updated October 16, 2008 by jabrams in Uncategorized
I have spent the past two days meeting with the School Facilities Commission. One of the questions that came up was whether or not school buildings have been given away by other districts after they move into their new buildings. The initial report I received from our local School Facilities Representative was that he was not aware of any. It has since been brought to my attention that many have been given away, for a variety of reasons. I did not bring that up at the past school board meeting in open session, so I wanted to make it a point of clarification on my blog. While many have given them away, it is still the position of the district that we work with the communities to provide them time to write the grants necessary to purchase the buildings. It continues to be the position of the board, that we sell the buildings for fair market value and use those resources to benefit the entire district.
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updated October 2, 2008 by jabrams in Uncategorized
We’ve been reluctant to respond to statements that have been printed as letters to the editor but felt like it was necessary on this occasion in regards to the sale of the Metcalf building. We will address specific points that were mentioned.
Statement 1- Our School Board of Trustees set the price at $500,000.00.
Response- The sales price of Metcalf Elementary and Holdaway Elementary was determined by having an appraisal done on the properties by an independent appraiser. The appraised value of Holdaway Elementary is $495,000.00 and Metcalf Elementary is $496,000.00.
Statement 2- Part of Etna’s presentation touched on the practice of school districts offering their abandoned buildings to local communities for a dollar. Since the state footed the entire bill for the new Etna Elementary school why is the School Board firm on such a hefty price?
Response- I have visited with Lance Johnson of the School Facilities Commission and he is unaware of any school district that has given away an abandoned school. In fact, he applauds our decision to sell these schools for fair market value. I would be happy to investigate the rationale behind their decision if indeed a district has done this. When Metcalf Elementary and Holdaway Elementary were constructed, Star Valley alone was one district. All patrons throughout Star Valley contributed to these buildings being paid for. For this reason it seemed natural that the entire district would reap the benefits of selling the buildings. That is why the proceeds from the sale of these buildings are earmarked for the football/soccer/track facility. This allows the entire district to benefit as opposed to a selected community.
Statement 3- Simply put, the Board has already spent money it didn’t have.
Response- The School Facilities Commission allowed the district to use $500,000.00 of major maintenance dollars for this project. That is the same $500,000.00 it would have taken to re-do the track at the middle school, and is in fact how they arrived at that number. The board voted to pay the $800,000.00 balance from the District’s carryover (savings) fund. There is still over $2 million in that carryover (savings) account.
Statement 4-This new facility is touted to be the caliber of Division I colleges and some professional stadiums (is this the wisest way to use our resources or is it merely ”image building” for the powers that be?).
Response- This facility is the same design that is being built at the high schools at Mt. Crest and Skyview in Cache County School District in Logan, Utah and others throughout the state of Wyoming such as Riverton, Casper, Sheridan, Natrona, Cheyenne Central, Kelly Walsh, and Douglas. The sole intent was to provide a quality facility for students.
- Jon Abrams, Superintendent
- Leonard Wilford- Board Chairman
- Barry Fullmer- Vice Chairman
- Karyn Hoopes- Board Member
- Robert McKim- Board Member
- Reynold Johnson- Board Member
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updated September 9, 2008 by jabrams in Uncategorized
Food Service Questions
How do you determine portion size?
Our menus are planned using the Enhanced Food Based Menu Planning System (closely follows the Food Pyramid). On this system we have specific minimum requirements in four food components that consist of five food items. The components are Meat/Meat Alternative, Bread/Grain, Fruit/Vegetable and Milk. The serving sizes vary depending on the age of the students.
• Meat/Meat Alternative, serving is 2 oz for grades 4-12, and 1 ½ oz for K-3. This must be offered daily.
• Grain/Bread, are different in that we must offer at least one serving every day but over a week’s average we must offer 10 servings (K-3), 12 servings (4-6), and 15 servings (7-12).
• Fruit/Vegetable, serving is ¾ cup daily for K-3, ¾ cup daily plus extra ½ cup per week for the 4-6, and 1 cup daily for 7-12. (This is the fruit and vegetable combined, not each).
• The milk component is simple, 8 oz for every age group daily. Has to be liquid milk as a beverage.
How do you determine the price of a meal?
We determine the price of a meal by the cost to prepare that meal. This includes labor, food and supplies. Last year our price for wheat flour tripled from September to May. In June, with the increase in fuel prices our vendor sent us several notices that the cost of food and supplies were going to increase by as much as 6-13% by the 1st of July. And by the middle of July we were sent notices that our food and supplies were again taking an increase of about another 6-10% by the first of August. Prices this week showed that some items had increased as much as 30% from last year’s prices. The increase in school lunch was 9%-11% from last years. The increase in the cost of a lunch does not cover the increase we are seeing in just the food cost itself.
How do you determine the menu?
We plan the school menus by using the guidelines of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. The nutrition guidelines we follow for our lunch program are:
• No more than 30% of the calories in the meal can come from fat.
• No more than 10% of the calories in the meal can come from saturated fat.
• The meal must provide 1/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for calories.
• The meal must provide 1/3 of the RDA for vitamin A, vitamin C and calcium.
• Sodium content must be less than or equal to 1200 mg per meal.
It is very challenging to try to increase calories for the older students and still keep the fat and sodium under the levels they need to be. Some of the ways we have found to do this is by changing our recipes slightly. For example we decreased the salt in our bread recipe by ¼. It hardly changed the taste but made a big difference in the sodium count. This allows us to offer 2 breadsticks to the older students and still keep within the guidelines. We are continually looking for ways to improve our recipes for flavor and still lower sodium and fat.
Our menus are planned by a menu planning committee which consists of all seven kitchen managers and the Food Service Director.
• We plan the menus considering the past preferences of the students and ideas from student surveys and then we add some variety. The Food Service Director has also personally talked to the students as they are eating lunch and asked them if they like what they are having that day and what they might like to see on the menu another time. Each kitchen manager sees the students daily and takes notice what they like and what they don’t like. They bring this information back to the committee. Menu items are either added or taken off of the cycle menu considering this information.
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updated September 9, 2008 by jabrams in Uncategorized
• Why are there no restrooms at the newly rebuilt Braves Field?
The reason that we did not do restrooms was budget. The state will not let us use major maintenance to pay for this type of project since there were never restrooms there in the first place. To add restrooms would create some challenges with getting sewer out to the stadium. Sunrise Engineering checked into this a few years ago and we were told that a lift would have to be installed. This would put the price tag in excess of $100,000.00. At that time they considered using a system similar to what you would see at the rest area in the Narrows. This would be a self-contained system and the price tag again would be in excess of $100,000.00. The third option would be to build restrooms located somewhere close to the southwest corner of the facility just inside the fence line. The new structure would be able to tap into the current sewer and heating system at the high school. An estimate for that is in excess of $100,000.00. While the porta-potties are not ideal, they cost significantly less than that. Up to this point the district has felt it would be more appropriate to spend dollars on more pressing projects. It should be mentioned that these types of restrooms are most often a target of vandals as well. The current athletic director would love to see us do something with this project.
• Were there cost overruns at the Etna and Thayne schools?
Any cost overruns at Thayne and Etna were covered by the state. All new buildings projects of this nature are financed through the School Facilities Commission. Part of the building budgets are a contingency account for such overruns. We have charged the general contractor with liquidated damages in excess of $60,000.00. That money will be used to complete some of the aspects of the project that were not paid for by the state such as additional landscaping.
• Many questions about hiring practices. Can you provide me with a basic hiring philosophy, and how, if at all is the board involved?
This past summer the board amended their hiring policy to remove the superintendent from the hiring committee of head coaches at the high schools. I am philosophically opposed to sitting on the hiring committees for coaches when I do not sit on the hiring committee for teachers. The only significant change in the policy is that the principal at each building determines who ought to be on that hiring committee. A complete copy of the policy is available at the district office. The board’s role in the hiring process, as spelled out in policy, is to approve the names that are provided by the building principal and then approved by the superintendent. There would need to be extenuating circumstances that the committee is unaware of before it would be appropriate for the board to deny a position.
• Progress on the Afton Elementary? What are the cost differences since such a long delay on this school?
We have completed the 10% review on Afton Elementary and are scheduling to have 100% drawings and schematics by the first of November. This project will go to bid using construction management as opposed to a general contractor. In general, this allows us more flexibility in choosing our sub contractors. The cost of the Thayne and Etna Elementary projects were approximately $235.00 per square foot. The cost of the Afton Elementary project is estimated to be between $265.00- $275.00 per square foot for a total cost of about $16.5 million. The district had absolutely no control over the delay of the Afton building project. When the bids came in and were well above what had been budgeted, the state director stopped the building of the Afton Elementary School. When the state is the one paying for the schools they have complete control over whether the project moves forward or not. Having said that, the new director is extremely supportive of the current Afton building project and there is no doubt in my mind that we will break ground this coming spring. All additional costs for this project are paid in full by the School Facilities Commission.
• Can you provide me with an explanation/breakdown of the funding sources/mechanisms the district has?
We have three primary funding sources; the general fund which comes to us from the state, major maintenance which also comes to us from the state and is used for the maintaining of current facilities, and federal grants that come from the federal government. JC Inskeep oversees the first two and Mark Taylor oversees the federal grants. There are many strings attached to the use of major maintenance and all projects are approved by the School Facilities Commission before we can proceed. Federal grants also have many strings attached and we are audited to ensure that those dollars are spent as intended. The largest part of our budget, called the general fund, comes to us in a block grant. We are allowed to use those resources as we deem appropriate. We are also allowed to keep up to 15% of that general fund in reserve. Currently we are sitting on approximately 9% or close to $3 million dollars. I would point out that approximately 85% of our budget is used for paying salaries and benefits of our over 500 staff members (not including substitutes). The payroll each month is about $2.3-$2.4 million.
• Can you explain the contingency fund?
As I mentioned above, the contingency is an amount the state allows us to hold in reserve. Historically, that amount, for this district has been held between 10 and 15 percent. It’s also referred to as a rainy day fund. If we have a payroll of $2.3 million, and our contingency is just over $3 million, it would really only buy us one month in payroll. In the past it has been relied on for when a boiler or some other major ticket item went down. With the addition of major maintenance I do not feel like there is such a need to keep it at such a high level. The state has also been critical of districts who maintain that high carryover even though it is allowed by state statute.
• Does the board see/deal with/approve financial statements/information each month?
Each month the board receives all outgoing accounts payable and approves them in board meeting. They receive that information with their board packet prior to board meeting which allows them time to review and an opportunity to meet with JC Inskeep, Business Manager, if they have questions prior to board meeting.
• Do you do the lobbying for the district at the State level? If not how is that handled?
Most of the lobbying at the state level is done through the teachers association, the administrators association, and the school board association. As part of the school board association each board has an appointed liaison that works directly with the Wyoming School Boards Association. When there are individual projects, such as the Braves Field, or the elementary schools, it is my responsibility to lobby or work closely with the School Facilities Commission to see those projects are completed. As it relates to funding, our school district is the optimal size to receive maximum funding from the state. I have said on many occasions if we fail to do a good job of educating students, we can blame no one but ourselves. We are well funded and have the resources to meet the needs of all students. A review of our PAWS scores would indicate that while we will continue to work to improve, we are doing very well. We are the only school district of our size that had no schools fail to meet adequate yearly progress.
• What is your philosophy on what a board members role is?
In order for a board to function properly they have to hire a superintendent they trust and then allow him/her to be the CEO of the school district. People have often been critical of my military training and how I emphasize using the chain of command, but a well functioning school district understands that principle and uses it. When I receive complaints from patrons, I call the administrators or refer the patron back to the teacher or administrator they have a complaint with. If at all possible, we prefer to deal with the problem at the level the occurrence happened. If resolution cannot be reached at that level we continue up the chain of command. When the school board member receives the complaint I would hope they would do the same thing. New board members are inundated with concerns from unhappy patrons who most often did not feel like their voice was heard by previous board members. I always encourage board members to listen and re-direct. It is a thankless job. The pay is poor and I am pleased that we have so many who are willing to take it on.
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updated September 4, 2008 by jabrams in Uncategorized
The school district is hosting a Parent Chat tonight at the new Thayne Elementary. The topics to be covered are school lunch and transportation. We will be providing a light dinner. Please come join us at 6:30 pm. Look forward to seeing you there.
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