Indiana School for the Blind
7725 North College Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46240

ISB Board Meeting
May 16, 2005
9:30 a.m.
ISB Board Meeting Minutes

Members Attending:   Ms. Kathy Botkin, Chair
                                      Mr. Donald Koors, Vice-Chair
                                      Ms. Shirley Amond
                                      Mr. Gary Bates
                                      Mr. John Hill for Mr. Robert Marra
                                      Senator Teresa Lubbers
                                      Ms. Cynthia Pittman
                                      Dr. Eugene White

Administration Attending:  Mr. Jim Durst, Superintendent; Mrs. Rosemary Adams, Principal; Ms.Gail Ringwalt, Principal; Mr. Hal Owens, Asst. Superintendent.

I.  Call to Order
Ms. Botkin called the meeting to order and took roll. 

II.  Special Presentations
A.  Mr. Durst recognized the ISB Nursing Staff for their dedication and efforts to promote the health and welfare of all students who attend ISB.  National Nurses Recognition Day was May 11, 2005; certificates were presented to Jerry, Barb, Mary, Ann, Patti, Carolyn and Jan.
B.  Recognition of the ISB Swim Teams:  Our Indiana Rockets did an outstanding job at their last meet.  The Indiana Boys received second place, swimming with only 6 young men.  The Indiana Girls won the Female First Place Trophy.  Indiana Won the overall Conference trophy!  Our Indiana Girls have set a new record.  They are the only team in the NCASB conference to ever have won all Conference Championships in a single year.  They are Conference Champions for the 2004-2005 year in Track, Cheerleading, Goalball, and Swimming.  Kudos to coaches Tom Moore and Leslie Altmann.
C.  Our ISB Forensics Team placed fourth this year in conference competition.  Good job!  Recognition of first year coach Mr. Mathews.
D.  Mr. Durst recognized Judy Reynolds and Janet Gacsko for their work on this cycle of our school improvement plan.  Judy and Janet acted as co-chairs for the School Improvement Committee; "school improvement is a process and not an occurrence."  We thank them for their time and dedication to this process and each was presented with a plaque.
E.  Mr. Durst recognized Senator Lubbers for her dedication and commitment to change the school name and change the minimum requirements for the Superintendent position at ISB.  Mr. Durst also thanked Senator Lubbers for her willingness to lead the approval of the Bill.  Senator Lubbers was presented with a plaque, the first plaque to be presented that read "Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired".
III.  Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the March 21, 2005 were reviewed.  A few corrections were made regarding Mr. Hill, as he is a non-voting member of the Board he would not have made a motion or seconded any motions.  Changes were made to page one and page six having these motions designated to either Dr. White or Mr. Bates as determined.  Shirley Amond moved for approval with changes; Mr. Don Koors seconded that motion.

IV.  Chair Remarks
Mrs. Botkin took the time to address a personal "Thank You" to the ISB Nursing Staff for their dedication to the students at ISB.  When her own son attended ISB she stated, "never for a minute did I feel he wasn't safe and well cared for."
V.  Superintendent's Report
A.  School Update

As the school year winds down, we are looking forward to Graduation on Thursday, May 26 at 10:00 a.m.  Dr. Kappen from Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia will be our commencement speaker.

We will have our on-site NCA review team here Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week.  The team is composed of Dr. Marje Kaiser, Superintendent for the South Dakota School for the Visually Handicapped; Mr. William Daughtery, Superintendent for the Kansas School for the Blind; and Ms. Sharon Knoth from the Indiana Department of Education.  They will spend their time assessing and offering suggestions to our School Improvement  Plan and will give us a full report at the end of their visit.

B. Introduction of New Staff

Barb Wingert, Director of Outreach Services, made the introduction of Outreach's new Secretary, Pat Hertenstein.  Pat has been with Outreach since September of the school year and has completed her probationary period.  Before being selected to the position of Outreach Secretary, Pat was on contract with Dr. Doug Johnston transcribing his psychological evaluations.  We are happy to have her at ISB.
Mr. Durst introduced Jennifer Webster as the new Psych. Service Specialist for the Middle School and High School.  Although Jennifer is relatively new to the school , she is fitting in wonderfully and has been doing an excellent job at researching and investigating school response policies to emergency situations.  We feel she will be a great asset to our organization.
Two other new hires at ISB are Christine Stout (Teaching Assistant) and Holly Johnson (Intermittent Substitute) who were not able to be present at the Board Meeting.

C. Monthly Financial Statements

Mr. Owens presented the information on Attachment 2, which is the March 2005 Monthly Financial Report.  As you can see on this Attachment we were 75% through the school year and we were coming in at approximately 73% of our budget spent.  As of March 31, 2005  we were looking good.  Attachment 3 is the Monthly Financial Report for April of 2005.  There has been a little excitement over the last few weeks regarding the auditor's trial balance.  April is the first month of our last quarter and all of our allotment should be given to us by the first of April, however that did not happen.  The budget agency explained that the balance was our reserve.  Mr. Durst and Mr. Owen were under the impression that the reserve would not apply to ISB as they had been told in June to conduct business as usual.  $667,000 approximately has not been allotted to ISB at this time and Mr. Owens and Mr. Durst are working with the budget agency to try to resolve this issue.  Otherwise, the April report looks good, when compared with total appropriation.  We have gone over in Point 2, which is our utilities, with March and April being a cooler than anticipated.  To finish out the year we will be looking at vacation buyouts to pay, stipends, and there are four pay periods left with three coming in June for the State of Indiana.  We do think we will come in $500 less than anticipated even with raises and higher insurance cost but we will not be able to cover the $667,000 that has been moved to reserve. 

D.  Personnel Actions Update

Refer to Personnel Actions Update (Attachment 4B-5B), Personnel Status Summary (Attachment 4A-5A),
By April 5, 2005: FTE filled 184, FTE Pending 12, Intermittent 24
By May 9, 2005:  FTE filled 185, FTE Pending 11, Intermittent 24

E.  Vacant Positions

Vacant Positions Attachments (6A-6B)
It is the desire of the ISB administration to fill all vacant positions listed in Attachment 6B.

F. Physical Plant Update

Churchman Air Conditioning:  Contractor is finishing some punch card items.  We are waiting on a table.  Repair to a leak in the roof is also being looked at under this project.
Upgrade Electrical Service in the Steam Plant:  Project is 99% complete.
Campus Security: Is in design phase.  This was a project that was anticipated to be finished by this summer but it will not be completed until Summer 2006.  ISB administration elected to slow this project down and not tear out and rebuild the front entrance until next summer.
Replace Exterior Campus Lighting:  Public Works has asked for an outside designer to take over this project.  No designer has been selected at this time.
Renovation of Tunnels:  This project will involve insulating condensation pipes, repairing the floor drains, and adding sump pumps. This should be completed this summer.
The Lower Hallways:  Project is complete.
Reroof Churchman and Keever:  Searching for a Project Manager to begin design phase.
Repairing Roofs:  F building and maintenance garage -  funds available for this project, 91,361.
Replace Sidewalks:  Work will begin the week after school is out for summer break.  Funds available for this project are $58, 639.
Replace Stage and Window Curtains:  Project Complete at $22,290.
Build Two Decks:  In wetlands, bog gardens.  Project is on hold.

G.  Recoring Update
First step will be to finish all remaining education offices and classrooms in Aldur/Lambert.  Then we will begin recoring in Dietary areas and Maintenance.  It is moving along nicely.

Mr. Hill asked if we were going to repair the sidewalk that runs along College Avenue, as it seems to need work.  Mr. Durst responded that the funds were available and we would also repair this sidewalk as well.  It has not been determined with any certainty whether this is the property of the school or the city's responsibility, but it is used frequently by our students and alumni and we feel the need to make it as safe as possible.  If it turns out the city should compensate the school for the expense we will do a follow up but since the funds are available we see no need to hold this project.

VI.  New Business

A. Donations and Contributions

Attachment 7A contains the information regarding recent donations and contributions.  These are all donations under $499 so it will not require Board approval to accept these funds.  The total amount of the donations is $1,017.87.

B.  Driving State and Personal Vehicles Policy

This will be a first reading of this policy and then a revision will be brought to the next meeting.  The policy requires that the school have a copy of a staff member's Driver License and current insurance coverage at a specified limit.  Questions:  Mr. Hill wanted clarification on who will provide the copies of this information?  The school will ask the staff member to bring in the information and then a member of the office staff or Human Resources will make those copies.  Mr. Durst will change the wording of the policy to specify this.  Also, Mr. Durst is to have notice in writing within five days of a staff members license being suspended or other arrest and convictions from the staff member.  Dr. White wanted to know if we would specify the date at which staff should provide this information;  either a specific date or time period.    Ms. Amond has asked that we also specify the time period of reporting procedures when a state vehicle or personal vehicle being used for state business is involved in an accident.  Dr. White has suggested clarification on who makes the report to the appropriate authorities.  Mr. Durst will clarify this point in the procedures as well.  Dr. White moved to approve the policy's first reading;  Ms. Amond seconded the motion; and the motion carried.  Second reading will be at the next Board Meeting.

C.  School Improvement

We have put together information regarding our School Improvement Plan;  Mr. Durst expressed praise for this truly being a staff driven undertaking.  The School Improvement Plan  had identified two goals; one from the core curriculum dealing with communications and one from the expanded core curriculum dealing with daily living skills and self-help especially in regards to eating skills.  The School Improvement Plan certainly assisted us in identifying needs for improvement and changes that would be needed in the future.  One of the areas that we struggle with is valid and reliable testing instruments available to the school that deal specifically with visual impairment or blindness.  The population of our school is changing drastically, whereas in the past we had more students that had a strong academic base; we now have more student that have significant and specific challenges.  In regards to communication the students enrolled, who are academic, need improvement in written communication, while our students who have significant challenges need a more functional approach.  Basically, when we look to update our School Improvement Plan we will be looking at the same goals but defining them to specifically address the two distinct groups that make up our school population.

D.  Procurement of Food

The state recommendation is that the school switch from Gordon Food as a vendor to Wabash Foods which is an Indiana based company.  Wabash distribution and product cost is significantly higher than Gordon Foods and Mr. Durst, with Mr. Owens, has written a letter to the State to address this; a copy of the letter is in Board packets.  Jill Overton responded to questions regarding the price difference between the two companies as well as the impact this will have on the school.  It is approximately a 50% increase for goods and services.  Gordon is a Michigan based company and state contracts are being moved to state companies.  Wabash and another Indiana company have put in bids for these state contracts but Wabash has only asked for the Central and northern half of the state while the other company has asked for Central and southern half of the state.  Senator Lubbers has requested to investigate this issue on behalf of the Board and the Board feels that would completely appropriate.  She will request that our school have the discretion to choose the best vendor to meet our school needs based on product price, distribution cost, and reliability.

E.  National Family Conference

There will be a National Family Conference in Louisville Kentucky from August 12-14, 2005.  The Indiana School for the Blind is making arrangements to scholarship four deserving families who otherwise would not be able to attend.   Two of the scholarships will go to families we service either at school or through Outreach who are newborn to preschool age and the other two will go to families we service from Kindergarten through 21 years of age.

We recently hosted the Osborne Early Childhood Conference and had 100 people attend.  The Conference was free of charge to families of children with visual impairments and professionals who work with children with visual impairments.  The evaluations that were received from participants of this event were outstanding; we are very proud of our Outreach Department and the services they provide.

F.  Graduation

Graduation will be Thursday, May 26, 2005 in the Auditorium beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Invitations have already been sent to board members and all of the Board members are invited to attend as platform guest.  RSVP to Teri O'Brien.

G.  Golf Outing sponsored by IBCF

The Indiana Blind Children's Foundation is sponsoring their First Golf Outing.  Proceeds from this event will go to recreation and the purchase of tandem bikes for the students here at ISB.

H.  Approval of the 2005-2006 School Year Calendar

The proposed school calendar for the 2005-2006 School Year is in everyone's board packet.  It coincides with the Indiana School for the Deaf  and has been discussed with Superintendent Kovatch of the Deaf School.  We also looked at the Washington Township School calendar for consideration of breaks and holiday schedules.  Ms. Amond moved to approve the calendar in its entirety as presented; Mr. Koors seconded the motion; motion carried with unanimous approval.

I.  Schedule ISB Board Meetings for the Upcoming School Year

The Board has elected to meet on June 27, 2005 at 9:30 a.m.  Mr. Durst will bring a proposed schedule for the next school year and the board will set the dates for the next school year.

J.  Contracts

Mr. Durst presented the contract personnel the school will have for the next fiscal year.  It was pointed out that one of these contract positions was a shared expense with the Deaf School.  Ms. Amond moved to approve the proposed contracts for the next fiscal year; Mr. Koors seconded the motion; the motion passed.
Mr. Durst introduced the proposal to include two new Outreach positions in as contractual employees.  The Outreach Department would require an O&M Instructor and an Instructional Teacher to move forward with expanding Outreach Services.  The O&M services will be provided to local school corporations as well as providing on campus services.  Dr. White moved to approve the addition of two contract positions for Outreach; Mr. Bates seconded the motion; the motion carried.

VII.  Public Comments

A representative from the newly established Freedom with Disabilities,Inc. attended the meeting to ask for the support of the ISB community and staff in assessing possible needs of individuals with visual disabilities in obtaining housing.  Currently the group has acquired an apartment/residential facility that needs to be renovated to accommodate people with visual and hearing disabilities.  They would appreciate any input from staff or community in regards to meeting the needs of future residents.  Contact information: freedomwdisability@sbcglobal.net or 317-291-5707 to reach Mr. Davis.
Cori Wills, a student at ISB, thanked Mr. Durst for allowing him to attend the meeting to complete a merit badge for Eagle Scouts.

VIII.  Board Comments

Dr. White expressed his gratitude to Senator Lubbers for her dedication to ISB and to the community.
Ms. Botkin wished to convey her thanks to all the Board Members, ISB Administration, ISB staff, and the ISB community for giving her the opportunity to serve as this years Board Chair.  It has been an enlightening experience; she came to ISB as a parent and never understood the inner workings of the facility until she was asked to be a board member and she appreciates everyones hard work and dedication to the school and its students.

IX.  Next Meeting

Monday, June 27, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. in the Multipurpose Room.

X.  Adjournment