Castlio Funding Approved, New Policies Rejected in First Meeting of 2011-12 School Year

Back on the scene for the first time in more than a month, the Francis Howell Board of Education kicked off the 2011-12 school year with a meeting that clocked in at almost four hours.

Much of the meeting was spent debating a if the Board should award a contract for construction to Castlio Elementary to Demien Construction.

Continuing his crusade against what he considers unnecessary spending, Board Member Mark Lafata objected to the plans to build 10 new classrooms at the school.

Lafta said that with enrollment not on the rise—there was a disagreement whether or not it was declining, but the Board settled on calling the attendance flat—extra classrooms may fall into the category of a want for the District as opposed to a need. Lafata said that if the District was able to operate last year and will operate this year, it shouldn’t need more rooms.

Another point Lafata made was that the District just eliminated 65 full-time equivalents positions. By his count, the loss of staff should open up at least 29 rooms at the elementary level.

“I look at this project and I look at it and say, ‘You know what, did I know we were going to lay off 57 teachers?’ Lafata said. “And the answer is no. No one up here knew that. So we got these classrooms now available when we made that decision."

Lafata also objected, once again, to doing something the voters didn't vote on. The original bond passed by voters never mentioned adding the rooms.

As usual, Lafata found himself without many supporters. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Supple said that a small number of students coming into the school can throw numbers off. He said the extra rooms will provide flexibility—if Castlio suddenly gets a large number of new students, it will have the space.

Supple also said the enrollment has a chance to go up. If the market ever recovers, Supple said subdivisions have been platted and are ready for building in the District. There’s a chance the flat enrollment could go up and Supple said the District has a chance to be ready with additional rooms in case that happens.

Superintendent Dr. Pam Sloan said Lafata’s numbers about open rooms are a bit misleading. Sloan said by eliminating teachers, the District didn’t suddenly open up all those classrooms. One school lost four teachers, but two teachers who were in sub-par rooms will be taking over two of the vacated classrooms. Teachers that have been sharing room or in rooms that weren’t planned as classrooms—rooms like computer labs—will be shuffled around into proper rooms.

The two educators on the Board, Amy McEvoy and Cynthia Bice, both stressed how important it was for teachers to have proper classrooms.

After a lengthy debate, the Board voted 6-0-1 to approve the contract. Lafata abstained from voting saying he had done work with Demien Construction in the past. Lafata left the meeting after the vote.

Policies Voted Down

The Castlio issue wasn’t the only agenda item that took a while to decide. A policy change, first discussed in the was voted down by the Board with a  3-3 vote.

Normally policy reviews are passed with ease, but that wasn’t the case Thursday. The policy changes addressed strategic committees, standing committees and task forces. The goal was to establish rules and order. The result was confusion.

Board treasurer Mike Hoehn wondered why the language prevented the superintendent from establishing a task force. The new policy would only give the power to create task forces to strategic committees. Hoehn said that there would be times when it could take two months for a committee to meet and approve a task force, something the superintendent could get done in days.

Another issue came up with the Design Team. Led by Supple, the team sees construction projects through until completion. Under the policies presented, the Design Team had no home. Supple wondered if it was just part of his job or if it was something else.

Other issues sprouted up with wording and, ultimately, nothing could be resolved. McEvoy said the Board could just approve the policy and change it later, but others disagreed. The Board voted 3-3 and sent the policy back for review. CIO Ray Eernisse said he would take the issues back to the Policy Committee to clarify the issues the Board raised.

Other notes

• The Board approved substitute pay for the upcoming school year.
• All purchases more than $7,500 were approved.
• The Board entered into an agreement with Employee Screening Services of Missouri, LLC, to provide drug testing services for the District's random drug testing program.
• Pepsi Americas was awarded a contract to provide beverages for concession operations.