta Superintendent Don Magill, Bayfield Superintendent Keith Owen, Durango Superintendent Kim White, Silverton Superintendent Randy Boyer, San Juan BOCES Executive Director Paula Sublett, San Juan BOCES Business Director Steve Otter, CTE and Professional Development Coordinator Thank you to Silverton, Kim White for hosting and providing such a fabulous meal! B. Approve Agenda Review of Agenda, Jeff Schell motioned to approve, Ken Fox seconded approved unanimously C. Approve Minutes from June 2, 2008 There were no comments or changes to the minutes. Jeff Schell motioned to approve, Ken Fox seconded, approved unanimously D. Call to Audience for public participation No public participation
II. REPORTS/INFORMATION ITEMS.. A. Executive Directors Report, presented by Randy Boyer Randy began by asking how the board members would like to receive future agendas prior to meeting. It was agreed to continue to email with attachments and provide handouts at the meetings. Randy also noted we would email mileage expense reports for mileage reimbursement. 1) IEP Program Update for 08-09 We are likely 30 days out for the IEP program to be operational. The information is being built from the Alpine Achievement data districts put in to the system; from there the information comes in to the IEP program. 2) Teacher Induction Program for 08-09 Induction program is slated to begin September 24, 2008. 40 people have signed up so far. The program will focus on what districts are doing around student achievement, CSAP data, targeted instruction and PLC within the buildings. There will be a mentoring component; mentors would earn 1 credit from Adams State College. Keith asked if there was a certain amount committed for the mentor stipend and/or teacher stipend and emphasized there needs to be consistency between districts. The BOCES will look at trying to pay the $45 for mentors. Pagosa has $500 inductee stipend built into their budget. Don Magill asked how the mentors will be selected. Randy indicated they would select the mentors after they identify who is enrolled in order to target the appropriate mentor to the inductees needs. Michael Brennan is looking at an evaluation process for the group. Mark DeVoti asked if the evaluation components tie to outcomes. Don Magill stated that Bayfield just approved their evaluation process. Randy noted that Michael Brennan will get that from them. 3) Disproportionate Representation from CDE State of Colorado measures Special Education Programs around 20 indicators. BOCES was flagged as disproportionate around one indicator. We have submitted the BOCES policies and procedures related to our practice for identifying students with disabilities to CDE. Certain ethnicities are showing an increase of identification which does not match our overall percentage of that ethnicity. The BOCES is represented by all students in the 5 districts we serve and some districts are more heavily populated by certain ethnicities than others. Jeff asked what the consequences would be. Randy stated that legislation would require us to commit 15% of our federal funds to be spent directly on early identification in those populations. Randy indicated that he feels like we will be able to handle this without intervention from the state. The analysis was based on 2006 data and we were only 2/10 th s of a percent over. However we will need to monitor closely. The implication is that we may not be providing sufficient regular education to these students; as a result they end up identified with learning disabilities. It is our obligation to ensure these kids have appropriate opportunities to learn.
4) AU/RtI Plan submitted 8/15/08 The state required that this plan be in place by August 15, 2008, 1 year before the new SLD criteria goes in place. We are good to go on this. 5) Resignation for 08-09 Cory Dysinger, administrative assistant to Victor Figueroa and the BOCES submitted her resignation. She and her family have relocated in Pagosa Springs. 6) New hires for 08-09 Kathi Fischer is the replacement for Cory Dysinger. Ellie Bennett will be the new School Social Worker serving the Miller Middle School and Needham Elementary center base programs. Beth Michael is a School Psychologist coming from Ohio assigned to Bayfield. Her Ohio license will transfer to Colorado. Mary Lareau is filling the Occupational Therapist itinerant position for 9R vacancy from Wendy Fenton s resignation. She is from California. 7) Contracts for 08-09 Contracts for purchased service individuals do not typically exceed $10,000. Dr. Mark Fallon-Cyr, Child Psychologist performs autism consults, social work support, and work with severe emotional need kids. His services add up in the $30k range. He works with our children with severe emotional concerns. Additionally Bruce Haring provides counseling services for Silverton one day a week and Durango High School part time. The contract for Vision services is for a blind student and one that is visually impaired at DHS and Ignacio now has 1 student that is visually impaired. This person works with staff in teaching strategies for these students. In the future years this may be an area that we will need a full time staff member. These services may get into the $5-$8k range. Lastly, we have a retired person that was brought back to do Language! coaching and replacement training on a contract basis. These services and costs will be split between three BOCES. Contracted service persons are generally paid on an hourly basis. 8) Board and SAC Dates Revised for 08-09 The SAC dates were moved to Wednesdays as the school board meetings are typically on Mondays and Tuesdays. We will have three joint SAC meetings with SW BOCES, the first one being September 24, 2008, 9:00 a.m. at Kennebec restaurant in Hesperus. We will be discussing CTE consortium topics as well as Safety Coordinator meetings. Also the November board meeting needs to be moved from Nov 3 to Nov 10 to coordinate the auditor s visit with the Durango audit report date. 9) Title III Consortium Update Final allocations increased the Title III funds slightly for all districts. 9R now exceeds the $10,000 threshold which would allow them to stand alone. The total consortium dollars went from approximately $32,000 to a little over $34,000. We adjusted the narrative to align with the budget
specific to Title III funds and are awaiting final approval. Only one district is using the funds for personnel salary, which is Pagosa. The other districts are using the funds to support ELL professional development. No dollars were pulled for administrative services. 10) Thompson School District 10 th Circuit Case After losing to due process and the appellate court, Thompson School District took the case charging them with financial responsibility for a costly residential out of state private school for an autistic child to the 10 th Circuit Court prevailing at this level. This is extremely important to address the school districts responsibility to provide reasonable special education services, not the very best. A different decision could prove financially devastating to school districts. 11) Sped Directors Legislative Update The Special Ed Directors consortium has been working with special interest lobbyists for the last 2 years. They have been able to obtain 2 million dollars for out of district kids and 2 million dollars for in district high cost kids. B. Business Directors Report, presented by Paula Sublett 1) Audit Error for Fiscal Year 07 An audit report error was noted by CDE. The report noted on page 26 that the exceeded by $847,000 when in fact it should have been $1,547. A letter from the auditors confirming the error and correction was provided to CDE along with the required signatures from Barbara Wickman, board president and Randy Boyer, executive director acknowledging their awareness of the error and correction. 2) Financial statements through August 31, 2008 July and August were uneventful with respect to expenses. Annual insurance renewals for workers compensation and auto, property and liability insurance are typically paid in July. Paula invited any questions or concerns. There were none. 3) Audit Report FY 08, November 3 rd The November board meeting date was changed to November 10 to address the audit report for FY 2008 C. CTE Update - verbal 1) Region 9 CTE Consortium Region 9 CTE Consortium has all members in agreement to participate. We have a joint board meeting September 24 th to discuss next moves. Jeff Schell asked to have the school board members emailed with bi-annual progress reports on the consortium. 2) San Juan College Update We currently have 13 students enrolled in the San Juan College TEC program. We recently added one Silverton student to the online Vet- Tech program through our SJC/BOCES agreement.
3) Perkins Update Perkins HS directors were brought together to develop a 5 year CTE plan for the use of Perkins funds. The plan and ideas for spending will be submitted to the state by the end of September. We will be sharing our plan with the Region 9 CTE Consortium to find common objectives and areas of concentration. 4) Updated SJ BOCES Website Jeff Hatfield updated and redesigned the BOCES website this summer. Board members are invited to check out the new site and periodically review for updates. The site address is www.sjboces.org. The new website additionally contains links to the BOCES member school districts websites. III. ACTION ITEMS A. Approve Resignations for 08-09 B. Approve New Hires for 08-09 C. Approve New Contracts for 08-09 D. Approve Financial Statements through August 31 st, 2008 E. Approve Revised Board and SAC Dates for 08-09 Jeff Schell made a motion to approve action items A E, Ken Fox seconded. Items A E unanimously approved. IV. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS Land Trust Acquisition Discussion (Mr. Schell from Durango) Jeff Schell stated that the land acquisition is scheduled to finalize on September 19 as there were no other bidders. Keith Owen will be going to Denver to complete the process. There was some discussion around the agreement for the BOCES to purchase 15 acres of the land. Specifically nothing formal has been developed in writing other than past board meeting minutes where a commitment from the BOCES was requested. An agreement will be formalized when District 9-R takes title to the property. o Next Board Meeting Monday, November 10th, Ignacio 5:30 p.m. o Next SAC Meeting Wednesday, September 24 th, Kennebec, 9:00 a.m. V. ADJOURNMENT Jeff Schell made a motion to adjourn, George Foster seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.