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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

June Notes From The Wicomico County Board of Education

The Wicomico County Board of Education at its monthly meeting on June 14 approved administrative promotions and received reassignments for the 2011-12 school year, and conducted other business.

Administrative changes taking effect on July 1 are:

Elementary:

Beaver Run Elementary: Melissa Eiler, Principal; Alexan Dargan, Assistant Principal (currently Acting Assistant Principal) (promotion)
Charles H. Chipman Elementary: William Curtis, Principal
Delmar Elementary: Judy Nicholson, Principal (currently Acting Principal) (promotion)
East Salisbury Elementary: Sheila Cain, Assistant Principal
Pinehurst Elementary: Dave Harris, Assistant Principal (currently Assistant Principal for Pinehurst and West Salisbury Elementary)
Prince Street: Jason Miller, Assistant Principal
West Salisbury Elementary: Renee Hall, Assistant Principal
Westside Intermediate: Sue Likovich, Assistant Principal (promotion)
Wicomico Early Learning Center (WELC): Maria Marshall, Principal (promotion)

Secondary:

Bennett Middle: Liza Hastings, Principal (promotion); Kathy Still, Assistant Principal (promotion)
Salisbury Middle: Paige Greenwood, Dean of Students
Wicomico Middle: Brian Briggs, Assistant Principal (promotion)
James M. Bennett High: William Johnson, Dean of Students
Mardela Middle and High: Frederick Briggs, Principal
Wicomico High: Michelle McGoogan and Lavion Bratten, Deans of Students

Central:

Supervisor of Physical Education/Health/Family & Consumer Science: Michael Charlton (promotion)

Supervisor of Guidance and Counseling: Lori Batts (currently Principal, Mardela Middle and High School)
Coordinator of Safe Schools: Andrew Turner (currently Pupil Personnel Worker)

Previously, the Board had made the following appointments:

Dr. Cathy J. Townsend, Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, effective July 1

Robert “Bob” Langan, Director of Technology, effective June 13

Additional details on the promotions and appointments are posted at http://www.wcboe.org/news/superintendent-and-board-of-education-announce-adm.

In other business, the Board of Education:

Moment of Silence

Observed a moment of silence in memory of former teachers Clarinda White and Alice Wooten.

Board Member Proclamation

Paid tribute to Board member Robin Holloway, whose second term on the Board is ending this month. She has served on the Board of Education since 2001, including three years as president from 2006-2009. She has supported public education in many ways: serving on the School Building Commission and as the Board’s representative to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, using her business expertise to help guide the Board in decision making and policy setting, leading the national search for a new superintendent of schools, advocating for school funding and school construction projects, and much more. Though her term expires June 30, Holloway will, by state law, continue to serve until the governor appoints her replacement. [The full text of the proclamation is posted at http://www.wcboe.org/.]

Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent of Schools Dr. John E. Fredericksen reported to the Board that:

The Board has learned that the Wicomico County Council has cut an additional $2 million in funding to the Board of Education, on top of the $5 million already proposed by the County Executive, for a total cut in county funding of $7 million. During work sessions prior to the special meeting to adopt the budget (at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 28), the Board and staff will determine how those cuts will affect instruction and other services to students. A work session was held Thursday, June 16, and another is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 21, at the Board.

Five groups came to the final Superintendent’s Open Door Session of the year in May, to speak with him about staff procedures regarding allegations of student alcohol use at a school event, appointed versus elected school board, health insurance coverage, a student theater project for the United Way, and staff communications.

Not much feedback has been received on the adjusted school start/end times that will take effect for the 2011-12 school year. Comment is welcome at any time.

Expanded seating and additional security were tried for commencement exercises this year, with good results.

Three Wicomico schools have chosen one book for the entire school (students and staff) to read, and that the books are worth checking out. The books are I Beat the Odds (Prince Street Elementary), Red Kayak (Salisbury Middle), and The Skin I’m In (Bennett Middle).

Every senior who also had the credits and community service hours required for graduation met the state’s High School Assessment requirement to receive a diploma. This was the third consecutive year that every senior eligible to graduate with service hours and credits also met the HSA requirement.

The Department of Special Education met or exceeded all areas in a recent major Maryland State Department of Education review on state criteria.

In Transportation news, enough contractors have signed up for supplemental trip agreements to ensure that buses will be available for field trips and extracurricular activities in 2011-12. Additionally, 39% of buses have signed up to have GPS and will have it by the time school starts.

The school system is still working with others in the community to find common ground and solutions to the traffic issues at Onley/Bateman/South Division Street.

The school system is going through a reorganization process, with details coming soon. Forty-six employees took the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Option, and that will reduce the unit cost for staffing throughout the system.

The school system welcomes public input at comments@wcboe.org, the voicemail box at 410-677-5251, or by mail at PO Box 1538, Salisbury, MD 21802. Find information about Wicomico schools, including the Superintendent’s monthly webcast, at http://www.wcboe.org/.

Book Approved for Prince Street

Approved the use of the book I Beat the Odds by Michael Oher for use in the Family Partnership Project at Prince Street Elementary. Teachers and staff members will read the book over the summer or in the fall. Plans will be developed for sharing the book with students in grades 4 and 5 during read-aloud time, and for quotes and themes from the book to be shared with younger students. Oher’s story is an inspiring one that goes far beyond the details made famous in the movie The Blind Side, based on his life.

Policy Revision

Revised the Board’s Criminal Record Check Policy to reflect the Board’s plan to have potential employees – those who have been given a job offer – pay the cost of fingerprinting, which had previously been reimbursed. The cost is approximately $40 for federal and state together.

Memorandum of Understanding

Approved memorandums of understanding/agreements between the Board of Education and the Wicomico County Health Department for June 8-30 and July 1-June 30, 2012, for the provision of services for adolescent addictions treatment.

Joint Use Agreement Modification

Approved a modification of the Joint Use Agreement between the Board of Education and the Department of Recreation and Parks for the waiver of facility use fees for Kids Klub sites at six Wicomico schools, at a level to be set through the Board’s budget process.

Contract Modifications

Approved the addition of $40,319 in contract modifications on the Northwestern Elementary HVAC project, at the recommendation of the engineering firm, for additional work required as part of the school’s HVAC renovation and mechanical modifications.

Rescinded last month’s approval of $29,133.34 in contract modifications on the James M. Bennett High School project to address drainage problems behind Bennett Middle. These ponding problems and poor drainage conditions were created as a result of work associated with the development of the surrounding athletic fields for the high school project. Due to the County Council’s recent indication that funding for the replacement Bennett Middle School will not be available next year or the year after, a more permanent “temporary” solution will be explored to ensure adequate parking availability for Bennett Middle.

Environmental Services Agreement

Voted to accept the proposal from Maryland Environmental Services (MES) and amend the existing Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to incorporate services related to the monitoring, testing and operation of our domestic water treatment facilities at several schools with well source potable water.

Educational Facilities Master Plan

Approved the Fiscal Year 2012 Educational Facilities Master Plan update, which must be submitted to the state by July 1 and will be posted on the Board’s website by July 15. The plan details the school system’s facilities inventory and prioritizes its future plans. A Capital Improvement Plan, with funding requests and budget estimates for each project, will come to the Board later this year.

Food Service Operating Budget

Approved the Food Service Fiscal Year 2012 operating budget, which includes increases in meal prices in accordance with a federal mandate that paid meal prices be increased to ensure that the federal reimbursement for free and reduced-price meals is not helping to cover the cost of paid meals. The cost of paid breakfast and lunch will rise 10 cents, so the following prices will be in effect for 2011-12: Elementary, $1.10 breakfast, $2.10 lunch; Secondary, $1.10 breakfast, $2.35 lunch. Food Service is working on other federal mandates, such as including a protein in each day’s breakfast menu, and increasing the portion size of fruits and vegetables.

Bid and Contract Awards

Approved a new License Agreement with Riverside Publishing Co. to cover the use of test questions for the school system’s benchmark tests. This is a revised License Agreement, because Riverside had previously provided both test questions and test data management, and the management will now be part of Performance Matters. The three-year cost for the agreement with Riverside is $44,011.

Voted to utilize a Baltimore County Public Schools’ contract to purchase Follett Software Co. Destiny Resource Management software for management of small equipment and library collections, for $216,647.14 plus $32,647 in FY13 annual software maintenance.

Approved bids for various musical instruments and pianos, with prices to be used as needed for the purchase of musical instruments and pianos. The low bids for musical instruments came from several companies, while B&B Music was the evaluated low responsive and responsible bidder on pianos.

Awarded a contract for small scale General Contracting services as required to Evans Builders Inc. as the primary vendor and Harkins Contracting Inc. as the secondary vendor for their sample bids on the General Contracting JOC (job order contract).

Voted to utilize the State of Maryland contract with W.W. Grainger Inc. for the purchase of maintenance, repair and operating supplies, on a three-year contract.

Awarded a contract for modular unit relocation and set-up to Modular Technologies Inc. as the evaluated low responsive and responsible bidder. This unit price contract at $6,900 per unit moved will cover the moving, placing on blocks and leveling of modular units as needed.

Awarded the contract for Integrated Pest Management to Orkin Pest Control as the evaluated low responsive and responsible bidder at $15,986.52.

Approved Office Paper contract prices with two bidders for all but two kinds of paper as detailed in the bid papers. The approved prices from Lindenmeyr-Munroe and A.J. Stationers are good for 90 days.

Reports

Approved the monthly personnel matters report for certificated employees and the June budget transfers, and received for information the monthly personnel matters report for classified employees and the monthly report on grant proposals. In the past month, the school system received notification of $60,525 in grant funding, submitted four grants totaling $61,005, and received notice that $661,447 in grant applications were not funded. The Budget Transfers totaled $403,591, all within category, and serve to align dollars with requests from schools and school system needs.

Board Member Reports

Heard from Board member Fitzgerald that James M. Bennett High School’s outstanding baseball season, which ended in a state championship, continued with recognition by the County Council and an appearance by pitcher Zak Sterling in the Brooks Robinson All-Star Game. Sterling pitched two innings and earned the Most Valuable Pitcher award.

Heard from Board member Ronald Willey that he and Board President L. Michelle Wright visited several schools during the year-end heat wave, and they were pleased to see how well students and staff members dealt with the conditions.

Heard from Board Vice President Dr. Tyrone Chase that he attended a wonderful presentation at Bennett Middle at which a Wicomico High graduate now attending Rutgers University shared his experiences in college and athletics.

Heard from Board President Wright that small group is beginning a book study on a Montgomery County book detailing how the school board, employee associations and superintendent have worked together to benefit students.

Heard from Wright that the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium retreat will be on July 7 at Chesapeake College, and Board members are invited to sign up to attend.

Thanked Dr. Faye Wilson, Coordinator of Communications and Family/Community Outreach, for her services, particularly in the area of family involvement. The position of Coordinator of Communications and Family/Community Outreach will not be in the school system budget when the new fiscal year begins July 1.

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