HAYDEN SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. RE-1
BOARD OF EDUCATION
SPECIAL MINUTES
April 7, 2015
Vice-President Frentress called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m. in the Board Meeting Room.
Roll call was taken and the following Board members were present: Fralick, Frentress and Fulton. Nereson was absent and
excused. Administrative members present were Linsacum, Parrott, Sweetser, Vader and Zabel.
The group recited the Pledge.
~ Mr. Hoza entered the meeting at 4:16 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
On motion by Fulton, seconded by Fralick, it was resolved to approve the agenda as presented.
ROLL CALL VOTE: Fralick aye, Frentress aye, Fulton aye, Hoza aye
Motion carried 4 to 0.
Discussion
Budget ~ Ms. Vader informed the board that all major stakeholders are present and each group will be given about 15
minutes to present. It was decided that Mrs. Fralick would be the time keeper.
Superintendent/Finance Director ~ Mrs. Linsacum shared current financial information of the district. She explained that
with the declining enrollment funding will be down over $90,000. Mrs. Vader further explained that the majority of the
decline happened after the October count. She said there is always a decline in the fall and then we have an influx of
students in January and February, but that just didn’t happen this year. Mrs. Linsacum also shared information on some of
the budget increases as well as a breakdown of salaries, benefits, and other expenses. Ms. Vader stated that some of the
possible suggestions for savings were furlough days, cost of a FTE and going to the PPO 5 on the health insurance. Ms.
Vader said she will let the principals discuss the possibility of changing the insurance since they have had conversations
with their staff. She said we really need to try and do what the staff wants on the insurance. Mrs. Linsacum updated the
board on the current school finance proposals that are before the legislation right now. Based on the current information, if
the supplement is funded, we would receive an additional $220.12 per student. There is also the possibility of an additional
$299 per student as a one-time funding opportunity that we are still waiting to hear on. She explained that would be
approximately $110, 000 of additional money if that goes through. Further discussion was held. Mr. Hoza asked for
clarification on the timeline of when the decisions would be made on the school finance. Mrs. Linsacum said it’s usually
around mid-April before we hear anything. At this time the only thing we are guaranteed is the additional $81,000. Ms.
Vader shared a study of the enrollment in our district compared to the number of teachers over about a twenty year period.
She noted that all of the information was obtained from CDE. Mrs. Fralick asked for clarification on the number of current
teachers and if it was just certified staff. Ms. Vader replied that it was certified staff only. Ms. Vader commented that the
declining enrollment has been pretty slow, but steady. Handouts were also shared with classroom sizes for both the
elementary school and the secondary school. Ms. Vader said she has had discussions with the administrators regarding
savings with the possibility of removing one full time employee. She further explained that she has had discussions with
Mr. Kleckler on behalf of HEA. He had informed Ms. Vader that HEA felt that the cut of a full time employee could be
done through attrition. Details of the FTE costs and savings were shared. Mr. Kleckler said they are proposing attrition;
however, it would be up to the administrators and the board to make those decisions. Mr. Hoza said it needs to be attrition
that can be absorbed and the only way to do that is to move staff around. Mrs. Linsacum commented that another item not
listed was our Title I teacher was only paid half-time by the district with additional Title I funds to pay for the second half.
Mr. Hoza asked if we have confirmation that we will have folks planning to move on. The principals confirmed that we
did. Mrs. Zabel stated that Jody Harvey, Deb Yoast, Jenny Lewis and Mark Clarke have all submitted letters. Mrs.
Sweetser said she will have one, but it has not been announced to staff yet.
Elementary Principal ~ Mrs. Rhonda Sweetser, commented that she did not come to the meeting prepared to talk about
staff. She said she met with her staff to come up with ideas on possible cuts. She said some of the ideas discussed were
students transportation fees, as well as pros and cons of those additional charges. Moving back to a 4-day week, with
complications and moving over to the PPO 5. Mrs. Sweetser said there were also discussions on having a part-time
superintendent again. Mrs. Sweetser said the one item that was unanimous amongst her staff was not to have a pay cut.
Mrs. Sweetser said that some of the questions that came up during the elementary meter were clarification on what the
districts reserves were and further detail on the overall budget. She noted that they also talked about the possibilities of
private donations, restaurants that contribute a percentage to the school on a certain night, as well as having conversations
with the gas and electric companies about savings. Mrs. Sweetser commented that even if we weren’t in a budget crunch
these are ideas that maybe we should looking at anyway. Mr. Hoza asked about what the transportation fee was. Mrs.
Sweetser said they looked at $40.00 for an example. Discussion was also held on the free and reduced students.
Secondary Principal ~ Mrs. Zabel shared a summary of some possible savings discussed by her staff. They were as
follows: getting rid of Microsoft Office, charging for overnight trips, getting rid of in town busing, however, safety was a
concern. She said they also discussed the possibility of a part-time superintendent. Mrs. Zabel also shared a variety of
ways of marketing that could be done. Mrs. Zabel stated that she does have some resignations and one of the easiest and
most natural transitions would be with the dean of students and activities director. Mrs. Zabel further explained that she has
too many offerings and just doesn’t feel she can make it happen with just one teacher teaching some of the subjects. She
noted that as far changing the insurance her staff voted 13 to stay with the PPO 4 and 2 voting to move to the PPO 5. Mrs.
Zabel feedback was also received claiming it was a little late in the year to be coming up with ways to save. She said the
secondary staff thought it would be better to stay status quo this year and then really work hard on the budget next year if
need be. Discussion ensued. Mr. Hoza asked for clarification on the dean of students. Mrs. Zabel said they were thinking
about having a lead teacher in the middle school and the high school. Discussion was also held on the District Assessment
Coordinator position and other responsibilities that would need to be shifted throughout the district.
HEA ~ Mr. Kevin Kleckler informed the board that HEA currently has 33 members. He shared the following “absolutes”
that were discussed at the last HEA meeting:
1. Keep the PPO 4.
2. Have a 1% pay raise with steps as well as the additional $500 for employees that are maxed out on the salary
schedule.
3. No furlough days. He noted they are not good for students or staff.
4. Convert employees 10 sick days and 2 personal days to just 12 days of time off.
He said they discussed what they can do to help with the projected deficit of approximately $237,000. Some of the
suggestions made were to fill positions from within the district; for example through attrition. The possibility of receiving
additional funding that is currently being discussed at the legislative level. Discussion and clarification were held regarding
the additional funding. Insurance for retirees was also a discussion at the HEA meeting. Mr. Kleckler explained that if you
retire from the school district with 15 years of service, you can still be on the school insurance and pay for it out of your
own pocket. He said PERA offers a post retirement insurance program which retirees could use rather than staying on the
school’s insurance and the district instead absorbing the usage increase that we’ve been seeing from retirees. Mr. Kleckler
commented that it looks like the district is looking at about a $700,000 ending fund balance where some boards are
comfortable with a $500,000 ending fund balance. Mr. Hoza said that we were trying to keep at least three to four months
of funding on hand. Discussion ensued.
Board of Education ~ Mr. Frentress thanked everyone for all of the input on the budget discussion. He said it helps give
them an idea at what the different schools are looking at. He commented that these decisions are very tough and never
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easy. He said we need to wait and see what the government will do for us as well as trying to look at everything as equal as
possible. Mrs. Fralick said that she wishes that we could oblige people and have some of these conversations earlier in the
year, but with the legislations and enrollment, it’s very difficult to start much earlier than this. Mr. Hoza elaborated by
saying “unless there’s pressure it’s hard to think about counts”. He continued by saying one of the challenges is not only
fiscal responsibility, but the coverage of roles. Roles come with name and it gets difficult to come with shifts in jobs or
even in full time going to part time with certain roles. We as a district hold on to things that we have for as long as we can
until it comes to crunch time before we realize we can make some sacrifices. Mr. Hoza said he has received a lot of
questions about class sizes in the arts, woods, and music programs. He said the questions is how do we maximize staff we
have and still have the offerings as well as support student development. Mr. Hoza commented that it’s the extra things
that are often the motivator for many students. He said we need to brutally honest as to why people come here and the
standards that we need to meet. He stated with the declining enrollment we tend to hang on and hang on and at some point
you have to make adjustments. Mr. Hoza said he supports paying the people we have well, especially since they are
continually being asked to do more and more. Mr. Fulton said that he is coming to the realization that to make cuts it’s
going to hurt our school district. He said he has also been hopeful that things would turn around, but they just haven’t. Mr.
Fulton stated that we need to look at where the cuts will do the least amount of damage. Mr. Hoza brought up the topic of
dual enrollment. He commented that with dual enrollment we could offer advanced classes for free. Discussion ensued.
Mr. Hoza also brought up scheduling of secondary classes. For example he said band for middle school students is split up
by grade and the high school is altogether. Mr. Hurshman shared information on the schedule and why it’s set up the way it
was. Mrs. Fralick noted that Mr. Hoza is bringing up a valid point as to where we may have to make some consolidations.
Mr. Hurshman said that originally he had 25 students signed up for band, but due to scheduling conflicts 6 students weren’t
able to take his class. Mrs. Zabel said that happens across the board in the scheduling at the secondary school and the fewer
people you have the more you’re going to have those conflicts. Mrs. Bush said that if we are going to look at dual
enrollment she would like to see that we utilize both CNCC and CMC. Mr. Hoza said it’s actually a service area issue. The
school district has to choose the college they want to be their service provider. He said there needs to be an understanding
of what the provider offers and along as the colleges aren’t stepping on each other’s toes they may be able to work thing
out. Further details were discussed. Mrs. Sweetser informed the board that it getting more and more difficult to teach
multi-grade classes and that’s something we need to think about for the future as well. She also explained that the music
and p.e. teachers see every student every day. Mr. Hoza asked about the results of the BOCES special education
assessment for special education teachers. The administrators replied that we are right where we need to be with our
teacher/student ratio. Mr. Hoza said we need to talk about the next process of getting the budget to a place of conclusion.
Mrs. Linsacum said that we typically do contracts for teachers at the April board meeting; however, we don’t approve the
salary schedule until May. Mrs. Fralick asked the other board members if they wanted to try to shore up the full $191,000
or look at partial recovery. Mr. Hoza replied that he would be willing to look at partial recovery at this time. Mr. Fulton
asked for clarification on the budget deficit. Ms. Vader replied that we are currently projecting a deficit of approximately
$237,000. Mrs. Vader said that if the administrators suggestions were put into place it would be a savings of $138,339.
Further clarifications were made. With the suggestions made by HEA it would be a saving of approximately $155,000.
Discussion ensued. Discussion was also held regarding some of the different roles that are currently being filled by some
of our employees, such as the Gifted and Talented Coordinator and the District Assessment Coordinator and how those
roles could be filled by the abilities to do those jobs. Mrs. Fralick said that she would like to see the board get to the point
where they need to cut a certain amount of money and possibly positions. Mrs. Linsacum commented that through attrition
we would just have to move positions around a little bit. Mrs. Bush said that she agreed with Mr. Hoza and certain
positions that could absorb some of the extra jobs. Discussion ensued. Mrs. Fralick commented that she has been coming
to board meeting for a long time hearing that if the staff wants to keep the pay increases then cuts were eventually going to
come. She said nobody likes them and they are never easy. Mr. Fulton said that he’d be willing to look at making up a
portion of the shortfall at this time. Mr. Hoza commented that if we cut $137,000 at this time and we get the additional
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funding of $110,000 it saves us for another year. Ms. Vader said that she feels that the district needs to be very proactive in
marketing the district. She said the housing market has been driving potential families and students away. She commented
that the marketing needs to have a professional look as well as include input from the staff. Discussion was held on the
possible ways to market the district. Mr. Hoza said that he is trying to look at challenging ways that these situations have
been handled in the past. He shared information on some of the concerns that has been brought up to the board in the past.
Mr. Fulton asked if they should give the principals an amount that they need to cut from their budgets. The board agreed
that the principals know a lot more about how things need to work for optimum results. Mrs. Fralick said that she felt the
principals need the boards’ guidance on some of these decisions. Mr. Kleckler said he was concerned about the timing of
some of these budget decisions. Ms. Vader said the directive they need to hear from the board is the amount that the board
would like to see cut. Mr. Hoza commented that he would be comfortable with the scenarios that have been developed.
Mrs. Fralick stated that she would be comfortable with cutting the deficit in half with the understanding that if things don’t
turn around we’ll be back here next year doing the exact same and looking at personnel cuts. Discussion ensued. Mr.
Fulton said he would like to give the administrators a dollar amount that they need to cut. Discussion was held on making
equitable cuts at both buildings. Mr. Hoza said that’s very difficult since we’re trying to compare “apples” to “oranges”.
He said you just can’t compare the two campuses since they have such different needs. Mrs. Bush suggested that they put
the big ideas down so everyone can see all of the chips that are on the table. Ms. Vader said that the administrators have
been discussing this since February and the cuts that were originally listed are the ideas they have come up which equals
$138,000. Mrs. Fralick said that attrition is a great thing to do, but it doesn’t always work and that we need to do what’s
best for students and the district. The board suggested a cut of $140,000 for this year. Mrs. Zabel said she won’t be
replacing the dean of students and will be going back to the ½ time Spanish teacher. Mrs. Sweetser said she will no longer
have the computer lab para. She also commented that over the years the elementary has taken the brunt of the budget cuts.
Mr. Hoza said that another issue is the possibility of different calendar schedules. Ms. Vader said that she thinks that she
and the administrators need to go back to the table and come back with the $140,000 in budget cuts. Mr. Hoza said he
would like to see the cuts made with the possibility of some additional cuts made. He said he would like to keep looking at
the PPO 5 health insurance options as well as steps and some of the other items that have been discussed. Mr. Fulton
commented that we need to continue to look at some of the ideas that were brought up at the beginning of the meeting like
charging a transportation fee. Mr. Hoza shared a few other ideas that the administrators could possible look at. Mr.
Kleckler said that HEA was very clear with their 33 members or 92% of the staff that they wanted to keep the PPO 4 and
the 1% salary increase. He said he felt like you need to take care of the “people that brought you to the dance”.
Board Debriefing
ADJOURNMENT
On motion by Fulton, seconded by Fralick, it was resolved to adjourn the special meeting of the Board of Education at 6:56
p.m. on April 7, 2015.
ROLL CALL VOTE: Fralick aye, Frentress aye, Fulton aye, Hoza aye
Motion carried 4 to 0.
___________________________
Brian F. Hoza, President
Hayden School District
______________________________
Sharon Nereson, Secretary
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