Board Briefs—September 18, 2007 In This Issue... Public Comments Board Member Reports Highlights from Superintendent's Report Charles Hay PYP Update   Authorize the Transfer of $590,424.25 from Reserves to General Fund District Communication Consensus

Public Comments
Mr. Bob Seckman, 6th grade teacher at Bishop Elementary, addressed the Board about the concerns that the Englewood Educators have regarding the inability of the district to reach a settlement in contract negotiations with the teachers. There were several teachers at the Board meeting supporting Mr. Seckman's message. Stating that the teachers recognize the financial challenges of the district but were in support of the actions of their negotiating team. Mr. Seckman mentioned that the teachers are not convinced that the best process has been applied to meet their requests. Teachers are concerned about being asked to relinquish certain financial opportunities that have been in place for many years. Mr. Seckman said the teachers think the extension of the negotiating process is not in the best interest of the students.

Board Member Reports
Ms. Thompson announced the Education Foundation's "Fall Fling" event would be November 3rd at 6:00 p.m. at the Hampden Hall in the Englewood City Center.
Mr. Gorsky mentioned that he and Ms. Miller would be meeting with students at EHS the first Friday of every month to maintain open communication. He offered to also meet with CFAHS students.
Ms. Hunt attended the CASB Legislative Resolution Committee meeting. Two resolutions submitted by Englewood were forwarded for consideration at the CASB Delegate Assembly. One resolution concerned funding for English Language Learners and the other concerns equitable funding for school districts with declining enrollment.
Ms. Miller along with Ms. Olga Wolosyn were guest speakers at the dedication of the inline hockey rink. Ms. Miller stated this recreation area looks phenomenal and is a nice addition for Englewood kids. The Strings Attached group had their first meeting of this school year and report having many new applicants to the program. Englewood Parks and Recreation recently received three awards for their outstanding aquatics program. Ms. Miller also stated the City had received funding from Open Space to pay the first installment on the Duncan property.

Highlights from Superintendent's Report
Dr. McCabe informed the Board that the election results from the county would not be certified until after the November 20th Board meeting and requested that the meeting be moved to a later date. The Board agreed to move the meeting to Monday, November 26. At this meeting the Board will certify the election, give the oath of office to new members and reorganize by electing officers. Dr. McCabe announced the district is celebrating the Pirateer Newspaper and staff for winning first place in the Quill and Scroll competition. The City has approved changing the EHS Homecoming Parade route. This year it will start at Englewood Middle School and proceed north on Delaware, east on Tufts and north on Logan passing Clayton and Cherrelyn Elementary Schools. Ms. LaPlante was asked to provide current enrollment status and announced enrollment is up a little over the projected enrollment figures. This is good news but does not mean actual enrollment is up; only that enrollment is slightly higher than what was projected.

Charles Hay PYP Update
Ms.Mary Vedra along with Ms. Chris Laney-Barnes, Principal of Charles Hay Elementary, and International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinators Nancy Weiss and Gail Stein provided an overview and update of the primary and middle years programs at Charles Hay and Englewood Leadership Academy. The goals of the IB program include that students become active, compassionate and lifelong learners. The program strives to instill a thirst for knowledge and aligns with the district focus areas of a guaranteed and viable curriculum, standards based teaching and learning and developing systems approach for organizational alignment. Ms. Weiss provided information on the "Programme of Inquiry" six main learning topics; who we are, where we are in place and time, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves and sharing the planet. Students acquire a vast array of knowledge in these areas from kindergarten through fifth grade. The teachers using state standards and district curriculum as their guide develop the actual curriculum. Teachers develop the concepts the students will learn and the methods to assess their learning. This is a labor-intensive process and requires staff commitment to the program. Ms. Stine emphasized that the teachers are designing meaningful learning for their students. Ms. Laney-Barnes stated that there is also an action component to the program requiring community service of students. Learning a foreign language is part of the emphasis to connect to the world. The IB program teaches kids to be sensitive to people and knowledgeable of the entire world.

Transfer of $590,424.25 from Reserves to General Fund  
The Board approved the transfer of funds to pay for the adjustment required by the audit for 2003, 2004 and 2005. The district contested the finding of CDE auditor Tracey Cantrell, based on the fact that students have been counted in the same manner for many years. Students were not funded due to scheduling requirements that the auditor noted were not met. Ms. Della Porter addressed the Board stating she and the records department provided additional information to support CFAHS student numbers but the auditor refused to accept the information. This situation is basically unfair. Ms. Porter stated that the Englewood students and community are near and dear to her heart and she deeply regrets this situation. The Board members mentioned that the district had a strong case to contest the audit findings but CDE refused to consider the information. The Board offered Ms. Porter their support and acknowledged CFAHS as an outstanding and unique school.

District Communication    
Mr. Gorsky requested a discussion on the district's communication. The Board desires to celebrate and inform the community of the many positive things in the Englewood Schools. Larger districts have the ability to fund staff that provides communication on an ongoing basis. The Board would like to find ways to promote the good things happening in Englewood. The Board agreed to have Ms. Thompson pursue arranging for an evaluation of the current process. Ms. Thompson stated that a good communications plan should not be too difficult to implement because we are small. The Board agreed to consider budgeting for this process.

Consensus Items
The Board approved the following consensus items:
a. Personnel Recommendations and addendum
b. JEB Kindergarten Entrance Age, JEA Compulsory Attendance Ages, JFAB Continuing Enrollment of Students who Become Nonresidents, JFBB and JFBB-R Open Enrollment, JFABD and JFABD-R Homeless Students which replace policy 5111 2nd Reading
c. 2007-08 VI-B Federal Grant Application
d. 2007-08 99-457 Federal Grant Application
e. Title X McKinney Vento Grant

Note: items marked with * are available as handouts on the School Board Meetings page.    

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