Additional Details

Board of Education Meeting

AGENDA

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

5:00 PM

John Milne Community Board Room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Minutes of Board of Education Meeting

Albuquerque Public Schools

A Board of Education meeting of Albuquerque Public Schools was held Wednesday, March 5, 2014, beginning at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board Room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE.

I.        Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 5:07 p.m.

A.        Pledge of Allegiance / Moment of Silence

B.       Roll Call

Present: Dr. Analee Maestas, Kathy Korte, Lorenzo Garcia, Martin Esquivel, Dr. Don Duran, and Dr. David Peercy

Absent: Steven Michael Quezada

C.      Adoption of the March 5, 2014, Board of Education Meeting Agenda and Approval of the February 19, 2014, Board of Education Meeting Minutes (Discussion/Action)

Kathy Korte motioned for adoption of the agenda, with the removal of agenda items IV, V, and VI. and approval of the minutes. Lorenzo Garcia seconded the motion.  Dr. Duran recommended an amendment to Ms. Korte’s motion that voting for officers and committee chairs only should occur if all seven board members could be present at the meeting.  Ms. Korte accepted the change to the amendment.  Board members Maestas, Korte, Garcia, Esquivel, Duran, and Peercy voted for adoption of the March 5, 2014, Board of Education meeting agenda with the recommended change and approval of the February 19, 2014, Board of Education meeting minutes.

II.       Public Forum

The public forum participant expressed concerns about procedures for substitute teachers to have personnel records reviewed and changed if necessary.

III.      Superintendent's Report

The superintendent's report was not presented.

IV.     Discussion Regarding Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education Officer and Committee Chair Elections (Discussion/Action)

This agenda item was removed from the agenda and will be presented at a future meeting.

V.      Election of 2014-2015 Board of Education Officers (Discussion/Action)

This agenda item was removed from the agenda and will be presented at a future meeting.

A.      Election of President

B.       Election of Vice President

C.      Election of Secretary

VI.     Election of 2014-2015 Board of Education Committee Chairs (Discussion/Action)

This agenda item was removed from the agenda and will be presented at a future meeting.

1. A. Election of Policy and Instruction Committee Chairperson
2. B. Election of Capital Outlay and Technology Committee Chairperson

C.      Election of Finance Committee Chairperson

D.      Election of District and Community Relations Committee Chairperson

E.       Election of Audit Committee Chairperson

VII.    Special Issues

A.      Consideration for Approval of Lease Agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor regarding four (4) electronic billboards to be located at Hayes Middle School, Albuquerque High School, Career Enrichment Center/Early College Academy and APS Maintenance & Operations (Lincoln Complex) (one at each site) (Discussion/Action)

Phill Casaus, APS Education Foundation executive director, presented the request to approve the lease agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor and requested board member approval because the APS Education Foundation and the APS administration have, after determining there were no other proposers, negotiated a lease with Clear Channel Outdoor for electronic billboards at four (4) APS sites.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Compliance with city ordinances confirmed with the City of Albuquerque
• Constraints written into the contract to control usage of the billboards
• Complaint process for concerns from constituents dealt with by Clear Channel
• Sites get percentage of funding, how will it be accounted for will be determined by administration
• Plan for future installation location of billboard
• Concern about the funding from billboards
• Use of the funding for unforeseen purposes

Lorenzo Garcia motioned for adoption of the lease agreement, but the motion died for the lack of the seconded motion.

President Esquivel requested that board members reconsider this agenda item with more information provided by Monica Armenta, executive director of Communications.

Additional discussion regarding this agenda item:

• APS has never had a marketing budget
• Previous directives from the Board of Education requested more positive awareness exposure for APS programs and progress
• APS continually looking for streams of revenue to turn into direct dollars for classrooms
• Many years of discussion and negotiation occurred before the billboard funding program was created, which exchanges funding for the foundation and APS messaging on the billboards for access to prime locations
• Key locations for billboards are based on exposure, so billboards will not be placed at every APS school or facility
• APS has received more than four million messages based on getting every eighth message free
• There has been only one complaint since beginning, which was resolved quickly
• Consideration for fairness to all the schools in the district, yet still meeting the needs of all of the schools where the billboards are located
• Ideas for messaging are solicited from the school, APS staff and administration
• Billboards elevate the image of APS with the ability to share good news
• New billboard locations create equity in areas of the district needing more balanced communication
• Concern for distribution of revenue received especially from the billboard to be placed on the property housing Maintenance and Operations in the Lincoln Complex
• Revenue from the billboard program goes to the APS Education Foundation, which has an independent board sensitive to the needs of students, staff, district and community
• The APS Education Foundation reviews all recommendations for possible distribution of the funds
• Importance of distribution of the funds with equity, especially because there are many volunteer groups supporting APS that could use access to a funding source
• Request documentation of distribution of the funds in regular updates to the Board of Education

Lorenzo Garcia motioned for approval of this agenda item citing benefits and clear restrictions in the contract. Dr. Duran seconded the motion, with an amendment to Mr. Garcia’s motion stating that revenue from the Lincoln Complex location should be given to the APS Fine Arts Department.

Board members Maestas, Garcia, Esquivel, Duran, and Peercy voted for approval of the lease agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor as amended by Dr. Duran with revenue from the Lincoln Complex location distributed to the APS Fine Arts Department.  Board Member Korte voted against the motion, and Mr. Quezada was not present for the vote, regarding four (4) electronic billboards to be located at Hayes Middle School, Albuquerque High School, Career Enrichment Center/Early College Academy and APS Maintenance & Operations (Lincoln Complex).

B.       Legislative Report (Discussion)

Carrie Robin Menapace, legislative liaison and policy analyst, and Art Melendres, legal counsel, Modrall, reviewed the legislation from the 2014 session that impacts APS, specifically fiscal matters.  Updated information was presented based on the most recent decisions of the governor, but some legislation has not been finalized because the governor has until March 12 to sign or veto.  After this date all legislation not signed is pocket vetoed.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Board member requested clarification of legislation effective dates
• Implementation of legislation pending final government decisions
• Request for results of HB93, the “reading bill”, which did not get heard in the senate

C.      Consideration for Approval of Recommendations for the FY 2014-2015 Budget (Discussion)

Don Moya, chief financial officer, and Ruben Hendrickson, deputy chief financial officer, presented budget assumptions based on the recent legislative session fiscal year (FY) 14-15 budgetary implications for APS, including public school support and related appropriations for fiscal year 2015, estimated operational budget changes, comparison of  the number of teachers in FY 2009 to 2015 lost due to funding reductions and changes in enrollment, opportunities and risks, and above and below the line budget comparison of FY 2015 to 2011. Information is fluid due to pending decisions of the governor.  The APS Finance Department plans for the worst scenario in preparation of the budget and the pending E-Rate review.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Board support for budget meetings, especially the work of the Finance Department
• Recommend that the automated phone system be used to inform parents of budget meetings
• Concern about reduced staffing due to accelerated retirements and teachers leaving the profession
• Concern that districts pay for testing coordinators and teacher evaluations, which should be used to pay for counselors
• Concern for the number of qualified teachers available for hire
• Concern about health insurance cost increase estimated at 10 percent and plan design change
• Concern about funding for teachers and ancillary areas and special education
• Concern about assumption that nurses will be paid out of a portion of the Medicaid budget
• Concern about Pre-K funding for Reads to Leads balance between above and below the line funding
• Concern about the budget meetings conflicting with the needs of parents and recommendations that schools are telling parents to attend to their students in preparation for testing

VIII.   Board Member Comments

Board members commented about the following issues:

• Request to review possible solutions for resolving issues and funding regarding the Rio Grande pool
• Gratitude for the work of the APS Fine Arts Department, especially the recent honor choir concert
• Importance of letting parents know how they can give input on the budget balanced with the limitations of parents with young children

IX.      President's Report

President Esquivel reported on a recent meeting with Families United for Education and their requests for the APS administration to review its concerns and recommendation that the APS administration and Board of Education attend racism training.

X.       Announcement of Upcoming Board Meetings

President Esquivel announced that the next Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board room and the next Special Board of Education meeting will be held on Friday, March 14, 2014, at 7:30 a.m., in the DeLayo Martin Community room.

XI.      Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 7:02 p.m.

APPROVED: ____________________________

Martin Esquivel, President

ATTEST: __________________________________

Steven Michael Quezada, Secretary