Pages

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

What's New In Fox's Board Meeting Packets?

What's new in the August 19, 2014 Board Meeting Packet?

Fox's board meeting packets have been getting posted to the district website on the Tuesday before the meeting. However, this month's board packet wasn't created until Wednesday August 13, 2014. So it wasn't posted until late last Wednesday. I missed downloading the packet before last night's board meeting. I also missed last night's board meeting as well. I am hoping that someone audio or video recorded the meeting.

There have been some improvements made to the Bill Payments Report over the last couple of months. I believe I know why those improvements took so many months to get accomplished. The lastest Bill Payments Report is much more useful now and it finally complies with school board policies. It now lists both the Vendor Name and a Purchase Description for each transaction as well as an account description for the funding account. Thank you to our school board and new CFO for making the changes suggested.

Below I have noted some items of interest found in the August 19, 2014 board meeting packet. One thing that stands out is the fact that Fox C-6 superintendents DO NOT have credit cards assigned to them anymore. The June 2014 board meeting list of credit card holders to be approved did not have them on the list. According to our new CFO all of the credit cards were recalled in mid-June and were more selectively redistributed with tighter restrictions.

The school board must still review the credit card statements each month to ensure that they are being properly used. The credit card statements also need to be included in the board meeting packets so the public can review them as well.

August 19, 2014 Board Meeting Packet Notes
  • Credit card approval at the June 30, 2014 school board meeting no longer has credit cards assigned to any assistant superintendents. (pg. 20)
  • The DISCOVER CARD is still assigned to Debby Davis, Kelly Nash and Jerry Kwiatkowski with a Credit Limit of $80,000. (pg. 20)
  • 2014-2015 Fox C-6 Teacher Salary Schedule posted. (pg. 61)
  • Funny jumps in the Salary Steps for Directors and Assistant Directors. It would be intesting to know if those steps that have higher amounts correspond to people currently holding positions in those steps. (pg. 67)
  • Bill Payments report for June 30, 2014 was finally corrected to display the credit card vendor as well as the Vendor Name and an Account Description for all of the credit card payments. However, the Transaction Description column was the same as the Vendor Name column for check payments. (pg. 86)
  • Sam's Club DISCOVER card payments listed on (pg. 96) in older format.
  • AMERICAN EXPRESS card payments listed on (pg. 101) in older format.
  • VISA card payments listed on (pg. 103) in older format.
  • The July 22, 2014 Board Meeting Bill Payments Report was improved further yet to include a Credit Card column to identify the credit card used. The column order was changed to Vendor Name followed by Purchase Description then amount and Account Description. The Bill Payments report is much easier to read and includes meaningful information. (pg. 127, 265)
  • The charges on page 152 for Panera Bread ($22.69, $69.00) and Sunny Street Cafe ($21.52) are listed as Professional Development and were paid with a VISA card. These charges match up with Dianne Critchlow's VISA card charges from May 27 and May 29, 2014. (pg. 152) (School district policy states that Credit Card usage is limited to purchases of "Instructional Materials". Read about why it took so long to obtain the credit card receipts.)
  • $349,300 to Brightergy for installation of Solar Panels at seven schools in the district. (pg. 271)
  • $27,757.45 in Tuition Instruction Service Contract with Hazelwood School District (pg. 279)
  • $17,100.00 to Lindbergh School District for Program for Exceptionally Gifted Students (PEGS) tuition. (pg. 279)
    Five students from Fox C-6 attend the PEGS program in the Lindbergh School District full time. (Two of those students are Mr. Crutchley's children.)
  • $38,411.75 for the new attorneys at Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis (pg. 280).
  • Reimbursements for Summer School supplies to teachers begins on (pg. 286) This was a topic of discussion at the August 19, 2012 school board meeting. There were questions about how much it would cost to fully fund the schools for supplies so the teachers and the parents weren't having to provide the supplies.
  • Credit Card Statements must be included in the board meeting packets in order to reconcile the charges.
  • New Hire - Samual Rayburn - $31,500.00 - August 4, 2014 - Web Content and Communications Coordinator in the Central Office. (page 174)
  • Salary amounts are now published with the Employment of Certified and Classified staff in the board meeting packets. (page 174, 294, 296 and 302)
  • It seems that there are still a lot of meal purchases for Professional Development.

Fox's board packets for the 2014-2015 school year can be found on the district's website as well. But, the board packets have been getting updated shortly after the board meetings to include Late Materials. When the documents are updated they are assigned new Internet address links to the documents which would break any link posted here.

To download download board meeting packets prior to the next school board meeting for the 2014-2015 school year you click on the link below: