SPECIAL BOARD MEETING - Northland Pines School District

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING – July 6, 2011
The special meeting of the Northland Pines Board of Education of Wednesday, July 6, 2011, was
called to order by President Jim Mulleady at six o’clock p.m. (6:00 p.m.) in the Large Group
Instruction Room located in the Northland Pines High School, Eagle River, Wisconsin. Present
were board members: Mark Vander Bloomen; Holly McCormack; John Sarama; Jim Mulleady; and
Mike Jovanovic. Eric Neff and Mike Sealander were absent. Quorum was established. Also
present were Mike Richie, District Administrator; Jackie Coghlan, Middle School Principal; and
Susie Block, Recording Secretary. There were 20 citizens in attendance.
Open Meeting Verification
Jim Mulleady stated that the meeting had been duly called with meeting notices posted at the
following locations:
1. The Northland Pines High School and Middle School in Eagle River
2. The Northland Pines Elementary Schools in Eagle River, Land O’Lakes and St. Germain
3. The Vilas County Courthouse - Eagle River
4. The Eagle River City Hall
5. Additional notice has been given:
I. The Vilas County News Review-Eagle River
II. WERL/WRJO Radio Station-Eagle River
III. The Rhinelander Daily News-Rhinelander
IV. WHDG Radio Station-Rhinelander
Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Mike Jovanovic that the Board approves the agenda as presented. Second by Mark
Vander Bloomen. Voice vote 5-0. Motion carried.
Employee Handbook discussion
Stu Waller presented the Board with Neola’s outline of a handbook for professional staff, noting
that this would be online and the policies which are referred to throughout the handbook would be
linked to the handbook. The cost of the handbook is $250.00 which is a one time cost. Waller
noted that if he comes up to help with the handbook then it would be another $250.00 for that
service.
The Board indicated they would purchase the Neola policy handbook, noting that Neola is backed
by the law firm of Davis & Kuelthau, which reviews everything that Neola puts out to Wisconsin
school districts.
Jim Mulleady asked those in attendance if they had any input for the Board regarding the Employee
Handbook.
Jennifer Nickel expressed concern over the proposed 7:30 to 3:30 workday, noting she is concerned
with parents being able to get their children to daycare and then get to work by 7:30 a.m. Nickel
also noted concern regarding supervision of students between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. if teachers are in
staff or department meetings.
Amanda Acklam expressed concern over the 7:30 to 3:30 workday indicating agreement with
Nickel. Acklam stated that most teachers already work well beyond their work day; she has given
up her prep time to volunteer to work on projects or other needs of the district. Acklam noted she
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did not want the guaranteed prep minutes removed. Acklam asked that the Board does not cut the
mileage rate in half for the district’s traveling teachers, as part of her job is traveling between three
school buildings and she puts a lot of miles on her vehicle.
Mike Richie said as of right now the plan is to keep prep time the same but noted that if we have a
three or four million dollar shortfall due to a failed referendum then we may need to look at cutting
prep time in the future.
Annette Numrich expressed concern regarding any reduction in travel reimbursement. Numrich
indicated she gives up lunch time to travel to IEP meetings, never takes a break during the day,
never goes down to the lounge to take a break. Numrich said she is here by 7:00 a.m. every day to
prepare for her kids and be ready when they come in. Numrich feels it is an insult that teachers are
not considered to be already putting in their time.
Becky Boxrucker spoke regarding 7:30 to 3:30 workday, noting that she will get her kids to daycare
when they need to be and that is not the Board’s problem, but her concern is how the students are
taken care of during that time for 30 to 40 minutes before the school day begins; her kids in special
education can not go in to the lunch room in the morning and if they did, it would start out their day
horribly. Boxrucker noted she wishes she could punch a clock because the district would be paying
her a lot more money. Boxrucker was also concerned about kids missing at the end of the day if
teachers leave just five minutes after the kids; they are usually there beyond that and are going back
and forth with the bus drivers and secretaries to make sure all kids are accounted for and on their
buses or being transported home via family. Boxrucker asked that the Board please consider that
we need to have a very good plan for the kids in the morning if they are going to be here longer then
10 or 15 minutes without supervision and we also need a good plan for the end of the school day to
ensure that kids are safely transported home.
Ann Hewitt asked if the Board was going to put this employee handbook document out for the
public. Mike said at this point this is a draft and we will be working on it and changing it daily so it
will not go out to the public until it is in final form. Our goal is to make it as brief as possible and
concise.
Ann Hewitt said that it was hurtful that the Board did not want to negotiate the contract extension
for the teachers and she is already feeling unappreciated in many other ways. She is also
disappointed that the Board wanted to change the workday from 7:30 to 3:30 and hopes that we
reconsider the workday.
Mike Gerlach asked do we know what financial shape we are in? Margo Smith, Business Manager,
said we will have a much tighter budget because of the 5.5% per pupil reduction in revenue;
however, we didn’t get much funding from the state so we are in better shape than many other
districts she knows of that are making a 25% layoff in staff due to a huge funding cliff. Margo said
she is still putting together the budget and there are still many unknown factors that will affect the
budget. Gerlach said the teachers have already taken a hit and he is hoping the Board is not going
to use tools to take more away from the teachers.
Jim Mulleady noted that we are getting constantly changing information from the state and we will
not have the final numbers for a while.
John Sarama asked the other board members what the negotiation process was in the past, noting he
did not appreciate being chastised by teachers regarding negotiations when the Board did put in a
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good faith effort to negotiate. Mike Jovanvoic said that the last two two-year contracts took us
eight months to negotiate and it went through Personnel Committee and then went to the full Board
in closed session for approval. Those contracts were negotiated by Josh Skubal as NPEA President.
Holly McCormack noted these are all unchartered waters and new to everyone so it is not going to
be the same as negotiations were in the past.
Deb Foster asked if the issue is financial then why the language changes that are not financial?
Holly McCormack responded that the issues are not just financial, that we also need to be doing
what is best for the students and the taxpayers so the Board is looking at language changes. Mike
Richie said for example the Board is changing the bell schedule in 2012-2013 so that we can share
staff between the high school and middle school more effectively. We are also eliminating seniority
as the Board’s goal is to keep the best teachers in the classroom, regardless of seniority.
Annette Numrich asked if you have two equally qualified teachers then you wouldn’t exclude the
more senior one? Mike said no in that case you would not exclude the senior staff member; at that
point you would review qualifications and conduct an interview process between the two staff
members.
Becky Pokrandt asked about the co-curricular contracts area. Mike Richie said Brian Margelofsky,
Activities Director, is working with the Athletic Committee on a Co-Curricular Handbook and they
are reviewing co-curricular salaries as well, but that will be completely separate and not a part of
the Employee Handbook. Pokrandt said this has been a tough year, that she does not want any more
“he said she said” emails or letters, that she wants to go into next year and get all of this settled.
Pokrandt said we all need to work together on this because when we are upset students pick up on
and reflect on these issues. We need to show support for each other. We understand we need set
hours but she puts in a lot of additional time as it is.
Jennifer Nickel asked about the dental plan. Mike Richie said the plan right now is to stay with the
same dental plan that staff has now; there is no plan to change anything with dental.
Jason Foster asked will there be co-curricular salary changes and assistant changes? Mike said yes
the Athletic Committee is looking at that and there will likely be changes proposed to the Board at a
later date.
Gretchen Yagow asked about whether the Board would be doing a wage freeze. Mike Richie said
that is the one item that will be negotiated; it is referred to as Total Base Wages and the Board can
negotiate up to CPI (Consumer Price Index). Yagow indicated teachers were trying to plan their
personal budgets and wondering what their pay would be for 2011-2012. Richie said teachers could
take your total wages from 2010-2011, deduct 5.8% retirement, deduct 12% insurance premium
and that will give you a rough idea; teachers may also contact Tera Fritz, Payroll & Benefits, to
assist with those calculations. Margo Smith cautioned that teachers can not hold Tera to those
estimates because withholdings will change and there are factors we have no control over. Yagow
concluded by saying that teachers have a division in our own staff and there is a lot of tension in
this room tonight; some teachers want to have it the old way and some teachers want to just move
forward. Yagow asked if the Board was considering a three tiered financial payment plan. Mike
Richie said we have heard about it but have not seen it and the Board is still considering items
related to salary structure.
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Ann Hewitt asked when are pay periods and what about sick leave? Hewitt indicated that if we
require sick notes every time that staff members will be afraid to call in sick or running to the doctor
for every sick day. The Board indicated they are more concerned with patterns of sick leave abuse
and may ask for doctor’s notes in cases where there are patterns of calling in sick every Friday or
every Monday type of thing.
Annette Numrich asked if we look at a three tiered payment plan will we also look at professionals
outside of the teachers on it like her position? Numrich indicated she is an Occupational Therapist
but has always been lumped in with teachers.
Tera Fritz suggested keeping the handbook vague so the Board would have room for adjustments.
Mark Vander Bloomen said some of it needs to be very detailed and the Board does have the right
to change the handbook at any time if something is not working.
Ann Hewitt suggested that the Board have listening sessions to talk about issues.
Diane Reimer asked about side letter #6 to the old contract and Mike said we need to get some legal
clarification on the language. Mike said the employee hits 65 and the employee’s spouse was never
employed by the district then it may be illegal to keep the spouse on our insurance.
At this point all input was completed. The Board thanked the staff in attendance for their input and
reminded them the handbook is a work in progress. The Board reminded everyone the next meeting
for the handbook will be Wednesday, August 13, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. as posted.
Mike Richie thanked staff in attendance for remaining professional and giving great input to the
Board to consider.
Adjournment
MOTION by Mark Vander Bloomen that the Board adjourns. Second by John Sarama. Voice vote
5-0. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
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