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Tri-City Register
School board approves tentative tax levy
By Byron Painter
Editor
There were many topics of discussion at the Tri-City school board meeting last Thursday night.
The board approved the boys basketball team to stay overnight at the Stanford Olympia
Tournament later this month; the school is not providing money, but all overnight stays must be
approved per the policy manual, noted Superintendent Dave Bruno.
The board approved (also 6-0, Brunson absent) the tentative tax levy; while it was set at 26.67
percent, the school district is tax-capped, meaning the actual levy will come nowhere near that
amount (Bruno will have a column in a future paper about this).
Bruno overestimated growth in the EAV (equalized assessed valuation) to ensure that the district
“captures all growth available to us.
“We are going to ask for more than we know we can attain,” Bruno said.
The board discussed plans for an upcoming board/staff retreat, and hopefully the teacher’s
union will be involved as well, said Bruno; sometime in January has been thrown out.
Bill Marvin will now be the new Education Foundation representative on the board, replacing
Mike Boggs; Marvin was the rep for CACC, and now Bobbie Moore will take his slot.
Bruno updated the board on SASED’s decentralization plans, which the goal is 2011-12.
“I do not see any major changes” in 2010-11, Bruno commented.
There are some new price quotes from Blue Cross Blue Shield regarding insurance, Bruno
noted, and there are no plans to switch.
The board has switched its main savings account (and the one General State Aid goes into) to a
different bank “to attain a better interest rate on our investments,” said Bruno.
The current rate is in the 1.2 percent rate, while Bruno noted the new rate at the other bank will
be in the 1.8-1.9 percent range.
Bruno and county board representative David Mendenhall will be meeting with county board
chairman Andy VanMeter about the 1 percent county sales tax that has been discussed in recent
months; the duo will try to encourage county board support of the tax.
Bruno is also on a committee trying to put together a ‘political luncheon’ where local elected
officials, such as Larry Bomke, Rich Brauer and Bill Mitchell and others, will sit down and be able
to ask questions in a more friendly environment.
During Kara Cummins’ Elementary Principal report, she noted that 281 of 304 parent teacher
conferences were attended.
She also discussed the Dome Theatre, which was funded by the Education Foundation; it will
allow grades K-7 to focus more on science activities.
Another grant funded by the Foundation will enable the elementary building curriculum library to
expand and provide more resources to teachers to use in manipulatives to better differentiate in
instruction.
The recycling program is going well, and the month of November is focused on giving to the
local food pantry, with each week (into the first week of December) focused on a different area,
from paper goods and coin collection to toiletries and dry box goods.
There was some discussion about ‘transitional kindergarten,’ which affects several T-C
students each year, the students in between Pre-K and regular kindergarten because of their late
birthdays.
There is a program in Athens, according to Bruno, who said the district is looking into its options
on how to better serve these affected students.
Cummins also discussed a plan for the elementary to benefit from anyone who makes
purchases at Best Buy; the store’s Rewards program will allow the purchaser to donate points to a
school of their choice.
The discipline problems in the high school and middle school have dropped, according to
principal Duane Schupp’s report.
The number of parent-teacher conferences were down, but that was attributed to the greater use
of Skyward.
Professional Development Coordinator/Technology Coordinator Christy Kindel discussed
collaboration at various levels, including Sturdy/Ayers/Lewis at the middle school; they are working
on a Civil War lesson.
Mr. Price, Shumaker and Uptmor have been working on a collaboration through percentages
and metrics in relation to scientific terms and knowledge.
There will continue to be weekly meetings in the elementary school as well, with Kindel working
with the teachers on purchasing materials for the curriculum library and what is needed to most
benefit students.
Kindel is starting to plan a technology-based curriculum for next year, and if finances allow, there
are plans to purchase an online-based math program to be used for fifth graders entering sixth
grade math; if those students test out, they would be allowed to take pre-algebra as well, which in
turn would allow for more opportunities at the high school level, according to Bruno.
In conjunction with Lincoln Land, T-C hopes to set up a distance learning system, with the goal a
live feed of a college class being beamed to Tri-City during the school day, noted Bruno; this would
allow juniors and seniors to gain college credit while still in high school.
The courses would be general education courses.
Ms. Ward and Ms. Jones also are working on a project, using geometry sketch pads to help
elementary teachers, according to Bruno, with the goal to infuse higher-level math into the lower
grades.
The board approved by 6-0 votes the second reading of the IASB Press Plus information, the
audit and a revised SASED policy, where just two sentences were changed.
The school will now also be involved in providing the arrangements for eighth grade recognition
nights at the last home game of the season; before the school was not directly involved.
After a second trip into executive session, the board voted 6-0 to send a disciplined student to
the Safe School until the end of the semester. There was another discipline issue, but the board
did not take a vote on that issue.
The meeting adjourned just short of 11:30 p.m., after starting just before 7 p.m.; two lengthy
executive sessions were included.
By Byron Painter
Editor
There were many topics of discussion at the Tri-City school board meeting last Thursday night.
The board approved the boys basketball team to stay overnight at the Stanford Olympia
Tournament later this month; the school is not providing money, but all overnight stays must be
approved per the policy manual, noted Superintendent Dave Bruno.
The board approved (also 6-0, Brunson absent) the tentative tax levy; while it was set at 26.67
percent, the school district is tax-capped, meaning the actual levy will come nowhere near that
amount (Bruno will have a column in a future paper about this).
Bruno overestimated growth in the EAV (equalized assessed valuation) to ensure that the district
“captures all growth available to us.
“We are going to ask for more than we know we can attain,” Bruno said.
The board discussed plans for an upcoming board/staff retreat, and hopefully the teacher’s
union will be involved as well, said Bruno; sometime in January has been thrown out.
Bill Marvin will now be the new Education Foundation representative on the board, replacing
Mike Boggs; Marvin was the rep for CACC, and now Bobbie Moore will take his slot.
Bruno updated the board on SASED’s decentralization plans, which the goal is 2011-12.
“I do not see any major changes” in 2010-11, Bruno commented.
There are some new price quotes from Blue Cross Blue Shield regarding insurance, Bruno
noted, and there are no plans to switch.
The board has switched its main savings account (and the one General State Aid goes into) to a
different bank “to attain a better interest rate on our investments,” said Bruno.
The current rate is in the 1.2 percent rate, while Bruno noted the new rate at the other bank will
be in the 1.8-1.9 percent range.
Bruno and county board representative David Mendenhall will be meeting with county board
chairman Andy VanMeter about the 1 percent county sales tax that has been discussed in recent
months; the duo will try to encourage county board support of the tax.
Bruno is also on a committee trying to put together a ‘political luncheon’ where local elected
officials, such as Larry Bomke, Rich Brauer and Bill Mitchell and others, will sit down and be able
to ask questions in a more friendly environment.
During Kara Cummins’ Elementary Principal report, she noted that 281 of 304 parent teacher
conferences were attended.
She also discussed the Dome Theatre, which was funded by the Education Foundation; it will
allow grades K-7 to focus more on science activities.
Another grant funded by the Foundation will enable the elementary building curriculum library to
expand and provide more resources to teachers to use in manipulatives to better differentiate in
instruction.
The recycling program is going well, and the month of November is focused on giving to the
local food pantry, with each week (into the first week of December) focused on a different area,
from paper goods and coin collection to toiletries and dry box goods.
There was some discussion about ‘transitional kindergarten,’ which affects several T-C
students each year, the students in between Pre-K and regular kindergarten because of their late
birthdays.
There is a program in Athens, according to Bruno, who said the district is looking into its options
on how to better serve these affected students.
Cummins also discussed a plan for the elementary to benefit from anyone who makes
purchases at Best Buy; the store’s Rewards program will allow the purchaser to donate points to a
school of their choice.
The discipline problems in the high school and middle school have dropped, according to
principal Duane Schupp’s report.
The number of parent-teacher conferences were down, but that was attributed to the greater use
of Skyward.
Professional Development Coordinator/Technology Coordinator Christy Kindel discussed
collaboration at various levels, including Sturdy/Ayers/Lewis at the middle school; they are working
on a Civil War lesson.
Mr. Price, Shumaker and Uptmor have been working on a collaboration through percentages
and metrics in relation to scientific terms and knowledge.
There will continue to be weekly meetings in the elementary school as well, with Kindel working
with the teachers on purchasing materials for the curriculum library and what is needed to most
benefit students.
Kindel is starting to plan a technology-based curriculum for next year, and if finances allow, there
are plans to purchase an online-based math program to be used for fifth graders entering sixth
grade math; if those students test out, they would be allowed to take pre-algebra as well, which in
turn would allow for more opportunities at the high school level, according to Bruno.
In conjunction with Lincoln Land, T-C hopes to set up a distance learning system, with the goal a
live feed of a college class being beamed to Tri-City during the school day, noted Bruno; this would
allow juniors and seniors to gain college credit while still in high school.
The courses would be general education courses.
Ms. Ward and Ms. Jones also are working on a project, using geometry sketch pads to help
elementary teachers, according to Bruno, with the goal to infuse higher-level math into the lower
grades.
The board approved by 6-0 votes the second reading of the IASB Press Plus information, the
audit and a revised SASED policy, where just two sentences were changed.
The school will now also be involved in providing the arrangements for eighth grade recognition
nights at the last home game of the season; before the school was not directly involved.
After a second trip into executive session, the board voted 6-0 to send a disciplined student to
the Safe School until the end of the semester. There was another discipline issue, but the board
did not take a vote on that issue.
The meeting adjourned just short of 11:30 p.m., after starting just before 7 p.m.; two lengthy
executive sessions were included.
Issue Date: Nov. 19, 2009