Board Meeting Summary – October 26, 2016
A lot of topics were covered at the board meeting last night. Most of the agenda items had been discussed at greater length at previous board meetings.
Snapshots of Success, where student achievements are recognized at each meeting, highlighted a great extracurricular social entrepreneur project by Emma Gabbard, a student at Fishers High School. Emma planned an event called Jammin’ June Jogs. This series of events came out of a Genius Hour project at the school. More event details can be found on Twitter: @jamminjogs.
Next, in order to help the district increase its energy savings, a contract was approved with Performance Services, an integrated design and delivery engineering company that specializes in constructing and renovating municipal, healthcare and education facilities, through their Energy Leadership Program. One part of the contract involves hiring a district Energy Manager to oversee the changes and progress of the initiative. The district is guaranteed energy cost savings as a condition of the contract, so at least initially there is little to no actual financial risk to the district.
The proposed budget that was presented at the last meeting/public hearing was brought to the board for approval. The approval also included four specific resolutions, and were all approved as presented.
A 1-year general obligation bond was also presented for board approval.
Dr. Bourff’s Superintendent Report touched on many topics, most notably follow-up on the proposal for changing the teacher professional development schedule. With the proposed changes, there is ongoing discussion with the YMCA regarding extended childcare time and the associated costs to parents. The district teachers’ association (HSEA) sent a survey to the teachers as well for input on the proposed changes. Once the discussion with the YMCA is more formalized a survey will be sent out to parents as well. Additionally, Dr. Bourff discussed plans for a new custodial contract, a proposal request going out for updates to district branding, and website updates that will hopefully aid the district in being able to better communicate with the community and help with overall website usability and navigation. The next board meeting will also include a details about the future upkeep of facilities and the future spending plan for the district.