Notes on the MCCSC School Board meeting of December 10, 2013
Before I launch into my informal minutes, here are my thoughts about what was interesting about this meeting: First, two parents spoke about their happiness with classrooms that give their children lots of chances to collaborate with other students, explore, and do hands-on projects. I hope you will read the summary that follows (I think Cathy has posted her remarks in full, as well). Do your children have access to these kinds of opportunities? Are teachers at your schools encouraged to do projects that encourage children's creative engagement with subject matter? If there is not much time or support for this kind of instruction, or for social studies or science, our board members need to hear from you. Also, at last month's board meeting, parent and Fairview PTO co-president Deborah Myerson spoke in appreciation of Artful Learning at Fairview and called on the board to consider equity in access to thematic and experiential learning opportunities. I encourage you to go to http://catstv.net/, enter "MCCSC" into the CATS search engine, and listen to the public comment at both the December and November board meetings; it comes right at the beginning.
Second, in board comments at the end of the meeting, Sue Wanzer made a compelling case that the board should take a public stand against HJR-6, the constitutional amendment that would permanently ban all protections for same-sex couples and their families. If this amendment passes, that would affect the school district's ability to hire and it would also have a direct impact on MCCSC students who are children of same-sex couples. Sue asked for discussion of this issue to be put on the agenda for the January meeting. No other board members responded in their comments to this issue or to Sue's request. This board does not like to think of itself as a political body and seems unlikely to respond positively to Sue's request. If you think that the board should make a statement regarding HJR-6, I would encourage you to e-mail them and to consider writing a letter to the editor.
Third, there was a detailed presentation on the commitment of IU's music school to MCCSC students (including programs at Fairview and Templeton). It is remarkable in its depth and the amount of outside funding that is coming in.
Third, this meeting was interesting for what was not mentioned. Tommy Richardson's retirement from the position of principal at Fairview received no mention, nor did the fact that Tammy Miller will replace him for the remainder of the year. I asked Bev Smith after the meeting, who would be taking on the job of the director of elementary curriculum for Ms. Miller. Bev said that Ms. Miller would continue to hold that position as well, with assistance from Carol Gardiner, the former R-BB asst. superintendent who joined the administrative team last month as a grant writer.
Also, there was no mention during the meeting of the hiring of a School Resource Officer who will carry a firearm and coordinate security measures at the schools. I only learned about this part from the H-T article the next day--but I was there during the whole meeting. The hiring was included far down in the text of the Personnel Recommendations, which was available online to anyone clicking on attachments to the agenda. It puzzles me that there would be no public description or discussion (other than a written one embedded in agenda documents) of the role and purpose of this position. Will the role involve disciplining students?
Okay, on to the minutes…
Jenny Robinson
1. Public comment (3 minute limit)
Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer spoke of her gratitude for the "awesome" school her third grader attends. She described a social studies project on Native Americans that his split 3/4 class shared with parents and other students. The children worked in groups on different themes. Some built structures with duct tape. Another group presented on gender roles, another on food. One group made a hand-sewn dress. Her son participated in the story-telling group. The school librarian had worked closely with them to help them think about story structure as they retold a story in sections; she had helped them practice, recording them with iPads so they could view and hear themselves and adjust their presentation. They gathered around a flashlight "campfire" in a darkened room and told their story for groups of fellow students. Cathy said that this project allowed the children to master subject matter even as they created things and solved problems. The use of technology supplemented their hands-on learning. She asked board members to reach out and ask whether opportunities like this were consistently in place for children across the district. Do all children get social studies and hands-on projects? Accountability means ensuring that all students get equal access to dynamic and engaging environments.
Another parent, Amy Makice, followed up on the theme of gratitude. She spoke of her thankfulness for her kids' classroom. She moved across town for a chance to be in a multiage, child-centered K-6 classroom, and she loves volunteering there. The younger kids surrounded by older ones who can help them, and the class embraces the different developmental paths of different students. She worked with a kindergartner last year who was "lapping fourth graders." The older kids get practice in leadership and citizenship. Amy said, "Let's celebrate what's going right. This multiage room is one of those things that's going right. My kids find snow days and delays annoying, they are so eager to get to school."
3. Foundation Report (Mrs. Helm, foundation director): Last night was the end of the "Reading, Writing, Bidding" fundraiser. The spirit of philanthropy was rolling through that web site. We gained $1500 in the last fifteen minutes, and we hit our fundraising goal with the help of generous donor. I also want to thank bidders and folks who donated items. Items from Nick's walls earned $2700. We want to remind people about "NAP credits," a tax incentive for donations to community nonprofits [http://indianapublicmedia.org/communityminute/neighborhood-assistance-program-releases-20112012-credits/]. We are in the middle of sending our annual renewal letters--they describe the power of philanthropy to help us stay on mission. We're thrilled when we're able to put things in classrooms for teachers.
4. Update from Superintendent DeMuth: Thanks to the board for your commitment in a challenging and rewarding year, thanks for making time for the community conversations…there were some recurring themes in those, and I hope to have a status report in January. Let's remind ourselves…all we do comes down to what it does for our kids. I want to wish best wishes to students, staff, parent and community members for focused time with families. Thanks for your commitment to children. And thanks to principals Pillar and Gilpin and students at Jackson Creek and Bachelor for the art decorating our wall.
5. Celebration of Success (Mrs. Chambers):
a) Patrick and Glenda Murray are longtime supporters of Fairview and longtime volunteers. They are staff members of IU and residents of Prospect Hill. We recognize them for their belief in Fairview and their belief that everyone can make a difference. They have a love and appreciation for books and try to make sure that each kid at Fairview gets at least one book a year to take home and own.
b) A group of food service workers was honored for their response to student hunger. They collected $800 in food items for Community Kitchen's backpack buddies program for a number of MCCSC schools and Edgewood. President Angela Lucas (Highland Park food service supervisor) said, "I'm not word savvy, but we really wanted to get involved with the community, so we started out with our children. We take care of them during the week and want to during the weekend as well. Our next project will support the Pregnancy Crisis Center."
c) Spanish teacher, Melissa Mitra, at the Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship (ASE) received Rising Star award given by Indiana Foreign Language teachers' congress (for teacher in first five years). This is the second year in a row that a teacher from MCCSC has received this honor. She said, "Thank you for hiring me, I've had a lot of fun teaching here. This is a competitive district to get into." Her students do a Spanish language radio broadcast.
d) Two students from ASE--Morgan Huntington, on the winning team, and Brandon Arbuckle--attended the immersion Start-Up weekend, learning the basics of start-ups. The Bloomington winning team introduced a new concept for fashion app. Morgan: "I signed up two days before, we had no idea what we were getting into. We were with a lot of college students and called a lot of businesses. I got to experience real-world stuff which was pretty cool."
ASE principal: We've got an open house Thursday night, we're in the middle of recruitment season. One of most popular things: kids can schedule an appointment to come shadow a freshman at the school.
e) Fairview students under the tutelage of art teacher Rory Reynolds have crafted a holiday card collection being sold by Fairview PTO and in locations around B'ton.
f) South has transitioned back to washable trays instead of disposable. On the first day, they had a big reduction in trash, from 54 bags to 9 bags.
g) [I believe a student, Neil, was honored for participation in a radio club, but somehow I pretty much missed this one--JR]
6. Curriculum update from Jan Bergeson, speaking for Tammy Miller. This was a presentation on a partnership with IU school of music. Ms. Bergeson introduced Gwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music, and he gave the presentation:
The IU pre-college program serves 1200 students, most from MCCSC. It includes the IU children's choir, piano, young winds, ballet, harp, guitar. One of longest-standing efforts is the MAC presentation program. It was started in 60's with the goal of introducing students to live performances in the MAC. In 2nd grade: come to MAC for wind, 3rd: ballet, 4th: opera, 5th: ?, 6th: jazz. Kids are bussed to MAC and returned to school. Several years ago, when MCCSC could no longer pay for the buses, we took on the cost of transporting--at first it was done by RCA, then we went to individual donors, now we pay. Many retired music teachers from MCCSC started this program and are invested in its continuation.
We recently experimented. Could we take the MAC performances to IPS through a digital broadcast? We took a recent West Side Story program into school. The hardest thing was to get images into school through the firewall. We made it possible for students to blog questions to stage director. We're asking, can this be done broadly.
Kids Compose is a new program for elementary students to compose work. Winning compositions are played at a MAC concert.
Roundabout Opera for Kids (started by one faculty member) is privately funded by grant money.
Many MCCSC students participated in last week's Hansel and Gretel.
Music education department has student teachers.
The Fairview project. Several years ago we charted the students in our pre-college program. It was not a diverse spread throughout the community. We approached the superintendent, Jim Harvey, and he said "Go to them." We visited a program in Riverside, suburban Detroit. That was how the Fairview String Program was born. We wanted to bring instruction in an instrument into the public schools, push the study of an instrument down into first grade. Students get three days a week of instruction during the school day. We got students to give up a recess. We've come to love carpet squares. We've learned a lot. The first funding for instruments came from Indy family, the Burkes (sp?), then Shalin Liu from Massachusetts. She gave us $210,000, and now this fall it's up to $350,000.
The 1st and 2nd graders all do it, and for later grades continuation is optional.
A program at a small school in Attica, Indiana, was inspired by the Fairview project. That school corporation hired a string specialist as full-time faculty member.
At Templeton, this year, we started teaching all 1st graders guitar. (We had done a pilot program there for two previous springs). We use stools instead of carpet squares. The Yamaha corporation donated these instruments. We also needed Foundation funding from IU's development office.
I want you to meet Brenda Brenner, IU faculty.
Brenda Brenner: want to thank you in person. I have been at IU since 1993 and am co-director at the Strings Academy. My heart and soul are really connected to what I do at Fairview and at Highland Park. I want to introduce two girls from Fairview who were in my first class there. Chloe and Alyssa both do an after-school group. We want these kids to be able to continue with IU Strings program. These girls will sign up for middle school orchestra next year. Next Monday at 3:00 and at 6:00 there are musical performances at Fairview that I encourage you to attend.
Chloe and Alyssa played violin pieces beautifully.
Keith Klein: How pleased we are with what you are doing at school…also thrilled with how you are using technology…now streaming opera across world.
David Sabbagh: For me, one thing that makes Bloomington Bloomington is the Jacobs School…we have the culture of the big city and it costs us very little. I can hear a world-class musician on a Saturday, in my shorts, and not paying for parking. What makes them better is giving to the community. I'm impressed as hell. Gwyn talked about being relevant. Be revenant and innovative. What they're doing is amazing. The educational system has to be relevant in today's world, not yesterday's world. Thank you, Gwyn, for your leadership.
Lois: I thank you two young performers so very much. Maybe I enjoyed it more than anybody, because I play the violin too. It is one of the most fun things you can do. I hope you will continue. The violin playing was very much appreciated, and by me more than anybody. Brenda is a friend of mine. When I knew you would do this program, I knew it would be humane…about people. In the arts, you measure with your heart. There is nothing more beautiful and miraculous then to send that foundation out into the world. This board is phenomenal. They understand the arts. Nobody had to argue about whether we should do this or not. Please come back and bring more wonderful young musicians as you have brought tonight.
7. Update from Talent and Diversity specialist, Diane Hanks
[Oh, dear, we are missing a board member. Where is David Sabbagh? Out in the hall with the Dean from the music school.--JR]
On Nov. 7 and 12th, we held workshops, inviting all employees of underrepresented groups. We also did a survey and received 105 responses of more than150. On the survey, respondents reported:
--generally satisfied with current job.
--feel comfortable and respected in departments
--opinions and input are listened to by employes.
--Work environment is inclusive.
Areas for consideration:
--Provide a mentoring program.
--Create a welcoming committee to connect to school community and community at large
---Educate all employees on how to negotiate the system and advocate for themselves when applying for open positions
--Develop an outreach procedure to help employees understand the importance of knowing policies and procedures in order to reach full potential.
Summit feedback: Other employers have no more answers than we do. There are some strategies at IU that we feel we can work with. We now have a contact person at IU for spousal hires--though they have different hiring seasons. Also, we will collaborate with South Central Indiana Human Resources Association; they have a central data base. In January, I will begin to meet with principals.
Sue Wanzer: We're all on board. What percentage of staff showed up?
Diane H: First session, not as many as we hoped, next session was much better. And they all received the survey.
8. All of the consent agenda passed with unanimous support from the board.
9. Donations: over $1700
10. New Business
a) Personnel report. New staff: one certified teacher, 9 support staff, 7 substitutes. [No mention of Mr. Richardson retiring from being principal of Fairview and going back to teaching. No mention of SRO officer being hired; I learned of this business of the meeting through the H-T the next day, not at the meeting--JR]
Retirement: Bev Elkins--secretary for MCCSC social services department. Jeanine B: speaks personally of working with her, wishing her the best in retirement
b) Recommend approval of collective bargaining agreement that includes average 2% increase for AFSME support staff. This is consistent with the increase for non-union support staff. Randy Tackett, AFSME approved. All approve. Randy Tackett: Thanks very much, Merry Christmas. Dr. DeMuth: This was a time-consuming, meticulous process, thanks to all who joined us at table.
c) Contracts. Ten recommending for approval. Asking for permission to buy fuel for six months. Also, for renovation at Rogers: $486,000 for interior to Building Associates.
Board comments:
1) Sue asked the board to oppose the constitutional amendment opposing gay marriage in a statement to state superintendent and legislators. She asked that it be put on agenda for January meeting for discussion and vote. Sue: This constitutional amendment would be harmful to state and economy and would keep us from recruiting best possible staff members. I believe that we should take a position as a body on this, not as individuals. To make statement that we value all children no matter what.
2) Kelly Smith: It's great to hear what's right in our district from two parents, great to see two students perform on their violins. These are opportunities that aren't in many schools in the state or the nation. I don't think I really appreciated what was going on. It's the Jacobs School, one of best music schools in world. We have to celebrate uniqueness and successes of this corporation.
3) Martha Street: Next week, there is an opportunity to go to both Highland Park and Fairview to hear students perform, and I encourage the community to do that
4) David Sabbagh: I just wanted to echo Kelly and Martha.
5) Jeanine Butler: These performances are amazing. IU paid for buses to bring parents to sit in audience at MAC.
6) Keith Klein: We have amazing people as part of this corporation.
Before I launch into my informal minutes, here are my thoughts about what was interesting about this meeting: First, two parents spoke about their happiness with classrooms that give their children lots of chances to collaborate with other students, explore, and do hands-on projects. I hope you will read the summary that follows (I think Cathy has posted her remarks in full, as well). Do your children have access to these kinds of opportunities? Are teachers at your schools encouraged to do projects that encourage children's creative engagement with subject matter? If there is not much time or support for this kind of instruction, or for social studies or science, our board members need to hear from you. Also, at last month's board meeting, parent and Fairview PTO co-president Deborah Myerson spoke in appreciation of Artful Learning at Fairview and called on the board to consider equity in access to thematic and experiential learning opportunities. I encourage you to go to http://catstv.net/, enter "MCCSC" into the CATS search engine, and listen to the public comment at both the December and November board meetings; it comes right at the beginning.
Second, in board comments at the end of the meeting, Sue Wanzer made a compelling case that the board should take a public stand against HJR-6, the constitutional amendment that would permanently ban all protections for same-sex couples and their families. If this amendment passes, that would affect the school district's ability to hire and it would also have a direct impact on MCCSC students who are children of same-sex couples. Sue asked for discussion of this issue to be put on the agenda for the January meeting. No other board members responded in their comments to this issue or to Sue's request. This board does not like to think of itself as a political body and seems unlikely to respond positively to Sue's request. If you think that the board should make a statement regarding HJR-6, I would encourage you to e-mail them and to consider writing a letter to the editor.
Third, there was a detailed presentation on the commitment of IU's music school to MCCSC students (including programs at Fairview and Templeton). It is remarkable in its depth and the amount of outside funding that is coming in.
Third, this meeting was interesting for what was not mentioned. Tommy Richardson's retirement from the position of principal at Fairview received no mention, nor did the fact that Tammy Miller will replace him for the remainder of the year. I asked Bev Smith after the meeting, who would be taking on the job of the director of elementary curriculum for Ms. Miller. Bev said that Ms. Miller would continue to hold that position as well, with assistance from Carol Gardiner, the former R-BB asst. superintendent who joined the administrative team last month as a grant writer.
Also, there was no mention during the meeting of the hiring of a School Resource Officer who will carry a firearm and coordinate security measures at the schools. I only learned about this part from the H-T article the next day--but I was there during the whole meeting. The hiring was included far down in the text of the Personnel Recommendations, which was available online to anyone clicking on attachments to the agenda. It puzzles me that there would be no public description or discussion (other than a written one embedded in agenda documents) of the role and purpose of this position. Will the role involve disciplining students?
Okay, on to the minutes…
Jenny Robinson
1. Public comment (3 minute limit)
Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer spoke of her gratitude for the "awesome" school her third grader attends. She described a social studies project on Native Americans that his split 3/4 class shared with parents and other students. The children worked in groups on different themes. Some built structures with duct tape. Another group presented on gender roles, another on food. One group made a hand-sewn dress. Her son participated in the story-telling group. The school librarian had worked closely with them to help them think about story structure as they retold a story in sections; she had helped them practice, recording them with iPads so they could view and hear themselves and adjust their presentation. They gathered around a flashlight "campfire" in a darkened room and told their story for groups of fellow students. Cathy said that this project allowed the children to master subject matter even as they created things and solved problems. The use of technology supplemented their hands-on learning. She asked board members to reach out and ask whether opportunities like this were consistently in place for children across the district. Do all children get social studies and hands-on projects? Accountability means ensuring that all students get equal access to dynamic and engaging environments.
Another parent, Amy Makice, followed up on the theme of gratitude. She spoke of her thankfulness for her kids' classroom. She moved across town for a chance to be in a multiage, child-centered K-6 classroom, and she loves volunteering there. The younger kids surrounded by older ones who can help them, and the class embraces the different developmental paths of different students. She worked with a kindergartner last year who was "lapping fourth graders." The older kids get practice in leadership and citizenship. Amy said, "Let's celebrate what's going right. This multiage room is one of those things that's going right. My kids find snow days and delays annoying, they are so eager to get to school."
3. Foundation Report (Mrs. Helm, foundation director): Last night was the end of the "Reading, Writing, Bidding" fundraiser. The spirit of philanthropy was rolling through that web site. We gained $1500 in the last fifteen minutes, and we hit our fundraising goal with the help of generous donor. I also want to thank bidders and folks who donated items. Items from Nick's walls earned $2700. We want to remind people about "NAP credits," a tax incentive for donations to community nonprofits [http://indianapublicmedia.org/communityminute/neighborhood-assistance-program-releases-20112012-credits/]. We are in the middle of sending our annual renewal letters--they describe the power of philanthropy to help us stay on mission. We're thrilled when we're able to put things in classrooms for teachers.
4. Update from Superintendent DeMuth: Thanks to the board for your commitment in a challenging and rewarding year, thanks for making time for the community conversations…there were some recurring themes in those, and I hope to have a status report in January. Let's remind ourselves…all we do comes down to what it does for our kids. I want to wish best wishes to students, staff, parent and community members for focused time with families. Thanks for your commitment to children. And thanks to principals Pillar and Gilpin and students at Jackson Creek and Bachelor for the art decorating our wall.
5. Celebration of Success (Mrs. Chambers):
a) Patrick and Glenda Murray are longtime supporters of Fairview and longtime volunteers. They are staff members of IU and residents of Prospect Hill. We recognize them for their belief in Fairview and their belief that everyone can make a difference. They have a love and appreciation for books and try to make sure that each kid at Fairview gets at least one book a year to take home and own.
b) A group of food service workers was honored for their response to student hunger. They collected $800 in food items for Community Kitchen's backpack buddies program for a number of MCCSC schools and Edgewood. President Angela Lucas (Highland Park food service supervisor) said, "I'm not word savvy, but we really wanted to get involved with the community, so we started out with our children. We take care of them during the week and want to during the weekend as well. Our next project will support the Pregnancy Crisis Center."
c) Spanish teacher, Melissa Mitra, at the Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship (ASE) received Rising Star award given by Indiana Foreign Language teachers' congress (for teacher in first five years). This is the second year in a row that a teacher from MCCSC has received this honor. She said, "Thank you for hiring me, I've had a lot of fun teaching here. This is a competitive district to get into." Her students do a Spanish language radio broadcast.
d) Two students from ASE--Morgan Huntington, on the winning team, and Brandon Arbuckle--attended the immersion Start-Up weekend, learning the basics of start-ups. The Bloomington winning team introduced a new concept for fashion app. Morgan: "I signed up two days before, we had no idea what we were getting into. We were with a lot of college students and called a lot of businesses. I got to experience real-world stuff which was pretty cool."
ASE principal: We've got an open house Thursday night, we're in the middle of recruitment season. One of most popular things: kids can schedule an appointment to come shadow a freshman at the school.
e) Fairview students under the tutelage of art teacher Rory Reynolds have crafted a holiday card collection being sold by Fairview PTO and in locations around B'ton.
f) South has transitioned back to washable trays instead of disposable. On the first day, they had a big reduction in trash, from 54 bags to 9 bags.
g) [I believe a student, Neil, was honored for participation in a radio club, but somehow I pretty much missed this one--JR]
6. Curriculum update from Jan Bergeson, speaking for Tammy Miller. This was a presentation on a partnership with IU school of music. Ms. Bergeson introduced Gwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music, and he gave the presentation:
The IU pre-college program serves 1200 students, most from MCCSC. It includes the IU children's choir, piano, young winds, ballet, harp, guitar. One of longest-standing efforts is the MAC presentation program. It was started in 60's with the goal of introducing students to live performances in the MAC. In 2nd grade: come to MAC for wind, 3rd: ballet, 4th: opera, 5th: ?, 6th: jazz. Kids are bussed to MAC and returned to school. Several years ago, when MCCSC could no longer pay for the buses, we took on the cost of transporting--at first it was done by RCA, then we went to individual donors, now we pay. Many retired music teachers from MCCSC started this program and are invested in its continuation.
We recently experimented. Could we take the MAC performances to IPS through a digital broadcast? We took a recent West Side Story program into school. The hardest thing was to get images into school through the firewall. We made it possible for students to blog questions to stage director. We're asking, can this be done broadly.
Kids Compose is a new program for elementary students to compose work. Winning compositions are played at a MAC concert.
Roundabout Opera for Kids (started by one faculty member) is privately funded by grant money.
Many MCCSC students participated in last week's Hansel and Gretel.
Music education department has student teachers.
The Fairview project. Several years ago we charted the students in our pre-college program. It was not a diverse spread throughout the community. We approached the superintendent, Jim Harvey, and he said "Go to them." We visited a program in Riverside, suburban Detroit. That was how the Fairview String Program was born. We wanted to bring instruction in an instrument into the public schools, push the study of an instrument down into first grade. Students get three days a week of instruction during the school day. We got students to give up a recess. We've come to love carpet squares. We've learned a lot. The first funding for instruments came from Indy family, the Burkes (sp?), then Shalin Liu from Massachusetts. She gave us $210,000, and now this fall it's up to $350,000.
The 1st and 2nd graders all do it, and for later grades continuation is optional.
A program at a small school in Attica, Indiana, was inspired by the Fairview project. That school corporation hired a string specialist as full-time faculty member.
At Templeton, this year, we started teaching all 1st graders guitar. (We had done a pilot program there for two previous springs). We use stools instead of carpet squares. The Yamaha corporation donated these instruments. We also needed Foundation funding from IU's development office.
I want you to meet Brenda Brenner, IU faculty.
Brenda Brenner: want to thank you in person. I have been at IU since 1993 and am co-director at the Strings Academy. My heart and soul are really connected to what I do at Fairview and at Highland Park. I want to introduce two girls from Fairview who were in my first class there. Chloe and Alyssa both do an after-school group. We want these kids to be able to continue with IU Strings program. These girls will sign up for middle school orchestra next year. Next Monday at 3:00 and at 6:00 there are musical performances at Fairview that I encourage you to attend.
Chloe and Alyssa played violin pieces beautifully.
Keith Klein: How pleased we are with what you are doing at school…also thrilled with how you are using technology…now streaming opera across world.
David Sabbagh: For me, one thing that makes Bloomington Bloomington is the Jacobs School…we have the culture of the big city and it costs us very little. I can hear a world-class musician on a Saturday, in my shorts, and not paying for parking. What makes them better is giving to the community. I'm impressed as hell. Gwyn talked about being relevant. Be revenant and innovative. What they're doing is amazing. The educational system has to be relevant in today's world, not yesterday's world. Thank you, Gwyn, for your leadership.
Lois: I thank you two young performers so very much. Maybe I enjoyed it more than anybody, because I play the violin too. It is one of the most fun things you can do. I hope you will continue. The violin playing was very much appreciated, and by me more than anybody. Brenda is a friend of mine. When I knew you would do this program, I knew it would be humane…about people. In the arts, you measure with your heart. There is nothing more beautiful and miraculous then to send that foundation out into the world. This board is phenomenal. They understand the arts. Nobody had to argue about whether we should do this or not. Please come back and bring more wonderful young musicians as you have brought tonight.
7. Update from Talent and Diversity specialist, Diane Hanks
[Oh, dear, we are missing a board member. Where is David Sabbagh? Out in the hall with the Dean from the music school.--JR]
On Nov. 7 and 12th, we held workshops, inviting all employees of underrepresented groups. We also did a survey and received 105 responses of more than150. On the survey, respondents reported:
--generally satisfied with current job.
--feel comfortable and respected in departments
--opinions and input are listened to by employes.
--Work environment is inclusive.
Areas for consideration:
--Provide a mentoring program.
--Create a welcoming committee to connect to school community and community at large
---Educate all employees on how to negotiate the system and advocate for themselves when applying for open positions
--Develop an outreach procedure to help employees understand the importance of knowing policies and procedures in order to reach full potential.
Summit feedback: Other employers have no more answers than we do. There are some strategies at IU that we feel we can work with. We now have a contact person at IU for spousal hires--though they have different hiring seasons. Also, we will collaborate with South Central Indiana Human Resources Association; they have a central data base. In January, I will begin to meet with principals.
Sue Wanzer: We're all on board. What percentage of staff showed up?
Diane H: First session, not as many as we hoped, next session was much better. And they all received the survey.
8. All of the consent agenda passed with unanimous support from the board.
9. Donations: over $1700
10. New Business
a) Personnel report. New staff: one certified teacher, 9 support staff, 7 substitutes. [No mention of Mr. Richardson retiring from being principal of Fairview and going back to teaching. No mention of SRO officer being hired; I learned of this business of the meeting through the H-T the next day, not at the meeting--JR]
Retirement: Bev Elkins--secretary for MCCSC social services department. Jeanine B: speaks personally of working with her, wishing her the best in retirement
b) Recommend approval of collective bargaining agreement that includes average 2% increase for AFSME support staff. This is consistent with the increase for non-union support staff. Randy Tackett, AFSME approved. All approve. Randy Tackett: Thanks very much, Merry Christmas. Dr. DeMuth: This was a time-consuming, meticulous process, thanks to all who joined us at table.
c) Contracts. Ten recommending for approval. Asking for permission to buy fuel for six months. Also, for renovation at Rogers: $486,000 for interior to Building Associates.
Board comments:
1) Sue asked the board to oppose the constitutional amendment opposing gay marriage in a statement to state superintendent and legislators. She asked that it be put on agenda for January meeting for discussion and vote. Sue: This constitutional amendment would be harmful to state and economy and would keep us from recruiting best possible staff members. I believe that we should take a position as a body on this, not as individuals. To make statement that we value all children no matter what.
2) Kelly Smith: It's great to hear what's right in our district from two parents, great to see two students perform on their violins. These are opportunities that aren't in many schools in the state or the nation. I don't think I really appreciated what was going on. It's the Jacobs School, one of best music schools in world. We have to celebrate uniqueness and successes of this corporation.
3) Martha Street: Next week, there is an opportunity to go to both Highland Park and Fairview to hear students perform, and I encourage the community to do that
4) David Sabbagh: I just wanted to echo Kelly and Martha.
5) Jeanine Butler: These performances are amazing. IU paid for buses to bring parents to sit in audience at MAC.
6) Keith Klein: We have amazing people as part of this corporation.