DELAWARE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
MONDAY, MAY 18, 2020
6:30 p.m.
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
MINUTES
Present: Adam Williams, President; Trent Fox, Vice President; Lance Engle, Secretary; Jacob Case, Member; John Adams, Member; Darin Gullion, Assistant Superintendent; and Reece Mann, Superintendent
An Executive Session was held at 5:45 p.m. at the Administration Building.
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CALL TO ORDER
At 6:30 p.m. Board President, Adam Williams, called the meeting to order.
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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
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AMEND AGENDA
A motion was made by Lance Engle and seconded by Jacob Case to amend the agenda, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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MINUTES
A motion was made by John Adams and seconded by Trent Fox to accept the minutes of the business meeting held on Monday, May 4, 2020. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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FINANCE
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A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Jacob Case to accept the list of vouchers, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Purchases over $7500:
A motion was made by John Adams and seconded by Lance Engle to approve the following (item 1):
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Prentke Romich Company Grants $7,390.00
(Eye Glaze Device) Federal Medicaid Fund +$8,090.00
$15,480.00
The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Christopher Conley, Delta High School Principal, stated they are discussing still holding graduation the day Emens is currently booked. He stated depending on what they see from the State in regards to recommendations for crowds, they have talked about using the football stadium and the alternate to that is to hold it inside in the gym. He stated they are looking at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 11th and regardless of where they hold it, they will have to limit the public. He stated they don’t like having to do that, but that is where they are right now and this is assuming they are still allowed to do this. He commented that Emens was perfect because they could have social distanced and been able to line the graduates out the doors, but they will make the best of what they can do. He stated they’ve also discussed if it works well, they may decide to do it this way from now on and host their own. He stated it will be different for the Board due to no handshakes or hugs when they present the diplomas. He gets choked up when he thinks about that and stated he is not going to stand up with the Board because if he stands up there, he is going to grab a kid or two and shake hands or hug and they just can’t do that. He stated this is what they are discussing and it still honors the graduates in an appropriate way.
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NEW BUSINESS
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Mr. Kile informed the Board about Textbook Rental-1st Reading.
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Certified Staff
A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Jacob Case to approve the following (items 1-5):
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Recommendation to employ Kristi Guerin as a Speech-Language Pathologist at Royerton Elementary School effective for the 2020-21 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.
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Recommendation to employ Mary Willaert as a Teacher at Delta High School effective for the 2020-21 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.
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Recommendation to employ Alexis Myers as a Teacher at Delta High School effective for the 2020-21 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.
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Recommendation to employ Lorie Crouch as a Teacher at Delta High School effective for the 2020-21 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Recommendation to employ Jonie Crawford as a Teacher at Delta Middle School effective for the 2020-21 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.
The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Classified Staff
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A motion was made by Lance Engle and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the resignation of Hannah Drown, Instructional Assistant at Eaton Elementary School, effective immediately. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Extra-Curricular
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A motion was made by John Adams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the resignation of James Thompson, Academic Coach and Social Studies Department Chair at Delta Middle School, effective at the end of the 2019-20 school year. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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A motion was made by Lance Engle and seconded by Jacob Case to approve the recommendation to employ Mackenzie Dye Conley as a Head Varsity Cross Country Coach at Delta High School effective for the 2020-21 school year. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Conference Requests/Field Trips
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A motion was made by Jacob Case and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the request for Curt Grams to attend the PLTW Computer Integrated Manufacturing Training to be held virtually from July 27, 2020 through August 7, 2020. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Information and Proposals
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Superintendent
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A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Lance Engle to approve the cancellation of Summer Blast 2020, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Mr. Mann informed the Board about Policies 0164.4, 0165, 0167.1, 0167.3, and 8416-1st Reading.
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A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by John Adams to approve Project 20-Awarding of Bids and Notice to Proceed with Meyer-Najem Construction, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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A motion was made by Lance Engle and seconded by Jacob Case to approve the Performance Stipend, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.
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Mr. Mann informed the Board about the following fundraisers:
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Chris Overholt, Delta Football, requests permission to sell Gold Cards from August 3, 2020 through August 12, 2020, as presented. Proceeds go towards practice packs, team meals, and equipment.
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Tara Dragoo, DMS Cheer, requests permission to sell Mega Dough from May 25, 2020 through June 12, 2020, as presented. Proceeds go towards uniforms, apparel, bows, team bonding events, and cheer banquet.
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Assistant Superintendent
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Use of Facilities:
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None.
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LETTERS/NOTES
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BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
John Adams – Mr. Adams stated it’s good to see everyone and hates we are all so far apart, but at least we are here and able to conduct a meeting in the same room. He stated graduation is a big deal and he hates what all has taken place and happened, but it has. He gave a shout-out to Mr. Conley, Mr. Mann, and all those involved with planning. He knows it’s been frustrating and stated it will be worth it and the kids will enjoy it. He stated the least we can do is send them off in the best way we possibly can. He thanked everyone for working on it and knows the kids and parents will greatly appreciate it. He stated he works in a different county and hears a lot about eLearning and has also heard some different perspectives about teachers and schools. He stated as bad as Covid is, we certainly don’t want people sick or in the hospital, but one thing that’s come from all this is a new emphasis on education as to what happens in the classroom and schools on a daily basis. He’s sure the Board will get a report on how we did with eLearning, He stated he will be interested to see what we can do better, how it went for us, and how it turns out as we learn more once our teachers are back and they can collaborate on what took place. He stated that will be one of the discussions he thinks will be interesting with how it looks and what we may be faced with this coming school year when August comes around. He stated for everyone to keep working hard because it’s greatly appreciated. He thanked Ms. Drown for being a part of our school system. He thanked Mr. Mayol for coming tonight and getting the project going. He stated they’ve got a good idea of what has taken place and what will take place and he’s looking forward to a smooth project.
Jacob Case – Mr. Case concurred with Mr. Adams. He thanked Mr. Conley and Mr. Mann on trying to make graduation a go this year. He knows it’s frustrating trying to get things figured out and then it gets cancelled or pushed off because of what you can and can’t do by the State. He thanked Mr. Kile for getting everything together with curriculum next year for what could or could not be a blended approach to learning from here on out. He stated these things are tough to decide on what we are going to do because we don’t know what’s going to happen. He thanked everyone for all their hard work and welcomed all new hires.
Lance Engle – Mr. Engle thanked Mr. Conley for all the work being done with graduation and coming up with a plan that will be executed well. He stated we have great staff and people are going to step up so he’s sure it will go well. He stated he had a wonderful conversation with a teacher in our school system and they were discussing eLearning. He stated there are horror stories with other corporations with eLearning and this teacher was pretty impactful that DelCom has been awesome to them as teachers as far as eLearning goes and what they can do. He stated he thinks we are right there with eLearning as far as leading the way and doing what we do best.
Trent Fox – Mr. Fox stated it’s a pleasure to see everyone in person. He knows we’ve been away a little while and it’s hard to believe this thing has pushed us to where we are today. He hopes we will continue moving in a positive direction from here on out and we can follow the actual plan the Governor has laid out He hopes we are back to semi-normal by July and our start dates for school stay the same. He stated we will probably hear more about that closer to July as far as what the Governor thinks at that point. He stated we will all be at his mercy with whatever he decides and what we will do. He appreciates all the hard work and effort everyone put in to get us through the eLearning phase and stated it definitely was not something we planned to do for a long period of time. He stated it was supposed to be a day here and there to see how it worked and then other things had other plans for us. He hopes we can learn a lot from it and be prepared in the future. He stated we will probably realize we need to utilize it every so often during the year so we stay in good practice with it. He appreciates all the effort and work that went into the projects with trying to get those ready and get us moving forward with Project 20. He stated they are looking forward to Project 20 and seeing it develop and what it’s going to give us at the high school.
Adam Williams – Mr. Williams thanked his fellow board members for their wonderful comments. He stated they covered most of the things they can talk about at this time with the strange process we’ve had of school being abrupted like it was and all the little things that get missed in this incident we’ve been dealt. He welcomed all new employees. He thanked everyone for being here. He stated they were able to take a quick visit to look at the middle schools progress and that’s going to be exciting. He stated seeing it start to come to life is neat and it’s going to be a great improvement with lots of little things that are going to make it another top facility in our buildings. He appreciates the work with Project 20 and how that’s been going. He stated those things just don’t happen without a lot of effort behind the scenes and he appreciates everyone who put the time in to drafting, reviewing, pondering ideas, and scratching this and that. He stated it’s a strange new world and he appreciates everyone’s efforts. He hopes the teachers get a break to rest from the stresses of eLearning being throw upon them, which they handled so well. He stated we will begin our summer a little early and everyone will come back with great enthusiasm and hopefully everything goes as planned and we start to get back to a new normal.
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FUTURE MEETINGS
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A regular meeting for the Board of School Trustees is scheduled for Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at the Administration Building.
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ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by John Adams and seconded by Lance Engle and Board President, Adam Williams, adjourned the meeting at 7:05 p.m.
May 18, 2020
ADAM WILLIAMS __________________________
TRENT FOX __________________________
LANCE ENGLE ___________________________
JACOB CASE ___________________________
JOHN ADAMS ___________________________