Minutes 04-25-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Addresses required code issues - Bathrooms, electrical, fire alarm, emergency generator, etc. • Provides small assembly space • Likely increases building capacity by 104...a 2 year delay for MS #5 said CHCCS will be opening a new school this year (Northside Elementary) which will increase costs. He said this makes the budget look a little worse, but this must be done due to the increase in students. He noted that the CHCCS 90% graduation rate is one of the highest in the state. Superintendent Forcella reviewed the positive impacts of financial support and said that there is still room for improvement in the achievement gap. He stressed the need for long term planning and professional development in achieving this. He said the FPG Dual-Language School is a first in the district, and this is almost like opening a second new school. He said that a task force has been set up to address safety plans for facilities and classrooms. He said the other piece of safety is to address the mental health piece of the puzzle, and to provide assistance to children who need help and might go unnoticed. Referring to the slide on Setting Priorities, Superintendent Forcella said that the goal is to continue the literacy coaching into the middle school to create a K-12 continuum. He said that when adding this, something has to be cut, and in this case it is In-school suspension and Middle School Teacher Assistants (TAs). He said efficiency reduction has to do with using staff more efficiently. He said examples of this include creating larger classes, combining classes, or having teachers teaching classes at multiple schools. Commissioner Dorosin referenced the slide on setting priorities and asked how many Literacy Coaches would be hired and how many TA's would be reduced? Todd LoFriese said that 4 coaches will be hired, and 8 teaching assistant positions will be lost. Commissioner Gordon asked about the new teaching models of interaction versus lectures and how this helps the lower achieving students. Superintendent Forcella said the students are engaged and involved in the learning process and this creates a much deeper level of thinking. He said not everyone is comfortable memorizing information and this model gives clear expectations and gives a better understanding of the context of the learning. Commissioner Dorosin asked if the literacy coaches are trainers for other teachers and Tom Forcella said yes, these coaches are training adult teachers in this teaching model. Todd LoFriese picked up the PowerPoint presentation on page 3 with the slide on 2013-14 Budget Drivers and reviewed the remaining slides. Commissioner McKee said the sequestration rates were different between the two school systems. Todd LoFriese said the there has been a lot of discussion about the class sizes in grades 4 and 5, where there are some classes with 30-31 students. He said this is a direct result of discretionary reductions from the state. He said the district reduction of$3 million equates to 50 teaching positions that the schools would otherwise have. Todd Lofriese reviewed the Continuation Budget Requests and said CHCCS are in the same position as Orange County in terms of the impact of sequestration, and there is an estimated 8% reduction reflected in the budget. He noted the last line on the Projected Local Budget Balance slide and said that this is based on the Board continuing to assign the fund balance at an increased level of$3.2 million. He said this is likely the last year that this will be possible. He said it is unknown how the Teacher Tenure/School Reform will affect the ability to recruit teachers. He noted that NC is currently 47th in the nation in teacher pay, trailing the