CRESTON SCHOOL DISTRICT #9
REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
10 November 2022

MINUTES

I. Call to order. Jessica Sandven-Sorensen called the Board of Trustees meeting to order at 7:01 a.m. The meeting was held in the gym. Present were Board Trustees Jessica Sandven-Sorensen, Twila Brenneman, Barry Farrell and Nevada Hafer. Also in attendance were Tammy Bartos, District Clerk, Rachel Stevens, Principal, Jennifer Johnson, Teacher and CEA President, Cindi Conley, Special Education Teacher and Deborah Christiansen, Title Teacher.
II. Minutes of 13 October 2022. Nevada Hafer moved to approve the minutes as presented. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
III. Public Participation / Correspondence. The resignation of trustee Walter Graves was received, effective November 9, 2022.
IV. Information
A. Intercom/Phone Committee. The committee held a meeting on October 27, reviewed a quote from Access Montana and discussed options and ideas regarding the needs of the school. A meeting is scheduled for later today with another vendor. Due to a vacancy Nevada Hafer volunteered to join the committee.
V. Reports:
A. Clerk. The monthly budget expenditure report was provided through 31 October 2022. General Fund is 19% committed and the Total of all Funds is 15% committed. Accounts are reconciled to the County Treasurer through September 2022. Fall Student Enrollment Count for ANB was submitted to the State – reported enrollment was 121. The total out-of-district student count on Fall Count Day was 39 and a report was submitted to the Flathead County Superintendent of Schools. The Worker’s Compensation Audit Results for the policy period 7/1/2021 – 7/1/2022 were received and there are no audit adjustments to record.
B. Principal. Student enrollment is 121. Two assemblies were held in October: 1) Fire Prevention with the Creston Fire Department for kindergarten through third grade and 2) an all school awards assembly. The general education classroom teachers and title intervention teacher participated in a mathematics professional development day led by Mrs. Stevens on November 4th. Teacher formal evaluations are in progress with tenured teacher evaluations scheduled to be completed in December and non-tenured teachers in February. Due to the resignation of a school board trustee Mrs. Stevens will be reaching out to the community in an effort to help fill the vacancy. Northwest Montana Association of School Superintendents (NWMASS) will be hosting an Education and Legislative Summit November 30th. Monthly building inspections have been completed and the facility conditions report was updated. The safety committee met on November 2nd and discussed some of the needs that were highlighted in the report received from Secure Education Consultants. The November service project is a food drive for the Bigfork Food Bank. Training: Indian Education for All (IEFA) training is completed, Title IX training is underway, and a Gifted and Talented training is scheduled. A “Thank You” to the Creston Boosters for fully funding the new mats in the gymnasium, and for scheduling volunteers to help with the pizza lunches and basketball games.
C. Staff. Jen Johnson shared the staff report via a Google Slide presentation and also commented that the Math Professional Development hosted by Mrs. Stevens was time well spent and the teachers walked away with useful and practical tools.
VI. Consideration of Action Items:
A. MTSBA FY24 Dues Revenue Estimate. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the MTSBA FY24 dues formula as presented. Nevada Hafer seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mrs. Bartos will cast the vote on behalf of the trustees.
B. Creston Scholarship Offered to Graduating Seniors. Creston School has been offering scholarships for several years to high school seniors who are Creston School Alumni and that are college or technical school-bound. A copy of last year’s information was provided. Monies from the Miscellaneous Fund are used to pay for this. Currently one $500 scholarship is offered per year. Barry Farrell moved to continue to offer this scholarship. Twila Brenneman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
C. Post Job Opening for Clerk/Business Manager & Form Hiring Committee
1. Job Description. A) Revise Clerk description and B) Add Business & Office Manager. Nevada Hafer moved to approve both the revised Clerk job description and the new Business/Office Manager job description as presented. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
2. Job posting notice. The notice will be posted in December with an initial close date of January 5. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the job notice for District Clerk & Business/Office Manager as presented. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Hiring committee. Jessica Sandven-Sorensen and Barry Farrell volunteered to serve on the hiring committee.
D. Safe Return to School and Continuity of Services Plan. No changes or updates. Information only.
E. Substitute List 2022-2023. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the additions to the substitute teacher list as presented for the 2022/2023 school year. Nevada Hafer seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
F. Transportation Contracts – nil.
G. Before School Care Contracts. Barry Farrell moved to approve the contract as presented. Nevada Hafer seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
H. Out-of-District Requests. Attendance agreement requests for twenty-six students that reside in our district, attending another district. Barry Farrell moved to acknowledge receipt of these attendance agreements. Twila Brenneman seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Attendance agreements for sixteen 7th and 8th grade students that reside in our district and are attending Kalispell Middle School under a District to District placement. Twila Brenneman moved to approve these attendance agreements. Nevada Hafer seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Attendance agreement for one student that resides outside of our district, requesting Creston School as their school of choice. Twila Brenneman moved to approve this attendance agreement. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
I. Gym & School Grounds Use Requests. One request by Stan Uskoski to use the gym on Monday evenings for his family to play basketball and exercise. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the gym use request. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
J. Board Work Session – Training and Discussion for Board Professional Development
1. Ethics & Conflicts of Interest. Jessica Sandven-Sorensen led a discussion covering this topic.
VII. Claims Approval. Barry Farrell moved to approve the claims list as presented. Nevada Hafer seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
VIII. Next Meeting Dates:
A. 8 December 2022, 7:00 am
B. 12 January 2023, 7:00 am
IX. Adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:22 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
/s/Tammy Bartos, District Clerk
/s/Jessica Sandven-Sorensen, Board Chair