Rich County School Board Meeting

Kathie B. Anderson, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

RANDOLPH, Utah. April 16, 2019. The Rich County School District held its regularly scheduled Board Meeting.

 Zack McKee, interested citizen,  inquired respecting a baseball team or a softball team at Rich High School.   He asked if this would benefit the school district and offered to conduct a poll to see if the community and students would like a baseball team.  Many people have approached him with very positive views.

The Board Members expressed concerns about practice time, interference with football and track, and the Title 9 programs (equal representation of boys and girls in sports).  McKee will conduct a sport assessment and report his findings back to the Board.  Superintendent Dale Lamborn said that the USHAA is in the process of developing a survey that will poll high schools regarding the sport programs.

A motion was made by Scott Tolentino and seconded by Peter Cornia to ratify the fall 2019- 2020 school calendar.

One change was made with the region track meet.  It will be hosted again in Evanston, Wyoming, but will be held on Thursday, May 9, 2019.  This will be a one-day activity culminating event.  Mr. O’Neil will take care of everything for this event since they are already setting up for their region track meet being held that weekend.   A motion was made by Pete Cornia and seconded by Scott Tolentino.  Motion carried.

Policy 309 - This policy has been discussed and reviewed for three months, the policy deals with released time from the regular school program.  A clean copy has been completed and reviewed now by legal counsel. A motion to ratify was made by Scott Sabey and seconded by Cyndi Caldwell.  Motion carried.

Trust land Plans: Tara Cornia coordinates this program for Rich School District. Every year in the spring the principals meet with their community council members at their individual schools and write a plan and look at their need assessments, look at their testing scores, and talk with all the  stake holders to see what all the students’ needs are and they  write up a plan that goes along with the  Trust land funding.  One of the rules is that the local school boards must approve plans before they are sent to the State for approval.   Districts cannot do capital expenditures out of fixed costs. Following is a list of needs that was made by the individual schools: 

North Rich Elementary

AR stipend for person who runs the program

Reading coach

Fine arts and painting class

Classroom instructional aide

Rich High School

Student laptops for incoming freshman.  Biggest expense*  

Professional development stipend for teachers to unpack standards

Library books

Special Education teacher ($30,000) (Approved by Board last year)

Rich Middle School

AR parent stipend

Junior National Honor Society stipend

Junior Honor Society materials/membership

AR software / progress monitoring

Art expert stipend

Science materials, lab and digital equipment

Student computers. Biggest expense*

Music program instruments

Civics instructional materials for class

(P.E./Health) birdies and rackets

Civics instructional materials

Level books and novels for ELA classrooms

South Rich Elementary

Professional development stipend for teachers

Assemblies

Literacy specialist

Math consultant to help with math instruction

Accelerated reading books for library

Math, reading, science and materials for teaching goals

Computers

Software for reading, math, science 

A motion to approve the Trust lands plans for all of the schools in the district was made by Scott Tolentino and seconded by Eric Wamsley.  Motion carried.  These plans will now be sent to the State for final approval.

A motion was adopted to authorize Grant Wamsley, from the Board, to accept the graduates for 2019.

Interest-based Facilitation (contract negotiations) has been a very positive experience.   Eric Wamsley made a motion, seconded by Peter Cornia, selecting Scott Tolentino and Pete Cornia as this year’s Board member facilitators.  It may be the end of May or June until the facilitation will begin. A proposed increase for School District employee benefits of 3.2% was considered.  PEHP is very proactive with 100% doing preventative benefits.  Jennie Johnson, the Business Administrator, is very proactive and is always sending out the latest medical helps and recommendations to the staff.

TSSA (Teacher Student Success Act) Framework legislation is much like Trust land money. Each District will receive $140,000 to be divided between four schools, the money flows to the schools with twenty-five percent going towards teacher’s salaries.  It can be used for counselors and other instructional uses.  The Legislature wants to make sure all of the WPU does not just go to teacher salaries.  Next month Superintendent Lamborn is asking all schools (principals and their staffs) to come up with articulated ideas of their wants and needs to be presented at the School Board Meeting.                                  

The Legislature has said this was an ongoing funding, but the Board is a bit skeptical.  This past year the Board decided to give a bonus to the teachers just in case this money was not funded again.  Many questions about this framework still need to be worked out until any decisions have been finalized.

Rick Limb, Physical Plant Coordinator, discussed many summer projects that need to be done for the new school year.  Many projects that the District need to work on are related to making all schools and playgrounds ADA (American Disability Act) compliant.  Rich Middle School and North Rich Elementary Schools need sections of roof repaired, he thought that maybe contractors could repair roof while doing new building.   Some of the carpeting also needs to be replaced, ADA compliant door handles need to be installed throughout schools.  CO2 monitors must be installed in all buildings by 2020, septic system needs to be enlarged to a 5000-gallon tank.   A   building security system needs to be installed.  It has been recommended that an intercom system be installed, and FOB (transponders) on system installed throughout system. Superintendent Lamborn and Limb have been in constant communication with the builders, electricians, and engineers.   Hogan Construction and the Rich School District are working together on an addendum for the existing schools and the new building.  It will be pricey, but in the long run, it will be well worth the expense they said.

Superintendent Lamborn reported that the Rich County School District is in good shape regarding Title 9. The National cheerleading competitions are really growing.   Utah is now having competitions.  Our teams can now compete in Salt Lake City. 

The next School Board Meeting will be held May 20, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.