BOARD OF
TRUSTEES
Board
Members Participating: Denise Mackenstadt, Noel Nightingale, Kay Adamson, Jerry Farley, Joe
Fram, Chuck Nelson, and Cindy Roney.
Board Members Absent: Terry Robertson, Susie Davidson.
Ex-Officio
Members Participating: Kathleen Brown (Parent Representative), Bonda Albers (
Ex-Officio Members Absent: Carol Schultz (WSSB Teachers Association).
WSSB Staff
Members Participating: Dr. Dean Stenehjem (Superintendent), Craig Meador (Principal), Rod
Humble (Director of Outreach), Renee Corso (Director of Residential), Cherie
Willhide (Human Resources Manager), Mary Sarate (Business Manager), and Janet
Merz (recording secretary).
Joe called the meeting to order at
Old Business:
Approval of the board
minutes of
Joe read a note that was received from
Representative Val Ogden. WSSB will be
building a new materials center and it will be named the “
Department Updates:
Update on Outreach
Department - Rod Humble
In the spring, the Outreach Department develops
contracts for school districts. This
year, 27 Teacher of the Visually Impaired contracts, and 11 Orientation &
Mobility contracts were sent. Kim
Johnson, from the Olympic Peninsula will be replacing Linda Bannon and services
will be spread out over that area through our existing teachers. Ted Hines may be leaving to pursue his degree
in Orientation and Mobility. If Ted
leaves before the end of the summer, we will need to hire a teacher for that
area.
An IRC Advisory Board was established to look at
services we provide to school districts.
Another function of the advisory board is to look at a fee for service
for equipment and books. Through our
partnership with the WCCW (Women’s Correctional Center of Washington) six
inmate transcribers have passed the BLUE exam and two have passed the Library
of Congress. The women produced the
equivalent of $225,000 of Braille, which cost WSSB $12,500. Discussion was held
regarding getting Nemeth translation training and graphics.
Dee Amundsen is seeking her
administrative credential and will be doing her internship this year under the
supervision of Dr. Stenehjem.
Update on Education
Department - Craig Meador
Craig stated that Linda Bannon will be retiring this
year. Irwin is going through total
renovation. Craig complimented the staff
for their willingness to work together to make this happen. Discussion was held
regarding orientation and mobility and also the library and the challenges that
will present. Craig stated there have
been internal changes during this school year.
Department Chairs have been added to assist in the areas of Vocation,
Curriculum, and Discipline.
The Capital Projects freeze presented an 8-month
delay in the area of Distance Learning.
WSSB is looking at making every classroom Distance Learning
accessible. Michael Hooks and Robb Peck have
found successful ways to incorporate Distance Learning with “off-the-shelf”
software. One addition may be to add a
music Braille class in January, 2003.
Presentation to the Board of Trustees:
Dee Stickle, Board member and Dennis Matthews,
Assistant Superintendent from the ESD 112 attended the meeting to present the
Board of Trustees with the Horace Mann award for distinguished public
service. The ESD wanted to present the
Board with an honor for the Board’s participation and dedication for the work
they do for the students locally and throughout the state.
Update on Human Resources –
Cherie Willhide
Cherie reported that it has been a very enlightening
year. The following positions have been
filled: Plant Manager (Rob Tracey),
Nurse (Sarah Buttrell), three positions in the new business office (Mary
Sarate, Tarisa Tognetti, Nic You), and an intermittent custodian.
A database was developed for the H.R. department, which other state agencies have expressed an interest in
reviewing and possibly using to assist in tracking data in their H.R.
Departments. The safety committee
has been a priority this year. Accomplishments
are: safety bulletin boards (includes minutes), first aid kits, etc. The safety committee was recognized by the
Labor and Industries for their hard work.
With a new H.R. Department starting at WSSB we
want to get some quality indicators from employees on the level of service
being provided at WSSB. The
quality survey results are as follows:
93% staff rated HR services a 4.5 or higher.
Cherie stated that the legislature passed SB 1264,
which is the Civil Service Reform (will negate
State Merit System Rules). Coalition
bargaining (minimum of 500 members) is required and the governor’s office will
do the collective bargaining. Wages and
benefits can be bargained for. One issue
is the state’s payroll system. By 2005,
the new collective bargaining agreements will be in place. The legislature has to approve in whole and
if they approve it, they have to fund it.
The impact for WSSB is still unknown.
Cherie’s concern is with the teachers union. The state of
Cherie would like to design a training program. Cherie is obtaining information from the
staff for training needs and requests.
Dr. Stenehjem appreciated this pro-active
approach by the H.R. department.
Denise asked if para-pros were required to be certified or if this was a
WEA requirement. Cherie said it was a
WEA requirement.
Renee felt that being on the Safety Committee was
productive. Cordless phones were put in
the cottages. Renee stated the Lions Den
has a student-operated espresso machine.
DSB worked as a resource for us in this.
The Foundation loaned the students the money and the students have to
come up with a repayment plan. The
student store has a talking cash register that will be operational in the
fall. Kayline Erceg, RLC, is taking a
class on small business management so she can help students with inventory and
money management.
In the recreation/after school program, Jan Person
and staff have put together great after school programs (fencing, ice skating,
basketball, etc.). Renee would like to
get better usage of the greenhouse.
Denise stated she works with someone who has expertise in low-water
program and will give Renee the name.
Next year Renee will focus on staff training. This year, videos have been rented through
ESD for cottage staff to review regarding behavioral disorders, medical
dysfunctions, discipline, etc. Renee
will work with Cherie for training ideas for the Fall Workshop. Denise mentioned that the Idaho Department of
Mental Health has a great resource for information for mental health. Denise will send the name of the person to
Renee.
Summer Programs are going to take place (Youth
Employment Solutions) and we also have a Sports Camp, which is coming to us
through a grant from
During the summer program the Residential department will
be preparing their own food in the cottages, led by Lisa Hodge, who will
incorporate daily living skills into the work experience program. The students will purchase the food and
prepare the menus. Three pilot programs
will be introduced next year to examine the change
over to the evening meal being prepared in the cottages at a possible option
for the 2003-2004 school year. Dr. Stenehjem stated that Ryan Ford’s
Grandmother, who works in the
Renee has made contact with the School Employees
Credit Union regarding the possibility of installing an accessible ATM
machine. Renee will contact the NFB for more
information.
WSSB contracts with Columbia River Mental Health for
a full-time counselor. CRMH is dealing
with budget cuts and they hope that it will not impact our services. Renee
feels that behavioral and discipline issues declined.
Renee has worked a great deal with the health center
this year. Sarah Buttrell has been hired
as a supervisory nurse. Sarah received
her bachelor’s degree at WSU. Renee will
be sending out a letter to parents regarding bubble packing medications. Meetings have been held with Hi-School
Pharmacy to provide this service. This
is a pre-packaged system for medications.
Dr. Stenehjem felt this would fit in with the self-medication program
for kids, whereby Braille can be added to the bubble pack.
Student Yearbook
Robb Peck came in to market the school’s
yearbook. The cost for the yearbook is
$3.00 each and they are on a CD Rom.
Student bio’s, school events, biographies, etc. are all on the CD. The CD is JAWS, black/white, and enlarged
compliant. All articles were
student-written. The artwork on the
front cover was drawn by Darrell Borchardt and the coloring was done by
Varonica Smith.
Update on Business Office – Mary Sarate
Mary stated the target date to transition services
from WSD to WSSB is July 1. We are two
weeks ahead of schedule. Nic (Fiscal
Analyst II) has worked with State and Federal agencies, both profit and
non-profit. Tarisa (Fiscal Analyst I)
has experience in starting up a business office internationally. Mary feels that being ahead of schedule is a
credit to both Nic and Tarisa. Wonder
As of June 13, our business office staff did the
first batch of Accounts Payable. Effective
June 25, payroll will be done at WSSB.
Business office procedures and employee handbooks will be created this
year. Developing a budgeting process that involves managers will be
implemented. Timely flow of information and communication is critical. This first year will be a work in progress,
but we will be a proactive business.
Mary is very pleased with her position and is enthused about the work
ahead of us.
Mary reported that currently it is going to be a
tight squeeze in our budget. Next year we
will have a better idea of where we are.
Dr. Stenehjem reported that we will need to more
closely examine intermittent usage and figure
out where we can reduce usage. Dr. Stenehjem stated that in the next
two years things will be tougher in the state. Denise reported that by not doing summer
school, it was very disappointing to many people. Dr. Stenehjem explained that due to pubic
schools letting out so late in the year, we have to front-load the funding for
summer school. Denise asked if we can
run the summer school program through ESY.
Dr. Stenehjem stated that there is no funding for ESY (Extended School
Year) in local
districts and they fund these programs out of their regular budget. Also, summer school was not be viewed as ESY,
but as an enhancement program for children that needed additional skills to
help them be successful.
Discussion was held regarding trying to find ways to raise funds, i.e.
tuition or asking civic clubs for assistance for summer school.
Superintendent's Report:
Dr. Stenehjem stated that the two-month Capital
Project freeze caused an 8-12 month delay.
The firm that we are working with on the IRC project has been very efficient, pro-active and were far enough
along before the freeze that the freeze did not delay this project as much as
some of the others. The bid came in under what we anticipated. Union
Corner won the contract and will be working on the project beginning June 17. As part of the improvements, a database will
be constructed for on-line ordering, registering, etc. Cindy asked if it would be speech accessible. Dr. Stenehjem stated it would. Noel asked if the HR database is
accessible. Dr. Stenehjem stated it should
be as it is on Access.
Capital Projects: Old Main renovations will be
completed by the fall. Fries Auditorium
should be occupiable by August 15. Due to vacating the Irwin Building next fall while the
Distance Learning Project is in process the science room will be located in the
basement of Old Main. After the science room is no longer used, it will
be Technology person (Ed Lukowski’s) work
space. DSB’s office space will be
remodeled and completed this summer.
WSSB will also have a Courtyard put in place by August, 2002. Dedication of Fries Auditorium will be
In Irwin, Asbestos Abatement will begin in July as
part of the Distance Learning Project.
The ceilings will be designed for electrical drops. The relocation of staff members will entail a
lot of work by staff, including moving
phones, computers, furniture, etc.
General Campus: Fencing, lighting, camera coverage,
sidewalk updates, etc. will take place this summer. A security company looking at our campus for extra security
features. Cleaning and sealing the
boiler house will be redone. HVAC system
will be tweaked and boilers reworked on.
The Kennedy building’s renovation will begin in
March 2003. The
The Admin. Team met on June 5 to look at
streamlining duties and future goals.
The meeting will be continued on June 24. Denise asked if we had a coordinated training
staff member. Dr. Stenehjem stated it
has been done by each department, but now Cherie Willhide is looking at a needs
assessment. It will then be presented to
Administration. Dr. Stenehjem stated
that each teacher has $300 for staff classes or professional dues. Denise asked what classified staff are
entitled to. Dr. Stenehjem stated it is
$218, however this has not been tracked well in the past. The teachers are also able to, by June 1, see
if there are any dollars left over, they can look at what resources are
available for reimbursement.
Miscellaneous:
Kay reported the track meet was held on May 23. Kay stated that Jennifer Butcher did an
outstanding job and is encouraging the kids to be athletes if they want to
be. The kids had pre-registered and it
was very organized. Ribbons were handed
out for participation and their times were all written on their ribbons for
future USABA events. Jennifer will be
speaking at an NFB conference to speak and also do seminars on recreation and
leisure. Jennifer is currently competing in an international competition for
swimming.
Ex-Officio Reports:
¨
Bonda stated that the
Federation is looking at the Civil Service Reform impacts. The Federation would like to keep their voice
in. Bonda thanked the board for
everything that they do. Mike commented
that Bonda really cares about the kids.
Jerry asked if any employees would be added due to the impact of food
services. Dr. Stenehjem stated we would
look at the whole process. Bonda noted
that with the after-school program it adds extra duties to RLC.
¨
Mike reported that the NFB is
having the National convention in
¨
Business Meeting:
New
Business:
Election of Officers.
Discussion was held regarding postponing the election of officers to
September. Kay moved to table the
election to September; Cindy seconded the motion. All approved unanimously. Mike stated he appreciated the job that Joe
has done as the Chair of the Board. Dr.
Stenehjem presented a plaque to Joe recognizing his two years serving as Board
Chairman. Committee
Assignments will also be tabled to the September meeting.
Noel
asked how many CD’s were available that Nick Baker had produced. Dr. Stenehjem shared with the group that Nick
(student at WSSB) wrote the songs and lyrics for the CD. CD’s can be purchased through Kathy Passage
(phone 206-542-7073).
Kay moved to adjourn the meeting, Cindy seconded the
motion. The meeting adjourned at
Joe Fram, Chair Dean
O. Stenehjem, Ed.D.
Superintendent