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September 22, 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 September 22, 2006.

Call to Order: Frankie Swift, Board President, called the meeting to order at 10:45 AM. In addition to Ms. Swift, the following board members were in attendance: Dr. Gene Brooks, Jamie Wheeler, Jesus Bautista, and Donna Clopton.

Introduction of Audience: Others in attendance at the meeting included Dr. Phil Hatlen, Superintendent; Miles Fain, Principal; Carol Vaughan, School Attorney; Barney Schulz, Administrator for Business, Operations and Technology; Malcolm Cleveland, Director of Accounting; John Daude, Facilities Manager; Susan Houghtling, Program Supervisor; Debra Nesbitt, Human Resources Director; John Botti, Assistant to the Superintendent; and Russell Gregorczyk, Internal Auditor.

Public Comments/Open Forum: There were no public comments.

Consideration of Approval of Minutes of July 28, 2006 Board Meeting: Jamie Wheeler moved to accept the minutes as presented. Donna Clopton seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report from the Finance and Audit Committee:

Report from the Internal Auditor:

Discussion and approval of the Internal Audit of the School and Student Services Division: The Finance and Audit Committee recommended acceptance of the audit report as presented. The motion needed no second, as it came from the committee.

In response to an inquiry by Jesus Bautista, Ken Miller reported that the significant number of claims made by TSBVI to SHARS that are not accepted by the Medicaid system is probably due to students’ families letting their eligibilities lapse. In these cases, the claims are usually resubmitted, possibly several times, until the families become eligible again. The reason that we do not know for certain is that the third party with whom we contract for claim filing service has not been reporting to us the reasons for which the claims have been rejected. He has asked that company to report those data, and they have agreed to do so.

Mrs. Clopton suggested the creation of a form for clarifying, during the referral process, the time that a student will be returned to the district. Mr. Miller indicated that TSBVI guides the district personnel through a form that outlines their responsibilities and requests a timeline from them. Mrs. Clopton said that the parents and districts do not understand this. Carol Vaughan indicated that the rule governing this had come from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Commissioner of Education, and appears to be inconsistent with IDEA’s requirement for annual review. Therefore it is not TSBVI’s responsibility to enforce the rule that the districts supply the timeline and criteria for return. TSBVI does inform them of their responsibility during the referral process.

Mrs. Clopton said that the problem is that the district doesn’t always know that the timeline has ended, and that the student is going to return to the district the following year. Mr. Miller said the he and Miles Fain would look into the issue that at times a district first learns at an ARD meeting that the student is being returned to the district the following year.

Ms. Swift said that she felt that the School has made improvement in this area. She added that the issue may be a good topic for a session at a Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education (TCASE) conference.

Mr. Miller said that in recent years the majority of referrals have been parent-initiated. The school districts are reluctant to refer students or do not understand the rule that requires local school districts to identify the services in the IEP that they can not provide and set out the criteria and timeline for the return of the student to the district. Dr. Hatlen clarified that the districts technically make referrals, but often the parents pressure the school district to do so.

The motion to pass was unanimous.

Discussion and approval of the Report on the Status of Implementing FY 2005 Internal Audit Recommendations: The committee recommended approval of the status report. The motion needed no second, as it came from the committee.

Phil Hatlen said that there are a number of suggestions in the campus security audit that have not been implemented due to the impending construction work.

Mrs. Swift said that the School had fixed many of the lighting issues around campus.

John Daude reported that a TSBVI security guard had stopped someone who was walking on the school track at 2:43 AM on September 21. The perpetrator, according to the security report, was a mid-thirties female who “had no clothes on, and was naked.” Jesus Bautista recommended using a card access system for the north pedestrian gate.

Dr. Hatlen reported that the school now has security staff around the clock. Mr. Daude explained that the guards must check in at a series of stations around campus in order to verify that they are making their rounds.

Mr. Gregorczyk reported that Mr. Miller had implemented all of the audit recommendations that he had made for the Center for School Resources, and that Debra Nesbitt has implemented most of the recommendations for Human Resources and was in the process of implementing the remainder of them.

The motion to pass was unanimous.

Discussion and approval of the FY 2007 Internal Audit Plan: The committee recommended that the Board approve the plan.

Mr. Gregorczyk indicated that in fiscal year 2007 he plans to audit Accounting and Purchasing, Grants, Construction, and Information Technology. He said that he is employed by the School for more hours per week this year than in previous years, allowing him to take on these more comprehensive audits.

The motion to approve the audit plan needed no second, as it came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Discussion of the Quality Review of the TSBVI Internal Audit Program (Report provided by Richard Tarr): Russell Gregorczyk reported that this quality review is required by the state every three years. The report from Richard Tarr contained two major suggestions for Mr. Gregorczyk.

Firstly, the report recommended that TSBVI’s internal auditor provide a quarterly status report. The committee decided that three times a year is preferable.

Mr. Gregorczyk said that he disagreed with the second audit recommendation, that he prepare a point disposition sheet for each audit that would tie his report back to his work papers and perhaps make it easier for the external auditor to conduct a peer review. Ms. Swift said that the Board agreed that Mr. Gregorczyk does not need to implement this recommendation.

Report on Broday Trust Diversification: Barney Schulz reported having sent a letter to Wells Fargo asking that they proceed with the petition to diversify the trust. Scott Tucker, our account manager at Wells Fargo, told him that they had chosen an attorney to appeal to the court to allow them to diversify the trust.

Mr. Schulz said that Marsha Acock at the Attorney General’s office had received a letter in which the Wells Fargo attorney indicated to the American Heart Association (AHA) that the bank is in favor of splitting the trust so that AHA and TSBVI accounts would be managed separately.

Consideration of approval of Investment Report: Mr. Schulz reported that the short-term investment balance was $295,299.39 as of August 31, 2006. In fiscal year 2006 we added $60,500 from our checking account, as well as $11,367 of interest. The average annualized yield for the period was 5.38%.

Mrs. Clopton moved to accept the investment report, and Mrs. Wheeler seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

At 11:35 AM Ms. Swift called the meeting into recess for lunch, with the intent to reconvene at 12:30 PM. During the recess, Ms. Swift presented a resolution from the Board thanking Claude Martin, of the now-defunct Dark Horse Riders Motorcycle Club, for the work he has done as a volunteer and fundraiser for TSBVI. Mr. Martin brought a pot of homemade chili for the Board and audience to enjoy.

Ms. Swift reconvened the meeting at 12:35 PM.

Approval of receipt of gifts and donations of over $500: Malcolm Cleveland presented the list of donations that the School had received since the last report in May. He specifically mentioned the following donations: Delta Gamma donated $5,000 towards the Annie Gerke Technology Award. The Austin Downtown Lions Club donated $1,000 to be used for Sports Extravaganza. Claude and Faye Martin raised $3,355 on their ride to Chicago. So far $1,315 had been donated to the School in memory of Dr. Frank Gregg. A donation of $20 was received in memory of Jay Clark, who was a former TSBVI student and musician. United Way has made several donations in the amount of $44. The School received a gift in honor of the marriage of Gayle Dalrymple, mother of a TSBVI student.

Dr. Brooks moved to approve the gifts and donations over $500. Mrs. Wheeler seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Approval of request for expenditure of gifts and donations: Dr. Hatlen reported that there were several donors who did not indicate how they wanted their donations to be spent. He said that he would like to place most of those funds into the Student Activity account. Funds in that account will be used to purchase some musical instruments that the school lacks, and to provide private lessons for some students. Some of the funds would also be used to send a TSBVI team to Sports Extravaganza in Irving, TX. The goalball team needs funds to play one game out of state. TSBVI has been asked to allocate some funding for a beep baseball team, and Coach Joe Paschall has asked for funding to send a few students on a ski trip in January.

He also asked the Board to approve some of the funds going into the Staff, Volunteers and Guest Activities account.

Mr. Bautista suggested asking DARS to help with the expenses associated with some of the student activities that Dr. Hatlen had mentioned.

Mr. Bautista moved to approve the expenditure requests. Mrs. Clopton seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report on book sales: Mr. Schulz presented the report of the publications sold in fiscal year 2006 and the previous 7 years. During 2006 7,213 publications were sold, with a value of $264,964. Just over $1.7 million worth of materials have been sold in the past 8 years.

He also mentioned that the book Calendars for Students with Multiple Impairments is being added to a publication sold by APH. Dr. Hatlen said that it will be distributed with a calendar box, the book, and probably tactile symbols.

Mr. Schulz indicated that the newest publication for sale from TSBVI is Making Evaluation Meaningful. Dr. Hatlen mentioned that Mini-Steps and Milestones by Ginny Bishop is now in print. He said that Natalie Barraga’s Autobiography will be published soon.

He then asked for opinions as to why it may be that the Transitions to Adult Life book is not selling very well. Mrs. Clopton suggested telling transition counselors at DBS about the book. Mrs. Wheeler expressed her belief that the focus on the TAKS and other tests at local school districts keeps them from attending to transitions.

Dr. Hatlen said that because merit raises for teachers are tied to students’ TAKS scores, teachers at TSBVI never will get such a raise. Ms. Swift added that VI teachers in general do not get these raises. Dr. Hatlen asked that the Board discuss the possibility of introducing legislation to address this discrepancy at the November meeting.

Report from the Program Committee :

Consideration of approval of board policies: Mrs. Wheeler said that the Committee on Programs moved to approve the following policies: EHAA as amended, and BBA, BBC, BBD, BBFA, BDF, EHAB, EHAC, EHBAD, EHBAE, EHBC, FDB, and FDD as presented.

Mrs. Wheeler said that Policy BBD requires that every board member have open meetings training before January 1, 2007. The Policy also allows the superintendent to assign a delegate to be trained on open records. The committee suggested that Susan Houghtling be delegated to that role, as she has already taken that training.

The motion needed no second, as it came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report from Comprehensive Program Principal:

Discussion on TAKS, SDAA, and LDAA program: Mr. Fain explained that Valerie Bradshaw, TAKS and ESL coordinator, and Debra Sewell, Curriculum Coordinator, had reported to the committee during the committee meeting.

Annual report on Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students: Mr. Fain said that there are 16 students with limited English Proficiency, 11 teachers with ESL certification, and two teachers who are getting their certification this year. All of the students made progress in their language abilities.

He also indicated that this is the last year for the locally developed alternative assessment system (LDAA), and that next year there will be a TAKS alternate system. There will be extensive required training for teachers, available both online and from Region XIII.

Mrs. Wheeler said that she would like to see a comparison between the assessment scores of students at TSBVI versus those in regular schools, in order to see the impact that coming to TSBVI has on the students’ scores.

Consideration of approval of appointment of a Textbook Committee: The Committee recommended approval of the appointments as presented. No second was needed, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Consideration of approval of a School Health Advisory Council: The Committee recommended approval of the nominations to the council as presented. No second was needed, as the motion came from committee. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Report from Special Programs Principal: Dr. Lauren Newton distributed a report on the 2006 Summer Programs. She reported an increase in enrollment in the functional academics programs of about 40 students. She said that the overall increase in enrollment was partially due to the summer programs planners having offered courses that they thought would appeal to the students. Mr. Bautista suggested asking students what programs they would like TSBVI to offer.

Report from Outreach Director: Cyral Miller reported that her Outreach staff is striving to work with service centers in a more professional manner, and is making strides in becoming more organized.

She also reported to the Board on the recent initiatives in VI family leadership training. The current session is taking place in the Valley, and consists of 11 parents, grandparents and siblings of visually impaired students, all of whom speak Spanish. The series is based on the program that Outreach has done with deafblind parents over the past two years, which she called “wildly successful.”

She also reported that, as a result of the deafblind family leadership training, two former participants organized a retreat for families of people with CHARGE Syndrome, and have spearheaded the formation of a group called the Texas Chargers.

Ms. Miller said that TSBVI will be involved in a study on cochlear implants. Also, Texas Tech University professor Rona Pogrund is writing a grant on literacy for functional academic students using technology. Outreach staff are slated to perform much of the work with teachers and students. There is also a mini-study on comparing students’ literacy skills while using different technological tools.

Ms. Miller indicated that she is intent on ensuring that See/Hear articles consciously reflect practices that are research-based or evidence-based, which are the current terms for what used to be called “best practices”.

Ms. Miller reported that she and TSBVI are facilitating and hosting the statewide educational advisory committee on the education of students with visual Impairments, a statewide stakeholder group that TEA supports.

Report from the Personnel Committee:

Consideration of approval of new contract staff: Mrs. Wheeler moved to approve the new contract staff as submitted. Mr. Bautista seconded the motion. The motion to pass was unanimous.

Consideration of initiating 2005-06 summative appraisal of superintendent: Debra Nesbitt said that in October she will email to the Board the blank appraisal form, Dr. Hatlen’s self-appraisal, and the information on performance objectives and action plans from Susan Houghtling. After that time, the members of the Board will fill out their forms and return them to Ms. Nesbitt. The compiled appraisal will be reported at the November board meeting.

Discussion of scheduled training session on appraising the superintendent: Mrs. Swift suggested trying to schedule the training for January 27, 2007. The other board members agreed to check their calendars. Debra Nesbitt agreed to ask Rita Gibbs from TASB whether she is available on that date.

Consideration of Nomination of a Board Liaison to the Instructional Planning Council: Mr. Miller announced the yearly nomination of a Board member to the committee, which meets four times this school year. Mrs. Swift suggested asking Debbie Louder to act as liaison, and that if she could not accept the appointment, then the agendas, minutes and suggestions of the council will be brought to the Program Committee of the Board. Then, once the Governor has selected the new Board member, we will invite that person to act as the liaison.

This item was tabled until November, in the hopes that the Board will have a new member at that time.

Consideration of Approval of TSBVI Organizational Chart: John Botti distributed a revision of the organizational chart that was presented in the printed Board packet. Mrs. Clopton moved to approve the revised chart. Mrs. Wheeler seconded the motion, and the motion to pass was unanimous.

Status of All Blind Children of Texas Charity: Gloria Bennett announced that All Blind Children of Texas (ABCTX) is the recipient of a $35,000 grant from the Favrot Foundation. She related that Mr. Favrot expected that ABCTX will receive that same amount for each of the next two years as well.

She reported that ABCTX has spent about $10,000 over the past year on programs at TSBVI and other areas around the state. One of those was a Badgerdog summer writing program. Now there is a semester-long Badgerdog afternoon program at TSBVI.

Mrs. Bennett said that the charity is offering scholarships to Sports Extravaganza totaling $750 to TSBVI students and $750 for others in the state.

She also said that ABCTX hopes to have a fundraiser at the Broken Spoke in the spring. They hope to hold it on a Sunday night so that students may attend.

Report from the Superintendent:

Report on Legislative Appropriations Request hearings: Dr. Hatlen said that the first hearing on the legislative appropriations request (LAR) had taken place. It was a brief presentation of the LAR and the request for more bond money, including testimony from Marty Murrell from AVIT, Dr. Brooks, and Paul Woodard from Halff Associates. The next meeting, before the Senate Finance Committee, takes place on October 24, and they will entertain invited testimony only.

Dr. Hatlen said that the highest priorities in the LAR are all restoration of funds that we could lose if the LBB or legislature does not approve them. The first is reinstatement of teachers’ salaries. The second is the restoration of the state-mandated 10% reduction in the budget, which amounts to about $1.3 million. The third is an exemption from TSBVI having to reimburse the state for a portion of the cost of purchases of airline tickets for students traveling home on weekends and their escorts.

He also reported that, on the advice of Senator Duncan’s office, the School is requesting the remaining $70 million needed to complete the campus master plan. The additional construction is prioritized, with the highest priorities being instructional and residential areas, especially those that were originally going to be part of the first phase of improvements. He also said that Mr. Schulz had told him that there is only about $280 million left of the original $800 million in revenue bonds issued by the state after Proposition 8 was passed six years ago, therefore if we do not receive the funds now, we may have to wait until the voters approve another bond issuance before we can get more funds for the construction.

Report on campus lighting: Dr. Hatlen reported that the lighting on campus is now much better, partially due to trees being trimmed.

Report on Sesquicentennial events: Dr. Hatlen said that Gloria Bennett had asked him to report that there have been 337 visitors to the Callahan museum, and that the school had received much positive feedback. The museum will stay on campus until November 16.

150 former staff and students attended the Memories Weekend at TSBVI in August. Dr. Hatlen read a letter from former student Rick McCracken, which he sent to express his appreciation of the School and the sesquicentennial events.

Superintendent's travel: Dr. Hatlen reported having attended Texas Focus in June and the NFB convention in Dallas in July.

Campus visitors and activities: Dr. Hatlen told the Board that the School had just been visited by five Australians, all headed to space camp. He also mentioned Kassandra Heil, O&M intern from Florida, and intern Joahanna Kuhr from Heidelberg, Germany.

He also reported the following upcoming campus activities: October 5 is the staff appreciation lunch. Parent weekend is November 3 and 4, during which we will dedicate new museum and celebrate the School’s sesquicentennial with students and parents.

Dr. Hatlen reported on two groups of volunteers: Joe Paschall’s church group painted lockers in the gym, and 29 people from local software company Broadwing trimmed shrubs along Lamar, made tactile symbols, painted the orange down hallway, spread mulch in flowerbeds, and painted Wildcat faces on the weight room wall as part of Day of Caring.

Enrollment update: Mr. Miller declared that the school currently has 137 students: 23 in elementary, 31 in middle school, 80 in secondary, and 3 in post-secondary program. He also said that there are some prospective students under consideration at this time. Dr. Hatlen said that we are moving towards the target enrollment of 142 students, which is the school’s commitment to the legislature.

Progress report on procedures required in policy: Dr. Hatlen announced that, as part of the implementation of the improvement plan, we have a new process for adopting procedures that the school will use to bring those procedures up to date. They will begin with procedures required by board policies, then move on to adopt procedures suggested by auditors.

Use of facilities by outside groups: Dr. Hatlen listed the following groups who have used campus facilities: the Austin Philharmonic rehearses in the auditorium on Wednesdays, Austin Wonder Brass and the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble use the auditorium on Mondays and Tuesdays respectively, the Women Printmakers of Austin meet in the Superintendent’s Conference Room one Wednesday a month, and drama group Loaded Gun Theory rehearsed in the auditorium several days during August and September.

Monthly reports of web site visitors: Dr. Hatlen said that Jim Allan reported 1,387,362 visits since the July board meeting, which represents an average of over 11,000 per day. A total of 715,000 unique visitors, of whom 94,000 visited more than once. A total of 2,627,000 pages were viewed, for a daily average of 21,000. See/Hear was accessed almost 488,000 times, and there were 59,000 braille book downloads. Professional development was visited 13,574 times, and the math section had 9,401 hits. The US accounted for 67.51% of the traffic, followed by Mexico with 48,459 hits, then the United Kingdom and Spain. There were 20,000 hits each from China and Peru, and 15,000 from Venezuela.

Report of Consultants' Contracts Approved at the Administrative Level – Contracts Greater than $600 and Equal To or Less Than $10,000: Dr. Hatlen reported on the consultants’ contracts approved since the last report.

Discussion of Future Board Meeting Topics: Donna Clopton asked that the Board discuss the fact thatVI teachers and TSBVI teachersnever get merit raises because those they are tied to TAKS scores.

Ms. Swift proposed discussing a change to the commissioner’s rules related to school district referrals and their inclusion of the information about what services they can not provide to the students.

Mrs. Clopton suggested eating at the Bistro for the next Board meeting.

Dr. Hatlen mentioned the possibility of giving his talk about the role of schools for the blind in the 21 st Century during lunch, possibly in Upstairs Rec. Building.

Ms. Nesbitt said that the Board will discuss the results of superintendent’s appraisal.

Announcements: Dr. Hatlen asked the Board to come to Parent Weekend on November 4 if possible. He indicated that Claude Martin plans to be there, giving Harley rides.

Dr. Hatlen asked that Mr. Fain let board members know when holiday events and programs are taking place.

Ms. Swift said that the board training scheduled for the following day was to be postponed, and asked Ms. Nesbitt to follow up with Rita Gibbs and the board members who were not present in order to solidify a new date for the training.

Recess: Mrs. Swift adjourned the meeting at 3:10 PM.

Frankie Swift Date Board President

Gene Brooks Date Board Secretary

John Botti Date Recording Secretary

FUTURE BOARD MEETING TOPICS:

1. Discussion of the fact that VI teachers and TSBVI teachersnever get merit raises because those they are tied to TAKS scores.
2. Consideration of a change to the commissioner’s rules related to school district referrals and their inclusion of the information about what services they cannot provide to the students.
3. Lunch at the Bistro for the next Board meeting. Dr. Hatlen’s talk about the role of schools for the blind in the 21 st Century during lunch, possibly in Upstairs Rec. Building.
4. A discussion of the results of the superintendent’s appraisal.