- Liberty School District #362
- Meeting Minutes
August 25, 2021
LIBERTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: Board Chair Mark Bullock called the meeting of the Liberty School District Board of Directors to order at 7:01 p.m. The flag salute was given, and a quorum was declared. Others present were board members Chad Cornmesser, Chad Denny, Jeremy Engle, and Stephanie Stout, and Superintendent Jerrad Jeske. Visitors from the public were also in attendance. After some back and forth between the board and the visiting public about the requirement for masks, the meeting proceeded.
AGENDA REVIEW: Mark Bullock noted no changes to the published agenda.
SALUTE TO LIBERTY: Mark Bullock saluted the success of the Open-House on the prior evening, stating that it was well attended, and the Ice Cream Social was a great event. He hopes for a fun start to the school year for our students.
ACTION ITEMS:
- WAC 181-82-110 Out of Endorsement approval Morgan Pendon for Chorus, Kristin Berry-Visual Arts, Kipp Sims Algebra I, Duke Hammond for Anatomy, Aaron Watson for Language Arts, Mathematics, Physical Education. Dan Groom for Spanish.
Chad Denny made the motion to approve the WAC 181-82-110 Out of Endorsement for Morgan Pendon for Chorus, Kristin Berry-Visual Arts, Kipp Sims Algebra I, Duke Hammond for Anatomy, Aaron Watson for Language Arts, Mathematics, Physical Education. Dan Groom for Spanish, Stephanie Stout seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
- Approval of District Goals 2021-2022
Chad Denny made the motion to approve the District Goals 2021-2022, Jeremy Engle seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
CONSENT AGENDA: Jeremy Engle made a motion to approve the consent agenda as follow:
*Approval of regular board meeting minutes from July 27, 2021
*General Fund Checks #113853-113905 in the amount of $325,958.84
*Capital Projects Check #113852 in the amount of $6,764.72
*Transportation Fund Check #113851 in the amount of $116,096.58
*Payroll for August 2021 and Checks #113835-113850 in the amount of $576,193.30
*ESSR Stipend for Staff
*PERSONNEL ACTION:
- Resignations: Garrett Spurrell – Assistant JH Football Coach, Trisha Chambers – HS Spanish Teacher, Ron Cockle – Bus Driver, Gracie Hodgson, Special Services Director
- Appointments: Shyann Morton – K-4 Elementary Music teacher/Math & Reading Intervention Specialist & JH Assistant Volleyball Coach, AJ Anderson – Head JH Football Coach, Kellen Watson – Assistant JH Football Coach, Laura Fulton – Custodian, Deanna Brock – Bus Driver, Cheyenne Malott – Bus Driver, Dan Groom – HS Spanish Teacher
Chad Denny seconded the motion, and it passed all-in-favor.
COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:
- Mark Bullock opened up for comments, stating each community member that signed up to speak would be given 3 minutes each. The community members signed up were: Aaron Reesh, Steve Braun, Amy and Brandon Strobel, and Trisha Brash.
- Aaron Reesh sited the Milgram psychology experiment that looked at obedience to authority figured. He voiced his strong concerns that the board should not be following the mandates. He highlighted his concerns for the student’s health and education while being masked.
- Steve Braun thanked the board for their letter to Governor Inlsee and Superintendent Reykdal. He opposes the rules set forth for Public Meetings. He stated his wish was to come to support Ron Cockle, in regard to his resignation and hopes the board plans to find a way to keep employed those who are in a similar situation. The question was asked as to where the school and school board liability would fall in the event of employees refusing to vaccinate, as well as those who are forced to take the vaccine.
- Brandon and Amy Strobel expressed continued frustrations that the community is at odds with one another. They thanked the board for the letter to Inslee and Reykdal but feel a survey should be conducted to poll the community on their input about the Covid-19 measures. They encouraged the board to lead the school in a different direction, and expressed that there would be a lot of support from the community if they would. They urged the board to make a plan and give the parents some direction.
- Trisha Brash thanked the board for the letter as well, and credited them with taking the public stand and henceforth giving them a lot of credibility within the community. She then requested that the board seek clarification on a number of line items in the Governors 21-14.1 Proclamation, to which the board requested copies of her noted points of clarification. She also asked what the ramifications will be for students who refuse to mask.
- Members of the board stressed that the focus of the board is to educate students, and to get them into the building and that comes with following the mandates. They will continue to seek ways to navigate these issues.
Mark Bullock called for a 10-minute break, and the meeting reconvened at 8:22 p.m.
SUPERINTENDENT REPORT: The following was a part of Jerrad Jeske’s report:
- The new boiler is in, with some of the last steps wrapping up. We will only need to use about half of it’s capacity leaving room for expansion in the future. The heat pumps are also in, and working well.
- There are new lockers installed in the girl’s locker room in the EJH.
- The past 3 days have been great with staff in the buildings, and they have been working hard at getting good things in place for the kids.
- He recognized the hard work of Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Saywers on putting together the plans for staff on late starts.
- At the Open House the parents and students were excited for the first day, and he too is eager for the first day back at Liberty.
- He is excited for the first games of the fall sports season.
ELEMENTARY/JUNIOR HIGH REPORT: The following was a part of Alex Saywers report:
- I am so excited to begin the 2021-2022 school year!
- Our building looks amazing thanks to our wonderful custodial staff and all of their hard work this summer. I love seeing the shine on the gym floors and in the cafeteria as we get everything ready for our students.
- We had a great turnout at our open house last night, and I really appreciate the board members for coming out to help serve ice cream! Special thanks goes out to Cami Canning for creating our Open House Scavenger Hunt!
- There has been a lot going on in our building over the summer. Over the past few months we have hired four new teachers: Rayna Charles in Kindergarten, Melissa Tellessen in 3rd Grade, Tanya Kanenwisher in 5th Grade, & Shyann Morton in Elementary Music and Interventions.
- We have also had a host of staff placement shifts over the last year, and I am very excited to see our staff members in these new positions.
- We are beginning a new class in the Junior High this year called “Foundations.” The goal of the class is to build relationships, strive for academic success, increase time management and organizational skills, and prepare our students for high school and beyond.
- Our Elementary students in grades K-5 will be switching to a trimester schedule this year. This was done to better align our grading windows with our conference schedule, MAP testing, and to allow for our teachers to collect more data for our standard-based grading.
- This year, our building staff will be implementing a learning recovery initiative called WIN Time. We are utilizing a couple of different research-backed programs in math and reading in grades K-8 to help our teachers identify learning gaps for our students, and then using these programs in addition to classroom based interventions to fill those gaps. Special thanks goes out to Charis Bair and Tiffany Buys for leading the research and training behind our two programs.
- I am very excited to kick school off tomorrow and I can’t wait to see our students!
HIGH SCHOOL REPORT: The following were a part of Aaron Fletcher’s report:
- We are ready for great first day of school.
- Great staff trainings the last 3 days:
- James Layman from AWSP came to talk about making connections with students.
- Dianna Harrington from ESD 101, talked about team work K-12, and yearlong goal setting.
- The staff will be reading the Energy Bus as a pat of our late start program.
- Open house last night was a success.
- Our first day will begin with a kick off assembly.
- We have a new teacher joining us, Dan Groom has been hired for Spanish. Mr. Groom comes to us with 19 years in education, and we are lucky to have snagged him.
- Enrollment is currently at 134 fulltime in the building.
- We have an Ag Advisory committee meeting coming up in September.
- Mr. Hammond is hosting Financial Aid night September 23rd.
- Character Counts program, aligned district wide, will recognize students.
- The new hand prints on the wall will be happening Thursday.
LIBERTY ATHLETICS REPORT: The following was reported by Aaron Fletcher on behalf of Kyle Dodge:
- The first home football game is Sept 9th.
- Turnout for HS sports is currently at: 24 – Football, 26 – Volleyball, 7 – Cross Country, and they plan to recruit more for Cheer.
- Turnout for JH sports is currently at: 12 - Football, 21 – Volleyball, and 9 – Cross Country.
- We are very close to finalizing a full time athletic trainer.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
- First reading of WSSDA policy updates – 2000 series
EXECUTIVE REPORTS: None
Chad Cornmesser moved to remove Ron Cockle’s Resignation, and approve all else in the Consent Agenda, Chad Denny seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
ITEMS FOR THE NEXT AGENDA: Wednesday September 22, 2021 - 7:00 PM
- Approval of Volleyball’s overnight stay at Okanogan HS
- Approval of the FFA National Convention overnight stay
- Resignation of Ron Cockle
EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 8:43 p.m. Mark Bullock announced the board would enter into executive session as allowed by RCW 42.30.110 (g) for 20 minutes.
The board exited the executive session at 9:10 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:11pm.
Minutes not approved until signed at the next regular board meeting September 22, 2021.