ISBVI Board Meeting
May 14, 2007
9:30 a.m.
ISBVI Board Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Mr.
Donald Koors, Chair
Ms. Shirley Amond,
Vice-Chair
Mr. Gary Bates
Mr. John Hill for Dr.
Robert Marra
Ms. Kathy Botkin
Senator Teresa Lubbers
Ms. Cynthia Pttman
Members Not Present: None
Administration Present: Mr. Jim Durst, Superintendent; Mr.
I. Call to Order
Mr. Koors called the meeting to order and took roll.
II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes from March 19, 2007 meeting were reviewed. Ms. Amond moved for approval of the minutes as
distributed. Ms. Pittman seconded the
motion; motion carried.
III. Special
Recognition
Mr. Durst recognized the Boy Scouts. ISBVI hosted the North Star District Crossroads Council Camporee. The Scouts were the recipient of the Willie Award at the Camporee. This is awarded to the troop that has the best campsite at the Camporee. Mr. Malone and Mr. Wills have worked together to move the Scouts troops to a new level. Cory Wills and several of the Scouts stayed on campus the previous weekend working on Cory’s Eagle Scout badge. The project was to put in a patio next to the Keever Garden Shed. He had help from the Scouts, private support from landscape crews, and most of the materials and supplies were donated. Mr. Foster and the maintenance crew excavated the site before the project began. There is now a beautiful new patio next to the Keever Garden Shed.
Mr. Durst recognized the
Mr. Durst then recognized Mr.
Mr. Durst recognized the NCA Steering Committee. They have moved the school to a new and
higher level with the new School Improvement Plan and School Profile. They empowered staff and help the staff to
move forward with the School Improvement Plan and the School Profile. ISBVI had the onsite review, and the onsite
review committee members used words like “this is a plan to
benchmark”, “cutting edge for schools for the blind”, and
“one of the best plans that I’ve seen”. Dr. Tom Sawyer of
IV. Chair Remarks
Mr. Koors congratulated the students and staff on their accomplishments.
V. Superintendent’s Report
A. New Employees
Mr. Durst stated that there were not any new employees to recognize at this
time.
B. School Update
Keever Hall has been invited to
attend the Very Special Arts in the
Aldur/Lambert are getting ready for their field trip to Hidden Lake Camp Grounds. They will be flying kites and fishing.
The piano students presented “The Greatest Show on Earth” on Friday, May 11, 2007. They did a wonderful job under the direction of Mrs. Francisco.
The Middle School/High School Choir will be singing at the Broad Ripple Art Fair on May 19, 2007.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders went to Circle Theatre on April 25, 2007 to attend an Indianapolis Orchestra Discovery Concert.
C. Monthly Financial Statements
Mr. Owens presented the financial statements (Attachments 2A and 2B).
Attachment 2A, March 31, 2007, the year was 75% over and 72.49% of the
Allotment had been spent. Point 1
is still good. Point 3 is in the red by
a little over $14,000.00. This is
services by contract. Attachment 2B, April 30, 2007, the year was 83.3% over
and 80.57% of the Allotment had been spent. Points 2, 3 & 7 are in
the red. $35,000.00 was moved out of
Point 4 and $55,000.00 out of Point 5, and was moved into Points 2, 3, &
7. This will all be seen on the next
monthly financial statement.
D. Personnel Actions Updates
Attachment 3A is April Personnel Status Summary 178 FTE’s filled with 14
pending for a total of 192 with 22 intermittent filled; Attachment 3B is May
Personnel Status Summary with 178 FTE’s filled with 29 pending for a
total of 207 with 22 intermittent. Mr.
Durst explained to the Board that more positions have been added to the manning
table that are funded through the Department of Education. There are a significant number of WRAP’s which are contract positions. They work one on one with students in the
classroom and in the dorms. If a
schedule is set for a person, then they are considered full time staff not contract
staff. When hiring is considered for the
WRAP positions, people like the wages offered, but would rather have a position
that has benefits. It is difficult to
fill the positions without being able to offer benefits to the direct service
providers. Moving the WRAP positions
into full-time positions will help ISBVI benefit by allowing the employee to
eligible for benefits and also give them the opportunity to be full time
employees. There are a total of 12 new
positions for teaching assistants and house parents. There are also 3 secretarial positions that
are in the IERC. Those positions are
currently contract positions as well.
This will not have a direct impact on our operating budget from the
state because all of these positions will be funded through the Department of
Education. Another change that is in the
process is combining the teachers assistants and house parents into a new
classification called program assistant.
The benefit of the program assistant is the teachers assistant salaries
will be moved to the level of house parents.
House parents got a raise about six years ago. They are paid at a higher rate than the
teacher assistants. They also make more
money, in some cases, than the people who supervise them. This will allow us to move staff as we need
to based on operational needs and student coverage. Attachment 4A is the April Personnel Actions
with 3 leaves of absences and 1 separation.
Attachment 4B is May Personal Actions with no actions.
E. Vacant Positions
Refer to Vacant Positions - Pending (Attachment 5A and 5B). Some of
these positions are pending and posted.
Some of these are pending and we are holding these positions at this
point to see where we are in terms of need and financial resources.
F. Physical Plant Update
Improve Campus Security: The Contractor has replaced the card readers at
the front gate and resolved all issues at the front gate system. Only one known issue remains, the door to Aldur/Lambert does not work. There are still glitches with the front gate.
Replace Exterior Campus
Lighting: The old pole lights have been removed by IPL. Building mounted lights will be installed for
the parking lot for Aldur/Lambert.
Repair Roofs: The Project is complete and closed out.
Waiting for reimbursement for damages caused during this project from the
contractor.
Tuck Pointing Renovation: Contractor will need to complete the
waterproofing on F Building and the tower once the outside temperature becomes
more stable and are above freezing.
Re-coring Campus: Waiting for the contractor to furnish the computer
software so that we can identify key distribution. Contractor also needs to furnish us with
additional keys for the last set of lock cores that were installed. (Our original representative from Best Access
Systems has been transferred to another state, and we have been trying to work
these problems out with the new representative.)
Fire Alarms: All design issues have been resolved, and the project is
moving into the bidding stage. We are
meeting with the State Budge Committee on March 12, 2007, to request that
$207,000 from the State’s general fund be transferred into this project
to enable the completion of a fire sprinkler system to be installed in Aldur/Lambert dormitories.
Electrical Grounding: The contractor is currently working in
“B” Dormitory and is almost complete. We are meeting with the State Budget
Committee on March 12, 2007 to request that $525,000.00 from the general fund
be added to this project. These
additional funds will correct electrical code violations, electrical faults,
and removal of old lighting systems.
These problems were identified by Eagle Electric during the course of
their current electrical project.
Churchman Dining Room Skylight: The
contractor has ordered the skylight and they are waiting for delivery.
Replacement of Wrought Iron Fencing: We will be contacting another
fencing company. The style of fence that
is in place now cannot be found. Another
style which is similar will be placed there.
Resurfacing the Track: Two separate bid openings have been scheduled, no
companies have submitted a bid. The
project will be re-bid.
VI. New Business
A. Donations and Contributions
Attachment 6 includes Donations and Contributions under $499 through May 2,
2007. Attachment 6 totaled
$1,434.99. Attachment 7 includes
Donations and Contributions over $500 through May 2, 2007. Attachment 7 total donations were
$1,555.40. Mr. Bates moved to approve
the Donation and Contributions received over $500. The motion was seconded by
Ms. Botkin; the motion carried.
B. Swimming Pool
Mr. Durst explained to the Board that the pool has been having false chemical readings. One of the re-agents was bad, thus causing the false readings. The pool was drained, patched, cleaned, and refilled. The chemical levels have been fine since this has been done. Mr. Durst proposed to the Board that ISBVI not rent out the Aquatic facility for one year. This will give the school time to re-evaluate the purpose of the pool to the school as well as to the community. The Board had reservations regarding not renting out the facility to the community. It was built not only for ISBVI’s use but also for the community. The community needs to be notified that changes will take place with their current contracts. Mr. Durst then modified his proposal to give the current users of the pool 2 months notice before the end of their contract so they can find another pool for use. No contracts will be issued until January 2008. Ms. Botkin moved that the Board approve Mr. Durst’s proposal with the exception that the new contracts be for short term (6 months) use only. The motion was seconded by Mr. Bates; the motion carried. New equipment has been installed to monitor the chemical balances and to dispense chemicals into the pool as needed.
C. School Calendar
Mr. Durst explained to the Board that the proposed school
calendar could not be approved because it had not been compared to
D. Dietary Pilot Program
Mr. Durst explained to the Board that the new Dietary Pilot Program that was put in place during the 2006 – 2007 school year has showed improvements in the cost of meals. The meal cost went from $6.50 down to $5.40 per meal. This is due to the fact that the Dietary Department went from two shifts to one shift; staff was reduced by moving some of the Dietary personnel to other departments; and Residential Staff who have been trained in the Serve Safe program by the Department of Health helped with serving of meals in the evenings. The Pilot Program will continue in the 2007 – 2008 school year as well to help reduce meal costs.
E. Director of Programs
Mr. Durst explained to the Board that interviews will be held for the Director of Programs position. It has not yet been posted to People Soft, but it is expected to be posted soon. The Director of Programs will oversee all educational programs at the school. Mr. Owens oversees the operation, physical and business side. The Director of Programs would oversee the Education, Outreach, Residential, and the IERC.
F. Strategic Plan
This is still in a rough draft form, but will be available for the Board to discuss at the next meeting.
G. Attorney General – MOU’s
Mr. Durst explained to the Board that the Memorandum of
Understanding between the Office of the Indiana Attorney General and the
VII. Public Comments
No Public Comments that had been
discussed during the meeting.
VIII. Board Comments
Ms. Botkin – no comments
Mr. Bates – no comments
Senator Lubbers – Senator Lubbers apologized to the Board regarding her absences from the past couple of meetings due to her duties at the Statehouse.
Ms. Pittman- no comments
Mr. Hill – no comments
Ms. Amond – no comments
Mr. Koors – He stated that the goal of the
ISBVI School Board is to serve the students at ISBVI.
IX. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the ISBVI is tentatively set for July 16, 2007 at 9:30 a.m.
in the Aldur/Lambert Multipurpose Room.
X. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:01 am.