CRESTON SCHOOL DISTRICT #9
REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
12 JANUARY 2023

MINUTES

I. Call to order. Jessica Sandven-Sorensen called the Board of Trustees meeting to order at 7:06 a.m. The meeting was held in the gym. Present were Board Trustees Jessica Sandven-Sorensen, Twila Brenneman, Barry Farrell and Nevada Hafer; also, Megan Derrington was present after taking the oath of office. Also in attendance were Rachel Stevens, Principal, Tammy Bartos, District Clerk, Cal Ketchum, Flathead County Superintendent of Schools, Cindi Conley, Special Education Teacher, Jen Johnson, 2nd Grade Teacher and CEA President, Shanta Milne, Kindergarten Teacher, and several community members.
II. Minutes of 8 December 2022. Barry Farrell moved to approve the minutes as presented. Twila Brenneman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
III. Appoint & Swear In Trustee to Vacant Position. Twila Brenneman moved to appoint Megan Derrington to fill the vacant trustee position. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Cal Ketchum administered the oath of office and Megan Derrington joined the other trustees at the table for the remainder of the meeting.
IV. Public Participation / Correspondence. Taaylr Claridge addressed the trustees regarding trustee emails on the website, requested board meeting times in the evenings and agendas emailed to parents.
V. Information
A. Candidates for the May 2023 Trustee Election May File a Declaration of Intent. Candidates for Trustee may file a Declaration of Intent and Oath of Candidacy between Thursday, December 8, 2022, and Thursday, March 23, 2023. There are two three-year terms and one two-year term subject to election in May 2023.
B. Flathead County Election Office Response to Request to Conduct School Election 2023. A letter was received from the Flathead County Election Office stating that “At this time, Flathead County is unable to administer school district elections…” Several reasons were given including limited staff resources, there are twenty-three school districts and three hundred district splits in the county, many special district elections are during the same timeframe, a new voter database software conversion occurring in 2023, and in 2024 the presidential election cycle will require all available county election resources. They will review the status again for 2025 or after.
C. Policy Manual Conversion to New MTSBA / Simbli Policy Hosting Platform. The Creston School District’s online policy manual has been converted and uploaded to the new MTSBA / Simbli policy hosting platform. The manual is accessible on our website as before, under the School Board heading. Policy 3140 was renumbered to 2105P, and job descriptions were moved from the appendix to a numbered series of 5900.
D. Teacher Resignation. The resignation of Deborah Christiansen, Title Teacher was accepted by Principal Stevens. Mrs. Christiansen is retiring the end of this school year.
E. Status of Social Security Participation and PERS Referendum. The referendum held 12/21/2022 passed with at least 50% yes votes. This means social security will continue to be deducted as usual for PERS members. The Montana State Social Security Administration will take care of the remaining steps needed to secure a signature by the Commissioner of Social Security on the “modification”; this could take up to a couple of years to complete.
F. December Unforeseen Emergency School Closure. Due to extreme weather conditions school was cancelled on 12/21/2022. This cancellation does affect the school calendar; however, we have built in excess hours and will still meet the minimum aggregate number of hours required. No make-up day is required due to this closure.
VI. Reports:
A. Clerk. The monthly budget expenditure report was provided through 31 December 2022. General Fund is 41% committed and the Total of all Funds is 33% committed. Accounts are reconciled to the County Treasurer through December 2022. Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Bartos are in the process of working with Paladin Cyber to set up an account, receive access to their online training site and phishing simulations and set up routine scans of our web domain. A desk audit of our transportation claims for Fiscal Year 2022 was conducted by OPI with no findings. The 2021 Census data used to calculate school year 2023-2024 allocations under Title 1, Part A has been released – the data was provided. An updated Education Donation Tax Credit Letter for 2023 has been posted to the website – Mrs. Stevens will also send an email to the school community with the information.
B. Principal. Student Enrollment is 118. Monthly building maintenance inspections were completed with no recommendations for repairs. The teachers will receive professional development in literacy instruction on January 23 from Tammy Elser, an education faculty member of Salish Kootenai College. Mrs. Stevens is attending the MTSBA Accommodating Individuals with Disabilities training, which consist of several Zoom sessions during January. Mid-year benchmark assessments of students in reading and math are taking place in January. The school facility conditions report was provided with no updates.
C. Staff. Jen Johnson, CEA President and 2nd Grade Teacher shared the staff report via a Google Slide presentation.
VII. Policies – Consideration of Action:
A. Policy 2335- Health Enhancement – Update per MTSBA – 2nd read. Barry Farrell moved to approve the policy as presented. Twila Brenneman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
B. Review Weapons Policies: 3310, 3311, 4315, 5223. As per 20-5-202 (2) (a) MCA, the trustees shall annually review the districts weapons policy. These policies were reviewed, no changes were suggested. No action taken.
C. Substitute Custodian Job Description. An update to remove the hourly wage, add header information and the universal obligations section was recommended. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the changes to the job description as presented. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
VIII. Consideration of Action Items:
A. Collective Bargaining Agreement Negotiations with Creston Education Association. Cindi Conley, Special Education Teacher, spoke on behalf of the CEA. She presented various changes for consideration to the 2023-2024 CBA: 1) Salary Schedule Increase of 2% to the base; 2) Personal leave increase – roll over increase from 2 days to 4 days for a maximum accumulation of 8 personal days instead of 6 days; 3) Annuity/employee benefit cafeteria plan increase of $20 per month, from $630 to $650 per month; 4) add language to section 7.1 to clarify the definition of a tenured teacher; 5) addition of a longevity stipend of $500 after completing increments of 5 years of continuous service; and 6) the CEA accepted the changes approved by the school board on December 8, 2022. Discussion only as a preliminary budget gets put together (this is also dependent on the state legislative session process). Negotiations will continue. No action.
B. Intercom/Phone Committee Report and Recommendation. The committee has met with several companies and reviewed their proposals; they recommend purchasing the intercom/speakers, VoIP phone system and network upgrade from MontanaSky as per the submitted documents. The committee also recommended purchasing the cell communicator module from Federal Protection as part of the project as this will ensure the fire alarm works properly with the VoIP system. This is a safety project, and the one-time equipment and labor costs will be paid using safety funds. Barry Farrell moved to approve the option 1 proposal from MontanaSky for speakers, VoIP and network upgrade equipment and labor costs as presented and to approve the Federal Protections proposal for cell communication as presented. Megan Derrington seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
C. Clerk/Business & Office Manager Job Opening. Job Posting updates to include the closing date as open until filled, removing the start date, the addition of a salary range and an equal opportunity employer statement. Barry Farrell moved to approve the changes to the job posting as presented. Twila Brenneman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

D. Safe Return to School and Continuity of Services Plan. No changes or updates. No action.
E. Substitute List 2022/2023. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the addition to the substitute list as presented for the 2022/2023 school year. Megan Derrington seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
F. Transportation Contracts – nil.
G. Before School Care Contracts – nil.
H. Out-of-District Requests – nil.
I. Gym & School Grounds Use Requests. One request by the Many Lakes HOA to use the gym on Saturday, March 4, 2023, from 8:30 am to 1:30pm for an association meeting. Twila Brenneman moved to approve the gym use request. Barry Farrell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
IX. Claims Approval. Barry Farrell moved to approve the claims list as presented. Megan Derrington seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
X. Next Meeting Dates:
A. 9 February 2023, 7:00 am
B. 9 March 2023, 7:00 am
XI. Board Work Session – Training and Discussion for Board Professional Development
1. Hiring Considerations. Jessica Sandven-Sorensen led a discussion covering the topic of the hiring process.
XII. Adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:44 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

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