Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Director Espy was absent and Director Wilson participated via Zoom. Board Vice President Brian Pickard presided.
At the beginning of the meeting was a Public Hearing to consider the Proposed District Budget for 2022-2023. Following the budget presentation, there was an opportunity for comments from the public and questions and comments from the Board. There was also a regular pubic comment portion of the regular meeting that followed the Pubic Hearing.
Director Daily voted against the Superintendent's Consent Agenda, which included approval of payrolls and personnel changes, along with the recommendations of the Instructional Materials Committee. He also abstained from the approval of the minutes of the previous Board meeting and did not attend the Executive Session to discuss application for public employment which followed the regular Board meeting.
Plans were also made for a Board retreat on August 17, which will in effect be a work/study session beginning at 2:00 p.m. before the regular Board meeting to start at 5:00 p.m. Plans on District Priorities and the Board Calendar will be discussed.
A special work/study Board meeting was held from 2:00 to 4:40 p.m. preceding the regular meeting at 5:00 p.m. The work/study meeting was open to the public but was not streamed or video recorded. No public comment was taken. Topics included the physical facilities long-range plan, the upcoming conference of the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA),calendaring Board meeting business for the coming year, and streamlining the Superintendent's reporting requirements. No final action was taken.
The regular meeting began at 5:00 p.m. It was streamed on Zoom with public comment permitted, but there was no public comment received, either from those in person, or on Zoom.
Superintendent Tim Winter reported that COVID restrictions will be similar to last year, but relaxed in some areas. Enrollment is expected to be above that of last year but final figures will not be known until the first week of school.
Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Tom Edwards, led a presentation on student assessment data, summer academy, and plans for the 2022-2023 school year. Following the presentation, Director Daily gave notice that he would take a neutral stand on capital projects and operations and maintenance levies if student achievement test scores do not improve by a October 14, 2022, he would then oppose such projects and levies by February 1, 2023 if there was no improvement, followed later by motions on April 19, 2023 to dismiss senior staff, and eventually on June 9, 2023 to dismiss the Superintendent. Board President Wilson ruled Director Daily's remarks not germane and out of order, but Director Berg appealed the ruling of the chair and argued that Director Daily's remarks were germane to the topic of improving student achievement, and he should be allowed to speak. The matter can be reviewed on the video of the meeting from 1:25:10 to 1:29:10.
While under parliamentary procedure, it can be appropriate to give notice of motions that one intends to make in the future, such was not necessary in this situation. Director Daily's bloviation appeared to be more of a threat, and a rather empty threat at that. In Director Berg's opinion, the effect of Director Daily's statements carry no more weight than if he said he was going to hold his breath until he passed out if student achievement did not improve by his target date. His threat of withholding his approval from future levy carries very little weight, since he opposed the previous levy, actively campaigned against it, and has generally refused to vote for any expenditures, even for regular payrolls, for years, it is extremely unlikely that he would really be expected to support any future levy or bond measure regardless of the circumstances. See also Director Berg's remarks on Dealing with a Dissident Board Member.
Under Board Linkages, Director Berg reported that he communicates with his constituents through his website and recently posted an extensive response to Dave Kimble's remarks to the Board on August 3rd. Director Daily raised strong objections to Director Berg's website and to Director Berg's mentioning it during the meeting. That exchange can also be seen on the video from 1:31:20 to 1:34:00. (It continues after Director Espy's report.) Director Berg's response to Mr. Kimble's similar website objections will also serve to respond those from Director Daily. (One unintended effect of Director Daily's strong objections to this website was that public interest in viewing this website actually increased.)
The 2022-23 budget was approved, 4-1, with Director Daily voting no. Collective bargaining contracts with Public School Employees (PSE), including clerical employees , paraeducators, security officers, and others, and the South Kitsap Coaches Association (SKCA) were approved. Director Daily recused himself on the first because his wife was covered by that contract, and abstained on the SKCA contract vote. Director Daily also voted no on the Superintendent Consent Agenda, covering payroll approval, contracts, and policies, and abstained on the vote on the Board Consent Agenda, which only covered approval of the prior meeting's minutes.
This was a special meeting to discuss with the public the District's long range physical facilities plans. Click here to view the committee report.
The SKSD Board was seeking input as they revise the facility rebuilding plan. This online session was another opportunity to provide feedback in the development of a comprehensive ballot measure to address facility needs.
The District has an ThoughtExchange through which the community can present comments and comment of the comments of others.
There was no in-person public comment at this three-hour meeting. Two individuals had sent written comments and asked that they be read at the meeting. Director Berg cautioned against such a practice since it would set a precedent of allowing anyone to simply write whatever they wanted and the Board would read it publicly. (The purpose of public comment is to allow the public to comment to the Board at a meeting; its intent is not to provide a public forum for anyone to address the public at a board meeting.) The two comments were critical of Director Daily's actions, specifically at the August 17, 2022 meeting. There was one remote public comment from David Kimble.
Superintendent Winter reported on the first day of school and that preliminary attendance figures were just below the budgeted target. He will implement a Capital Facilities Steering Committee to 'be the engine behind the development and community connection for a bond to take to the community" and will meet bi-weekly. He also reported on a District policy addressing video cameras on District property.
Director Daily proposed a reduced number of items reported on the Superintendent's Operational Expectations Reports, together with more frequent reporting of some matters. Director Berg was the sold opposing vote, after stating that he preferred method would be to have the Board address specific proposed indicators of compliance that they wanted to see. (Under the Board's governance model, the Board establishes Operational Expectations for the Superintendent, detailing policies and the bounds of the Superintendent's authority; the Superintendent has his interpretation and proposed indicators of compliance approved by the Board, followed by the data on the District's compliance with the policies.)
The adopted a Board Agenda Calendar for 2022-23, scheduling when the Board would get reports and consider various matters. Director Daily wanted more meetings and more reporting and voted against the adoption of the calendar.
The Board approved revised Results Policies to be more in line with the District 's Priority Plan. Director Berg stated that they were aspirational in nature and the Board would evaluate data to determine if the District was making reasonable progress, rather than "in compliance", as with reporting of Operational Expectations. Director Daily voted no.
The Superintendent reported data on compliance with Operational Expectations Policy OE-1 and OE2, and the Board determined that they were in compliance with the policy. Director Daily abstained on both.
Director Daily voted no on the Superintendent's Consent Agenda (which included approval for payrolls, personnel changes, disposal of surplus property, and an agreement with the Sherriff for a School Resource Officer). He also abstained on the Board Consent Agenda, which consisted of the approval of minutes of past meetings.
After an extended discussion the Board approved the borrowing of funds through the State to pay the $2,069,877 for the South Kitsap High School Chiller Project. Director Daily voted no, claiming that the District was running out of money and had to borrow money for school repairs. The Board realized that the low fixed interest rate on the 10-year loan made more sense than spending down the District's cash reserve which was earning interest at a variable rate expected to increase in the future.
Director Daily abstained on the vote to authorize wire transfers with the Kitsap County Treasurer. (The County Treasurer functions as the District's bank.
Director Daily proposed two Board Referral Forms regarding making Special Education, AVID, MTSS, and Safe & Civil Schools areas of focus for the Board for 2022-23. The remainder of the Board voted against his proposal, with a consensus that the Board is already requiring the Superintendent report of other matters without having to also report on specific programs.
There was also a discussion of the August 24th Physical Facilities Public Forum and plans to future Capital Projects. Director Daily repeatedly claimed that 59% of the voters voted for a second high school. Director Berg pointed that the actual yes vote on the most recent bond measure in 2017 was 51.9%, not 59%. The 59% referred to a previous bond vote some years earlier.
Director Pickard attended the meeting via Zoom. Director Daily abstained on the adoption of the agenda, the Superintendents compliance on OE-3 - Treatment of Community Stakeholders, and the Board consent agenda (minutes of the previous meeting). Director Daily voted no on the Superintendent's consent agenda (paying the payroll and other expenses, personnel changes, and approval of Instructional Materials Committee recommendations), and a change order for the pool renovation. He voted yes on nothing.
The Board has a p presentation on "Communities in the Schools", a non-profit group that provides support to students and staff. Lee Fenton reported on the Bond Steering Committee.
The Board considered Operational Expectations OE-3, Treatment of Community Stakeholders and found the Superintendent in compliance with some exceptions. Public comments was received from Dave Kimble and Jaime Cross.
Director Berg remarked that the purpose of Public Comment under the Open Public Meetings Act is to provide public input into the Board's decision-making, therefore having Public Comment at the end of the meeting would defeat that purpose. He recommended written Public Comment to the board members prior to the meeting so that the board members can commend and discuss the public comment at the meeting.
A proposed redistricting plan for the director districts was presented. It had only minor changes to the existing districts. There will be a public hearing at the October 5th Board meeting, with adoption scheduled for the 19th. After adoption, any candidate filing for Board positions 1, 2, or 5 next May will need to live in the respective district. (Those positions are currently held by Directors Espy, Berg, and Daily respectively.)
A change order in the pool renovation project was approved 4-1. When the pool renovation contract was approved last January, it was anticipated that there may be additional unknown costs typical of such a project when opening up something constructed fifty years ago. Therefore there was a 10% contingency budgeted into the project. Additional work on the drain and other piping was needed. This change would require $479,000 of the original contingency budget, leaving $417,474 for any remaining contingencies. See Daily v. SKSB [2] regarding Director Daily's lawsuit appealing the Board's original awarding of the contract last January.
Three individuals addressed the Board during Public Comments. Superintendent Winter reported that school enrollment was 8944, compared to 8603 at the same time last year.
Superintendent Winter presented his interpretation of the Board's Results Policy 1 and the proposed indicators of compliance. The Board referred it back to the Superintendent for revision.
Directory Espy reported on the legislative positions developed by the Washington State School Directors' Association (WSSDA) at its recent General Assembly and the Board to determine its priorities and report back to WSSDA.. Because under the Washington Open Public Meetings Act, all board discussions must be at a public meeting, a special meeting was scheduled for Monday, October 10, via Zoom, for the Board to agree upon its priorities. Click here to see these WSSDA priorities.
Director Daily voted no on the Superintendent's Consent Agenda, which consisted of personnel and expense matters, along with the approval of the minutes of the Instructional Materials Committee and of the IMC's recommendations.
A public hearing will be held at the beginning of the October 19th meeting preceding a vote to approve the redistricting of the director districts. See BoardDocs for the proposed map of districts.
The Board voted to interview all applicants for board student representative at the October 19th meeting, followed by a decision of whom to select for the 2022-2023 school year.
The Board adopted a revised Board Agenda Calendar to include reports on the new Results goals adopted on September 7, 2022. Click here for the new Results policies. The Board also revised the calendar to schedule an annual review of one of the Governance Culture (GC) Policies and Board/Superintendent Relations (B/SR) Policies at each meeting, and limit the discussion to ten minutes each. Director Daily abstained and Director Wilson voted no on the calendar amendments, with Director Wilson preferring to review all of the GC and B/SR policies at one meeting in July rather than spreading them out over the year. Click here to review all these policies.
This was a special meeting for the board to prioritize the various legislative positions recently adopted by the Washington State School Directors' Association. (WSSDA). Each district in the State had been asked to prioritize their top legislative position to provide WSSDA with direction for the upcoming State Legislative Session in January. Click here to see the SK School Board's priorities.
The Board had a public hearing on the director district redistricting plan at the beginning of the meeting.
Director Daily moved to remove the discussion of Board Governance Culture policy CG-1, but his motion failed 1-4. His reasoning was that "you've got three lawsuits pending on the GC's and my attorney says stay away from it at all costs." Board President Wilson responded that the Board's attorney advised that the Board can proceed since there are no injunctions in place. (The work of the Board does not stop just because someone has $240 to file a lawsuit, particularly when there has been no follow-up by the plaintiff on the most recent lawsuit since it was filed in April of 2022.) The GC-policies supposedly under litigation were adopted March 16, 2022 and were not in place when Director Daily filed his first two lawsuits. Director Daily's third lawsuit was actually an appeal of the Board's March adoption of the Governance Culture (GC) policies, , specifically mentioning GC-7 and GC-9. One reason why Director Daily's attorney may have advised him to stay away from discussion of the policies under litigation is because, as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, and as a member of the Board, he would have a conflict of interest if he were to attempt to advise the Board as a Board member on how to respond to his own lawsuit.
(There was also a disagreement between Director Daily and President Wilson as to whether or not Director Daily voted at the October 5th meeting to put the GC discussions on the Board Calendar. President Wilson did not announce the vote count at the October 5th meeting, but did announce that he voted no. On October 19th, President Wilson erroneously stated that Director Daily voted in favor of the matter. Director Daily was correct in stating that he did not vote to amend the Calendar at the October 5th meeting. As noted in the comments above for that meeting, Director Daily abstained, thus making the vote 3 to 1.)
Four people addressed the Board during its regular Public Comment period.
Superintendent Winter presented a proposal for a Student Advisory Board selected by the Superintendent, to meet with the superintendent regularly and report to the Board occasionally. The Board did not interview its sole applicant for School Board Student Representative, as announced at the last regular meeting, and voted to not seat a student representative this school year. The hope was that the Superintendent's Student Advisory Board may promote interest in the position of School Board Student Representative next year.
Lee Fenton gave an extended presentation on the work of the Bond Steering Committee.
After a recess, there was an extended discussion of the Board's Results 1 Policy on Academic Excellence. The Board approved the Superintendent's Interpretation and Indicators of Progress, but postponed until the next meeting final action on whether or not the Superintendent was making "reasonable progress" on the intended results. The Superintendent will provide additional information to the Board's consideration.
The Board approved the Superintendent's Consent Agenda, containing approval of expenditures, disposition of surplus equipment, and an agreement with the Olympic Educational Service District 114 (OESD). Director Daily voted no and later abstained on the vote to approve the Board Consent Agenda which consisted of minutes of the previous meetings.
The Board reviewed the GC-1 Policy on Board Purpose and voted to amend the second paragraph to read, "The Board's purpose is to ensure that the district makes reasonable progress in achieving the results described in the Board's Results policies and that it operates according to the valaue expressed in the Board's Operational Expectations policies," The words "makes reasonable progress in achieving" replaced the word "achieves" in the original policy. Although Director Daily objected to the originally wording of the paragraph, he did not propose any amendment and voted no on Director Berg's amendment. The reasoning was that since the Results policies were aspirational goals, the monitoring issue was not one of achieving the results but of making reasonable progress in achieving them. For example, having a goal that 100% of all students graduate on time is admirable, and having only 99% graduate on time may be considered a failure for the 1%, it is not a failure on the part of the district as a whole but is an extraordinary achievement in making progress on the goal.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Board had a brief executive session to discuss the performance of an employee. Director Daily did not attend the executive session.
One improvement first utilized at this meeting was individual microphones for the Board members. This should make it easier for those in the room and those observing on Zoom to hear.
Board President Wilson was absent, and Vice President Pickard presided. Only one person addressed the Board during Public Comment. Director Daily either abstained or voted no on every decision the Board made.
Lee Fenton reported from the Bond Steering Committee and there was a discussion of the public meetings held at three schools the preceding day. Two ore meetings are planned for the next week.
The Board approved a redistricting for the director districts. That will take effect for the next of Board members in November of 2023.
The Board voted to accept applications for the Facilities Long-range Planning Advisor Committee until December 15, and the Board will make appointments at its December 21st meeting.
Board members Wilson, Pickard, Berg and Espy attended the Annual Conference of the Washington State School Directors' Association (WSSDA) in Spokane November 17-19, 2022. Superintendent Tim Winter and Executive Assistant Robbie Bell also attended the conference.
Friday evening the Board (except for Director Daily who did not attend the conference), and Superintendent Winter and Ms. Bell met over dinner, and also at other times during the three-day conference, although not always all at the same time together. Some informal discussion relating to future plans for the Board and its business could have taken place. No final action was taken at those times and no members of the public choose to attend the public meeting. (Three years ago, a South Kitsap resident choose to attend a WASSDA conference at his own expense and sit in on some of those informal discussions among Board members.
This was the Board's annual reorganization meeting at which Board officers were elected for the coming year. There were no changes, Director Wilson remained President, Director Pickard as Vice President, Director Espy as Legislative Representative, Director Berg as WSSDA delegate, and Director Pickard as WIAA Delegate. All the votes were in the affirmative, except for Director Daily, who votes "anyone else" for the two officer positions, "Nay" for Director Espy, and abstained for the others. (A vote for "anyone else" is the same as a vote for Mickey Mouse and does not constitute an actual vote for someone and is therefore treated as an abstention.)
There was a Public Hearing for the Board's proposed Non-voted debt for the high school chiller project with minimal public comment. Later in the meeting, the debate among the Board continued and the Board adopted Resolution 1359 to approve a low-interest loan of $2,069,877 from the State of Washington to cover the SK High School chiller project. The alternative was to pay for the project from current cash reserves. Dave Kimble in his public comment and Director Daily in his debate urged a delay to allow for more public comment after the public hearing. Director Daily's motion to postpone the vote failed 1-4 and the resolution was approved 4-1.
(The above action was reminiscent of similar Board action March 16, 2022, when the Board voted to approve the contract for swimming pool repairs. Both Dave Kimble in his public comments and Director Daily in debate urged a delay on the decision to allow for more public comment. Director Daily was the sole negative vote and he later filed suit in the Kitsap County Superior Court a month later to appeal the decision.)
(When the Board was discussing a possible bond for the November ballot elsewhere in this December 7th meeting, Director Daily stated that more time will be needed to plan the projects. It is not unlikely that he will take the same position at the July 20, 2023 meeting (the last meeting to get a measure on the November 2023 ballot), and will want to postpone the matter so that it won't make it on the November 2023 ballot and thus add another year's worth of inflation to any construction costs for new facilities.)
Lee Fenton reported on the progress of the Bond Steering Committee.
The Board approved the Results 3 - Safety Monitoring Report as making progress by a vote of 4-0, and the Operational Expectation 6 - Financial Administration Monitoring report as being in compliance with noted exceptions by a vote of 5-0.
Due to time constraints the Board omitted Director reports on linkages.
Director Daily voted against the Superintendent's Consent Agenda and abstained on the vote on the Board Consent Agenda. Approval of teh CTE Carl Perkins Grant was pulled from the Superintendent's Consent Agenda but later adopted.
The Board Calendar was amended to designate the January 4 meeting as a work/study meeting and to reschedule the Governance Policy (GP) review until the two meetings in August 2023. The vote was 3-0 with Directors Daily and Berg abstaining.
The Board certified by a vote of 5-0 the 2023 collection of the property tax levy as approved by the voters in February 2021. Because of the statutory per-pupil limit, the actual tax collection will be less than that originally approved by the voters.
The Board also voted by resolution to cancel uncashed warrants. This is necessary to avoid having uncashed warrants becoming unclaimed property and forfeited to the State.
Director Daily voted against a travel request from Director Espy to attend the WSSDA Legislative Conference in February, in connection with her duties as the Board's Legislative Representative. Director Daily also claimed that she could not speak for the Board without Board approval and that she would also be violating the Open Public Meetings Act. He was told that she was elected to be the Board's Legislative Representative and that the Board already voted on its legislative priorities last November, and that she was free to speak to legislators on behalf the board without violating the OPMA.
Director Wilson left at 8:00 P.M. and Vice President Pickard concluded the meeting with a debriefing of the meeting.
Although Superintendent was at the District offices for the Board meeting to establish an official location for the meeting under the Washington Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30), all Board members were participating remotely via Zoom due to the weather and icy roads. Although public comment was provided for according to law, there were no public comments presented at the meeting.
The Board reviewed the Budget Status report for November 2022.
The Board approved the Superintendent's report on Results Policy 4 - Stewardship, and the report on Operational Expectation 5 - Financial Planning. Director Daily abstained.
The Superintendent Consent Agenda, with personnel changes, payrolls and other expenditures, was approved 4-1 with Director Daily voting No.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as corrected to reflect that Director Daily abstained from the vote to elect the Board President and Vice President, rather than simply voting no. Director Daily abstained on approving the corrected minutes.
After extensive discussion on the Facility Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee, the Board decided to address the future function of the committee until its January 4, 2023 work/study meeting, and make final decisions on appointments to the committee at the January 18th meeting. Three members, Lee Fenton, Rick Printice, and Gerry Austin had appointments expiring on December 31, 2022 and were being considered for reappointment to three-year terms. There were also six additional applicants for appointment to the committee: Larry Mann, Dave Kimble, Keith Hauk, Jessica Rich, John Cameron, and Jaime Cross. Director Berg voted no on the postponement.
(Although the three committee members had terms expiring December 31. 2022, the term of appointment included the words, "or until their successors are appointed", so they will technically remain on the committee after December 31st and until the Board takes action on the matter.)
The differences of opinion relate to whether or not the committee should be a board committee or a committee under the direction of the Superintendent. Click here for the original resolution that established the committee.
At the Board debrief of the meeting, it was mentioned that the Board needs to work more on avoiding interrupting other members, together with members indicating when they have concluded their remarks and relinquish the floor.
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