MINUTES OF MEETING
State Board of Education
May 12-13, 2005
The May meeting of the Board
of Education was held in the State Board Conference Room, Grimes State Office
Building, Des Moines. Board members
Gene Vincent, Sally Frudden, Jim Billings, Charles Edwards, Sister Jude
Fitzpatrick, Rosie Hussey, Wayne Kobberdahl, Greg McClain, Mary Jean Montgomery
and Tara Richards were present. Also
present were Department Director Judy Jeffrey and staff members Gail Sullivan,
Carol Greta, Jan Friedel, Jeff Berger, Pam Pfitzenmaier, Chris Evans, Tom
Andersen, Warren Weber, Steve Wooderson (IVRS), Bev Bunker and Beverlee
Adams. Also in attendance were Marilyn
Alger, Iowa Department of Public Health, Judy Benz, Iowa Commission on
Volunteer Service, Dave Palmer, IACCT Community College Association, Mark
Draper, Loess Hills AEA 13, Jim Lindenmayer and Mary Stewart, Indian Hills
Community College, Kim Linduska and Mary Chapman, Des Moines Area Community
College, Veronica Stalker, Iowa State University, Troyce Fisher, School
Adminisrators of Iowa, Quentin Hart and Greg Schmitz, Hawkeye Community
College, Gene Gardner, IACCT, Jennifer Richards, Indianola, Madelaine Jerousek,
Des Moines Register, and Pat Curtis, WHO Radio.
President Vincent called the
meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
It was moved by Rosie Hussey
and seconded by Sally Frudden to approve the agenda as written.
President Gene Vincent
introduced and welcomed new student Board member Tara Richards. He indicated Tara was a junior at Indianola
High School and was involved in many academic and extracurricular
activities. Vincent also indicated
that Board members Sister Jude Fitzpatrick and Mary Jean Montgomery had been
assigned as mentors to Ms. Richards.
There was no public comment.
Sally Frudden reported she had attended the School Administrators
of Iowa Conference on Early Childhood.
She felt it was an informative conference and shared a document from the
conference titled, “Best Practice Research: Quality Preschool for All. Frudden also indicated that an outstanding
early childhood presentation had been made by Storm Lake. She felt that this conference was a good
opportunity to partner with several educational organizations and encouraged
all Board members to take these leadership opportunities when available.
Wayne Kobberdahl indicated he had attended several high school
visits. He felt that the different size
districts had varied issues and the information gleaned from each conversation
was extremely informative.
Mary Jean Montgomery stated she had attended two Iowa Public Television
meetings. She indicated that an
Educational Services Director from Kansas had been hired to replace Pam
Pfitzenmaier. She also provided an
update on digital television. The
second meeting was a teleconference meeting regarding the editorial board
concerns for a potential federal level political appointment to chair the
Corporate Public Broadcasting Board.
That Board serves as the buffer between the independence of public media
and the executive branch of government.
The IPTV Board would be sending a letter to the federal executive branch
reminding them of the commitment for maintaining the independence of public
media. There was also a brief
discussion of federal appropriations.
Montgomery also said that
Area Education Agencies 4 and 12 were working on a merger and the name that had
been selected was Northwest Area Education Agency. She also informed the Board that Area Education Agency 8 was
moving its headquarters from Fort Dodge to Pocahontas.
Ms. Montgomery stated that
the Lakeside Laboratory curriculum was now available and offered extraordinary
opportunities.
Rosie Hussey stated she had attended high school visits across
North Iowa. The attendance was good and
the opportunity for these conversations was welcomed.
She provided an update on
the Iowa Coordinating Council by-law changes.
The revised by-laws reduced the number of meetings, but the membership
representation remained the same. The
Iowans for a Better Future Committee will be hosting a summit this fall and Ms.
Hussey said she would provide information as it was available and felt it would
be a good opportunity for Board involvement.
Jim Billings reported on his attendance at a high school
visit. It involved one of the smaller
high schools in the state – 39 students in the top 4 grades. He felt the district was trying hard to meet
student needs and was utilizing the ICN, internet, and community college
courses to offer and teach specific courses.
Courses such as physics and chemistry were being taught with highly
qualified teachers.
Greg McClain reviewed his attendance at the I-JAG meeting held at
the Perry High School. He indicated he
would like to have Laurie Phelan, I-JAG President/CEO, make a presentation at a
future Board meeting on the successes of the program.
McClain said he completed
his participation with the subcommittee on the athletic eligibility
requirements at Waterloo Community School District. The vote was to not change the current GPA requirement, but to
add mandated resource centers staffed with certified teachers during regular
school hours for students that needed assistance in meeting the requirement for
participation in athletic activities.
Mr. McClain indicated he had
attended a good community conservation at Aplington-Parkersburg. He also said his absence from the April
Board meeting was due to his induction into the University of Missouri-Rolla Academy
of Engineering Management as one of the founders and charter members.
Sister Jude Fitzpatrick indicated the work for the Iowa Braille and
Sightsaving School Task Force had been completed. The report from the Task Force would go to the Board of Regents
in June. She gave a brief overview of
some of the recommendations that may come back to the Board of Education if
approved by the Regents.
·
The Board of Education
and the Board of Regents create a coordinating council to review all of the
services for students that are blind or visually impaired including those with
additional disabilities and that the coordinating council include a broad
representation from agencies that provide services as well as those that
receive services and other stakeholders.
·
A recommendation suggesting
that the two boards work together to expand the interagency agreements that
were already in place and that those would help assure equity for services to
visually impaired students no matter where they were in the state
Fitzpatrick reported that
the Superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School was retiring at
the end of the year so the challenge had been to find an interim director that
would be able to begin to implement some of these recommendations while a
search was conducted for a replacement for the Superintendent position. Jeananne Hagen from Grant Wood Area
Education Agency had been selected for this interim position.
President Gene Vincent
circulated a letter from Michael Gartner, President of the Board of Regents,
that recognized Sister Jude for the work and time she had committed in serving
on the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School Task Force. Vincent thanked Sister Jude for the many
positive contributions she had offered while serving on this Task Force. Fitzpatrick indicated it had been a
privilege and a learning experience to have served.
Sister Jude Fitzpatrick
provided an overview of the discussion that had occurred during the board
development work session at the last Board meeting. Board development was looked at in two ways:
·
A discussion was held
regarding additional information and how much paper we want for building
background on agenda items. It was
suggested that the executive summary could list links to other resource
information websites.
·
Use the State Board
Operating Guidelines at the Retreat as a basis for a discussion as to how we
can most effectively work as a team.
Gene Vincent expressed his thanks to Board members and Director
Jeffrey for the outstanding efforts on the success of the high school
visits. He indicated he had received
phone calls, emails, and written comments from places where high school visits
had been held and they had been extremely positive and outstanding. He felt the visibility the Governor and Judy
had provided for the Board of Education and the Department by getting out into
the school districts had improved our leadership role and relationship with
K-12 education.
Vincent reported he was
serving on the Ted Davidson Award Selection Committee. This was the selection of an outstanding
Iowa school board that exemplified strong leadership in accomplishing goals of
school boards in serving children across the state.
President Vincent asked Tara
Richards, new student Board member to introduce her mother, Jennifer, who was
in attendance for the meeting.
Mary Jean Montgomery said
she was serving on the Distinguished Service Award Selection Committee. It is a national award for a state board
member or an individual(s) partnering with a state board of education. The five members on the committee met by teleconference. Montgomery indicated that the three nominees
were all members of state boards of education.
Director Judy Jeffrey
reported on the following items:
Charlie Edwards – No report
President Vincent again
expressed his appreciation and that of the State Board to Director Jeffrey and
staff for the aggressive commitment in visiting with all high schools and
holding community conversations across the state. He felt it had been an extremely successful endeavor.
Jeff Berger, Legislative
Liaison, presented an overview of both federal and state legislative activity
affecting education.
The minutes of the April
14-15, 2005 State Board of Education meeting were approved.
Chapter 1, “Organization and
Operation” were approved for adoption.
Gene Gardner, President,
Iowa Association of Community College Trustees, reviewed the community college
certified budget process in the absence of Tim Wynes, President of Iowa Valley
Community College. He said that hiring
and retention in the community colleges as well as keeping up with current
technology continued to be a major concern in balancing budgets with the
reductions in dollars received from the legislature.
Beverly Bunker, Chief,
Bureau of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation indicated that State
Board approval of the community college budgets was a statutory
responsibility. The report is prepared
annually to provide the State Board with background information for review in
approving these budgets.
Christopher Evans,
Consultant, Bureau of Community Colleges and Career and Technical Education
gave an overview and explanation of the budget process and how the data was
gathered and used. It was recommended
that the State Board grant approval to the individual community college budgets
as proposed.
Motion: It was moved by Jim Billings and seconded by
Wayne Kobberdahl that the community college certified budgets be approved as
proposed.
Vote: The
motion carried unanimously.
There was a brief discussion
of the increased Iowa community college tuition rates. Gene Gardner also handed out an
informational report on the community college accelerated career education
physical infrastructure assistance program.
State Board member Greg
McClain presented an overview of the work done by the National Association of
State Boards of Education Study Committee on Athletic Eligibility. McClain thanked the Board and Department for
the opportunity to be able to serve on this committee. The mission statement for this group was
that the purpose of high school athletics was to enhance the whole school
experience for all students. Academic
achievement must always be considered the priority. The privilege of participating in athletics should be recognized
as contributing to a student’s civic, physical and social development. He outlined the basic assumptions that had
been identified as well as the charge given to the commission. McClain also shared data the commission had
collected for the study group.
McClain concluded his
presentation by listing the recommendations approved by the National Commission
on High School Athletics in an Era of Reform.
Gene Vincent stated that he
had had a request to bring athletic eligibility for an action item to the
August State Board meeting and was providing this information to the
Board. He indicated he would like to
provide any changes for athletic eligibility to members well ahead of the
August Board meeting date for their review.
Carol Greta, Legal
Consultant, indicated that Iowa Administrative Code, Chapter 36.14 regarding
eligibility to participate in interscholastic sports provided a bare minimum
eligibility academic requirement from which individual high schools could
tailor a more stringent rule to meet the needs of the school district
students. She updated the Board on the
process the athletic eligibility conversation had taken to this date. She also reviewed the local policies on
athletic eligibility that had been reported on the Comprehensive School
Improvement Plan (CSIP) questionnaire from school districts.
Learning Supports
(Addressing Bullying and Harassment)
Jane Todey, Consultant,
Bureau of Children, Family and Community Services provided an outline of
activities that addressed bullying and harassment.
Todey stated that learning
supports included a wide range of strategies, programs, services, and practices
that are implemented to create conditions and environments that promote student
learning. A system of learning supports
is a multi-faceted, comprehensive continuum of actions that are internal and
external to the system of education.
She explained that two years ago, members of the Iowa Collaboration for
Youth Development raised a question in reaction to requirements from No Child
Left Behind. The question was: How can schools and communities work
together to ensure that all children and youth succeed in school? As a result of this question,
collaborative work began to design a system of learning supports that
coordinate and align programs and services across state government that serve
school aged children and youth and their families. Ms. Todey indicated that additional work had been focused on the
organization of those programs and services that were internal to educational
systems to ensure that resources were used as efficiently and effectively as
possible.
Sister Jude Fitzpatrick
expressed her appreciation to the staff for the tremendous amount of work that
was presented on this project.
Administrator Stephen
Wooderson, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, provided an overview
of the strategic plan progress report.
He outlined the following goals:
He reviewed these strategic
plan goals and provided an explanation of how the measures, strategies and
action plans fit together for implementation of the vocational rehabilitation
program.
Mr. Wooderson said that
vocational rehabilitation was a federal/state funded (78.7% federal funds
matched by 21.3% non-federal funds) program.
Upon receipt of a referral, an applicant would be evaluated for eligibility
according to federal criteria outlined in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended in 1998. Upon the determination
of eligibility, the client may access services that are intended to lead to
employment in the competitive marketplace.
In conclusion he stated that the services may include evaluation,
guidance and counseling, training, assistive technology, and direct job
placement.
Troyce Fisher, Executive
Director, School Administrators of Iowa and Project Director, State Action for
Educational Leadership Partnership (SAELP) II and Veronica Stalker, Iowa State
University presented this agenda item.
Fisher said this initiative had begun several years ago with the State
Board establishing a priority of improving educational leadership. The Wallace Foundation had established SAELP
grants. To date, Iowa has received
three SAELP grants. The last grant
received resulted in an award of $600,000 over a three-year period to continue
the work to improve educational leadership in Iowa.
Fisher and Stalker explained
the three Breakthrough Ideas that would continue to drive Iowa’s efforts to
influence state, regional, and local policy and practice in educational
leadership for improved student achievement.
They are as follows: 1) to embed the Iowa Standards for School Leaders
into every phase of the Leadership Development continuum in order to ensure
quality, consistency and performance by school leaders that results in
increased student achievement in Iowa: 2) to conduct an intensive study of
school governance, broadly defined, to determine systemic barriers that divert
attention and effort from student achievement to more managerial functions, and
to disseminate the results statewide in order to positively impact school
governance policy and role expectations for leaders from the school board to
administrators to teacher leaders; and 3) to study Iowa schools which were on
the NCLB Schools in Need of Assistance and Watch Lists which subsequently
narrowed the achievement gap and got off the lists to determine what leadership
behaviors were most instrumental in allowing the schools to improve.
The work of the SAELP grant
in Iowa will be overseen by a Leadership Partnership group that meets quarterly
and is composed of representatives from the Governor’s office, the legislature,
the state Department of Education, Iowa’s intermediate service agencies, Iowa’s
Higher Education preparation programs, the major education associations and
practitioners. Their work also guides
the venues for distribution of the “deliverables” that are a result of this
work.
Pam Pfitzenmaier,
Administrator, Division of Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
introduced Mark Draper, Regional Administrator, Loess Hills Area Education
Agency 13 and Robert Koob, President, University of Northern Iowa and also
serving as a member of the Iowa Business Council (telephonically) that were
present for this agenda item.
Dr. Koob said he became more
involved with early childhood education in 1996 and the role we all need to
play to make sure our youngest children in the state are receiving proper care
and education. That led to involvement
in the State Empowerment Board and the Iowa Learns Council and advocating for
early childhood with the Iowa Business Council. He discussed the following principles that the Iowa Business
Council had identified and some of the actions that they proposed to take.
He also shared the six
activities that the Iowa Business Council plans to implement. They were as follows:
·
The first conference
would focus on economic value of quality early childhood education.
·
The second conference
would host an expert that had had success in creating statewide efforts around
quality early childhood education such as Governor Hunt of North Carolina.
The Iowa Business Council
felt the discussion should be available to all preschool children. The Council thought that if they had to
advocate for a limited thing, the beginning steps would be for 4-year-olds but
that should not be interpreted as not having general advocacy for all preschool
children.
Sally Frudden named other
educational entities that had early childhood education as a priority with
their organizations - SAI, Iowa
Business Council, IASB, Urban Education Network, and State Board of Education. She encouraged partnering in some effective
ways.
Dr. Koob said the proper
delivery mechanisms were in place for early childhood education, but what was
absent is any kind of expectations, regulations, accreditation and/or oversight
body. Some state agency (Education)
needs to propose that it become the responsible body or that we need to create
an independent accrediting agency if we want to proceed in the same manner as
higher education. Resources and
staffing would be needed for the Department of Education to be the accrediting
agency.
Director Jeffrey thanked Dr.
Koob for his advocacy for early childhood. She indicated he was seen throughout
the state as an individual who provides leadership in this area and she
encouraged him to continue the work.
Mark Draper, Loess Hills AEA
13 Regional Administrator, stated that the Council Bluffs Community School
District, in partnership with Loess Hills Area Education Agency had a long
history of early childhood/preschool initiatives that have provided services
for three and four-year olds. He felt
that the efforts in Southwest Iowa, particularly in Council Bluffs and
Pottawattamie County really represent fine leadership in early childhood
education and that the partnership piece was really critical. He said he was employed by the AEA but worked
almost full time in the Council Bluffs Community Schools. This was a partnership that had been carved
out in Southwest Iowa between an urban network school district and the AEA. Neither of the agencies could promote the
kind of activity needed for preschool education without that partnership. He felt that stellar examples of
partnerships were available to look at in Iowa. Increased partnerships were needed to develop a unified system to
bring key stakeholders to the table so that the initiative can be forwarded to
the degree needed.
Draper outlined the quality
program components used by the Council Bluffs Community Schools /Loess Hills
Area Education Agency:
Dr. Draper concluded his
remarks by looking at the following community, state and national partnerships
that had been involved in their program:
Board members had several
questions about the program beginnings, data, governance, successes and how
other area childcare providers reacted to the program.
Update: Community College Activities to Recruit and Retain Underrepresented Groups in All Programs
Jan Friedel, Administrator,
Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation stated that
this presentation was an informational
update for the State Board. It was an opportunity for the State Board of
Education to ask questions and to have a conversation with three community
colleges regarding their activities in this important area. The State Board added Goal #5 to
"Shaping the Future: A Five-Year
Plan for Iowa’s System of Community Colleges" in 2003 in order to
encourage colleges to take more systemic and focused steps to recruit, enroll,
retain, and graduate minority students and students in nontraditional career
fields for their gender. Listed below
is Goal #5:
Goal #5
Iowa’s system of community
colleges will recruit, enroll, retain, and/or graduate persons of under
represented groups (i.e. gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic status) in all
programs.
A. Implement activities and services that increase
awareness of the importance of gender equity and ethnic diversity as it relates
to the social and economic development of communities in each college’s
geographic area.
B. Implement strategies to increase the
awareness of K-12 students as to the opportunities available through
non-traditional careers.
C. Strengthen the relationships of the community
colleges with school districts and community based programs to target potential
students in underrepresented populations.
D. Establish a system to increase women and persons of
color in leadership positions in collaboration with school districts, higher
education, and business/industry.
E. Increase the faculty and staff ability to meet the
needs of underrepresented populations by utilizing research-based best
practices and continuous assessment.
F. Strengthen support systems that increase successful
transfer and/or employment of minorities and non-traditional students.
G. Evaluate the effectiveness of strategies designed to
reduce disparities in enrollment, retention, and graduation by gender and
ethnicity.
Jan Friedel and Tom Andersen presented information
about the department’s activities to support the attainment of Goal #5. Greg Schmidt and Quentin Hart of Hawkeye
Community College talked about their current efforts to monitor and increase
the program retention rates for students from diverse racial/ethnic groups and
students in non-traditional careers. Kim Linduska and Mary Chapman of Des
Moines Area Community College shared information on their community outreach
program and their conversations about diversity that have been held on each of
the college’s campuses. Jim Lindenmayer and Mary Stewart of Indian Hills
Community College provided information about a regional diversity conference
the college sponsored and organized in collaboration with other public and
private organizations in their area. They specifically mentioned the network of
community contacts that was developed in the process of organizing and
implementing the conference and how valuable that network will be in their
future efforts to make Indian Hills Community College a more welcoming and
inclusive learning environment for all its students.
Greg McClain asked questions about receiving a more
comprehensive report with specific initiatives with supporting data for Goal
5. Jan Friedel said the report
providing the requested information is brought to the Board each August.
Director Judy Jeffrey handed out the proposed agenda
for the June State Board Retreat.
President Vincent recommended sending a letter to all high school districts on behalf of the Board thanking them for their hospitality and cooperation during the high school visits with us and stating the Board’s commitment to continue working with them on projects for student achievement and learning.
Vincent also encouraged Board members to make
contacts with legislators in support of education issues.
President Gene Vincent adjourned the meeting.
___________________ ______________________
Gene E. Vincent Judy Jeffrey, Director
President and
Executive Officer