RIVERVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 407
CARNATION, WA 98014
Minutes of Board of Directors’ Meeting
April 13, 2010
District Office – Conference Room A/B
CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Oviatt, Board Vice President, called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM, followed by the Pledge
of Allegiance.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Ms. Oviatt, Mrs. Van Noy, Mr. Pflugrath, Mr. Edwards
Student Representative: Ms. Fields
MEMBERS ABSENT
Mr. Bawden
Student Representative: Ms. Bawden
COMMUNICATIONS, AGENDA ADJUSTMENTS AND HEARING OF PUBLIC
Ms. Oviatt announced Mr. Bawden was absent for family reasons and Ms. Bawden was
attending a study session for her AP Calculus exam.
Ms. Oviatt asked if anyone was attending the Cherry Valley Literary High Tea on Thursday.
Both Ms. Oviatt and Mr. Edwards would try to make it. She congratulated the FBLA State
Conference Team, with over 22 members attending. Three students from Cedarcrest had served
as state officers this year. Among the many Outstanding Awards received, Donna Bielstein
received one for Outstanding Director.
Mrs. Van Noy reminded the Board to file their PDC report due April 15. She, along with Mr.
Bawden and Mr. Adamo, attended a meeting of King County school directors last week on the
supplemental levy. Thursday, there is a meeting at Puget Sound ESD about “Race to the Top.”
Mrs. Van Noy thanked Cedarcrest High School students for the amazing artwork and sculptures.
Mr. Edwards read from the Daily Legislative Update from WSSDA for Monday, April 12,
“…we also lost a battle on school district consolidation. The final budget includes $250,000 to
fund Senate-adopted language requiring the establishment of a School District Reorganization
Commission. The Commission will be required to develop and recommend a comprehensive
plan for the reorganization of Washington school districts for review and potential adoption by
the Legislature.”
Ms. Oviatt mentioned the success of the REF Auction on March 27th that raised $27,500 for our
students and staff.
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COMMUNICATIONS, AGENDA ADJUSTMENTS AND HEARING OF PUBLIC, Cont.
Ms. Fields noted that Cedarcrest HSPE testing started today, with AP testing coming up. She
also congratulated DECA students going to the National Competition in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Robertson thanked Mr. Adamo for attending the meeting in Seattle on the supplemental levy
as he was unable to attend. He mentioned Carnation Elementary started classes in the temporary
portables yesterday. With extra help, maintenance moved all rooms in the first three days of
spring break.
Agenda Adjustment
Motion 10-22: To amend the March 23, 2010 Agenda by adding Item B. Establishing Criteria
for determining the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, under New Business; and to
amend the Consent Agenda with Revised Personnel Actions and by adding Item H. Approval of
Out-of-State Travel for Kellie Halverson (Edwards and Pflugrath) Unanimous.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion 10-23: To approve the April 13, 2010 Consent Agenda as amended. (Van Noy and
Oviatt) Discussion followed. Unanimous.
Approval of Regular School Board Meeting Minutes for March 23, 2010
Approval of Warrants
General Fund Warrant No. 175585 through 175751 in the amount of $184,179.28, No. 175881
through 175993 in the amount of $290,759.15, and direct deposits of $9,078.49; Capital Projects
Fund Warrant No. 175752 through 175766 in the amount of $63,720.85, and No. 175994
through 175999 in the amount of $71,302.96; ASB Fund Warrant No. 175767 through 175799 in
the amount of $19,885.51, No. 175809 in the amount of $45.00, No. 176000 through 176035 in
the amount of $22,274.41, and direct deposits of $151.24; and Private Purpose Trust Fund
Warrant No. 175800 through 175808 in the amount of $15,210.95, No. 176036 through 176038
in the amount of $477.72, and direct deposits of $7,282.90. Total payroll for March 31, 2010
was $1,947,264.36, which includes General Fund Warrant No. 175810 through 175880 in the
amount of $651,521.84, and direct deposits of $951,304.22.
Approval of Personnel Actions, as amended
The Board acknowledged Linda Evetts retirement as a bus driver since 1974.
Approval of Service Contracts
Approval of Donations
The Board acknowledged the grant for Stillwater Elementary from The Intermec Foundation,
and the donation by the Linnerooth Team for headsets for the Cedarcrest Drama Department.
Approval of Out-of-State Travel for TSA Students and Staff to National Competition in
Baltimore, MD from June 27-July 3, 2010
CONSENT AGENDA, Cont.
Approval of Surplus of District property trees on Riverview Learning Center site
The district has an offer to buy and remove the trees.
Approval of Out-of-State Travel for Kellie Halverson
OLD BUSINESS
M&O Supplemental Levy (Appendix A)
Mr. Robertson explained the Governor signed a bill permitting school districts to run a
temporary supplemental Educational Program Maintenance & Operations Levy. Since the
Legislature is again cutting funding to school districts, they are permitting school districts to go
to the taxpayers for this one-time levy. This bill temporarily increases our Levy Lid from 24.7%
to 28.7%. The possible election dates are August 17 and November 2, 2010.
In 2009-10 the Legislature eliminated $957,090 in I-728 funding; $55,808 in Math Science
Funds; and $62,000 in State Transportation funding for a total of $1,074,898. In 2010-2011 the
Legislature will eliminate $394,084 in I-728 funding and $131,950 in K-4 Ratio funding for a
total of $526,034. In addition, Riverview has lost considerable federal and state revenue and is
experiencing significant increases in operating expenses.
Carol Van Noy, Riverview Board, and Peter Maier, Seattle Board, organized a meeting on April
7th for King County school districts to discuss the supplemental levy. In attendance were
Bellevue, Enumclaw, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Northshore, Riverview, Seattle, Shoreline,
and Tukwila school districts, along with Puget Sound ESD, League of Education Voters, and K
& L Gates. Another meeting of this group will be held on April 21 at the Puget Sound ESD.
The purpose of the meetings is to coordinate running the supplemental levy and to identify
common language for all districts to use in promoting the levy. Most districts felt August 17th
was better than November 2nd.
Mr. Adamo presented information on projected levy costs and rates per $1,000 of Assessed
Valuation, if the voters approved the supplemental levy. It is estimated that in 2011 and 2012,
the projected rate would be 32 cents; in 2013 it would be 25 cents, and in 2014 it would be 23
cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Mr. Robertson noted that it will be difficult to develop a 2010-2011 budget since we won‟t know
if the supplemental levy will be approved until mid-August. The supplemental levy would
provide approximately $499,000, collected next March.
The Board directed Mr. Robertson to proceed with the supplemental levy for the August 17
ballot.
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NEW BUSINESS
Board Agenda Topics
The Board suggested a Work Study on next year‟s budget for Thursday, April 22, at 5:30 PM in
Conference Room B. Approval of Strategic Plan was added to the May 25 Board Meeting
Agenda and Innovative Programs on the SOAR System was removed from the May 11th Agenda.
Establishing Criteria for Determining the Lowest Responsive and Responsible Bidder
Mr. Robertson explained, with the down economy, there is growing concern over responsible
contractors. This Resolution, prepared by our attorney, would give us an option by using
objective criteria and a process for determining when construction contract bidders are the lowest
responsive and responsible bidder on projects having an estimated cost of $500,000 or more.
Motion 10-24: To adoption Resolution No. 10-02. (Van Noy and Edwards) Unanimous.
RECESS
Ms. Oviatt recessed the Board Meeting at 8:19 PM for a 5-minute break and called the meeting
back to order at 8:24 PM.
REPORTS
NSBA Conference Report
The School Board recently returned from the National School Boards Association Annual
Conference in Chicago, Illinois. They shared some of their experiences.
Mrs. Van Noy was inspired by the General Session speaker, Wynton Marsalis‟ message relating
the history of America through the eyes of jazz. One of her favorite sessions was “Data-Based
Decision Making & Leadership for Response to Intervention (RTI),” using school structure and
resources in ways that improve individual student needs and assess progress. Another session
that was interesting was “New York State‟s Fiscal Oversight and Accountability Training for
School Board Members” which is required for all New York school directors on embezzlement
and audit committees. One session, “Focus On… Getting Accountability Right” by Richard
Rothstein began his explanation of the unintended consequences of No Child Left Behind and his
criticism of Race to the Top. He then explained a better accountability policy that will support
rather than undermine the goal of raising student achievement and substantially narrow the
achievement gap. Mr. Rothstein is the Co-Chair of the National Advisory Council of the
Broader, Bolder Approach to Education Campaign.
Mr. Edwards attended the Legislative Update and Charter Schools were discussed, noting the
administration is very big on Charter Schools with a lot of money going to so few. One very
interesting session was “Can You See Me Now? The Growing Problem of „Sexting‟ in the Public
Schools.” One in five kids is doing this and the information was very useful on how to deal with
cyberbulling and sexting. Another fascinating session was “Professional Development for
Parents: What Districts Can Do to Help Parents Promote Success in the Freshman Year … and
Beyond.” Going from 8th to 9th grade is difficult, but one statistic showed that the 9th grade child
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REPORTS , Cont.
NSBA Conference Report; Cont.
who is engaged and active is 20 times more likely to graduate. The session was mostly about
what parents can do.
Mr. Pflugrath said each conference has a buzzword and this one was “response intervention.”
One of the most emotional presentations was Anthony Mullen, 2009 National Teacher of the
Year. Somewhere in New York there is a school that takes 50 of the worst kids you can find,
with 40% of them wearing ankle bracelets. They graduate 100% and a lot go on to college. One
important thing is they give students a test to tell where the student is age-wise in academic
progress. The other thing, they require parents or guardians, as well as the student, to meet with
an IEP team and they get 100% participation. In our Strategic Plan we‟ve asked how do you
measure parent involvement, he learned there is a tool on the National PTSA website for this.
The last thing he mentioned was he went to a couple of sessions on schools that have beat the
odds on their demographics. One session, “Twelve Secrets of Success: Proven Interventions to
Increase Student Achievement of Poor and Minority Students,” focused on many school
examples, and one was Granger High School in Granger, Washington.
Ms. Oviatt related information from Mr. Bawden. From one session he learned how seriously
underfunded Washington State is, as this district in Connecticut with 2100 students had a $38
million budget. He attended 10 breakout sessions. One session of interest was about students in
an Indiana community that asked for SRO dogs for their high school and every day the dogs are
there with the SRO officer.
Ms. Oviatt attended mostly tech, social media and policy making, teacher effectiveness and
virtual online high school sessions. Ms. Oviatt thanked the District for the opportunity to get this
great professional development and to meet with peers from across the country.
Enrollment Report
Mr. Robertson reported April‟s enrollment was down 7.44 FTE students, which is about average
for April over the years. The month of May will help determine any changes in the projected
budgeted enrollment for next year. The district is still 45.46 FTE above the 2009-10 budget.
Superintendent Report
1. Thank you to Carol Van Noy, Lori Oviatt, Greg Bawden and Danny Edwards for attending
the extremely successful Riverview Education Foundation Dinner and Auction on March 27th
at the Columbia Winery. The event was a huge success with the REF raising roughly
$27,500.
2. Thank you Carol Van Noy and Peter Maier, Seattle School Board member, for organizing the
School Director and Superintendent meeting on April 7th to discuss running a supplemental
levy. This levy would provide an opportunity for local school districts to replace a portion of
the funding eliminated by the legislature during the past sessions. Thank you to Greg
Bawden and Bill Adamo who attended in my place due to illness.
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3. Construction Overview:
Over spring break Carnation Elementary classrooms were moved from the library
wing to the one permanent double portable and three temporary double portable
classrooms. Work was also performed to receive approval from the fire marshal and
building inspector for occupancy. Classes began in the portables on Monday, April
12th.
We will be opening bids on the Carnation Elementary Remodeling Project on April
15 that 3:00 PM. Anticipated bid dates for the three other construction projects are as
follows:
April 22 – CHS Fields Project
April 27 – Riverview Learning Center
May 11 – Cherry Valley Elementary School Remodel
We held our regular design meeting with our architects on the Cherry Valley
Elementary School, Carnation Elementary School, Riverview Learning Center and
Cedarcrest Fields Projects.
We met with City of Duvall staff on their requirements which would increase our
costs in order to receive building permits from the City of Duvall for Cherry Valley
Elementary School and Cedarcrest High School. Mr. Robertson reviewed five items,
in particular, with the Board.
RECESS
Ms. Oviatt recessed the Board Meeting at 9:15 PM and entered into Executive Session at 9:15
PM to discuss REA Negotiations for approximately 30 minutes.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
REA Negotiations
ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Oviatt called the meeting back to order at 9:36 PM. There being no further business, she
adjourned the April 13, 2010 School Board Meeting at 9:36 PM.
________________________________
Board President
___________________________________
Board Secretary
MINUTES PREPARED BY
Cheryl B. Layman, Recording Secretary to the Board of Directors.
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