May 23, 2014 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

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There is a retirement party for Bill Sobania on Saturday, June 28 at approximately 3:00 PM.  Gary and Julie Kloss will be hosting the celebration at their home one mile east of Royalton on the north side of the road.

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Region 5 schools in central Minnesota recently shared with each other district level employee salaries and benefits for their schools.  I attached the salaries and benefits buildings and grounds supervisors receive in some of the other schools.  Unfortunately, several schools did not share their information.

As I had stated at the board meeting on Monday, Bill's replacement will likely come in at or above his salary.  You will see in the document Bill's salary did not keep up with his years of experience.

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I shared the attached documents for master tasks timelines at the facilities planning committee meeting on Thursday.  I separated out tasks and timelines for each group or committee so that it didn't feel so overwhelming.

Recruiting community members on each of the 6 committees is our most important task right now.  Mary and I are working to keep us covered in the other areas (e.g., community survey).  I'm going to work with the principals to recruit and assign employees on the 6 committees. 

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Paul said the architectural fees/costs for a failed referendum is $4,850.  This figure, however, is eliminated if we win! or we try again with him as our architect.  You can find the $4,850 on page 9 in the attached document.

Also, I want to draw your attention to pages 2 & 3 in the same document.  The chart on page 3 illustrates ARYs team of Architects and Engineers that has served School Districts for over 20 years and 400 projects..

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Please find attached samples of RFPs we've received so far from other school districts.  I forward them on to Tom Ollman for input as I combine and write one for Royalton.  I need any feedback you have by Wednesday or Thursday.  We need to advertise next week and I need a document to send interested companies.  Also, Paul Youngquist is going to give it a look over for us too.

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Terry at MCR has been receptive to receiving school-related articles from Royalton.  Carrie Ardito and I thought we had everything set and we were scheduled to roll on through the beginning months of next school year.  We have a schedule for various community and employees to follow.

Terry has had some recent ideas/concerns that are confusing to Carrie and me.  We'll get it straightened out...I hope.  I know communication in the MCR has been an important request of the board and the timing is more important than ever.

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I had a follow up conversation with Bill about the water coolers.  We'll be ordering 6 replacements at the MS/HS and 3 at the elementary.  The cost for each one is just a little over $1,000 plus installation.  We'll use our deferred maintenance dollars for the new water coolers.  The timing of install will be during the beginning months of summer. 

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Please find Kevin Rupp's response to the board's question about the June 12, 2018 date in 4.a.  Also, find I made changes to other language (e.g., course to coursework, 12 credits instead of 15, etc.).

Please call me, in advance of the next board meeting, with your thoughts/questions.  I'd like it all ready to go when I bring it back in the June board meeting for approval.  

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Please find attached our recent historical record for kindergarten enrollment.  It appears 2014-15 is shaping up similar to 2011-12.

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Please find attached RESPs request to negotiate.  I have also received requests from the nurse, food service, custodians, and transportation.  

The question I have for the board is are we going to continue negotiating with these groups separately or since they all fall under the "terms and conditions of employment" should they be coming in together and receiving the same or similar pay and benefit increases? 

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Joy Mooney has been our media center para for the last few years.  She was the individual we had in mind for the .5 technology integrationist position.  Surprisingly to us administrators and David, she turned in her letter of resignation this week.  She was in disagreement with our plan to go .5 FTE in 2014-15 and then 1.0 FTE in 2015-16.  We can only afford so much and the additional $400 plus dollars per pupil comes in 2015-16.

It is our recommendation to now wait another year for the technology integrationist position.  We'll advertise a full time position in 2015-16 and pick up someone really great! 

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Just a quick FYI that Meredith Posch has requested an extended leave of absence.  I'll need to review the REM contract when I'm back in the office next week.  We've done this for other teachers in the past.  Meredith is a very good Title teacher!  She doesn't necessarily like school boards or administrators, but she is great with students who are in need of a little extra academic support.

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Dr. Gurbada included me in an email he sent the elementary teachers and support staff.  It is more great news about our elementary test scores and academically moving students forward!  His comments to the employees are found below.

Congratulations to the 2nd grade teachers, PreSchool-Grade 1 teachers, Title 1, SPED staff, volunteers, and all others who worked with these students.  Our 2nd Grade national percentage scores on the Iowa Basic Skills Test were as follows:

Reading:  74%
Language 73%
Math 77%

These are our top overall scores on record.  Our goal has been to achieve 70% in all areas---this is a high goal---so to surpass it is tremendous.  It shows what can be done when everyone is focused and works together to support each other.  This is likely the last year we will take the Iowa Basic Skills Test as we will transition to FAST.  Great work everyone!

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An article came across my desk that I thought was worth sharing.  We are going with Spanish instruction in all elementary grades.  I copied and pasted some of the comments from the attached article.

“Empathy,” the executive replied—the ability to understand and respect different cultural points of view.  It’s not hard to find employees who are smart, the executive told November. What are hard to find are employees who can empathize with, and be sensitive to the needs of, people from other countries.

 “Learning another language gives students more opportunities.”

Learning another language in the early grades often results in the development of native or near native pronunciation and intonation, research suggests. That’s why the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recommends that students “be provided the opportunity to learn a second language as early as possible in school.”

Other benefits to learning other languages in the early grades include “strengthening of literacy in students’ first language, raising standardized test scores in other subject areas, and developing comfort with cultural differences,” the organization says.

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Please find attached the weekly bills for your approval.