SouthsideCentral will be at tonight’s Danville School Board meeting and we’ve got the only LIVE! coverage on it. Be sure to refresh this page often for the latest happenings, comments and photos. We’ll clean the article up in the editing process and add bonus coverage once we’re home. Tonight’s meeting starts at 6 PM.
Our LIVE! coverage will begin around 5:50 PM.
The trees are bare outside. Good symbolism for budget time. Steven Gould sends his regrets as he’ll be out of town for a conference. We’re also missing Sharon Dones so we’ll proceed with five out of seven members. That’s still a quorum.
We’re also proceeding without a Register & Bee reporter. Well, can’t blame him… this meeting is going to be pretty much all reports.
We’re underway. Proclamations for Black History Month, National School Counseling Month, School Board Appreciation Month, and School Board Clerk Appreciation Week are approved. Next, Finance Director Lori Cassada presents financial reports.
She doesn’t even bother going to the podium to speak. I love informal meetings like this. Cassada also recaps the textbook account. Foreign languages textbooks will be the only ones to be changed out this year. Cassada also discusses the schedule for adopting the 2015 budget. The budget will be finalized and approved on April 16th.
Robin Owens goes over the discipline report statistics. We’ll have them in a NumbersCentral article. Discipline referrals are still down 10‰ from this year compared to last year. Terri Hall asks why November & December’s rates have increased. Owens says after talking to principals, she thinks that children simply need a break and are getting restless. The leading cause of elementary referrals is “classroom disruption”. In high school, it’s “minor insubordination”.
And we have a R&B reporter now. Trevor Metcalfe arrives during Robin’s presentation.
Side note: It’s good to see interim superintendent Kathy Osborne taking full part in these discussions.
Whoa. Philip Campbell just said that sometimes teacher behavior can be “over the top” and escalate the situation. I love that he actually said that. Nobody says anything about Campbell’s remark. Ed Polhamus adds that bus referrals could be up because bus drivers are more confident that action will be taken via the new conduct code.
5 SOL tests have been eliminated from the elementary school program. That means more time for basic skills instructions.
Danville will be the host of the regional VSBA Spring Forum but it’s scheduled for Spring Break week. Since schools will be closed and staff will be off, they’re looking at having the event at the Institute. It would be about $300 for room rental and catering would be provided by the Institute. It makes sense.
Time for the recap of the joint meeting with Danville City Council. Ed Polhamus describes Council as “engaged”. He says he was pleased that they asked about long-range funding needs. The request for additional information will be given to city council tomorrow or early next week. Philip Campbell wants another meeting with city council soon.
Personnel recommendations time. 35 recommendations including retirees that met the January 15th deadline for the early retirement program.
The board fails to make a motion to approve travel expenses for Philip Campbell to go to Joplin, MO for the annual Bright Futures meeting. That’s interesting. That’s it for tonight, as the board goes into closed session to hear two student disciplinary appeals. We’ve got more coming up on SouthsideCentral!
Slightly confused about the Bright Futures note. Why would we pay for his travel to this conference? Danville isn’t even an affiliate community of this largely Midwest based organization. Maybe he’s developing a plan to improve Danville Schools through the use of this organization?? Please help fill in the missing blanks I’ve got. I’m sure I’m missing some facts that a professional, investigative journalist could quickly uncover.
The Danville school system is looking into working with Bright Futures for the upcoming school year.