WASHINGTON
STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
BOARD OF
TRUSTEES
May 1, 2002
Conference Call
Board
Members Participating: Chuck Nelson, Susie Davidson, Jerry Farley, Noel Nightingale, Joe Fram,
Denise Mackenstadt, and Cindy Roney.
Board
Members Absent: Terry Robertson and Kay Adamson.
Ex-Officio
Members Participating: Carol Schultz (WSSB Teachers Association), Bonda Albers (Washington
Federation of State Employees Local #1225), and Gary Burdette (Washington
Council of the Blind).
Ex-Officio
Members Participating: Steve Rainey (Parent Representative), and Michael Freeman (National
Federation of the Blind of Washington).
WSSB Staff
Members Participating: Dr. Dean Stenehjem, Superintendent, Craig Meador, Principal, and
Janet Merz, recording secretary.
Joe called the meeting to order at 7:34 p.m.
1.
Business Meeting
Denise
moved to approve the minutes of the March 1-2, 2002 Board of Trustees
Conference Call; Chuck seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Joe read a letter that was sent to Rod Lee, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, recognizing his many years of service to WSSB.
Dr. Stenehjem reported
he received a letter from Dr. Terry Bergeson, OSPI, acknowledging the letter
that the Board of Trustees sent to her regarding WSSB’s WASL concerns. This communication has resulted in a meeting
with OSPI and Riverside Publishing, and the issue is heading towards
resolution. Janet will send the letter
to the Board of Trustees for their information.
Joe received an e-mail from Steve Rainey stating he
will be bringing Kathleen Brown to the June Board of Trustees meeting. Kathleen is interested in participating on
the Board as our Parent Representative.
Steve asked for the Board’s opinion regarding having a Parent
Representative who has a student on campus vs. having a Parent Representative
who does not have a student on campus.
Cindy felt it was important to have a parent representing the Board that
has a child attending WSSB. Noel
concurred. Susie agreed.
Student
Awards:
Roy J. Brothers: Discussion was held regarding the
nominees. Denise nominated ___________for
the Roy J. Brothers Award; Chuck seconded the motion. The nomination was approved unanimously.
Board of Trustees: Discussion was held regarding the
nominees. Denise nominated ________to
receive the Board of Trustees award; Jerry seconded the motion. The nomination was approved
unanimously.
Dr. Stenehjem reported that our speaker for
graduation this year will be Mayor Royce Pollard, City of Vancouver. Mayor Pollard has a positive working
relationship with WSSB.
Dr. Stenehjem reported the following:
Human
Resource update:
o
Mary
Sarate, WSSB’s Business Manager started on April 15. Mary conducted interviews
for the two fiscal analyst positions and a decision will be made in the near
future. The Business office will be
complete by next week in the old Braille Access Center area. Cherie Willhide, Human Resources Manager
will also move into the Business Office.
o
Rod
Lee, Plant Manager retired on April 30.
Rob Tracey, new Plant Manager started on April 22. Rob’s background and training is in the area
of Industrial Engineering. Bonda commented that Rob took the initiative to help
a student and she appreciated that.
o
Sarah
Buttrell, Registered Nurse, started May 1.
An interview committee was formed that included two parents of students
at WSSB. Renee Corso feels confident in
Sarah’s abilities.
o
Linda
Bannon, teacher will retire this year. Mr. Meador will be looking for a
replacement in the near future.
Legislative
Update:
o
Civil
Service Reform update. This will allow unions to implement collective bargaining,
and the state will now be able to contract out. Agencies and unions will be going through a process of change
between now and 2005. This may impact
the Teachers Association because bargaining units must be 500 members or
more. This area is still not clear and
administration is working with the teachers to find out more information. WSSB is still in a discovery process. This also means that the state Merit System
Rules may no
longer exist in their current form.
Budget
Issues:
o
Current
budget status: There is a $30,000
positive balance at this time. Dr.
Stenehjem stated the budget process for the 2003-2005 biennium has begun.
State
Budget Situation:
o
The
latest documentation received reported that WSSB will incur a reduction of
approximately $50,000. The bulk of that
is in the area of pension reductions; the money does not flow to us therefore
we appear to lose that money. There
will also be reduction in money that is put into our budget for fees to other
state agencies i.e. Attorney General’s office; but, the amount WSSB is charged
by these agencies should be less as well.
Realistically WSSB will lose approximately $10,000 in equipment and
travel. In addition, the Governor mandated targets for reductions in staff,
travel, and equipment. WSSB’s targeted reductions equal a loss of approximately $700.00 for travel and equipment and
also the reduction of .6 FTE.
Capital
Projects:
o
Fries
Auditorium project is running about 2.5 months behind schedule, partly due to
the freeze in Capital Projects and partially due to the contractor’s pace.
o
IRC/Braille
Access Project (Ahlsten) is moving along nicely. The final meeting will be held on May 2, with the City of
Vancouver. The project will be out to
bid in May 28th, with construction beginning in June. This will be the first
state building that will include passive and active solar.
o
Distance
Learning Project (Irwin) was delayed by six months due to the Capital Project
freeze due to the architectural firm taking on additional work during the
freeze. The project will be out to bid in July, with construction to start in
August. Anticipated completion is
scheduled for June 2003. Classrooms
will need to be relocated this summer.
The Instructional Resource Center is cleaning out their building and
will have four classrooms available.
o
Old
Main, Irwin, Kennedy: Documentation will be complete in the fall with work
scheduled to begin in late winter or early spring, and anticipated completion
in the summer of 2003. Due to the
timing of this project, WSSB may need to ask for re-appropriation of some of
the dollars for this project.
o
In
addition, there are several smaller projects that WSSB is currently working
on. They are: lighting for the campus, parking lot reseal, sidewalk
replacement, cardlock upgrade and addition of the cottages, etc.
2.
Miscellaneous
Craig reported
that the Graduation committee is planning a dinner/awards banquet for June 13
(tentative time 6:30-8:30 pm). The
committee will have the details completed soon. Craig stated that doing a picnic, concert, awards program, and
ending with graduation the next day was overwhelming. This banquet would
incorporate Powerlifting, Goalball and Swim Team awards. There will be a per
person cost for this.
There being no
further business, Noel moved to adjourn, Cindy seconded. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. The next meeting will be June 14, 2002, in
Vancouver.
__________________________________
__________________________________
Dr. Dean O. Stenehjem,
Ed.D. Joe Fram, Chair
Superintendent WSSB
Board of Trustees