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May 24, 2006 MINUTES

Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) was held in Room 116 of the Administration Building, located at 1100 West 45th Street, Austin, Texas on May 24, 2006.

Call to Order: Frankie Swift, Board President, called the meeting to order at 10:10 AM. In addition to Ms. Swift, the following board members were in attendance: Debbie Louder, Mary Sue Welch, Dr. Gene Brooks, Jamie Wheeler, Jesus Bautista, and Donna Clopton.

Introduction of Audience: Others in attendance at the meeting included Miles Fain, Carol Vaughan, Pat Stephenson, Peg Brisco, Elina Mullen, Shannon Darst, Tammy Reed, Betty Schulz, Becky Robinson, Krista Lussenhop, Sharon Nichols, Anna Vrba, John Daude, James Lambert, Madeline Lambert, Dr. Lauren Newton, Susan Houghtling, John Botti, Carolina Gonzalez, Craig Axelrod, Ken Miller, Barney Schulz, Claude Martin (formerly of Dark Horse Riders Motorcycle Club), Malcolm Cleveland, Debra Nesbitt, Kay Pruett, Cyral Miller, Dr. Phil Hatlen, and Rita Gibbs from the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).

Award of Certificates of Appreciation: Pat Stephenson introduced Shannon Darst, recipient of the TSBVI 2006 Outstanding Paraprofessional Award. Ms. Darst announced that she has now completed her teaching certification.

Miles Fain presented the Outstanding Residential Life Instructor award to dorm manager Tammy Reed. Ms. Reed also helps with the cheerleading team, and recently helped organize the South Central Association of Schools for the Blind (SCASB) Track and Field and Performing Arts Championship.

Ken Miller announced that Becky Pimentel, who acted as head nurse for six months after Brenda Benner-New retired, was chosen as the Outstanding Related Services Provider. Mr. Miller reported that Ms. Pimentel, who was not present, has now herself retired.

Cyral Miller presented the Outstanding Outreach Staff Member Craig Axelrod, who is also retiring this year.

Pat Stephenson introduced Dr. Elina Mullen, this year's Outstanding Teacher of Students who are Blind, Deaf or Multiply Impaired. Dr. Mullen is nationally certified as an adaptive physical education teacher.

Lauren Newton presented Peg Brisco as the Outstanding Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments. Dr. Newton praised her for her skill in teaching self-advocacy to students.

Barney Schulz introduced James and Madeline Lambert, both of whom are retiring. Mr. Schulz presented a certificate of appreciation to James Lambert. Miles Fain presented a certificate plaque of appreciation to Mrs. Lambert for her seven years of work, most of which was in the Secondary Office. Dr. Phil Hatlen presented a historic photo of TSBVI to the Lamberts.

Mr. Fain presented retiree Anna Vrba, Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Mrs. Vrba expressed thanks to the school for the training that she has had here.

Public Comments/Open Forum: Gloria Bennett introduced Terry and Coleen Hickman, Joe and Debbie Conger, Mary Rugaard, and Mary Swittens from the Point Venture Lions Club, an offshoot of the Lago Vista Lions Club. Ms. Swift thanked the Lions Club on behalf of the Board for their donation of $750, earmarked for the purchase of Braille compasses for graduates and for instructional purposes.

Mr. Schulz introduced John Daude, TSBVI’s new director of facilities. Mr. Lambert summarized the process that led to hiring Mr. Daude, and related his professional experience to the Board.

Presentation of Donation by Dark Horse Riders: Claude Martin, formerly of Dark Horse Riders Motorcycle Club, reported that the motorcycle club had disbanded. He presented the Board with a donation of $1950, collected from leftover funds, new donations, and other funds. The former members hope to continue to offer motorcycle rides to students on parent weekend.

Introduction of TSBVI’s New Information Resources Manager, Mike Wolszon: Mr. Schulz introduced Mike Wolszon to the Board. Mr. Wolszon, who was formerly employed with the Texas Animal Health Commission, expressed his excitement to be here. He introduced the Technology Services staff members to the Board.

Mr. Wolszon explained that Jim Allan is a world-renowned expert in accessibility, and that he sits on the W3 Consortium, which decides what the Web is and how it will develop. Mr. Schulz presented Mr. Allan with a plaque in thanks for leading the Technology Services staff through the transition between managers.

Report from the Personnel Committee:

Consideration of options for superintendent performance appraisal training: Rita Gibbs from TASB presented the options that the Personnel Committee had discussed regarding superintendent performance appraisal training. The committee felt that the Board would like to be more comfortable using the superintendent evaluation if they had a better sense of what Dr. Hatlen had done throughout the year.

Ms. Gibbs explained that the committee had identified three actions that they would like to take:

Mary Sue Welch said that the Personnel Committee is considering holding a four-hour session of training and planning and honing, and another four hours on the communication aspects.

Mrs. Clopton noted that the committee had considered changing the process so that instead of Dr. Hatlen receiving all of the board members' responses, the Board would come to a consensus and submit only one evaluation. Ms. Swift explained that she prefers to see the data from each member so that the Board can examine where and why differences in opinion may exist. Ms. Gibbs said that TASB usually asks that the numbers not be averaged, and suggested that the determination of whether to average or look at whole numbers or develop consensus be part of the decision that the Board makes when reviewing the process. Ms. Gibbs said that customarily a minority opinion is left in the evaluation so that the superintendent may respond to that opinion.

Ms. Swift suggested scheduling an appraisal board meeting before a regularly scheduled board meeting, to allow enough time for a discussion.

Ms. Gibbs said that the Board needs to determine what information it requires in order to tell whether the superintendent is doing his job. Jesus Bautista asked that board agenda items and reports be correlated to performance measures so that the Board will see how the information that they are receiving at meetings throughout the year is tied to the superintendent’s performance measures.

Ms. Vaughan said that she will look into the possibility of Rita Gibbs attending the closed session of the next superintendent’s appraisal.

Consideration of approval of new contract staff: There were no new contract staff to approve at this meeting.

Report from the Program Committee:

Consideration of approval of TSBVI Annual Improvement Plan for 2006-2007: Ms. Louder announced that the committee would like for the improvement plan to be modified, corrected, and returned to the Board for approval at the July meeting.

Consideration of approval of 2007-2011 Agency Strategic Plan: Ms. Louder moved on behalf of the committee that the 2007-2011 Agency Strategic Plan be accepted as presented. No second was needed, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report on waiver request for 2006-2007 school calendar: Ms. Louder reported that the committee agreed with the waiver requests for the 2006-2007 calendar. She also reported that there will be no school start date waivers for future school years.

Report from Outreach Director Cyral Miller: Ms. Louder gave an overview of Ms. Miller’s report to the Program Committee, which was also distributed in hardcopy. Ms. Miller had announced the retirement of some Outreach staff members, and the redeployment of other staff members from Outreach and other areas to fill in the vacancies.

She further reported that Outreach is planning to make some changes to the services they provide. One of the changes involves making sure that teachers in local districts have made observations before asking for a site-based intervention from the Outreach team.

Report from Special Programs Principal Lauren Newton: Ms. Louder, referring to the handout that Dr. Newton had distributed, pointed out that during the 2005-2006 school year, we did not have students from regions 5, 15, 17 or 18 enrolled our in short term programs. 95 students took part in short-term programs, some of them taking more than one session, for a total of 132 enrolments. There were 38 cancellations.

Dr. Hatlen expressed concern that there may be topical areas that are not drawing many students. He said that he will speak with Dr. Newton about this.

Report from Principal Miles Fain: Mr. Fain presented Coach Joe Paschall. Coach Paschall introduced students Felicia, Chasity, and Dylan, who talked about their experiences training for and competing in track and field events related to this year's SCASB Track and Field and Performing Arts Conference Championships, which TSBVI hosted April 28 and 29, 2006. The TSBVI girls team won second place overall, and the boys team won third place overall in the championship.

Mr. Fain presented Drama teacher Robert Pierson. Mr. Pierson presented many of the students from the cast of TSBVI’s recent production of the musical Into the Woods, Jr. The students sang a song from the play. Ms. Louder asked that the Board attend a play rehearsal next year.

Some suggestions related to the school play were having a special presentation of school plays for the Lions Clubs and the legislature, getting UT students involved in supporting the production, the drama group competing at UIL, and moving the public performance dates to March. Dr. Hatlen said that he would like to add an SBOE-approved drama course to the regular school year.

Consideration of Approval of Campus Housing Agreement: Dr. Brooks reported that the Finance and Audit Committee moved to accept the campus housing agreement for Principal Miles Fain. No second was necessary, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Consideration of Approval of Appraisers for the Teacher Appraisal Process: Ms. Louder moved to approve the following list of teacher appraisers and reserve appraisers: Miles Fain, Lauren Newton, Susan Hauser, Linda Locke, Pat Stephenson, Peggy Wade, and Cyral Miller. Mrs. Welch seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Consideration of Approval of Minutes of March 24, 2006 Board Meeting: Ms. Louder moved to accept the minutes as presented. Mrs. Welch seconded the motion. Dr. Brooks suggested correction to the minutes, which was read by Ms. Swift.

Mr. Bautista said that some students that he had spoken with said that they did not get to buy things and socialize during restroom stops. He said that if the school uses the excuse that these stops serve as social stops as a reason not to install restrooms on the buses, then the students should be allowed to purchase items that they would like. Ms. Swift said that she talked to a student that said that he or she could not buy things during the restroom stop because he or she had not saved enough money to do so.

Ms. Louder withdrew her motion to approve the minutes as written. Mrs. Clopton moved to approve the minutes with the amendment. Ms. Louder seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Dr. Brooks expressed his concern that the buses that we use for weekends home are designed for local use, not for over-the-road travel. He said that he finds it inhumane to put the staff and the students on those buses without looking into upgrading to comfortable buses.

Ms. Swift pointed out that every school district in Texas uses school buses for long-distance travel.

Mr. Daude said that the modifications that we make to our school buses, such as adding air conditioning, seatbelts, and tinted glass, make them better for intercity travel.

Dr. Brooks said that in his view, if we are going to continue transporting students and staff every weekend or every other weekend, we should look into over-the-road buses.

Report from the Finance and Audit Committee:

Report from the Internal Auditor: Russell Gregorczyk asked the Board to approve the Weekends Home Audit. The management response indicated agreement with the audit recommendations. Mr. Gregorczyk reported that he is also auditing all of CSR except for the Health Center. Because the CSR audit is so comprehensive, he said that he may not complete the Information Technology audit this year.

He stated that an outside auditor will perform Mr. Gregorczyk's peer review in July. Mr. Gregorczyk will also prepare follow-ups for all of his audits this summer.

Dr. Brooks asked that future audit plans be based on the timing of items for Board consideration, so that the Board has the opportunity to review audit reports that pertain to Board topics before they are asked to approve those items.

Consideration of approval of Weekends Home Audit: The Finance and Audit Committee recommended acceptance of the Weekends Home Audit Report. No second was needed, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Consideration of approval of Investment Report: Ms. Swift distributed copies of the investment report from the Finance and Audit committee meeting, which indicated that the interest income for the current fiscal year is $6,887.71. Dr. Brooks moved on behalf of the committee that the Board approve the investment report. Since the motion came from committee, no second was needed. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Approval of receipt of gifts and donations of over $500: Dr. Brooks, on behalf of the committee, moved to approve receipt of the donation of $800 from an anonymous source to the scholarship account, and of $750 from the Point Venture Lions Club for the purchase of braille and print compasses. No second was needed, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Mrs. Clopton moved to accept the donation of $1950 from the former Dark Horse Riders Motorcycle Club. Mr. Bautista seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous. Dr. Hatlen requested that the Board approve the expenditure of this donation at the next regular meeting.

Report of Status of Recommendations in Fraud Prevention Program and Fiscal Year 2005 Fraud Risk Assessment Audit: Dr. Hatlen asked Mr. Gregorczyk to help him look into this.

Discussion of Wells Fargo presentation on a diversification plan for the Bert E. Broday Jr. Trust: Mr. Schulz introduced Craig Hester from Hester Capital Management. Mr. Hester said that he agreed with Wells Fargo's proposal to petition the court to allow diversification of the Bert E. Broday, Jr. Trust (the Trust). He also recommended asking the court that the Trust be split between TSBVI and American Heart Association (AHA).

Mr. Hester recommended keeping ExxonMobil stock about 3% of the overall portfolio. He also said that he thought that the proposed fee of 1.3% for Wells Fargo to manage the diversified account is excessive. He said that he would hope that the fee would amount to closer to 1%. He said that currently Wells Fargo commands a fee of about 0.5%, and is held harmless by the current Trust in the event that ExxonMobil stock loses value. Wells Fargo had presented a diversification plan in which the investments would be approximately 60% stocks, 25% bonds, 5% Real Estate Investment Trust, and 10% alternatives such as hedge funds.

Mr. Hester said that if the Board wishes to remove Wells Fargo as manager of the Trust, it would have to petition the court.

Discussion of the development of an investment philosophy with respect to the assets of the Trust of Bert Broday, Jr.: Mr. Schulz said that he would like to have more Board involvement in determining the investment philosophy with regard to the Trust. The extremes of the possible investment management strategies are either to have the principal investment grow maximally, or to spend the interest income and keep the principal (of which TSBVI's portion is currently approximately 13 million dollars) flat.

Ms. Swift said that she feels that we need to diversify the trust for reasons of security, and that we should split the trust from AHA. She also felt that the Wells Fargo presentation on May 23 was very poor and fraught with errors. She said that she asked Marcia Acock from the Attorney General's office, who was present at that meeting, to see if we could have Wells Fargo Bank removed as managers of the Trust.

Carol Vaughan said that the Board would consider what to do with the Trust over the course of the next few board meetings, based upon further research by the Attorney General's Office and TSBVI staff.

Dr. Hatlen said that TSBVI must consider its responsibility for environmental awareness of investing in activities that the school would not support.

Ms. Swift suggested that the Board may be able to make a decision whether or not to diversify the Trust at its July meeting. Ms. Vaughan said that we will want to determine the investment philosophy, the diversification question and the splitting question prior to going before the court.

Ms. Swift said that one way to justify a change of manager is to compare their fees to the fees of other investment managers in Wichita Falls area. If Wells Fargo's fees are greater than those of other banks in their market, the case could be made to the court that they are price-gouging.

At 12:15 PM the Board recessed for lunch. At 12:30 the Board Ms. Swift called the meeting back into session.

Report on Facility Master Plan: Paul Woodard of Halff Associates updated the Board on the status of the capital improvement project thus far. He then introduced Jim Carrillo, director of planning for Halff Associates. Mr. Carrillo presented a slide show of the current draft of the campus master plan and of some of the features of the campus.

Dr. Hatlen indicated his strong preference to demolish Building 500 and replace it, and to do the same with buildings 501, 502 and 503. Mr. Carrillo said that the State Historic Preservation Office considers the main instructional building, Building 500, to be a historic building. He also expressed his feeling that the renovations that were done to the building have almost destroyed its historic character, and that the most efficient way to proceed would be to demolish and replace Building 500.

Mr. Woodard explained that the next steps in the capital improvement project are to finalize building programming and costs, submit a request to the Legislative Budget Board in July 2006, and begin design of funded elements.

Mrs. Clopton asked whether there was any way that the Sunshine Community Gardens could be incorporated in to the green space that we plan to have on campus. Mr. Lambert said that the General Land Office has told him that in the future, when it becomes necessary to move the community gardens, they will help find an alternate location for those gardens.

Ms. Louder said that she hears from students that the lighting at night is a major issue. Dr. Hatlen reported that the operations department assured him six months ago that the lighting was adequate.

Tour of TSBVI School Bus: The Board toured one of the buses that are used to transport students for weekends home.

Consideration of Retrofitting School Buses with Restrooms: Mr. Lambert reported that he could not get cost estimates from bus manufacturers— they would have to build one and then we would know the price. Mr. Lambert said that Texas bus expert Charlie Kennington considered the modification to be cost-prohibitive. He also said that the manufacturers had reported that they could build a restroom on a school bus, but it would not meet the Texas specifications for a yellow bus. He further explained that we use yellow buses because they are safer- we would lose the emergency exit at the rear of the bus if we install ADA-compliant restrooms.

Consideration of Approval of Dates for 2006-2007 Board Meetings and Discussion of Summer 2006 Board Meeting: Mrs. Clopton moved that the Board meeting dates for the upcoming year be as follows:

July 28, 2006 – Friday

September 22, 2006 – Friday

November 17, 2006 – Friday

January 26, 2007 – Friday

March 23, 2007 – Friday

May 23, 2007– Wednesday.

Ms. Louder seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report on All Blind Children of Texas Charity (ABCTX): Mrs. Welch reported that there are only about 3,500 wristbands left of the original 11,000 that they ordered, although sales have slowed down.

Mrs. Welch said that BadgerDog is partially funding this summer's writing course, to which ABCTX is contributing $2,650. The Austin Community Council has funded in full the creative writing program here at the school for the fall and spring semesters taught after school by masters students from the University of Texas.

She went on to say that this year ABCTX is giving out eight grants ranging from $200-$1000 for summer enrichment programs- total of $4,150. One goes to a camp for elementary students called “Braille is Fun” in Arlington. One goes to Camp Real World hosted by Region 15. One is going to Treeva Gibbs for a program in McKinney ISD for K-7 students which includes cooking and independent living skills. Houston ISD will get money for travel and field trips focusing on independent living skills. ABCTX will also support a camp in Grayson County with Mary Ann Foster, featuring recreational activities and a drama class. ABCTX will help with the expenses for a student at TSBVI who wants to go to Space Camp. And one grant will go to a camp for blind athletes at TWU in Denton, called LIFE (Learning Independence through Fun Experiences.)

Mrs. Welch reported that ABCTX is currently applying for a Favrot Foundation grant. ABCTX is also considering acting as fiscal sponsor for the documentary film “Keep Your Ear on the Ball”. This arrangement would allow the ABCTX to accept donations in the name of the filmmakers, retaining 6% as an administrative fee.

She said that Karen Poston is organizing a fall fundraiser for ABCTX at the Broken Spoke. Also, Mr. Gregorczyk is donating his services to perform an audit of the charity.

Report from Superintendent:

Superintendent's Travel: Dr. Hatlen reported the following recent travel: At the Council for Exceptional Children in Salt Lake City he gave a joint presentation with Stuart Wittenstein on the future role schools for blind. He also spoke on the same topic in Detroit to the Michigan AER. He traveled to Vancouver with the architects to look at the Washington State School for the Blind. He attended the Parent Conference in Lubbock and TAER in Corpus Christi.

Campus visitorsand activities: Dr. Hatlen reported that the school was host to a retired ophthalmologist who wishes to return to India and start a school for the blind. TSBVI had two British interns whose professor also visited. Dean Stenehjem from the Washington State School for the Blind came to advise us on our construction project.

He described the Prom on April 1 as the fanciest ever. Other activities that he listed were the Junior/Senior banquet on April 11, the SCASB tournament, the spring play, the International Preschool Seminar which was organized by Ms. Miller, Stacy Shafer, and Gigi Newton from Outreach. He also said that the performing arts assembly, awards assembly, graduation brunch and graduation were occurring that day and the next.

Dr. Hatlen concluded by saying that the Texas National Guard performed a water survival test in the natatorium, and the Texas NFB used the pavilion for a fundraising dinner in April.

Monthly reports of website visitors: Dr. Hatlenreported that in the past yearwe have had3.08 million visits to web site, which is a daily average 8,438 hits. There were 165,000 braille books downloaded. 341,000 of the visits were from California, and approximately 70,000 from Texas.

Report on procedures required in policy: Dr. Hatlen reported that we are up to date on writing procedures.

Discussion of Graduation Activities: Mr. Fain reminded the Board of the graduation event times and proceedings.

Review of Consultants' Contracts Approved at the Administrative Level— Contracts Greater than $600 and Equal to or Less than $10,000: Dr. Hatlen reported that there was one consultative services contract approved during the previous two months, in the amount of $800, and that no Board approval was required.

Consideration of Future Board Meeting Topics: The following topics were discussed for placement on the July 28 agenda:

Debra Nesbitt said that she will contact Ms. Gibbs to arrange superintendent appraisal training for Saturday September 23 from 8:30-3:00 working through lunch.

Announcements: Dr. Brooks said that taxi fares have increased in Austin, which will impact the costs reflected on our cab vouchers.

Adjournment: Ms. Swift adjourned the meeting at 5:05 PM.

Frankie Swift Date
Board President

Gene Brooks Date
Board Secretary

John Botti Date
Recording Secretary

BOARD DIRECTIVES

May 24, 2006

Dr. Brooks asked that future audit plans be based on the timing of items for Board consideration, so that the Board has the opportunity to review audit reports that pertain to Board topics before they are asked to approve those items.

Ms. Swift asked that the budget documents come to the Board two weeks ahead of time.

FUTURE BOARD MEETING TOPICS

Debra Nesbitt said that she will contact Ms. Gibbs to arrange superintendent appraisal training for Saturday September 23 from 8:30-2:30 working through lunch.

 
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