Guilford County Board of Education
Board Meeting
February 7, 2008

GUILFORD COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
BOARD RETREAT
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

The Guilford County Board of Education held a retreat on Saturday, January 26, 2008, at 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro, North Carolina. The following board members were present: Jeff Belton, Walter Childs, Kris Cooke, Alan Duncan, Darlene Garrett (arrived at 8:25 a.m.), Deena Hayes (arrived at 8:44 a.m.), Garth Hébert (arrived at 8:25 a.m.), Dot Kearns, Amos Quick (arrived at 9:34 a.m.), Nancy Routh and Anita Sharpe. Also present were Superintendent Terry Grier and Attorney Jill Wilson.

Chairman Duncan called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. on Saturday, January 26, 2008.

Academic Improvement Strategies

Chief Academic Officer Mack McCary presented to the board an update on academic improvement strategies. He provided information on goals to address the requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the district’s three thematic goals as specifically related to elementary, middle and high schools. He also explained that the purpose of these strategies is to increase the capacity of schools to continuously improve instruction and learning. Additionally, he reported on three stages of strategies which have been implemented to differentiate district support to schools:

1. Improvement strategies for all schools.
2. First semester: “Above and Beyond” services for priority (high needs) schools.
3. Second semester: “Bubble” schools with best potential to make AYP if they receive targeted assistance.

Board discussion followed. Chairman Duncan requested that a focused update be provided to the board once a month on curriculum and instruction adjustments in terms of teams working with individual schools.

Report on AYP Progress and Initiatives

Executive Accountability and Research Officer Gongshu Zhang presented to the board information on the 2008 AYP situation and stated that the State of North Carolina has raised the AYP standard. As a result, if special measures are not taken, the consequences will be that the percentage of elementary and middle schools making AYP in 2008 will be further reduced, the percentage of high schools making AYP will be significantly reduced and ABC’s Performance Composite (PC) for elementary, middle and high schools will be further reduced. He discussed a plan to effectively work with a focus on End-of-Grade (EOG) marginal students who have 2007 EOG data and also working with benchmarking marginal students who do not have 2007 EOG data. Dr. Zhang stated that state-wide, every school in every county faces the same difficult situation.

School Scheduling Recommendations

Chief Human Resources Officer Peggy Thompson and Chief Academic Officer Mack McCary presented to the board information on curriculum implications, personnel implications, cost information and the benefit of the recommendations presented.

In the context of providing a balanced core/encore distribution at both the elementary and middle school level, the following recommendations were discussed at the September 22 board retreat, the December 5 special board update and the December 20 regular board meeting. The recommendations include both curriculum and human resources/finance implications.
This elementary option provides art, music and physical education on a minimum of a six-day rotation. A six-day rotation equalizes the number of sections that students receive specials.
The calculation below assumes that positions will be rounded such that no specialist’s assignment is for less than a full day. Currently 186.10 positions are allocated.

Elementary

• Provide a balanced foreign language, art, music and physical education program. Foreign language is offered to all students twice in a six-day rotation.
• Ensure that 400 minutes of instructional time are used with a planning block weekly (Dr. Canady’s model).

Middle

• Ensure that all students have access to encores at least 75 minutes or 20 percent of their instructional day.
• Provide flexibility for schools to use A Day/B Day or other options to offer encores.
• Include an Encore, Electives and Enrichment (EEE) Model to provide differentiation for students, from enrichment to additional encore.
• Ensure that the registration process includes all options for specials.

There was consensus by the board for staff to include this type of scheduling approach for elementary schools in the preliminary budget. Board members shared their thoughts regarding inclusion of foreign language instruction in the curriculum as well as the possibility of lengthening the school day and asked that information be brought back to the board which includes a detailed sample schedule as well as budgetary consequences.

Frequency of Assessments and Dealing with Loss of Instructional Time in General

Executive Accountability and Research Officer Gongshu Zhang presented information to the board regarding formative assessment and shared with the board e-mails received from teachers expressing positive feedback. Board members supported the use of formative assessment but stressed the importance of having the right balance to ensure that it does not take instruction time away from students. Chairman Duncan asked that a follow-up report be brought back to the board before the end of the school year.

School Calendar Considerations Including How We Can Best Reduce Use of Teacher and Principal Time Outside of the Classroom

Chief Curriculum and Organizational Development Officer Beth Folger presented details of district-sponsored professional development activities held during school hours during the period of July 2007 through January 2008. The information documented the total number of participants per day including centrally-based and administrative staff. Activities done outside of school hours were not included with the information distributed. Also not included were any of the professional development activities and training provided without credit.

Board members discussed their concerns about the amount of time required out of the classroom for professional development and what effect this has on budget considerations. Staff was asked to look at payroll records and provide information on the number of professional development days taken during the school year that require paying substitute teachers. Superintendent Grier explained that the district currently receives state funding for payment to substitutes. If money is saved on substitute teachers, the district will not be able to use that money as an incentive; that money must go back to the state.

Staff was asked to minimize as much as possible the amount of time principals are pulled from schools during the school day.

2008 Budget Calendar Process

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment presented to the board the proposed 2008-09 budget development calendar.

Should any of the dates on the proposed schedule need to be adjusted as the process moves forward, Ms. Ozment will inform the board.

During discussion of the budget, the board’s $457 million bond being split into two pieces by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners - $45 million for Eastern High and $412 million for new buildings and other projects – was brought up. Board members stated that county commissioners had committed to financing the cost to rebuild Eastern but expressed concern that commissioners have yet to come up with a way to do it. The request was made to modify the agenda to include discussion of this item.

Motion was made by Darlene Garrett, seconded by Garth Hébert, to amend the agenda to include a discussion of Eastern High funding on the bond. The motion passed upon majority show of hands of 7-to-4 as follows: Ayes – Jeff Belton, Kris Cooke, Darlene Garrett, Garth Hébert, Dot Kearns, Amos Quick and Anita Sharpe; Nays – Walter Childs, Alan Duncan, Deena Hayes and Nancy Routh.

Board members talked about the fact that Eastern High was included on the bond referendum at the request of county commissioners. Some commissioners have since stated that the board included Eastern on the bond to get sympathy votes. Board members said this was simply not true and discussed modifying the bond to remove Eastern. Board discussion followed.

Motion was made by Anita Sharpe, seconded by Dot Kearns, to resubmit the bond request to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners exclusive of Eastern High. The motion passed upon majority show of hands of 7-to-4 as follows: Ayes – Jeff Belton, Kris Cooke, Darlene Garrett, Garth Hébert, Dot Kearns, Amos Quick and Anita Sharpe; Nays – Walter Childs, Alan Duncan, Deena Hayes and Nancy Routh.

Update on Magnet Schools and Magnet School and No Child Left Behind Opt Outs

Chief Curriculum and Organizational Development Officer Beth Folger presented information to the board on the process used to propose schools for Magnet/NCLB opt-outs for 2008-09 and information on the 2008-09 proposed NCLB Opt-Outs – Traditional Sanctions. Director of Student Assignment Doyle Craven, Director of Title I Kelly Hales and Director of Planning Donna Bell provided information on 2007-08 magnet and NCLB opt-outs as of December 4, 2007 as well as the list of alternative schools for magnet and year-round programs for 2007-08 and the working draft list for 2008-09. Additional opt-out information will be presented to the board after projections have been finalized.

A complete school-by-school review of existing magnet programs and high school options will be presented by Director of Magnet and Choice Schools Tony Burks at the January 31 board meeting.

Consideration of Increased Pay for Long Term Substitutes

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment presented information to the board on the potential impact of increasing pay for long term substitutes. She provided an explanation of how costs are accounted for with respect to the state and explained that the information being presented is an understating of the costs that have been incurred to date and for the last school year for substitutes. She further explained that if an employee is using paid leave to be out of school and a long term substitute is utilized, the same code which is used for all other substitutes is used in this instance. As a result, it is not possible to capture the data for this situation through account codes. If an employee is not using paid leave and an interim teacher is utilized, this data can be tracked because a different account code is utilized. Therefore, the information presented is not for every long term substitute dollar that was spent last year, but it is a way to begin to get an idea regarding costs.

An interim teacher may be employed when a vacancy in a teaching position exists by separation of employment. An interim teacher may not be employed to replace a permanent employee who is using paid leave.

Pay Basis:
An interim teacher will be paid at his or her certified salary rating if:

• the interim employee is licensed in the area of assignment and
• service in the interim position is more than 10 teaching days, and
• is coded with an object code of 121.

An interim teacher must be paid at the substitute rate if:

• the interim employee is not licensed in the area of assignment or
• service in the interim position is 10 teaching days or less,
• is coded with an object code of 122.

Based on payroll data, interim teachers eligible for substitute pay rates were paid for 4,800 days of work in 2006-07. Of that amount, 678 days were paid at the non-certified rate of $65 per day, and 4,122 days were paid at the certified rate of $84 per day. In the August through December 2007 timeframe of 2007-08, interim teachers eligible for substitute pay rates were paid for 2,158 days of work. Of that amount, 236 days were paid at the non-certified rate of $68 per day and 1,922 days were paid at the certified rate of $89 per day.

Ms. Ozment provided cost data for information and/or reference purposes in an effort to assist board members in discussing increased pay for interim teachers.

Chairman Duncan said that some of the most difficult substitution needs occur when math teachers are lost. The question from a budgetary standpoint is whether staff should look at employing a group of additional math teachers at the start of the year so that fully qualified math teachers are available should an extended absence occur. He asked that Ms. Ozment bring back cost information to the board on this option.

Report on Virtual High School Status and Utilization

Chief Student Services Officer John Morris provided information to the board on North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) participation. The NCVPS established by the North Carolina State Board of Education is an online school community serving K-12 public school students throughout the state of North Carolina. These courses are targeted for high school and middle school students needing to take courses that may not be available at their local schools or that they cannot take on campus due to scheduling conflicts. The courses are taught by North Carolina certified teachers who have been trained to teach online and are working within their areas of concentration. Dr. Morris summarized the school district’s responsibilities, the state department’s responsibilities and the school building level responsibilities. There are currently 84 students who have either completed first semester or enrolled in second semester in a virtual public school course. Board discussion followed.

Seatbelts on Buses and Bus Safety Issues

Jeff Harris provided information to the board regarding seat belts on school buses and bus safety issues. In the past most transportation directors were against seatbelts in school buses. Some reasons were: having seatbelts cuts into the capacity on buses; questions on how to enforce the wearing of seatbelts with students who may already have disciplinary problems on buses; the seatbelts could possibly be used as weapons; what if the bus rolls over and students are suspended in the air and trapped with the bus catching fire. Mr. Harris shared some statistics on transportation accidents with one study reporting that 70 percent of fatalities occur when driving children to school in personal vehicles; 22 percent occur when students walk to school or ride their bicycles; 8 percent occur on school buses. Transportation directors are moving toward ways to enhance safety in school buses, with seatbelts being one option. Studies have shown that the old lap belts are not as safe as the lap and shoulder belts because they can cause further injuries in accidents to small children in the abdomen area. If seatbelts were used in school buses, they would need to be the lap and shoulder belt design.

Mr. Harris shared reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA). The NTSB requested NHTSA to develop standards for school bus occupant protection systems and to require newly manufactured school buses to have an occupant crash protection system that meets the newly developed performance standards to retain passengers, including those in child safety restraint systems, within the seating compartment throughout the accident sequence for all accident scenarios. On November 21, 2007 NHTSA released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding school bus and crash protection (NHTSA-2007-0014). If the proposal goes into effect, one of five proposals NHTSA released is to “continue to not require seat belts in large school buses.” Mr. Harris explained that if they require districts to put seatbelts on school buses and the district does not have the funds to offset having to purchase additional buses for the loss of capacity, there will be a certain percentage of students that start riding with their parents or walking to school, thus increasing the risk of fatalities. Another issue is cost implications. If GCS decided today that all school buses will be retrofitted with lap and shoulder belts, 63 to 159 additional buses would need to be purchased to accommodate the new guideline due to the loss of space, with the estimated cost being $5.3 million to $13.4 million, excluding additional driver pay and the retrofitting itself.

The second NHTSA proposal is to require lap/shoulder belts for small school buses with a weight less than 10,000 lbs. GCS does not currently operate any school bus under 10,000 lbs., but our contract carrier does. This will affect cost per student and may affect the cost when the bidding process is done when this law is implemented in the future.

The third NHTSA proposal is to require performance standards for voluntarily-installed belts on large buses. This gives each state specific guidelines to follow if seatbelts are installed on school buses.

The fourth NHTSA proposal is to increase the minimum seat back height by four inches for all school buses. The buses received from Thomasville Bus Company this year all have the 24-inch seatbacks. Mr. Harris stated that this does provide additional coverage for taller students, but also it hides the small students, which has been a concern for drivers.

The fifth NHTSA proposal is to require self-latching mechanisms for seat bottom cushions. Currently there is a turn latch on all seats. GCS placed a bracket on all bus seats so they are secured down and cannot be pulled out by just turning the latch.

There was a NHTSA recommendation in 1999 for all pre-school age students to be secured in a child safety restraint system. GCS complies with this recommendation.

Mr. Harris talked about the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) Senate Bill 812. The General Assembly enacted the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force even though there have not been a great number of fatalities in North Carolina on school buses. The NCGA asked the task force to analyze the feasibility of the safety restraints by passengers on school buses. In conducting the study, the task force came up with the following four considerations which must be reported on by May 1, 2008:

1. A determination whether safety restraints are necessary to enhance the safety of passengers on school buses;
2. An evaluation of the cost of requiring passenger restraint systems on buses to be purchased, leased or contracted for use on or after July 1, 2009;
3. An evaluation of the cost of installing passenger restraint systems on buses currently owned and operated by local boards of education; and
4. The manner by which the local boards of education may enforce the use of safety restraints by passengers on school buses and school activity buses.

For a brand new school bus, requiring passenger restraint systems on buses increases the cost of the bus by $10,000. For the current contract this year for school buses, the cost is somewhere around $74,000 to $77,000. If seats with lap and shoulder belts were installed, this cost would be somewhere around $84,000 to $87,000. Mr. Harris recommendation at this point is to anticipate the May 1 recommendation from the General Assembly and for GCS to follow that recommendation on how to proceed regarding seatbelts on school buses.

Mr. Harris also provided information to the board on school bus accidents which have occurred during this school year.

Funding Formula for the Allotment of Teacher Assistants

Chief Human Resources Officer Peggy Thompson and Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment presented information to the board on the funding formula for the allotment of teacher assistants.

Funding for the Arts

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment presented information to the board on funding for the arts. There was discussion concerning restoration of the Arts Coordinator position. Also discussed was how best and most equitably to pay for instruments and supplies for programs. Board members asked that these considerations be included in the budget proposal when it is presented to the board.

School Nutrition Programs Report

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment and Director of Child Nutrition Services Cynthia Sevier presented a school nutrition program report to the board including information on the GCS Universal Free Breakfast Program. Based on the discussion at the Board of Education Administrative Briefing on Universal Free Breakfast held on January 15, 2008, the 26 schools that are currently participating in the GCS Universal Free Breakfast Program will continue to participate in the program for the remainder of the 2007-08 school year.

Of the 26 schools that are currently participating, 23 are elementary schools (Allen Jay, Archer, Bessemer, Brightwood, Cone, Fairview, Falkener, Foust, Frazier, Gillespie, Hampton, Hunter, Kirkman Park, Montlieu, Oak Hill, Parkview, Peck, Rankin, Sedgefield, Sumner, Union Hill, Washington and Wiley) and three are middle schools (Ferndale, Hairston and Jackson). Chairman Duncan asked that an update on this program be brought to the board at a regular meeting in March.

Legislative Committee Report

Board member Dot Kearns, on behalf of the Legislative Committee, presented the following items for review:

• NSBA Call to Action – priority issues to be addressed at the federal level
• NSBA E-mail – resolution to improve NCLB (H.R. 648)
• Council of Great City Schools – NCLB Reauthorization Recommendation
• NSBA 2008 FRN Homework Assignments for LEAs
• NSBA Issue Brief – Improving NCLB
• NSBA Issue Brief – Federal Funding for Education
• NSBA issue Brief – Strengthening Teacher Quality
• NSBA Issue Brief – Voluntary Pre-K
• NSBA Issue Brief – School-based Medicaid
• NCSBA – E-mail to Alan Duncan requesting board support for H.B. 170: School Board Fiscal Accountability Act

Discussion followed regarding board support for H.R. 648, the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2007. A Sample Resolution for Adoption by Local School Boards was included with the board materials and reviewed by board members. Ms. Kearns recommended that the board support this resolution.

Motion was made by Dot Kearns, seconded by Kris Cooke, to forward the resolution included with the board materials endorsing H.R. 648.

Further discussion followed with concerns expressed regarding the issue of “fully” supporting H.R. 648 as stated in the sample resolution. Chairman Duncan stated his view that major components of the bill are supported, but not all components of the bill. He suggested removing the word “fully” and adding wording that “major components” of the bill are supported.

A substitute motion was made by Alan Duncan, seconded by Anita Sharpe, to change the wording included in the resolution to read,

… be it RESOLVED, That the Guilford County School Board supports the major components of H.R. 648 and therefore urges U.S. Senators Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole; U.S. Representatives Howard Coble, Brad Miller and Mel Watt to support and become co-sponsors of the bill …”

The motion passed upon majority show of hands of 6-to-5 as follows: Ayes – Alan Duncan, Deena Hayes, Garth Hébert, Amos Quick, Nancy Routh and Anita Sharpe; Nays – Jeff Belton, Walter Childs, Kris Cooke, Darlene Garrett and Dot Kearns.

Governance Committee Report – Naming of Schools

Board member Nancy Routh, on behalf of the Governance Committee, presented information on proposed changes to Policy FDCA - Naming Facilities. Board member Kris Cooke suggested that the word “may” be changed to “shall” under 1. Facility Naming Team to read:

• Facility Naming Team

The Superintendent shall determine the administrative staff responsible for implementing the procedures established for naming schools and facilities. Representatives from the Board, school community, school based staff and community at large may shall be named, as needed, to assist staff in the nomination review process and in determining recommendations to be presented to the full Board.

Before agreeing to policy changes, board members will review changes to the accompanying procedure, FDCA-P.

After-School Shared Use Libraries

Chief of Staff Eric Becoats presented a draft of the Guilford County Library Status Report. Board members shared their opinions regarding shared use of school libraries. This topic will be discussed further at the January 31 board meeting.

School Climate Task Force Report and Report on School Safety Department Alignment and Duties

Chairman Duncan reported that the School Climate Task Force is wrapping up the work it was tasked to do with two meetings remaining. The task force plans to make a presentation to the board during the month of February.

Chief Student Services Officer John Morris presented information on the specific functions of the school safety office. He provided documentation of specific duties assigned to that office.

Closed Session

At 5:07 p.m., motion was made by Deena Hayes, seconded by Darlene Garrett, to go into closed session to preserve the attorney client privilege and to discuss personnel matters protected by state law. The motion passed upon unanimous voice vote.

The board returned to open session at 7:12 p.m, at which time the meeting adjourned.