The North Baltimore Board of Education held their 2015 Organizational Meeting on Tuesday evening at the NBMS/HS Building.
The main purpose of this meeting is to elect officers to lead the board for the ensuing year. Board members Tim Archer and Cheryl Cotterman were not in attendance.
Tami Thomas was elected to serve as Board President for another year. Russell Bretz was elected as Vice-President of the Board. After the elections, they were given their oaths of office and sworn in by NB Treasurer Eve Baldwin.
The next action taken by the board was to establish the regular meeting dates, times, and place for the 2015 meetings. The meetings will be held, the FOURTH Tuesday of each month, at 6:00pm, at the NBMS/HS Building. In December of 2015, there will be an exception to this schedule, with the meeting being held on the third Tuesday, December 15th.
There were a few other items of business that were approved during the Organizational meeting, which all appeared to be standard procedures and resolutions. Board Committee appointments were all updated for 2015.
They are as follows:
Advisory Committee-Cheryl Cotterman, Russell Bretz
Athletic/Recreation Council-Tim Archer, Tami Thomas
Legislative Liaison-Russell Bretz
Policy Committee-Tami Thomas, Russell Bretz
Student Liaison- Cheryl Cotterman
Technology/Planning and Resource Committee-Tim Archer, Jaimye Bushey
Village Council Liaison- Cheryl Cotterman, Tim Archer
The Organizational meeting was adjourned at 6:05pm, and followed immediately by the regular meeting for January.
Band Director Ben Pack made a presentation to the Board requesting permission to take the NBHS Marching Band to Disneyworld during spring break of the 2015-2016 school year, for an educational/performance trip. The band would have opportunities to learn at Disney sponsored workshops (“Magical Music Workshop”) as well as to give performances. The date of the trip would be March 28-April 2, 2016. Funds would be raised through various fundraisers, and there would be no cost to the Board of Education. Estimated cost per student is $947. The Board gave their vote of support.
During Administrative reports, Superintendent Ryan Delaney commented that January is School Board Appreciation month. He praised the ease of working with the local board members, saying he truly feels all of the current members do their jobs because, “They are here for the kids. There are no hidden agendas.” He pointed at the members present saying, “This is paradise” Mr. Delaney also announced the school’s new website that they have been waiting on since the beginning of the school year is done. They are in the process of plugging the information into the website. He did not give an anticipated time for when it will go “live”
He also said that regular meetings are being held to explore options for adding the softball and baseball fields to the new school property. He has found this is the “off season” for many contractors that do the type of work they are inquiring about, thus some of their calls are not being returned as quickly as anticipated.
This Saturday is Homecoming at the High School, with the theme: “Summer Vacation in the Winter”
There will be a dry run of “testing” during the last week of January, as it all is now being done on-line.
Mr. Scott Lockwood, Powell Principal also commented, “It is quite a task to get ready” referring to the upcoming tests. Our students are used to mainly using desk top computers, so even though we have (laptops) we want them to be able to use what they are most comfortable with. We are setting up large labs and small labs for testing. Mr. Lockwood also announced his next Award Day will be at Lunch on January 26th.
Dr. Bob Falkenstein was not present at the board meeting, as he was called to duty in the gymnasium, assisting with scorekeeping during a ball game. The remainder of the meeting was spent approving expenditures, agreements, and contracts, as presented.
The meeting adjourned at 6:44pm.
