Board
Highlights for April 3, 2017
District
Highlights
On March 28, 2017 the Puyallup School District held
the day’s largest municipal bond sale in the nation, selling $181,225,000 of
tax-exempt bonds with an interest rate of 3.35 percent. To open the District
Highlights portion of the school board meeting, Chief Communications and Arts
Officer Brian Fox reminded directors of the significance of that day. With bond
proceeds exceeding $200 million, this event demonstrated the strength of the
district’s financial standing. Seven bidders showed interest in purchasing the
bonds, with JP Morgan as the winner.
Next, Fox used photos taken at the Celtic
Highland Festival held on Saturday, April 1 at the Karshner Museum and Center
for Culture & Arts to provide directors with a glimpse of that day’s
events. Beginning with a photo of Director Pat Donovan playing bagpipes, the
images included dancers, musicians, and heavy athletic competitors. For more
information about this event, visit the Karshner Center webpage.
Several students from the Rogers High School
Architecture,
Construction, and Engineering (ACE) class were presented to
directors, along with their teacher, Jon Cerio. Students recently won first
place at the 2017 CTE Showcase of Skills.
Each year, the Washington State Workforce Training andEducation Coordinating Board hosts a competition among
schools in which students demonstrate their skills at a day-long competition
event. This year, the event project was to build “tiny house” shelters for the
homeless. The final portion of the several-week build took place on the Capitol
Campus in Olympia on Monday, March 27. Twenty-five schools competed.
These students initially earned a $2,500 grant in
order to qualify for the competition. They submitted explanations on their view
of the local homeless situation and explained how they would like to make a
difference by building a tiny home.
Finished shelters from the competition will provide
transitional homeless housing after they are moved to Licton Springs on Aurora
Avenue in Seattle. In addition to winning
first place in the
competition, the Rogers team was also selected to provide the keynote student
speeches at the event.
Directors congratulated each student with a hand
shake and appreciation for their efforts to respond to the homeless population.
Finally, Fox read a proclamation for the directors
to consider as an action item. The proclamation declares April 17 – 21, 2017 as
Public School Volunteer Week.
Action
Taken
In regular business, the board took action on the
following items:
- - The designation of April 17 – 21, 2017 as Public
School Volunteer Week.
- - The recommendation to contract with Graduation
Alliance, a vendor assisting school districts with dropout recovery efforts as
presented by Dr. Vince Pecchia, chief instructional leadership officer.
- - Approval of the Value Analysis Studies for the
following bond projects: Firgrove Elementary, Northwood Elementary, the New
Elementary on South Hill.
- - Approval of demolishing the current Firgrove
Elementary School building in the summer of 2020.
- - Approval of the option of selling the Firgrove
Elementary annex building to the South Hill Historical Society or any
interested group at full market value by March 2020 or demolish the building
and use some of the bricks to create a historical monument at the new Firgrove
school.
Career and Technical Education (CTE)
Annual Plan
Maija
Thiel, director of instructional leadership, career and technical education
presented directors with records, information, and fiscal documentation related
to the CTE department. Information analyzed and compiled into the annual report
consists of the following:
- - Advisory
Information
- - Department
and Pathway Goals
- - Staff
Professional Development
- - Student
Certification Information
- - Student
Leadership Activity
To
read the District-wide Evaluation and Annual Program Plan visit the PSD website:
Department of
Career and Technical Education Annual Plan 2015-2016.
February 2017 Financial Statements
Laura
Marcoe, director of business services presented directors with financial
statements for the district’s General Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Debt Service
Fund, Associated Student Body Fund, Transportation Vehicle Fund, and the
Private Purpose Trust Fund.
Marcoe
noted that February marks the half way point of the fiscal year and reported
general fund operating budget status in revenues as 47.62 percent and expenditures
at 44.21 percent.
In
February, PSD received and paid for four 21-passenger and seven 84-passenger
Thomas Built buses replacing several lost in the fire last fall.
Fifteen years of clean audits
Marcoe
also presented directors with a report from the State Auditor’s office. In
compliance with state law, the financial and federal compliance records of the
Puyallup School District are subject to annual audits by the State Auditor. The
Financial Statement and Federal Single Audits for the fiscal year ending August
31, 2016 have been completed.
Marcoe explained that there were no reportable conditions, meaning the school district
has received clean audit opinions on all state required reports. This clean
audit marks the fifteenth consecutive year of clean audit reports for the
Puyallup School District.
Human Resources
The
HR report approved by the school board can be found at the following
website: Human Resources Department Activity Memo for April 3, 2017.
The
next regularly scheduled meeting of the PSD Board of Directors is Monday, May 1,
2017 beginning at 6:00 p.m. at Edgemont Junior High, 2300 – 110th Ave. E, Edgewood, 98372.