Mill Valley School District Board of Trustees
Regular Meeting No. 18 - May 7, 2001
MINUTES
| Members Present: | Jeffrey Freiberg, Len Gensburg, Monib Khademi, Paula Reynolds, Elizabeth Spencer |
| Administrative Staff: | Barbara B. Young, Superintendent Laurie Harden, Chief Business Official Kerri Mills, Ed.D., Director of Special Education |
| CALL TO ORDER | The Mill Valley School District Board of Trustees, acting as the Governing Board of the Mill Valley School District, met in regular session at 5:30 PM on Monday, May 7, 2001 at the Mill Valley School District Administrative Office, 411 Sycamore Avenue, Mill Valley, CA. President Gensburg called the meeting to order at 5:32 PM. |
| PUBLIC COMMENT / CLOSED SESSION | As there was no public comment, the meeting was adjourned to Closed Session at 5:33 PM. The Board met to confer with labor negotiator Barbara Young, pursuant to Gov. Code §594957.6. |
| RECESS | The Closed Session was adjourned at 6:35 PM in order for the Board to travel to the regular meeting. |
| RECONVENE / REPORT OUT | Mr. Gensburg reconvened the meeting at 7:03 PM at Edna Maguire School, 80 Lomita Drive, Mill Valley. He announced that the Board met in Closed Session with labor negotiator Barbara Young, and that no reportable action was taken. |
| AGENDA | M/S/C Freiberg/Khademi (5-0) to approve the agenda, with Marin Day Schools agreement being an informational item, not an action item. |
| SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS Welcome to Edna Maguire |
Principal Janie Teitelbaum welcomed all to the school, introduced staff present and PTA leaders, and announced that the school had received a Center for Ecoliteracy grant for another year. |
| Garden Club Presentation - Siskin /Simerly |
Fifth grade teacher Anne Siskin and third grade student Sean Simerly reported on Edna Maguire's Garden Club. |
| Superintendent's Awards - Chow / Bell / Long |
Ms. Young recognized Edna Maguire student Sean Simerly for his leadership with the school's Garden Club; honored parent volunteers Myra Chow and Ann Bell for their leadership in creating a Community Concerns Committee at Edna Maguire involving students in a variety of community service projects. Ms. Young also honored Joanne Long, for her many years in the district as a classroom aide and volunteer at Edna Maguire and Strawberry Point Schools. |
| Rotary Donation - Shelter Hill | Ms. Young reported that the Mill Valley Rotary Club is donating over $10,000 to the Shelter Hill Study Hall, acknowledging teachers Bettie Mansen and Adam Sanchez for their service to the study hall. |
| COMMUNICATIONS-Sup't | Ms. Young announced the Middle School Art Show is currently open. |
| Board Reports - Gensburg |
Mr. Gensburg reported that he attended the Redwoods Awards celebration on May 4th, recognizing the teachers and students who were honored; that he met with Ms. Young and the developer of Tennessee Woods to develop a process for payment to the district of equivalent developer and parcel fees for the homes in that new subdivision; that the district is opening negotiations with the residents of Tennessee Glen regarding the on-going collection of equivalent parcel fees for those homes. |
| - Freiberg | Mr. Freiberg requested an additional board meeting in May to address the budget; the Board consensus was to add a meeting on Tuesday, May 29. This will be officially acted upon at the May 21 meeting. |
| - Spencer | Ms. Spencer met with Tamalpais Valley
parents and staff concerned about the wireless technology project; and
reported that the wireless project will not go forward, with the impact
of this change to be reported at the next board meeting. |
| - Reynolds | Ms. Reynolds reported that, as a recent appointee to the Board, she has been visiting all PTAs. She said that the PTAs encourage the Board liaisons to attend key meetings and events at schools. |
| - Khademi | Mr. Khademi reported that he and Mr. Freiberg are meeting with Ms. Young and Ms. Harden regarding the 2001-02 budget. |
| Staff Reports - staff development | Each principal reported on the staff development events of today: MS -curriculum and presentation on Asperger's Syndrome; EM - writing project focus; OM - across grades/curriculum; PK - student writing and school goals; SP - language arts presentation; TV - writing focus and garden. |
| Stakeholders Report | Ms. Young reported that the Stakeholders Group had sent out information regarding areas being considered for expenses reduction or budget expansion; the information is also on the website; and that the group is currently meeting twice a week in preparation for recommendations at May 21 Board meeting. |
| MINUTES - 4/23/01 regular | M/S/C Khademi/Spencer (5-0) to approve minutes of regular meeting of April 23, 2001. |
| 4/25/01 special | M/S/C Khademi/Freiberg (5-0) to approve minutes of special meeting of April 25, 2001. |
| BUSINESS & FISCAL Daycare at Tam Valley |
Ms. Young reported that Marin Day Schools (MDS), current daycare provider at the other K-5 schools, will be awarded the contract for Tamalpais Valley School for 2001-02, and she will meet with MDS Director Pat Burns to finalize the agreement. |
| PERSONNEL Gabbard resignation |
Kit Gabbard, principal of Middle School has accepted a position as the principal at Sinaloa Middle School in Novato, the district in which she worked prior to coming to Mill Valley. Ms. Gabbard was commended for the outstanding job she has done at Middle School for the last four years. |
| - Motion: Gabbard | M/S/C Khademi/Spencer (5-0) to accept, with regret and best wishes, the resignation of Catherine Gabbard as Mill Valley Middle School Principal, effective June 30, 2001. |
| Retirement: Palmer-Collins | M/S/C Freiberg/Khademi (5-0) to accept, with regret and best wishes, the retirement of Carol Palmer-Collins, Middle School teacher, effective June 15, 2001. |
| Principal recruitment update - OM & MS | Ms. Young reported that interviews were held last week for the Old Mill principal position, with several strong candidates and that a recommendation will be presented at the May 21 board meeting. The Middle School principal vacancy has been posted. Ms. Young will meet with staff, parents and students about the new principal. Ms. Young was commended for the fine process she has developed over the years for hiring personnel. |
| Teacher recognitions: Day of Teacher/Golden Bell | Mr. Gensburg read the message that will be sent to each teacher from the Board on Wednesday, May 9, "Day of the Teacher". Mr. Gensburg also read the list of Golden Bell honorees for this year: teachers Sue Akeson (MS); Susan Johnson (EM); Laura Shearer (OM); Shari Graham (PK); Tia Piscitelli (SP); Kathryn Drake (TV); Jordan Sadler (Spec. Ed.); and support personnel: Joline Walsh (MS); Carol Yanagita (EM); Nancy Maher (OM); Anna Davenport (PK); Patrick Minor (SP); and Kami Koldewyn (TV). |
| CURRICULUM/INSTRUCTION Testing - STAR & ETF |
Ms. Young reported that the STAR testing continues, with the State having results back prior to end of school year. Ms. Young also said that the ETF writing and math assessments have been scored, with reports to be sent to parents along with a copy of each student's writing paper and a sample writing exemplar. |
| Parent Program Survey | The parent program survey will
be sent out to all families by tomorrow. Ms. Reynolds suggested
doing a randomized survey in the future to get a representative survey
sampling of our programs and will investigate a process for doing this. |
| District goals 2001-02 | Ms. Young presented a draft of district goals for 2001-02 as a starting point for discussion. Based on input, Ms. Young and Ms. Reynolds will revise draft for further discussion at the added May 29 Board meeting. |
| BUILDINGS & SITES Modernization review |
Project Manager Dave Harding reviewed the scope of summer modernization work to be done at the various sites, saying that all K-5 bids have been awarded and specifics are now being reviewed. Work is scheduled to begin June 18 with substantial completion for occupation prior to school opening on August 27. There are meetings scheduled at sites to reconfirm the scope of work with each staff. Middle School Co-President Cindy McCauley requested that the District Office and Instructional Media Center expenses be removed from the Middle School's budget. She also said that, following meetings with site council and PTSA, the priorities for the Middle School are ADA access and the grading of areas behind the 6th and 7th grade wings, with parking issues #3 due to concerns about safety. The Board will be approving bids at the May 29 meeting. |
| CONSENT AGENDA Warrants |
M/S/C Khademi/Spencer (5-0) to
approve Consent Agenda as follows: - Warrants #0251-6475/6489, dated 04/18/01, for $101,934.50; -8233/8350, dated 04/27/01, for $90,075.95; -8790/8852, dated 05/02/01, for $42,327.94. |
| Personnel: Leaves: Juarez/ Sanchez/Faulkner; Hire: Cho | - Leaves for 2001-02: K. Juarez (1.0); A. Sanchez (1.0); A. Faulkner (.5); temporary certificated employment for 2001-02: Erica Cho. |
| Gift - Bartlett | - Gift to MVSD, Sony Vaio computer, valued at $495, from C. Bartlett. |
| SELPA revisions | - Approval of revisions to Marin SELPA Policies and Procedures, and agreement to implement. |
| ADJOURNMENT | Mr. Gensburg announced that the next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Monday, May 21, 2001, at Mill Valley School District Administrative Office and adjourned the meeting at 9:23 PM. |
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Respectfully submitted, |