10-21-2019 Board of Education Meeting Minutes

ABSENT:   D. Wentworth

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None     MOTION  ADOPTED

–          Mr. Kurland and Mr. Donahue presented to the Board 2018-2019 MSTEP, PSAT and SAT testing results. They shared that Buchanan, for the most part, remains above State and County averages. They touched base on the number of children who were not proficient in certain subject areas and grade levels and how district PLC programs will work to better identify those students who need assistance to succeed.

–          Mr. Donahue updated the Board on behalf of the Parent Advisory Committee. Though they have had only 2 meeting thus far, they have discussed primarily communications and academics. The committee has also discussed some possible changes for the district website along with creating a more common calendar, as well as the frequency of receiving messages from School Messenger. Academically, they discussed ways to implement earning more college credits at school, AP programs, and strengthening college readiness.

–          Mrs. Writer presented to the Board on behalf of the Personnel Committee. They had discussed that the current kindergarten class size is too large; 25-26 children per class and that there needs to be a kindergarten teacher hired to help reduce the class size. They reviewed goals for the Superintendent and plans for recruiting and retaining staff in the years ahead.

–          Mrs. Laesch spoke to the Board regarding the Emergency Security Planning Committee Meeting. They discussed the implementation of the new key fobs for the district staff. She also mentioned that they are working on putting signs in every room of the schools so that anyone, in the case of an emergency, would know where to alert authorities to in a crisis situation when they might not be familiar with where they are within the building. She also touched on updating sub folders with emergency cards so that a substitute would know what to do if an emergency situation were to arise while they were in the classroom.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

ADOPTION OF CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION by J. DeVlaminck, SECONDED by R. Writer, The Board of Education approves the consent agenda for the regular board meeting of October 21^st, 2019 be adopted as written:

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None     MOTION  ADOPTED

1.     Minutes:

9-16-19 Regular Meeting

10-1-19 Special Meeting

2.     Warrants:

Treasury & Expenditure Reports – September

3.     Recommendations to Hire as submitted by Buchanan High School Principal Stacey DeMaio and Executive Director of Business & Operations Tricia Lowery:

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None     MOTION  ADOPTED

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None     MOTION  ADOPTED

WHEREAS, the administration has presented to the Board of Education, a recommendation concerning the expulsion of a student who was in violation of Buchanan School Board Policy #5530 on Monday, October 7^th, 2019; and

WHEREAS, the administration has notified the student and parent(s) involved of the accusations against the student, the recommendation of expulsion, and their rights to a hearing on this date;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

The Buchanan Board of Education hereby chooses to expel student #536099 effective immediately for the remainder of the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year with the following conditions to be met for possible reinstatement to Buchanan High School in the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year:

1.     Through the remainder of the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year, student #536099 must successfully complete the current semester while attending BVA, the Step Up Program, or another alternative setting.

2.     The student must attend six sessions of counseling with an outside the school district professional (responsibility of parent/guardian) and obtain a release to report back to school from the counselor prior to re-admittance meeting with the Superintendent of the Buchanan Community Schools.

3.     Upon the completion of the first two steps the student and parents/guardians must contact the Superintendent of Buchanan Community Schools to schedule a re-admittance hearing back into Buchanan Community Schools.

4.     Any recommendation will be reviewed by the Buchanan School Board before a decision to reinstate student #536099 will be made.

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None          MOTION  ADOPTED

Principal Shelby Beasley submitted the Buchanan Middle School Student Handbook updates for the 2019-2020 school year for Board approval.

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None          MOTION  ADOPTED

and as the Personnel Committee has held regular meetings with the Superintendent throughout the year to discuss leadership practices,

and as the full Board met in two special meetings on August 11, 2019 and August 28, 2019 to review and complete the School Advance Leader Evaluation process for Superintendent Timothy Donahue,

the Buchanan Board of Education accepts the recommendation as submitted by the Personnel Committee for the completion of the 2018-2019 school year Superintendent’s evaluation.

Further, the Board affirms Mr. Donahue’s evaluation score as a result of this process in 3.42 on a 4.0 scale, earning the evaluation rating of “effective.”

The Board further directs that a Public Notice of this evaluation process and status be published in the Board’s newspaper of Public Record.

ROLL CALL VOTE:  C. Lee, K. Laesch, R. Writer, J. DeVlaminck, S. Tobler and H. Burnett.     NAYS:  None          MOTION  ADOPTED